Naylor Community Christian Church
Naylor, Georgia
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to 1 Corinthians
14:1-5
1
Corinthians 14:1 Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit,
especially prophecy. 2 For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to
people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them; they utter mysteries by the
Spirit. 3 But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening,
encouraging and comfort. 4 Anyone who speaks in a tongue edifies themselves,
but the one who prophesies edifies the church. 5 I would like every one of you
to speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy. The one who
prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone
interprets, so that the church may be edified.
-- while we don’t have these
positions in our congregation, in some local communities of faith, there is the
recognized office of the prophet or prophetess – some of you might be familiar
with these churches – I visited one several years ago and saw several of their
members wearing identification badges with their church positions on them – the
badges would have their name, and their church position listed underneath it –
so, it would say, “John Smith – Deacon,” or “Betty Jones – Sunday School
Teacher” – and as I wandered through the crowd, I bumped into several people
with badges identifying them as “Prophet” or “Prophetess,” which I thought was
highly interesting
-- well, the story is told about a
lady in one of these congregations who was an affirmed prophetess – during a
worship service, she stood up and announced that she had a word from the Lord
that she needed to share – the pastor recognized her and she began speaking,
“Thus saith the Lord, I am preparing a move in this country and I will divide
the true believers from the nonbelievers as I led Noah to divide the Red Sea in
the days of the Exodus” – and then she sat down
-- the pastor then led the
congregation in a time of quiet prayer and meditation to consider this word –
and a few people started whispering and murmuring throughout the room – “Did
she say Noah? – It wasn’t Noah – it was Moses that divided the Red Sea” – this
went on for a few moments, and, all of a sudden, the woman stood to her feet
again and announced, “I have another message from the Lord” – the pastor told
her to speak and she said, “Thus saith the Lord – I meant Moses”
-- this is obviously a joke – and I
want to be careful to not disparage anyone who is in these communities of faith
who feel like they have been called to this office in the church – I am
certainly not trying to make a statement about the validity of their calling --
I shared this story only as an introduction to our topic for today because it
speaks to the common understanding of biblical prophecy in our world today
-- as you know, we are currently in
our sermon series on the spiritual disciplines and the spiritual gifts – the
last time we met, we talked about the spiritual gifts of speaking in tongues
and the interpretation of tongues
–
this morning, we are going to discuss the spiritual gift of prophecy – which
happens to be one of the spiritual gifts that I have according to the spiritual
gifts survey that we took
--
I opened this message with the humorous story of the prophetess that got
confused between Noah and Moses simply to make a point – what you think the
spiritual gift of prophecy is, is probably not what it actually is – let me
explain
II. What is the Spiritual Gift of Prophecy
-- if you are like most people, when
you hear the term, “prophecy,” you immediately think it is a message that
foretells a future event – like the prophecies of Nostradamus or Elijah or
Isaiah in the Old Testament
–
and based on this understanding of prophecy, when it comes to biblical
prophecy, we believe that someone – a prophet or a prophetess – received a word
or a vision or a message from the Lord in some way that predicts what is going
to happen in the future
-- this is the common understanding
of prophecy and the role of a prophet in the church – that it always involves a
future foretelling – but I want to let you know that this is not true – at
least, not to any great extent
-- so, if the spiritual gift of
prophecy does not involve foretelling the future, what is it?
-- first and foremost, keep in mind
that this is a spiritual gift – it is not a natural gift or talent, but
something that is given through the Holy Spirit as He indwells us and empowers
us to do God’s will – we saw that in 1 Corinthians 12:10, when Paul listed the
spiritual gifts and he said that the gift of prophecy was given through the
Spirit for the common good
-- so, keep that in mind – anyone
who has the gift of prophecy has been given this gift from the Holy Spirit –
and, as we have discussed over the last few weeks, having this gift or any of
the other visible spiritual gifts doesn’t set you apart or make you more
special than the person who has a spiritual gift that mostly functions
behind-the-scenes
-- if we look back at 1 Corinthians
14 at the same passage we were in during our study of the gifts of tongues and
the interpretation of tongues, we can learn quite a bit about the spiritual
gift of prophecy
-- look back at verse 1
1
Corinthians 14:1 Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit,
especially prophecy. 2 For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to
people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them; they utter mysteries by the
Spirit. 3 But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening,
encouraging and comfort. 4 Anyone who speaks in a tongue edifies themselves,
but the one who prophesies edifies the church. 5 I would like every one of you
to speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy. The one who
prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone
interprets, so that the church may be edified.
