When apostles and prophets work together

In Eph. 2:19-20 we see this infrastructure metaphor touched on: Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.

The role of both apostles and prophets is to work together to build the foundation of the Kingdom where the Kingdom has not yet reached.[1] Paul refers to this idea of the apostle as a foundation builder (see particularly Rom. 15:20; 1Cor 3:10).

Now imagine a builder trying to build a foundation without the information from the Master Architect? That is where the prophets come in. They are especially gifted to listen for the voice of God and understand. They are so crucial to apostolic foundation laying that Paul actually has them working together in the foundation laying. I may have good, strategic ideas; but without the prophetic I’m not sure if they are just my ideas or divine direction.

• Have you ever wondered why those particular five gifts were mentioned in Eph. 4:11-12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ? 
• Do the metaphors of foundations and infrastructure make sense to you? 
• What is keeping us from having a movement of the Spirit? Could it be that Christendom has emphasized certain of these gifts, nearly ignored others, and doesn’t allow them to work together under the coordination of the Master Architect? 
• What would the Western Church look like if it took these gifts as seriously as we see the Early Church taking them? 

from: http://thejesusvirus.org/2010/12/27/infrastructure-gifts/ 

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 [1] Or, like in the Western world where the Kingdom is in such bad repair that the Holy Spirit needs to start over or do a huge remodel.

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PHOTOS:
Laying blocks by maddavethorp @ Flickr.com
Chackbay Church by Sschex @ Flickr.com