In our time, there are two types of ministry in the Christian church.
The first type of ministry is ministry according to the flesh. That is, a person carries out their service as a priest, counselor, evangelist, pastor, etc., using only their own abilities and human wisdom, without the participation of God and the Holy Spirit. People can undergo special training in educational institutions, seminaries, Bible schools, and universities and acquire extensive knowledge of the Bible, church history, and everything related to Christianity. And it is on the basis of this knowledge that people carry out their ministry, also guided in their service by the rules established in the church they belong to. For example, the sermon topic may be chosen according to a schedule set by that organization.
The second type of ministry in the church and in society is ministry in the Holy Spirit and in the power of God, with wisdom given by God. In this case, both the sermon topic and what will happen during the service are determined by God. He inspires the minister and acts through him by His Holy Spirit.
The Apostle Paul understood the difference between ministry that a person carries out by the efforts of their flesh and ministry that is inspired by the Holy Spirit, where the Holy Spirit Himself speaks through the minister, gives him God's wisdom, and performs signs and wonders through him, such as healings and the casting out of demons.
1 Corinthians 2:4-7, 12-13 (ESV likely, but spirit matches RV1960/KJV):
4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
5 so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
6 Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away.
7 But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory.
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12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.
13 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.
The apostle clearly distinguishes human wisdom (which can be learned and known from people of this world, who are influenced by the spirit of this sinful world—it is even called demonic wisdom, since the spirit of this world is the spirit of Satan; demons and all fallen beings operate in this spirit) from the wisdom that is given by the Holy Spirit of God.
During the ministry of Jesus Christ, a clash of interests occurred between these two types of ministry—that is, carnal ministry and ministry led by the Spirit of God acting through Christ.
The religious leaders of Christ's time were confident that they served God and that their teaching was the only correct and true one. But as it turned out, they were blind and deaf and did not hear what the Holy Spirit of God was saying to them. Moreover, representatives of carnal ministry opposed what God was doing; that is, they began to hinder the ministry of Jesus Christ and ultimately betrayed Him to death on the cross of Golgotha. In other words, people who thought they were serving God became enemies of God.
Clergy in the religious system who have no relationship with God, do not hear Him, and do not act according to His will will destroy both themselves and their followers because they are led by the wisdom of this world and act by the strength of their flesh.
Matthew 15:14 (ESV):
Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.
Matthew 23:16, 24 (ESV):
16 Woe to you, blind guides...
24 You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!
The religious system, driven by human wisdom, tries with all its might to present itself before people as especially honoring God and as the only correct and true one. But in fact, it is at enmity with God and His messengers, does not know God, and does not hear Him.
Matthew 23:29-34 (ESV):
29 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous,
30 saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’
31 Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.
32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers.
33 You serpents, you brood of vipers! How are you to escape being sentenced to hell?
34 Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town,
The one driven by his flesh persecutes the one driven by the Holy Spirit, and the deaf persecutes the one who hears God.
"You serpents,you brood of vipers!" This means children of the devil or Satan. Jesus called children of the devil those who are led in their ministry by their flesh and human wisdom.
How can one distinguish a minister who is driven by his flesh and the spirit of this world from a minister who is led by the Spirit of God?
The Apostle Paul gives instruction on this matter.
2 Corinthians 12:12 (ESV):
The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works.
The word "apostle" means messenger or one sent by God. And for one who is chosen for ministry and sent by God, there will be specific signs, since it is through him that God Himself speaks and acts. Therefore, the fruits of God's Spirit will be manifested, and the power of God's Spirit will be displayed, performing signs and wonders through the minister.
The same thing happened in the ministry of Jesus Christ, who is for us the example of a true servant of God. That is, through Jesus Christ, people were shown God the Father Himself—His character—as Jesus Himself said: "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father" and also: "I and the Father are one."
John 14:8-12 (ESV):
8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”
9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.
11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.
12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.
What Jesus said and taught was God the Father Himself speaking through Him, and all the signs, wonders, and power manifested through Jesus Christ in His ministry were performed by God the Father Himself through the Holy Spirit.
And Jesus said: "Whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do." That is, through the one who believes in Christ, God the Father will also speak and act by His Holy Spirit in the ministry that this believer carries out according to God's will.
For example, God the Father acted through the Apostle Paul.
Romans 15:18-19 (ESV):
18 For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience—by word and deed,
19 by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God—so that from Jerusalem and all the way around to Illyricum I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ;
We see that through the true messenger of God, God acted just as in the ministry of Jesus Christ—that is, He both spoke and performed signs and wonders by the power of the Spirit of God.
To some religious leaders of Christ's time, God eventually gave insight, and they realized that Jesus Christ was the true messenger or apostle from God. This happened, for example, to Nicodemus, who understood that God was acting through Jesus Christ.
John 3:1-2 (ESV):
1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”
For us, it is better to follow ministers through whom God Himself speaks and acts, and not those who were appointed by men and who act according to the flesh, by their own strength and wisdom, rejecting God in their self-willed ministry and renouncing His Holy Spirit.
Matthew 15:13-14 (ESV):
13 He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up.
14 Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”
There are ministers whom God did not plant and appoint for ministry, and therefore He does not speak with them, nor does He speak or act through them. They are blind and lead their followers to destruction.
