Ephesians Part 67

INTRO: This is the last message on the first part of the practical section of the book of Ephesians which is 4:1-16. It deals with the unity of the church. God provided some very crucial people to bring about this unity. Verses 11-12 say:

11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,

12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,

I believe the apostles and prophets of the Church, those that provided the NT for us ceased when the NT was completed. From there, evangelists, pastors and teachers have continued, having been supplied with the complete NT. I was going to give you a history of what happened to the early apostles and prophets, but my message got too long. Let me just say almost all of them were martyred. I'm not sure we would so readily call ourselves apostles or prophets today if premature death was the most likely outcome.
We are in the last message on the first part of the practical section of the book of Ephesians. We have been looking at the call to walk in unity. I believe that what is viewed as unity among churches today is far from the unity expressed in this passage. Only when individual believers are matured spiritually can there be any real unity between churches.