Good Morning!
We would like to invite you to come to our A.C.T.S. Service (All Churches Training Service) this Saturday (1/26/08)
at 6 pm in the Rainier Assembly of God Fellowship Hall. Everyone is welcome! Now for a continuation of the teaching
series that we began last week on Misconceptions about Anointing.
(You can view last week's part 1 newsletter of this series as well as all of our past newsletters on our web site at
www.kingdompowernow.com )
Anointing Misconception #2- Anointing Equals Divine Endorsement of Ministry Style
Probably the biggest hurdle that modern day prophetic ministries must deal with, is the baggage that previous
prophetic ministries have left behind. Sometimes, prophetic ministries operate in a manner that are unbecoming and
often leave messes for local leaders to clean up.
There are a few major challenges that past prophetic ministers and many modern day ministers operate in that are
un-Godly and destructive to the church. Some well meaning prophetic ministers have been trained that they can
operate in any manner that they feel led to because they can hear from God. This is purely wrong. Prophetic
Ministers just like the other four portions of the five fold ministers (Eph. 4:11-16), as well as all parts of the Church
Body need to not only operate in the Gifts of the Spirit but also in the Fruits of the Spirit.
Galatians 5:22-25
22 "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23
gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no
law. 24 And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25. If we live in the
Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit."
Too many of those that operate in the gifts don't include these attributes but instead operate in selfish ambitions.
This is one of the attributes listed just before the fruits of the Spirit, in what we can call the "fruits of the flesh."
Galatians 5:19-21
19 "Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20
idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies,
21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you
in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God."
When anointed people are more interested in showing off their gifts than protecting the body of Christ, they are
willing to cross the lines of these
characteristics. This is a sad state of affairs and has left a blight on the church and prophetic ministry that doesn't
need to be there. It has left many churches and ministries afraid (for good reason!) to again allow these kinds of
ministries back into their flocks.
Many prophetic people have been taught or trained that the message that they receive is more important than the
style that they deliver it in. This is wrong! When a message is delivered in an un-Godly manner (defined by the
previously quoted scriptures) they compromise the message. In other words the"style of delivery" can neutralize the
message or even make something that God planned to be a positive into a negative. I have seen too many times
when a powerful message was heard and delivered to a congregation but the message style scared people so much
that the message was lost.
Some prophetic ministers do not know any better. They have been either poorly trained or have gone untrained.
Some have been so marginalized because of their gift, that they continue to go untrained or act out of hurt and
thereby increase their alienation. This leads to one of the other causes of poor
ministry style.
A lack of relationship and accountability have led to a self-propitiating cycle of rebellious ministry style. Allow me to
explain this. When those that can hear from God are ignored, they become frustrated and feel that they must prove
themselves by expressing what God has shown them. Sometimes this comes across in an unflattering manner. This
forces leaders to continually misunderstand them and keep them away from the sheep, lest they hurt them further.
Remember, pastors are called to be the shepherds and have a strong priority to protect their sheep. Alienation by
leadership usually ends up breaking another cardinal rule of not allowing the gifted person to be held accountable.
Ministers, no matter what their giftings must be accountable to someone. When the senior leader in a church
allows someone to fill the pulpit or even lead a Sunday school class or home group, he is giving them referant
authority. The senior leader is allowing the gifted person to speak to the very people that God will hold the senior
leader accountable for. So the senior leader must trust these teachers and leaders that they will not harm or mislead
his members. The trust that he extends is called referent authority. It is his authority that he is allowing them to
operate in. It is trust. When a local leader or guest speaker comes in under this authority and trust, he could
potentially injure the sheep. This can happen intentionally or accidentally. No matter how it happens, it leaves a mess
of injured parishioners that the pastor must deal with and get healed up. It is no wonder that senior leaders are so
apprehensive to allow prophetic people to minister.
The answer to this is dilemma is the gifted people coming into accountability in a local church. This includes
allowing those with other gifts to be able to speak into the gifted person's life. Many gifted people believe that this will
neuter them and their gift. This is absolutely not true. It will bring balance to their gift and to the church.
Kingdom Power Now Ministries and Lower Columbia Healing Rooms believes so strongly in this, that we have
purposely built accountability and stop-gaps into all of our areas of ministry. We have a board that is made up of
three senior pastors, a businessman and an intercessor that have access to every aspect of our ministries. Every
person whether a leader or a team member, must be in good written relationship with their church and pastor in order
to be involved.
