Adullam Mighty Warriors Ministries

We have already shared about the move of God and how God will move in these end times. We have shared the importance of the prophetic ministry and the watchmen on the wall that the Lord will use. This is just

part of it. You need people to win the battle in the Spirit, but you also need people on the ground to do the work. Prophets are a bit like the air force! We have a dedicated school for the prophetic ministry.

 

 

 

We remember that during this move, God will shake the nations and turn this world upside down. So where do we learn how to turn the world upside down? From the man who was accused of doing the very same thing – turning the world upside down:

 

 

How did they turn the world upside down? What was the secret? The answer is found in this passage:

 

 

Paul used to teach in the synagogue, which is the picture of our modern day denominations in some respect. But after three months of teaching two groups emerged: those who were hardened and full of unbelief, and the disciples. The hardened are those who are happy with church as usual, people who are happy with the way things are and are not looking for, or expecting, any move of God or revival. They are the people who are just happy with the status quo.

The disciples here are those who see beyond the four walls, those who are full of excitement and looking forward to all that God has in store, those who are ready and prepared to turn this world upside down.

 

Paul could see clearly the difference, so he separated the disciples and had meetings with them in the School of Tyrannus where he taught them for two years. So this is how the School of Tyrannus came about. It is important to understand that the lecture hall of Tyrannus existed before Paul came, so the importance here is not so much the name but rather what happened in that school, that’s what we are interested in!

 

So what really happened in the School of Tyrannus? What did Paul accomplish after two years of training? What was the outcome? The answer to these questions can be found in the following verses:

 

Let’s list the results that Paul had after two years of training.

 

 

So why the School of Tyrannus? Simple, we want to see the same results. The vision and goal of the school of Tyrannus is :

 

 

 

The million-dollar question is, “how did he achieve this?”

 

The first thing that I want you to notice here is that this work was carried out by an Apostle, Paul. This is to say that Paul was fulfilling an apostolic function in the school of Tyrannus. It shows us what one Apostle of the Lord can accomplish and therefore the importance of the apostolic ministry.

 

So let’s talk about the apostolic ministry. The Lord Jesus is called “The Apostle and High Priest of our profession” Hebrews 3:1. He was the very first Apostle. As such Jesus functioned as Prophet, teacher, pastor and evangelist.

 

An Apostle is not a person who just functions in the gifts of the Spirit, but also in the fivefold ministry gifts (Prophet, teacher, pastor and evangelist). Why is that? Because an Apostle is a “Wise Master Builder” (1 Corinthians 3:10) of the church. So how does the Apostle build the church? By themselves? No, by training and raising up the fivefold ministry i.e. apostles, prophets, evangelists, teachers and pastors.

 

It is through the operation of the fivefold ministry, which is the fullness of the ministry of Christ that results seen in Acts 19 can be obtained. The reason why so many revivals take place and disappear suddenly is because usually, it is a one-man show or one of the fivefold ministry. All of them are necessary if we are to achieve a lasting result. Why do you think the Lord gave them as a gift to the church?

 

 

The church needs evangelists to bring souls into the kingdom both directly and indirectly. Directly means the evangelist wins soul by themselves as seen in Acts chapter 8. Indirectly means through the saints. Remember the evangelist is called to equip the saints for the work of ministry. If evangelists win souls directly, they are fulfilling their function at 50%. They will reach their fullness when they add the indirect methods, which is what Paul focused on more in Acts 19.

 

The new souls enter the kingdom as newborn children of God and as such they need a mother to care for them and nurture them into growth. Who are the spiritual mothers of the church? Pastors and elders! But because the pastor is the loving and caring mother of the church, they also need the direct and indirect method. They need to impart that mother instinct to each believer so that each believer is able shine and show the love of God to others. Jesus said, “35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John13:35.

 

As those children grow up, they will need more solid food, they can’t live on formula forever. This is where the teachers come in, they provide the solid food of the word of God that ensure that Christians mature in the faith as Paul writes,

 

 

This is the part that teachers need to fulfil, if the church is still full of “children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting”its partly because the teaching ministry is not operating properly. Teachers are specialist of the word of God and pastors and elders need to work with them, they need their help.

 

What about prophet? If teachers are experts regarding the word, prophets are experts regarding the things of the Spirit. The prophets are in charge of the part “till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;”

The prophet’s job is to bring every believer to the knowledge of Christ and His voice. Their job is to help believers to develop an intimate relationship with the Lord.

