Hallelujah! We are living in these days in the church in Philadelphia. Do you know why all this is happening? Because the Lord has raised a new work center. The first work center was in Jerusalem. The church in Jerusalem was born on the day of Pentecost. The church life was so good there that no one went out. Because of this, there was no work. There was the church, but not the work or spreading. But the will of God is that the church propagate through all the earth. So the Lord raised up persecution. When the persecution happened, the disciples went out except for the apostles.
Where did Philip go? Acts 8:5 says, “And Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed the Christ to them.” What did he go to do? Run away? Escape? No! He went there to preach the gospel. Hallelujah! After Samaria he went to the Ethiopian eunuch. That became a pattern for the spreading in the work. So through the persecution the disciples except the apostles went to various places preaching the gospel. Spontaneously the spreading took place and many churches were raised.
The second center of the work that we see is in Acts 13 with the church in Antioch. There was a genuine church with all kinds of people. In this environment the Holy Spirit set apart Saul and Barnabas for the work to which He have called them. So they went out to visit many cities. Paul was greatly used by the Lord, principally to give the revealed word of the Lord to us.
But Paul’s ministry needed to be complemented. At the end of Paul’s ministry almost all abandoned him (2 Tim. 1:15; 4:10, 16). Degradation had entered into the churches. Then the Lord raised another work center about 25 years later. John was raised to do what the Lord desired–mend the nets. The characteristic of this new work center was the perfecting. John was just perfecting the saints in Ephesus. How do we know? Third John verse 3 says, “For I rejoiced greatly at the brothers’ coming and testifying to your steadfastness in the truth, even as you walk in truth.” This means that were brothers who went to Gaius and back to John. Gaius stayed in Corinth and John in Ephesus. Ephesus was Asia Minor and Corinth was Achaia, They had to cross the sea to go between these places. There were people who would go and come back giving a good testimony of Gaius. “I have no greater joy than these things, that I hear that my children are walking in the truth. Beloved, you do faithfully in whatever you have wrought for the brothers, and this for strangers” (3 John 4-5). This means that Gaius received the people who came from Ephesus, people going from Asia Minor who were passing through Corinth. Gaius gave them hospitality. He did not just receive them. Verse 6 says, “Who testified to your love before the church; whom you will do well to send forward in a manner worthy of God.” Gaius not only received the saints and gave them hospitality, but also sent them forward. This means that he also supplied all the needs for the way, including the financial needs. The ones from Asia Minor were strangers in Achaia. Even so, Gaius received them. Were they there as tourists? No! Verses 7-8 say, “For on behalf of the Name they went out, taking nothing from the Gentiles. We therefore ought to support such ones that we may become fellow workers in the truth.”
This is the new way, the new pattern. Even though we have just a few words in Third John, it is enough to show the pattern of John’s work. John was already old. He was not like Paul when he went out with Barnabas. So John perfected the saints so that they would go. This way really works! This is what the Lord wants to do. This truly is a blending of the examples of Jerusalem and Antioch. This is the way that will conquer the earth. This is why we are here perfecting you and we are also being perfected together with you. We are being perfected for the work of the ministry. We all must see this way, the way were the one-talent saints exercise until we all arrive. We must see the way of the new work center in Ephesus where the saints are perfected for the work of the ministry. This raised the standard of the work to a higher level. How far Paul or Barnabas or Peter or any of their co-workers could reach was still limited, but now all are reaching out. This is what is happening among us. Where just one person used to do the outreach, many are doing the outreach now. The saints are reaching out in many parts of Brazil, in Africa, and in Europe. Each member of the body of Christ is assuming responsibility. There is no way anymore to hold back the work of the Lord! If we continue helping the one-talent ones to exercise their gifts to develop their ministries, if we continue following the example of the work in Ephesus, if we continue depending on the Lord with humbleness, if we continue letting the Lord perfect us, if we continue seeking growth in life and perfecting, if we continue seeking to be transformed, if we continue denying ourselves, taking up the cross and following the Lord, and if we continue to exercise unto the work of the ministry for the building up of the body of Christ, our growth is inevitable and the will of God will be done! Jesus is Lord!
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