Reclaiming The Apostolic Culture by Apostle Arome Osayi: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

The Four-Point Agenda of Apostolic Culture

We were trying to explain some of the realities captured in what we call apostolic culture. Apostolic culture is what you see in Acts 2:42. This is called a culture because it is not supposed to change in any generation. The quality of our apostolic fellowship should not change simply because the generation changes. There are hardline aspects of church life that must be sustained from generation to generation.

Acts 2:42 gives us a four-point agenda of the apostolic community:

1. The apostles' doctrine
2. Fellowship
3. Breaking of bread
4. Prayers

The text says they continued steadfastly in these things. In the Greek, two distinct words sit behind this phrase. The first conveys passion, the emotional and relational dimension. The second conveys consistency. It was not merely consistency without feeling, and it was not passion without endurance. It was both together. Many who have walked with the Lord for years have a compromise in one of these two verbs. There was a time you were more passionate. That passion may have reduced even though the consistency remained, and that is why the output of your walk has been affected.

Apostles' Doctrine: One Teaching, Many Principles

Notice that the word "apostles" in "apostles' doctrine" is plural, but "doctrine" is singular. In Hebrews 6, the Bible speaks of "the principles of the doctrine of Christ" - principles in plural, doctrine in singular. There is one teaching that every other teaching in the New Testament is predicated upon. If that central teaching is not emphasized, every other teaching exists in limbo and cannot build a believer in Christ, because it has no foundation to rest on.

Two of the four elements of apostolic culture - fellowship and prayer - together form what is called an apostolic meeting. Anyone who wants to grow into the fullness of the stature of Christ cannot avoid apostolic meetings. Part of the evidence of growth in an apostolic meeting is the capacity to trust God under situations that would perplex other believers, and to keep faith even when circumstances lose their power to shake you, because you have found a depth of intimacy with Christ that makes every other reality seem small by comparison.

Trained and Empowered: The Pattern of Acts 1

Acts chapter 1 shows a capacity-building process Jesus put together to prepare those who would carry the responsibility of extending the kingdom. In Acts 1:3 we see the training; in Acts 1:8 we see the empowerment. Training must always precede empowerment.

Acts 1:3 says Jesus showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs. He did not make a public appearance to Pilate or to the Sanhedrin. He revealed himself only to the apostles he had chosen, because it was their assignment, not the world's applause, that mattered. He was seen of them forty days, speaking of things pertaining to the kingdom of God - this was an education, not a farewell tour.

The first person he appeared to after the resurrection was not one of the eleven, but Mary Magdalene. Her loyalty to him did not end when he died, even while the men had scattered in fear. She defied the tension of that hour, went into the garden, and encountered him. When she wanted to hold on to him, he told her not to touch him yet, because he had not yet ascended to present his blood before the Father. He then sent her, a woman, to carry the first message of the resurrection to the very men who had gone into hiding, including a specific word for Peter, who was already sinking into self-pity over his denial. Many of the foot soldiers who will do the greatest damage to the kingdom of darkness in the last days are women that the world does not expect to be dangerous.

Living for the Age to Come

Romans 8:18 says the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. Notice that God does not promise deliverance from every present suffering - he sets a future glory against present suffering. Jesus himself endured the cross, despising the shame, because of the joy set before him.

In Hebrews 11:24-26, Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, because he had respect unto the recompense of reward. Every believer must decide between what this present age offers and what the age to come holds. Those who exalt the realities of the age to come above the comfort of this age can suffer for Jesus now and never deny him, because they have been armed with an understanding of a great recompense.

Prosperity as Stewardship, Not an End

Prosperity is in the Bible, and God does prosper his people. But in any generation where prosperity itself becomes the goal, it distorts a believer's vision until this realm becomes all there is. The accurate teaching on prosperity treats resources as an object of stewardship, not an end. Just as a teaching anointing or a healing anointing is something to be stewarded in the service of others, financial increase is also something entrusted for a purpose - not a badge to be paraded.

A man that does not know why resources are coming to him will be puffed up. Every form of promotion, sacred or secular, carries a temptation to vanity. What makes a person valiant in the kingdom is never their position - it is the anointing. God does not lead through positions; he leads through anointing. If a person receives a position before receiving the anointing, they may never grow into the anointing at all, because they mistake the title for the substance.

Gathered in His Name

Matthew 18:20 says, "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." Two or three is the biblical number of witness - the minimum required to establish that a corporate, and not merely individual, reality is present.

The gathering described here is not gathered to itself, but gathered "in his name" - in the Greek, this speaks of representative capacity. Whoever leads worship, prayer, or preaching in an apostolic gathering does so in the place of Christ, bringing what he himself would bring if he were physically present. When a gathering operates faithfully in this representative capacity, it attracts his actual presence - proof that an unseen, immortal dimension has opened over that meeting, in which God can come in his fullness as King.

When the Immortal Dimension Opens

In Isaiah 6, in the year King Uzziah died, the prophet Isaiah - who had been preaching judgment for years - saw the Lord seated on his throne, with seraphim crying "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord, the whole earth is full of his glory." Holiness always precedes glory. If there is no holiness, do not expect glory to show up no matter how long you wait. There was no evangelist in that room; the presence of God itself brought Isaiah to repentance in a language his heart could understand.

In Acts 13, as the leaders at Antioch ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Ghost separated Barnabas and Saul for the work God had called them to - a royal decree issued because God's throne had formed in their midst as they ministered to him.

A Testimony of Breakthrough

I have not finished with you, says the Lord. Arise and shine, for your light has come. I open the books that many have concluded were sealed, because I have not finished with you.

Prophetic Ministration

The service moved into a season of prophetic ministration, in which specific words of encouragement, healing, and impartation were spoken over individuals present, along with declarations of new assignments and released gifts.

I remove every limitation that was placed upon your life all these years. Enter into that which God has opened for you in the name of Jesus. Behold, I will do a new thing, and it shall spring forth - shall you not know it, says the Lord.