Well, amazingly I'm gonna try to start blogging again, and we'll see how it goes. O.k., so I remember hearing a teaching on the radio about how the apostles that started the church were given all the gifts of the Spirit so that they could accomplish the great works of God that were needed to get the Church up and running and be able to succeed against all the opposition and trials they were facing. The teaching said that after the Church was established, the apostle was no longer needed and the giftings were then given out to believers by the Spirit but that noone had all the gifts as the first apostles did. This made sense to me at the time but I see something in the Word that brings about some questioning to this frame of mind. First is Eph. 4:11 and 1 Cor 12:27 which list the gifts God gave to the Church, and the first one listed is 'apostle'. So, already the idea of an apostle only being one of the 12 and Paul seems perhaps not true. However, I wonder, as I have before, if our modern day missionaries are really what we would call an 'apostle' since they are the ones who go to 'all the world' to preach the gospel. Hmmm Then, about the gifts being distributed among believers so that noone has all of the gifts at once: There are many verses that state that different gifts are given to different people and we all work together in these giftings,( as a well oiled maching-or Body has many parts that need to work together). However, then we have 1 Cor. 14: 1 and 12 that seem to be saying that we should desire all gifts that would build the Body. Am I reading more into that than I should? Because most of the other passages about gifts say that 'to one is given the gift of ...' and it seems to be saying only one gift is given to each person. Hmm Does anybody have any more Scripture passages that they know of that will help me understand this all correctly? Do we all start out with one main gift and then we ask God to con't giving us more? I know also that 1 Cor 1:7 says that, " Now you have every spiritual gift you need as you eagerly wait for the return of our Lord.." So, really not sure, and ultimately God gives gifts as He pleases, but I am just wondering if we are gifted initially with a particular gift and then given other gifts as needed or if we should desire to have all gifts working in us all the time. It's just a curiosity really. :) And does anyone know if missionaries are actually modern day apostles? Again, prob not really a big deal, but just would like to have a more clear understanding.