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Ordained: Appointed; instituted; established; invested with ministerial or pastoral functions; settled. Properly, to set; to establish in a particular office or order; hence, to invest with a ministerial function or sacerdotal power; as, to ordain a minister of the gospel. In America, men are ordained over a particular church and congregation, or as evangelists without the charge of a particular church, or as deacons in the episcopal church. To appoint; to decree. To set; to establish; to institute; to constitute; To set apart for an office; to appoint.
Greek: proorizo [pro-or-id’-zo] = predestinate [4], determine before [1], ordain [1]. from (pro) and (horizo); to limit in advance, i.e. (figurative) predetermine: - determine before, ordain, predestinate. Strong's Greek & Hebrew Dictionary. This verb is to be distinguished from proginōskō, "to foreknow;" the latter has special reference to the persons foreknown by God; " Vine's Expository Dictionary of Old Testament and New Testament Words.
This Greek word for ordained {KJV} is the idea of God providing for man, his fall and his redemption, all at the same time: before the world even was created or began. This is truly a mystery hidden in God for the church to have confidence and power and using them accordingly. If one has no confidence, it is literally impossible to engage with him for he will never be a challenge to any man or demon or devil, which is his spiritual quest in this life, but will be absent in the next life.
God has truly equipped us to do the work of the ministry which is clearly defined in Mark 16:17-19 (KJV) And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven and sat on the right hand of God. These are the four important parts of the church’s ministry which was given to the church just prior to his ascension. {See verse 19} This makes this portion of scripture perhaps the most important task of the church, yet most churches have little to do with most of it, except the fact that they focus on the born-again experience.
I met with a salesman who was a believer and in the quest of communicating with him, he asked me this simple question. What do I think about Billy Graham’s ministry and where it took the country and church. I explained to him this idea which I heard Billy explain with his own words. He commented that if he had it to do over again, he would do a much greater focus on the growing up of the church and not just the constant practice of getting folks born again, which is our ticket to a better life in the hereafter.
But let me give you an experience I had on a train traveling from Moody Bible Institute to Gary, Indiana where I was meeting a friend for thanksgiving dinner. I sat with a man who after conversation, I had an opening to question him about his experiences with God. He answered me this way. “Oh yes, I went down to the alter at one of Billy Graham’s crusades for after all, everybody does that, but it is just a formality and comes from pressure.” The year was 1967, I was 18 years old and was totally speechless. I had no way of refuting this gentleman’s perspective and this stuck with me for most of my early life and was a very confusing experience.
Today I understand it much more fully, but Billy’s words that day in the interview wowed me to look at life in a much different way. Perhaps this scripture in Mark 16:19 explains it all and should be a part of all the teaching in every church across the world. So why isn’t it?? This is what we are ordained to do, whatever your label on your building.
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