The Call of God

Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, IITimothy 1:9

Many of us have the misunderstanding that there are certain ones in the body of Christ that are ministers;and there exist a dichotomy of clergy and laity; Actually this distinction came about in the 2nd century ad.,by Bishop Clement, which is Romish in nature. In 1st Peter 2:5 the entire church, not a building but the members in particular are called a holy priesthood. In 1st Peter 2:16 we are called servants, which is also translated as bondslaves,and ministers. Each member is a minister, and has a measure or portion of Christ to minister. The Bible says in Ephesians 4:16 from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part,maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. Every member ministers to the building up or edification of the body!

IITimothy 1:9 say's that when Jesus Christ saved you He also called you. You are called of God to be a minister, and every child of God has a gift
to use for the glory of God. See Romans 12:3-8. This happened before you were born and before the world was created. You were called,elected to eternal life and given a holy calling or task for the Lord. Glory to God

What about the so called "Five-fold ministry?" The doma gifts are not separate from the rest of the priesthood we are a nation, and in any given locality there are a body of priest. We are not talking about charismata gifts. The gifts referred to as the five-fold ministry are given by Christ to equip the body of Christ, with each member functioning in his or her given charismata allotted by Jesus Christ. Refer to Ephesians chapter 4:8-15.

These Ephesian equipping gifts are for the building up of the temple of God; placing one living stone upon the other until we stand in the full stature of Christ.