Our leaders are all involved in accountable leadership roles in local churches as well as meeting weekly with an
accountability group. None of this is an accident. We believe that this under-girds our ministry and encourages
growth. It also lessens the opportunity for failure.
Manners, accountability and correct use of referent authority will lead to fewer injuries to the body of Christ. Just
because somebody can hear from God, does not mean that God is impressed, pleased or even tolerant of their
behavior. We too often assume that because someone can operate in a gift successfully that God must have His
stamp of approval on their ministry. This is not necessarily true. As we discussed in the last newsletter, gifts are given
without repentance (see www.kingdompowernow.com newsletters). We seem to be more apt to extend grace when it
is the gift of teaching, than when it is a supernatural gift. We also tend to allow teachers to express their opinion more
openly and often than we do a prophetic person. However, from God's point of view, the teaching gift versus the
prophetic gift is not anymore anointed. The supernatural gifts to Him are not as impressive as they are to us. He is
more interested in us being worshippers than us being leaders. He is also more apt to extend grace more evenly to
all of the gifts than we are.
In closing, if you are gifted by the Lord in one ofthe supernatural giftings (everyone is gifted in some form!!) or if
you are striving to be used in a greater measure by the Lord, seek ways to come into accountability and level of trust
within your local church so that you can be trusted. Accountability leads to self-government. God wants this as well as
church leaders. This takes time. In fact, it is not how you respond in the easy times that will prove your level of
maturity but your actions in the challenging times. Let's work together to bring "unity in our faith and knowledge of
God's Son that we will be mature and full grown in the Lord, measuring up to the full stature of Christ. Then
we will no longer be like children, forever changing our minds about what we believe because someone has
told us something different or because someone has cleverly lied to us and made the lie sound like the truth.
Instead, we will hold to the truth in love, becoming more and more in every way like Christ, who is the head of
his body, the church. Under his direction, the whole body is fitted together perfectly. As each part does its
own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of
love." (Eph. 4:13-16 NIV)
Working while it is still day,
Pastor Jeff McCracken and the Kingdom Power Now Ministry Team
www.kingdompowernow.com
We would like to invite you to come to our A.C.T.S. Service (All Churches Training Service) this Saturday (1/26/08)
at 6 pm in the Rainier Assembly of God Fellowship Hall. Everyone is welcome! Now for a continuation of the teaching
series that we began last week on Misconceptions about Anointing.
(You can view last week's part 1 newsletter of this series as well as all of our past newsletters on our web site at
www.kingdompowernow.com )
Anointing Misconception #2- Anointing Equals Divine Endorsement of Ministry Style
Probably the biggest hurdle that modern day prophetic ministries must deal with, is the baggage that previous
prophetic ministries have left behind. Sometimes, prophetic ministries operate in a manner that are unbecoming and
often leave messes for local leaders to clean up.
There are a few major challenges that past prophetic ministers and many modern day ministers operate in that are
un-Godly and destructive to the church. Some well meaning prophetic ministers have been trained that they can
operate in any manner that they feel led to because they can hear from God. This is purely wrong. Prophetic
Ministers just like the other four portions of the five fold ministers (Eph. 4:11-16), as well as all parts of the Church
Body need to not only operate in the Gifts of the Spirit but also in the Fruits of the Spirit.
Galatians 5:22-25
22 "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23
gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no
law. 24 And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25. If we live in the
Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit."
Too many of those that operate in the gifts don't include these attributes but instead operate in selfish ambitions.
This is one of the attributes listed just before the fruits of the Spirit, in what we can call the "fruits of the flesh."
Galatians 5:19-21
19 "Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20
idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies,
21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you
in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God."
When anointed people are more interested in showing off their gifts than protecting the body of Christ, they are
willing to cross the lines of these
characteristics. This is a sad state of affairs and has left a blight on the church and prophetic ministry that doesn't
need to be there. It has left many churches and ministries afraid (for good reason!) to again allow these kinds of
ministries back into their flocks.
Many prophetic people have been taught or trained that the message that they receive is more important than the
style that they deliver it in. This is wrong! When a message is delivered in an un-Godly manner (defined by the
previously quoted scriptures) they compromise the message. In other words the"style of delivery" can neutralize the
message or even make something that God planned to be a positive into a negative. I have seen too many times
when a powerful message was heard and delivered to a congregation but the message style scared people so much
that the message was lost.