-- Paul thought highly of the gift
of prophecy – and when we read in the Bible of the positions in the early
church, we always see the prophet near the top of the list
-- in Ephesians 4:11-12, we are told
that Christ Himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the
pastors and teachers to equip His people and build up the body of Christ – so,
here you see the position of the prophet being listed in order right below the
apostles
-- and over in 1 Corinthians
12:27-31, Paul says that God has placed in the church first of all apostles,
second prophets, third teachers, then the other gifts – once again, we see prophets
– those people who have been given this spiritual gift through the
manifestation of the Spirit in their lives – listed right behind the apostles
-- so, the position of prophet in
the early church was very important – and Paul clues us in here on his
discussion about tongues and prophecy
-- in verse 4, he makes the case
that those who speak in tongues only edify themselves – to edify means that you
are growing morally or intellectually – and someone who edifies others then are
the ones who help them grow morally and intellectually
-- so, when someone speaks in
tongues without an interpreter, they are the only ones who are getting any
benefit from it
-- and that’s the reason why Paul
goes on in verse 5 to say that he would rather have everyone in the church
prophesy because this gift edifies the church – a prophet in a congregation who
is faithfully speaking the word of God as they are led by the Spirit edifies
the church
-- that’s why Paul states here in
verse 3 that the one who prophesies speaks to the people – strengthening them –
encouraging them – comforting them – edifying them – helping them to grow in
grace and become more like Jesus -- prophets work closely with the Holy Spirit
in the process of sanctification
-- skip down to verse 22
1
Corinthians 14:22 Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for
unbelievers; prophecy, however, is not for unbelievers but for believers. 23 So
if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and
inquirers or unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your
mind? 24 But if an unbeliever or an inquirer comes in while everyone is
prophesying, they are convicted of sin and are brought under judgment by all,
25 as the secrets of their hearts are laid bare. So they will fall down and worship
God, exclaiming, “God is really among you!”
-- so, the main purpose of the
prophet is to hear and speak God’s word to the people of God for their
edification and for the common good
-- prophets are the Spirit’s megaphone
to the community of faith, primarily serving the believers in a congregation
but still used by the Spirit to convict unbelievers of their sins and lead them
to repentance and a relationship with Jesus
-- but that still doesn’t tell us
what message the prophet is transmitting – is prophecy always the foretelling
of the future, like is generally believed, or is it something else?
-- and this is one of those elements
in the church where believers are divided – as I mentioned earlier, in some
local congregations and denominations, the position of their church is that
prophets primarily exist to foretell the future – and it is not uncommon to
attend a charismatic or Pentecostal church and hear a word of prophecy about
the future from someone in that congregation
-- we saw this demonstrated before
our eyes during the recent presidential elections, with numerous prophets from
charismatic backgrounds making prophetic statements and predictions concerning
the election and then, after the election of Trump in 2016, what they believed
God had told them Trump was going to do
-- and please understand, I’m not
wading into political waters here – but I want you to know that there were a
lot of people claiming to be biblical prophets who made a lot of prophecies and
predictions about the election and Trump over the last 10 years
–
you can find these online – you can find them in books and articles – and of
course, you can find them on You Tube and on social media – James Beverly
compiled a list of over 500 of these prophecies in his book, “God’s Man in the
White House”
–
obviously, then, there were a lot of these prophecies during the election
cycles – mostly concerning Trump and what God was going to do through Trump – several
of these prophecies were very specific in their predictions, to include the
prophecy that in 2020 that God stated the election was stolen and that Trump
would replace Biden as president on January 6, 2021 – which we all know did not
happen
--
once again, not turning this into a political thing – just trying to make sure
you are aware that prophecies in this form and fashion are occurring today in
some of the more charismatic denominations and congregations
--
it is a normal and routine practice in these denominations for prophets to make
predictions of the future based on what they believe God has told them
--
so, what happens when the predictions turn out to be wrong?
