Romans 1:5

through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations,

Paul declares that we have received apostleship but we are not all apostles. There is a distinction between title and actions. The point of the word apostleship is to identify that we are called because apostle means called. We are not all called to do the same thing because if that were so only one element of kingdom living would be attended to leaving all other needs unattended.

How we come to understand what we are called to do comes by faith and that cannot be identified apart from the Word of God. Knowing His Word will lead us by faith to our own calling.

“To bring about” is a qualifying statement which indicates a thing that happens to us and not necessarily a thing of our own choosing. If we all chose to do what we wanted there would be a large number of needs unfulfilled. Grace given is unmerited and should not be given to only those we deem worthy.

Christ told us not to judge others. Judging others withholds graces that we are given to share and not keep to ourselves as if it were a gift only meant for ourselves. Sharing the love of God is the objective of the command, love one another. Agape love is not ours to be hoarded.

John 13:34

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

New commandments for a new way for a new purpose that can only be discovered in Christ.

Isaiah 43:19

Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

Do we perceive it? It cannot be perceived without faith, without the Word of Christ.

Romans 10:17

So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

2 Timothy 2:15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Proverbs is the twentieth book of the bible and there are a lot of things to be learned before we hear this Word of the Lord in trusting Him and not our own understanding. Many of those things that come before this instruction were mistakes made by others that came before us. We are taught to avoid the mistakes of the past by studying the mistakes of others.

What if the only mistake any of those that came before us was not trusting the Lord?

The structure of the bible is laid out so that all the words and acts of the prophets come after the psalms and proverbs. Many of the promises to come are contained in those books of the bible and up until that point they seem to be written to humble us and encourage us to worship God.

The issue of following this God set before us in the wilderness experience was a purge of the unbelieving who died in the wilderness and never entered into the promised land. All died before entering except Joshua and Caleb who had spied out the promised land and believed God when God declared He would give them that promise in spite of the giants in the land.

That was one promise and one faith in which only two men believed. Even Moses and Aaron died without reaching the promised land.

Here we stand four thousand years later and the issue of who possesses the promise is still being fought over by agencies that have not learned the lessons of history. They have failed to acknowledge God in all their ways.

Proverbs 14:12

There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.

Then came the warning.

Jeremiah 26:13-15 English Standard Version

13 Now therefore mend your ways and your deeds, and obey the voice of the Lord your God, and the Lord will relent of the disaster that he has pronounced against you. 14 But as for me, behold, I am in your hands. Do with me as seems good and right to you. 15 Only know for certain that if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood upon yourselves and upon this city and its inhabitants, for in truth the Lord sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears.”