Some prophetic ministers do not know any better. They have been either poorly trained or have gone untrained.
Some have been so marginalized because of their gift, that they continue to go untrained or act out of hurt and
thereby increase their alienation. This leads to one of the other causes of poor
ministry style.
A lack of relationship and accountability have led to a self-propitiating cycle of rebellious ministry style. Allow me to
explain this. When those that can hear from God are ignored, they become frustrated and feel that they must prove
themselves by expressing what God has shown them. Sometimes this comes across in an unflattering manner. This
forces leaders to continually misunderstand them and keep them away from the sheep, lest they hurt them further.
Remember, pastors are called to be the shepherds and have a strong priority to protect their sheep. Alienation by
leadership usually ends up breaking another cardinal rule of not allowing the gifted person to be held accountable.
Ministers, no matter what their giftings must be accountable to someone. When the senior leader in a church
allows someone to fill the pulpit or even lead a Sunday school class or home group, he is giving them referant
authority. The senior leader is allowing the gifted person to speak to the very people that God will hold the senior
leader accountable for. So the senior leader must trust these teachers and leaders that they will not harm or mislead
his members. The trust that he extends is called referent authority. It is his authority that he is allowing them to
operate in. It is trust. When a local leader or guest speaker comes in under this authority and trust, he could
potentially injure the sheep. This can happen intentionally or accidentally. No matter how it happens, it leaves a mess
of injured parishioners that the pastor must deal with and get healed up. It is no wonder that senior leaders are so
apprehensive to allow prophetic people to minister.
The answer to this is dilemma is the gifted people coming into accountability in a local church. This includes
allowing those with other gifts to be able to speak into the gifted person's life. Many gifted people believe that this will
neuter them and their gift. This is absolutely not true. It will bring balance to their gift and to the church.
Kingdom Power Now Ministries and Lower Columbia Healing Rooms believes so strongly in this, that we have
purposely built accountability and stop-gaps into all of our areas of ministry. We have a board that is made up of
three senior pastors, a businessman and an intercessor that have access to every aspect of our ministries. Every
person whether a leader or a team member, must be in good written relationship with their church and pastor in order
to be involved.
Our leaders are all involved in accountable leadership roles in local churches as well as meeting weekly with an
accountability group. None of this is an accident. We believe that this under-girds our ministry and encourages
growth. It also lessens the opportunity for failure.
Manners, accountability and correct use of referent authority will lead to fewer injuries to the body of Christ. Just
because somebody can hear from God, does not mean that God is impressed, pleased or even tolerant of their
behavior. We too often assume that because someone can operate in a gift successfully that God must have His
stamp of approval on their ministry. This is not necessarily true. As we discussed in the last newsletter, gifts are given
without repentance (see www.kingdompowernow.com newsletters). We seem to be more apt to extend grace when it
is the gift of teaching, than when it is a supernatural gift. We also tend to allow teachers to express their opinion more
openly and often than we do a prophetic person. However, from God's point of view, the teaching gift versus the
prophetic gift is not anymore anointed. The supernatural gifts to Him are not as impressive as they are to us. He is
more interested in us being worshippers than us being leaders. He is also more apt to extend grace more evenly to
all of the gifts than we are.
In closing, if you are gifted by the Lord in one ofthe supernatural giftings (everyone is gifted in some form!!) or if
you are striving to be used in a greater measure by the Lord, seek ways to come into accountability and level of trust
within your local church so that you can be trusted. Accountability leads to self-government. God wants this as well as
church leaders. This takes time. In fact, it is not how you respond in the easy times that will prove your level of
maturity but your actions in the challenging times. Let's work together to bring "unity in our faith and knowledge of
God's Son that we will be mature and full grown in the Lord, measuring up to the full stature of Christ. Then
we will no longer be like children, forever changing our minds about what we believe because someone has
told us something different or because someone has cleverly lied to us and made the lie sound like the truth.
Instead, we will hold to the truth in love, becoming more and more in every way like Christ, who is the head of
his body, the church. Under his direction, the whole body is fitted together perfectly. As each part does its
own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of
love." (Eph. 4:13-16 NIV)
Working while it is still day,
Pastor Jeff McCracken and the Kingdom Power Now Ministry Team
www.kingdompowernow.com
| Newsletter for 1/25/08- Anointing Misconception #2- Anointing Equals Divine Endorsement of Ministry Style |