THE POWER IN PARTNERSHIP

Why spend so much time on partnership?  Why must we connect?  In Ephesians 4:16 the Apostle Paul talks about it.  He writes, “For because of Him the whole body (the church, in all its various parts), closely joined and firmly knit together by the joints and ligaments with which it is supplied, when each part [with power adapted to its need] is working properly [in all its functions], grows to full maturity, building itself up in love.  The Apostle Paul is telling us that we cannot get the most out of our body until each part begins to work together.  Why is partnership so important?  Well just think about your right arm for a second.  Let’s start with your fingers and thumb.  Imagine if your thumb wouldn’t partner with your index finger and work together.  That thumb could get little to nothing done by itself and that index finder could get little to nothing done by itself.  However, when they partner and work together they can accomplish things together that they never could have accomplished as individuals.  Now imagine if your other three fingers would not partner up with your index finger and thumb and imagine how much more they could do if they partnered up and worked together.  Let’s say that they do partner up and all your fingers and your thumb is working together, but they won’t partner up with actual hand itself.  Now the hand is trying to do things without the fingers and it can’t accomplish those things, and the fingers and thumb are trying to do things without the hand that they can’t accomplish.  One day they partner up.  Now the fingers and the hand are working together and they are really getting some things done.  Imagine now that the forearm and hand will not partner up.  So the hand can do some things without the forearm and the forearm can do some things without the hand, but one day they partner up.  Now they can accomplish things together that they never could have before.  The problem now is the upper arm (bicep and shoulder) is not partnered with the forearm.  Consequently there are things that they can both do alone, but they each cannot accomplish alone what they could if they partnered and worked together.  So they partner up and now you have a whole right arm that can accomplish so much more than the thumb could as an individual.  Every time a partnership was made the thumb got stronger and was able to do more.  You see now why one can put a thousand to flight, but two can put 10,000 to flight.  That’s the power in partnership.

Partnership becomes powerful when the two parts involved purposely come together to accomplish one goal.  Biblical partnership is not just something that you can be loose with.  You have to know the goal and the vision that you are striving towards and then work together to accomplish that vision.  Imagine if the thumb and the index finger were loose with their partnership and neither of them knew what the other was trying to accomplish.  Now they weren’t against each other, but they weren’t purposely involved together through partnership.  When you partner with Matthew Allaria Ministries we are purposely working together to take the uncompromised Word of God all over the world, teaching people how to walk in their authority and dominion as believers, so that they can experience days of Heaven on the Earth.  Biblical partnership is not loose; it’s holy, sacred, and God-ordained.  Biblical partnership is two parts purposely becoming involved in each other to accomplish a common goal and there is nothing loose or casual about it.

Somebody might say, “Well why do we need to partner up with individual ministries when we are all supposed to be partnered up with the whole body of Christ?”  Well look back at that example and think about the first partnership that took place; the thumb and index finger.  Now think about the limitations of the arm as whole if those two wouldn’t have partnered up first.  The thumb and index finger have to partner up first before they can reach their full potential and be beneficial to the arm are as a whole.  I might be the thumb in the Body of Christ, but before I can operate at my fullest potential and be beneficial to the body as a whole, I need to partner up with that index finger.  You might be a pinky in the body of Christ, but before you can fully benefit the Body of Christ as a whole you’ve got to get connected with the ministry that God is calling you to get connected with.  When you get connected with that ministry and they begin to minister the Word of God to you and the gifts that flow in their lives are flowing in your life then you are growing stronger as an individual.  When you begin to support that ministry the way God tells you to support it, you are strengthening that ministry and enhancing it.  Through partnership each one of you as individuals has reached a place where you are more beneficial to the body as a whole.  Let’s say for instance that God is calling you to partner with Matthew Allaria Ministries.  That means that you have something to offer us and we have something to offer you as well.  Now individually without one another we can’t reach our fullest potential, but together we can.   So you partner with us and we begin to minister the Word of God to you.  Now you’re growing spiritually and the same gifts and anointings that are in my life come to you through partnership.  You’re supporting this ministry with prayer, finances, or whatever other way God tells you to support this ministry.  Consequently, this ministry is able to do things that we couldn’t do before you were supporting us, and you are reaching a place spiritually and doing things in the Kingdom of God that you couldn’t do prior to us supporting you.  Through this partnership each one of us has reached a place as individuals that we never could have reached without this partnership and now we are more beneficial to the Body of Christ as a whole.

