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THE APOSTOLIC LEADERSHIP IN THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST
 Sermon by John S. Torell

July 14, 2002

From the very beginning of Creation it is clear that God is a God of law and order and that he expects his created beings to obey and carry out his commands. Genesis 1:17-31

When God called Moses to lead the children out of Israel, he gave Aaron to be an assistant to Moses - Exodus 4:10-16

God used Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, to teach Moses how to delegate power and set up a judicial system for the nation - Exodus 18:9-26

When the burden of ruling became too hard for Moses, God set up a chain of command, where the power of ruling was delegated to sub rulers - Numbers 11:10-17

Both God’s holy angels and the fallen angels are highly organized, and there is a chain of command in the angelic world - Daniel 10:11-21; Ephesians 6:10-13

When Jesus came to set up His kingdom, He selected 12 men who were given the office of Apostle. Matthew 10:1-5; Luke 9:1-5

[Apostle means "sent out," in our English language we use the title "missionary."]

Of the twelve apostles Jesus had an inner core, Peter, James and John. Matthew 17:1-6; Matthew 26:36-46

Once the Church of Jesus Christ had been birthed on the day of Pentecost, it took some time for them to get organized.  In the early days the apostles tried to run every program, but eventually they found out that they could not do it. This gave birth to the office of DEACON. [ SERVANT] Acts 6:1-7

In the apostolic church they also had female deacons - (Deaconess)  Romans 16:1-2

As the church continued to grow, the next office to be created was that of ELDER.

[ Presbuteros] Acts 14:21-23   Paul uses the title "bishop" for an Elder. 1Timothy  3:1

Some 30 years after the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit had developed the leadership of the church to its full extent, as found written in Ephesians  4:11-16

At this time a local church would have a number of elders, of which one would be called PASTOR, which in Greek is "shepherd." An apostolic church could have many elders, but only one pastor.

THE SPECIFICATION FOR AN ELDER - 1 Timothy 3:1-7

THE SPECIFICATION FOR A DEACON - 1 Timothy 3:8-13

Today at the Resurrection Life of Jesus Church, we have the joy to ordain one elder and two deacons.

Elder: Sotiris Christou

Deacons: Thomas Burns and Raymond Knopp