I bet you that this is a word that you haven't seen before. To be perfectly honest it is a word that I haven't seen before either. That is to say, not before God told it to me in a dream last night. You can look it up to see if it's in Strong's concordance, but it isn't. The two words Apostellos and oikos are in the bible separately, but this word is a conjunction that God made up.
I had a dream that God came and told me about a word I had never seen, nor heard of, meant (a word he used); That word was apoestelloikos. It's a contraction of two Greek words. Apostello meaning sent, commissioned, sent as a messenger, and oikos which means family and dwelling place of God. God said being sent by him isn't just a title such as apostle. Jesus was the progenitor of what it looks like to be sent. Romans 1:4 states, " and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord." The face value of this statement is straight forward. Holy Spirit testifies that Jesus is the son of God because he resurrected him from the dead. The interesting part of this statement is the word translated as appointed, horisthentos. According to Strong's concordance, horisthentos means to determine, I separate, mark off by boundaries, appoint, designate.
We are all sent in one way or another and we are sent with both power and authority. To be apostelloikos means to share in God's creative and exhortative power and to function within the borders and boundaries of righteousness thus leading others into the same full power and authority as a family member of Christ. To be sent by God is to be sent on a defined mission by a superior such as ruler, government official, or commissioning office etc." Apostello focuses us back to the source of the one sending, God, and strongly connects the sender to the one that is sent through the mission he is chosen to undertake. This verb is used as a means of closely connecting the God and Jesus to the believers that he personally commissions.
We see the root word horizos used again later in the New Testament in Ephesians 1:5, " he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will--." The word predestined is prohorizos. It means marked off before hand, determined beforehand, or separated beforehand. We share in the same sonship as Jesus and as such we are co-heirs (Romans 8:17), to everything that is promised Jesus, everything that he did, all of his miracles, all of his absolutely unlimited resources are at our disposal.
As I woke up, I quickly wrote down what I was told and I began to look into the two words and what they meant in Greek. I uncovered an even deeper revelation. God had not only sent us out per the great commission of Matthew 28, but he has sent us out as sons who are to resemble Jesus. God hasn't just sent out a messenger, or a servant, He has sent out his family. He sent his temple, his house, his tabernacle, his dwelling place into the world to be Him to them.
Look, I couldn't make this up, I'm not that smart. Oikos means family, and house. John 1:12-13 lets us know that we are now children of God, "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God." It is our right to be children to of God! I love that. It's not just a privilege or an honor to be a child of God, it's a right.
As ambassadors and representatives of God and we are his children that he has sent out. He sent his family in order to grow his family. In doing so he didn't just send us out, he empowered us and he gave us authority. Everything that was instructed of the disciples also pertains to us, Matthew 28 19-20 let's know that; "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” We see through that verse that Jesus commanded the disciples to teach us to walk in what he instructed them to walk in. Now let's look at one thing that Jesus commissioned the 72 to do; "When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick."
But how do we know for sure that Jesus was talking about us? How do we know for sure that He didn't just mean that he was talking to the first-generation church? Great questions. John 17 is how we know. "As you have sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me."
That statement that Jesus makes, 'Through their word.' That's proof enough for me. Here's the logic behind that. Matthew, and john were direct disciples of Jesus and because of what they have written in their accounting of the gospel we believe. Therefore, since we believe through their word, then we are to do the things that Jesus instructed them to instruct us to do.
Jesus didn't just send out the disciples, he also gave them power and authority. In the same manner he has not just sent us out. He has given us power and authority as well. The word apostellos, or a variant thereof, is used 133 times in the new testament. It is always used in correlation with a delegate, worker, servant, messenger or what have you that is sent out to perform a certain task. Each time that it is used it is correlated with either the working of a miracle at the time or a later time, or with authority and power to do something. No person is ever sent by an authority without the power to back them up.
This very same power and authority that the disciples had that drew people to Jesus and the disciples, is the very same power and authority that he has equipped his sons and daughters with in order to carry out the work that he has commanded us to do. It's imperative for you to understand that since you are sons and daughters that believe that the gospel is true you are sent and equipped by God. Jesus didn't even put a requirement of having to be told you are sent in order to operate in power and authority. He said, "And these signs shall follow them that believe;" All you have to do to have this power and authority as a son of God is 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. And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen."
Just as the disciples has done, it is time for us to do. They went from sent, to went. You can sit in your comfy church and enjoy a nice little message and never do the things that God commanded, but that doesn't mean that you aren't sent. It simply means that you aren't obedient. Obedience will cause you to submit to the will of God and go forth doing the things he told us to do. Submission not only means that you have been obedient, but it also means that you are now surrendering your will in exchange for the will of God almighty. When set transforms into went, and obedience transforms into submission then your lifestyle will transform into the supernatural. Then you be the apostelloikos, the family of God that has been sent forth.
Right on! Go God! I love this.