–
well, that’s a debate that is going on right now in American Christianity – in
the Book of Deuteronomy, the nation of Israel was told that they were to test
the prophets and the prophecies that were uttered – and if they were found to
be false, the prophets were to be judged and executed because they had falsely
claimed to speak the voice or command of God when, in fact, they had not
received such instruction
-- what about these modern-day
prophets? – in response to the enormous amount of prophecies and predictions
that were proven to be false concerning the election and actions of President
Trump, charismatic leaders across multiple denominations came up with a Statement
on Prophetic Standards, which includes the following affirmations of belief:
WE BELIEVE that the essence of the spirit of prophecy
is the testimony of Jesus, hence the ultimate goal of prophetic ministry is to
exalt the lordship of Jesus Christ, even though we recognize that not every
prophetic word will specifically point to Him (see Rev. 19:10; 1 Cor. 12:3).
WE BELIEVE in the five-fold ministry of the prophet,
recognizing that such prophets will also be used to bring correction,
instruction, and directional clarity to the Body, but not independent of other
leaders, and therefore different from the model of the independent Old
Testament prophet.
WE RECOGNIZE that prophets do not serve as spiritual
fortune tellers or prognosticators, nor is their role to satisfy our curiosity
about the future or reveal abstract information. God’s purpose in prophecy is
redemptive, calling for repentance, giving supernatural guidance, bringing
comfort, deliverance, restoration, and glorifying Jesus as Lord.1
-- with this standard, many modern
charismatic leaders have reverted back to a New Testament understanding of the
role of the prophet and the spiritual gift of prophecy in the church of Christ
– that the main focus and purpose of a prophet is to proclaim the word of God
in order to exalt the lordship of Jesus Christ by strengthening, encouraging, comforting,
and calling God’s people back to Him in a redemptive way through conviction of
sins and a call for repentance
-- this statement and the beliefs in
this standard line up with what I believe the Bible teaches in regards to the
role of the prophet and the spiritual gift of prophecy in the church today
-- in the New Testament, there are
only a couple instances where prophets foretell the future – in the Book of
Acts, Agabus foretells a famine that will be coming for the entire Roman Empire
and the elders from the church in Ephesus foretell Paul’s arrest in Jerusalem,
pleading that he not go to Jerusalem in order to continue God’s ministry
-- other than the Book of
Revelation, which cannot be taken as pure prophecy but instead a revelation of
God’s presence and ministry in the last days, this is it – there are no
predictions – no prophecies about the future – and Paul himself, who says here
that he is a prophet, was often wrong about the future – he never said that God
told him specifically to go to certain regions to preach, but his heart was to
go there – and there were many times we are told that the Spirit blocked him
from entering those areas
-- one reason why this gift of
prophecy is not primarily foretelling the future is because we live in an age
where we have already received the Word of God in its fullness – we have, in
our very possession, the closed canon of Scripture – whereby God has revealed
His presence, His ministry through Christ and the Spirit, and the future that
is to come
-- there is no more to be revealed
regarding the wide sweep of God’s movement in the world today – the gospel has
been given – and our role is to carry this gospel and the good news of the
forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with the Father to the ends of the earth
-- in other words, we have what we
need – so there is no need to cast die and read tea leaves and make predictions
about the future
-- now, that’s not to say God
doesn’t reveal to His prophets mysteries and truths previously unknown – He
certainly did that with Paul – and I have experienced that, too – but these are
specific for individuals or for local communities of faith
-- so, if the primary role of a
prophet is not to foretell the future, what is it? – I am glad you asked – turn
over to 2 Corinthians 4:13-15
2
Corinthians 4:13 It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” Since we
have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak, 14 because
we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us
with Jesus and present us with you to himself. 15 All this is for your benefit,
so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving
to overflow to the glory of God.
