The New Testament ministry today needs ministers. There is light contained in God’s words, but what carries that light through time and space, spanning thousands of years and an entire globe? Why are these words still sounding to us today, a revelation to us when unlocked? Saints like John, Peter, and Paul brought the Old Testament truth to a revelation, releasing the light of the words through their beings. Today, our calling is the same: to be light-bearers.
Whenever we come to the word, it has to be in the nature that the word becomes light, or a revelation, to us. When we are together, why is it that some saints’ speaking will bring people to salvation, but others’ won’t? Why is it that some brothers’ or sisters’ prayer will inspire the saints, but others’ sound dull? It’s not about the method or even the content; it’s about the vessel. The truth can be a doctrine, a history, a record, or just someone else’s experience. But what is it to you? What does it look like, or how is it realized?
Consider Paul’s exercise: an eternal truth, a revelation, shines out through his words. In Ephesians 4, for example, Paul expounds on Psalm 68. Psalm 68:18 says He ascended on high; Ephesians 4:8-10 reveals to us the Person in us in ascension. Paul’s speaking becomes a shining, an illumination; the word itself is a vessel to carry the light. Through Paul, Psalm 68 is realized; in His delivering that light to us and in us, we are saved. We can consider Paul to be a light-bearer, a lampstand. Even if there is oil, without the lamp — the vessel — there will be no shining. Paul was powerful because he was able to carry and dispense the ministry with depth, precision, and maturity. When he spoke, he served the word of the generations not because he appointed himself under a title or because he received recognition from a work, but because the light could be revealed through his very being. Ministers, by nature, are light-bearers across the generations. This is how the truth is carried, revealed, and progressed in the New Testament era.
The Bible can be black and white words to people, bringing death from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Or it can be a salvation stemming from the tree of life. It all depends on whether there are proper vessels to carry the light contained within the word. When the Lord was on the earth, He was the light of the generation. People were drawn by the demeanor of a true human being, a royal and reigning humanity walking on the earth in an era of degradation. Today, that is you! Our serving one another is not about rules, regulations, or self-righteousness. We have to become ministry-carriers. When we call on the Lord’s name, we are a living constitution. Our shadow, like Peter’s, can heal people (Acts 5:15), our words, like Paul’s, can save people.
Truth needs to progress, and it’s not enough to repeat the truth without illuminating it through our beings. With that illumination, suddenly, singing a song is different, pray-reading is powerful, our life is a salvation to sinners. Brothers and sisters, shine in the darkness. Say something the generation needs. Release the light as revelation. When everyone is dark, in struggle, strife, and calculation, shine the light in truth and freedom. Be a revelation to people. Transport them from generation to generation, touching that light that has existed from eternity past to eternity future, carried and revealed by the word in you.
(Above are notes of fellowship taken from a gathering on 6/2/2024, not reviewed by the speaker.)