I’m not talking about separating the body of Christ through partnership.   I’m talking about bringing it together through the partnership.  The last thing we need is more separation.  I’m talking about you partnering up with the church and ministries that you’re supposed to be partnered with so that the Body of Christ can come together as a whole.  There are ministries out there that you are not called to individually partner up with because you’re not called in that area.  It doesn’t mean that ministry is wrong in what they are doing; it just means that you’re not called to partner with them.  That doesn’t mean you’re against them or they are against you, it just means that God isn’t calling you to partner with them.  Take a church for instance.  Have you ever been in a church that you just didn’t feel comfortable in?  You just didn’t feel like that was the place for you.  But all around you that church is ministering to people and people are receiving the Word of God.  I’m not talking about a church that is preaching some junk that isn’t the Word of God.  I’m talking about a place that is preaching the Word of God, but you just don’t feel at home.  Well that doesn’t mean that the Church is bad or the Pastor is wrong.  It just means God’s not calling you to partner with them. 

I heard it described like this.  Imagine the goal of the Body Christ is like building a house.  You have some in the Body of Christ who are called and anointed to do the plumbing, some who are called to do the electrical work, some who are called to put the roof on, and so on.  The plumber is not against the electrician and the electrician is not against the plumber.  They are working together to build the house, but individually in what God has called them to do.  They are both on the same page with the blueprint and they are both striving towards a common goal.  However, to reach that common goal the electrician and plumber each have individual assignments that they must accomplish before the bigger goal will be reached.  They both know that without each other they won’t experience the most out of their trade.  Without electricity you can have all the plumbing you want, but you won’t get the most out of that plumbing because the water will not be hot.  Without the plumbing you can have all the electricity that you want, but the house with the nice electricity in it is going to smell like pig farm because you cannot get rid of the sewage, nor take a shower.  The electricity and plumbing together will give you a fully functioning house that is nice to live in.  You might not be called to do the plumbing or support the plumbing in the Body of Christ, but you shouldn’t be against the plumbers.  You should be for them and on the same page with them because without them the house is in trouble.  At the same time, if the plumbers start going against the blueprint and try to put the toilet on the roof then things have to change.  You still love the plumbers, you pray for the plumbers, you don’t talk negatively about them, but you can’t partner with that or agree with that.  When people preach some junk that’s not the word of God and get away from the blueprint of God’s Word, you still love those people, you pray for them, you don’t talk negatively about them, but as a believer you can’t agree with that or partner with that because you don’t want a toilet on the roof of your house.  Ideally, what we will have is every branch of construction working together on the same blueprint towards reaching the common goal of finishing the house.  Ideally in the Body of Christ what you have is each branch of gifts and anointings doing their part individually working on the same blueprint to reach the common goal of producing Heaven on the Earth and winning the world for the Kingdom of God.

Let’s look again at Ephesians 4:16.  It says, “For because of Him the whole body (the church, in all its various parts), closely joined and firmly knit together by the joints and ligaments with which it is supplied, when each part [with power adapted to its need] is working properly [in all its functions], grows to full maturity, building itself up in love.  There are two very important things to take note of in this scripture.  The first is when the Apostle Paul says, “When each part.”  This word part is obviously where we get our word “partnership.”  That means that each part has a role to play in this partnership if we are going to be successful.  The second thing we need to look at is, “each part has power adapted to its need” and when that part works properly it benefits the whole Body of Christ.  Every member of the Body of Christ has a special gift and anointing in their life that God has given them to benefit the body as a whole.  You have a special gift and anointing on your life that God has given to you.  That gift is to benefit the Body of Christ and meet the needs of people.  If God has called you to partner with this ministry you have a part to play and the anointing to play that part and that’s something that you should never take lightly.