-- this is the role of the prophet
in the church today – to speak and to proclaim the word of God to the church
and to the world around them
-- Paul writes here that because he
has believed – because he has been given the word of God – he speaks it – he
proclaims it – to others
-- the truth is in him and it is
meant to be shared – and note what Paul says here about the message – it is not
a message of the future – it is not a foretelling or prediction of future
events – but the proclamation and the word of the prophet concerns the gospel
and the good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection
-- and I will take the stand that a
preacher fulfills the role of the prophet when they are empowered by the Holy
Spirit to proclaim the word of God from the pulpit – when the Spirit reveals to
them the truth of God’s word and calls them to proclaim His word and His word
alone to strengthen, comfort, encourage, and edify the body of Christ
-- in a very real sense, there is no
difference between a preacher standing in the pulpit on a Sunday morning,
telling you to turn to a passage of Scripture, reading that passage, and then
proclaiming God’s word and meaning from that passage and a prophet from the Old
Testament who stood up before the nation of Israel and said, “Thus saith the
Lord”
-- both of them are standing before
the people of God, proclaiming the word of the Lord
-- and I keep that responsibility
firmly in my mind and in my heart -- every week, I pray that God will give me
the words to speak – that He will give me wisdom and insight and guide my
speech to you – and that if He can’t speak through me, that He would speak in
spite of me
-- a preacher who is fulfilling the
role of the prophet from the pulpit should never be standing up here in their
own power and giving you their own words – as someone who has received the gift
of prophecy from the Spirit, my role is to faithfully proclaim that which God
has given me – and to go beyond that – or to fail to do that – is a failure on
my part and not on God
-- and, if someone has this gift,
then they cannot but help but proclaim God’s word to others – the prophet
Jeremiah understood this – and in Jeremiah 20:9 we read, “But if I say, “I will
not mention His word or speak anymore in His name,” His Word is in my heart
like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones – I am weary of holding it in – indeed,
I cannot”
-- I feel that – and I think that
fire in your heart is one of the signs of the calling of someone to become a
pastor and a sign that someone has the spiritual gift of prophecy
-- so, know this – if there is
anything that has edified you from my messages – if you have received any
spiritual growth or maturity or instruction from my sermons – it was not from
me – it was from God – I had nothing to do with it
-- those times when the sermon falls
flat and you leave feeling confused – that’s on me – that was probably me
failing in my prophetic ministry and leaning on my own understanding and not
His
-- I am always heartened by the fact
that God can speak through an ass like he did with Balaam’s donkey, because it
lets me know that He can speak through me, if I will stand aside and allow Him
to do so
-- which brings me to my last point
before we close – because prophets are gifted to receive a word from the Lord
and proclaim that word, it will always line up with Scripture – God is not
going to proclaim anything that goes against His word or His nature – and if a
prophecy is given – if someone stands up like I’m doing today and says, “Thus
saith the Lord” – then the church needs to test and confirm the message against
the written word of God
-- that’s why I always tell you to
review my messages against the Bible and to check everything that I say or any
preacher you hear – whether it’s in person or on the radio and especially if
they are on the internet – because a true prophet of God will never say
anything contrary to God’s word
-- and if you hear someone do that,
they need to be confronted and you need to quit listening to them – me included
-- let’s bring this to a close
III. Closing
--
One of my favorite stories about the functioning gift of prophecy comes from
Tony Campolo, a Baptist preacher and world-renowned speaker and author
--
Campolo was scheduled to speak at a Pentecostal college chapel service, so,
before the service, a team of men let him to the back room of the chapel and
began to pray for him – which is normal – not out of the ordinary – I just
experienced the same thing last weekend
--
but Campolo was taken aback when one of the men started praying for someone
else – as Campolo knelt and the men laid hands on him, this one guy began praying
for someone named Charlie Stolzfus: “Dear Lord, you know Charlie Stolzfus. He
lives in that silver trailer a mile down the road. You know the trailer. Lord,
just down the road on the right-hand side. Lord, Charlie told me this morning
he’s going to leave his wife and three kids. Step in and do something, God.