 

You see the bible says that we are born again of two things: the word and the spirit, it means that a healthy Christian life is based on the knowledge of both the Word and the Spirit. Teachers and prophets are needed for these functions. Another important function that prophets carry out is to help raise up the workforce, the laborers, by helping them identify their gifts and callings. This is crucial as it enables the church to function to its full potential!

 

Paul describes this in Romans 12 and 1 corinthians12:

 

 

Apostles oversee the whole team and coordinate everything. The apostle and the other fivefold ministry form an apostolic team.

 

Regarding the building of the church, let’s consider the following verses:

 

 

It says that the church is built upon the foundation of apostles and prophets. Does it mean that prophets and apostles are the foundation of the church? No! How can it be when the same Paul says:

 

 

Jesus is both the foundation and the cornerstone of the church. So what is the job of apostle of prophets then? They work together to lay that foundation. God gives the apostle the overall picture, the pattern for building His church. God shows the apostle what is needed, just as he revealed to Moses and David how and what was needed to build the temple. The prophet gets involved in helping the apostle identify the parts and set them into their right place in the church. This enables the church to function properly as a living body and harmoniously.

 

This is a quick overview to help you understand how these ministries work and operate to extend the kingdom.

 

Let’s get back to the School of Tyrannus. When you read this verse, “10 And this continued for two years, so that all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.” Acts19:10, how do you think this happened? Do you think that the whole province of Asia heard Paul preach the word to them individually or through mass crusades? No, that’s not what happened, we don’t read that Paul was preaching the gospel to unbelievers for two years. But rather, “he departed from them and withdrew the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus. 10 And this continued for two years, so that all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.

 

What went on for two years? The Teaching in the School of Tyrannus. This was his focus. He applied the basic principles of discipleship as taught by the Lord Jesus. As an apostle Paul raised up evangelists who in turn imparted their passion for souls to believers. Whenever the evangelistic ministry functions properly, the whole body of Christ is transformed into real soul winners. It becomes a way of life. When believers catch that fire it spread like wild fire as we can see in Acts 8:4-8

 

 

Two kinds of disciples did the job here: the ordinary believers and Philip the evangelist. That’s how it works. Where were the apostles in all this?

 

At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.v1.

They were in Jerusalem they didn’t move and they didn’t need to. Do you know why? Because …

 

 

No they were not a lazy bunch of leaders, they did a work! The bible says clearly that believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teachings daily! At this point there is no differentiation. It is later when they are scattered that we find that the disciples where actually made up of fivefold ministers like Evangelist Philip. They were equipped by the apostles so that when they were scattered, they saw it as an opportunity to spread the gospel rather than an attack from Satan that they needed to fight and resist!

 

Paul applied the same principles in the School of Tyrannus. The disciples were receiving the “apostles teaching” daily from Paul. As a result they went out with the apostolic mantle and authority. Paul delegated that through the training!

 

Some of those disciples were trained as apostles, others as prophets, teachers, evangelists and pastors. Because they all had access to the same school and teachings even the believers without fivefold ministry calling were as powerful as the apostles themselves. Talking about Stephen who was a simple deacon, the Bible says,

 

 

Stephen was described as a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, a man full of grace and power performing miracles. He was full of the Word and God’s wisdom. These are the kinds of qualifications that God is interested in, not a piece of paper, but men and women, regardless of their position in the kingdom, should be full of power, faith, the word, the Spirit and God’s grace. Sometimes we are so hung up on positions and titles that we miss the point. Jesus said, “12 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. 13 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask^[c] anything in My name, I will do it.” John14:12-14

 

What’s the condition to do greater works than Jesus? To believe in Jesus! To be born again! Extending the kingdom is not the business of a few elite, as some like to believe and think.

 

Tell me how many deacons do you know who are doing a tenth of what Stephen did? Most deacons think that their job in the church is just administrative. But that is not true biblical thinking.

 

Did you know that Paul started this work in Ephesus with just 12 disciples who didn’t even know anything about the Holy Spirit (Acts19:2). He preached the full gospel to them and prayed that they might be baptized in the Holy Spirit. Now think about it. How did Paul and just 12 disciples preach the gospel to the whole province of Asia? By simply applying the discipleship principles taught by the Lord Jesus. It is quite interesting to see that even at Ephesus Paul started with 12 disciples just as Jesus did!

 

So we will apply the same principles of discipleship and training in the School of Tyrannus. Our task is to raise a workforce that will build the church and extend the kingdom. We will follow the ‘Solomon plan’ to build the church, God’s house and temple.

 

This is why Business is such a crucial part of this overall vision. Both Paul and Solomon Built the House of God by Incorporating Business into Ministry. We will follow their example but we will share more details in another article.