Bring that family back together.”
-- Campolo writes that when the
prayers finally quit, he went out and delivered his message, and got in his car
and headed home – as he was driving down the Pennsylvania Turnpike, he noticed
a hitchhiker. I’m going to quote from his book here:
‘We drove a few minutes and I said: “Hi my name’s Tony
Campolo. What’s yours?” He said, “My name is Charlie Stolzfus.” I couldn’t
believe it!
I got off the turnpike at the next exit and headed
back. He got a bit uneasy with that and after a few minutes he said, “Hey
mister, where are you taking me?”
I said, “I’m taking you home.”
He narrowed his eyes and asked, “Why?”
I said, “Because you just left your wife and three
kids, right?”
That blew him away. “Yeah, that’s right.” With shock
written all over his face, he plastered himself against the car door and never
took his eyes off me.
Then I really did him in as I drove right to his
silver trailer. When I pulled up, his eyes seemed to bulge as he asked, “How
did you know that I lived here?”
I said, “God told me.”
When he opened the trailer door his wife exclaimed,
“You’re back!” You’re back!” He whispered in her ear and the more he talked the
bigger her eyes got.
Then I said with real authority, “The two of you sit
down. I’m going to talk and you two are going to listen!” Man did they listen! That
afternoon I led those two people to Jesus Christ.’2
-- this is a picture of the
prophetic gift in the church today – not a foretelling of the future, but God’s
word given to His people so that His will can be done – that man that prayed
for Tony Campolo that day was a prophet of God – and God led him to pray out
loud by name for Charlie Stolzfus – to proclaim the truth of the situation –
because He intended for Tony Campolo to become involved – Campolo is not the
prophet in this story – but he acted on the revelation from God that the
prophet delivered through his prayer for Charlie Stolzfus
-- when God speaks to His prophets
in the church today – whether that is to a preacher in the pulpit or someone in
the pews – it is for the express purpose of accomplishing the will of God in
the world today – God’s word is given to strengthen us – to edify us – to
encourage us – and to lead us into ministry in His name
-- as Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote in Life
Together, “God has put this Word into the mouth of men in order that it may be
communicated to other men. When one person is struck by the Word, he speaks it
to others. God has willed that we should seek him and find his living Word in
the witness of a brother, in the mouth of a man. Therefore, a Christian needs
another Christian who speaks God’s Word to him.”
-- that’s why the spiritual gift of
prophecy is a necessary gift in the church of God today – and while this gift
is not given to foretell the future or make predictions of what is going to
happen – and while God primarily speaks to us through His word today, He also
chooses to empower prophets to proclaim His word and His message to His church
today
--
and through the people who have been given this spiritual gift of prophecy, His
word is faithfully proclaimed every single day – the people that are doing this
may not call themselves prophets – they might call themselves pastor or
evangelist or preacher -- they may not have a recognized position in the church
– but if they have this gift, they have been empowered by the Holy Spirit to
hear God’s voice when He speaks and then to proclaim His word in their family –
their church – and the world
-- that is the ministry of those
with the spiritual gift of prophecy – and our role is to hear the word of God
that is being proclaimed and to act on that word – to do what God is telling us
to do – and to be His hands and feet in this world today
-- and with that, let us close in
prayer as we prepare to go forth into the world again to proclaim the glory of
God through Jesus Christ
-- let us pray
-------------------------------
1
Statement of Prophetic Standards [https://propheticstandards.com/]
2 Source:
Cited in The Life You’ve Always Wanted, by John Ortberg, 2002, Michigan USA,
Zondervan, p.104-105
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