June 5th, 2022 SUNDAY MESSAGE
JOIN US AT 10 AM TODAY!
Transcription Notes:
One of the main prayers over the whole series:
Because we tend to lean toward skepticism in spiritual conversations, we are asking God to…
“Release His Spirit anew & RAISE our expectations
for what HE might
do in our congregation.”
In my own journey, there was a LOT of skepticism. Even as I was
Reading about it in scripture,
displaying some of the gifts, and
people were trying to reveal them to me,
I had a hard time grasping it because it had been taught to me as something that:
it was not for today OR
something that the weird denominations did, OR
Something overly emotional people were into!
One milestone for change was when a Pastor (Pat Barret) was praying over me at a retreat and called me a “Prophet.”
Like Saul meeting the prophets in the wilderness, you will prophecy and never be the same after this encounter.
Oh, one more thing: “You are always asking God to speak to you and he is telling me to tell you, ‘he already is!’”
As I walked away, the HS reminded me about something. I’ve been keeping these BOOKS and BOOKS of journals where I record these things…
Started as a journal and, as I came to church and began embracing Jesus and received salvation, I can see how they slowly transform into prayers…
As this happens, it’s like I have this preoccupation with HEARING from God and asking Him to speak to me:
Almost every entry along the way says some variation of…
Lord, let me hear your voice.
give me ears to hear and eyes to see
father speak to me
I didn’t realize I had been praying this for years…it’s indirect language but asking God for the gift of Prophecy.
When they Pastor said what he said, it all clicked: “Oh, maybe that’s what this is” and I began to be more intentional:
I wrote down dreams, visions, pictures in my mind, and words that I believed were from God. Sometimes I wasn’t sure: “Maybe it’s God and maybe it’s not”
I don’t know how everyone here receives that!
We might think that’s weird,
we might say “it crosses a line” and discredits me but I think it’s important because,
as I begin to teach in this gift, you have to know that I was
first a SKEPTIC and I dodged it, avoided this gift, and I found ways to EXPLAIN it away as something else
UNTIL God confronted me with the idea that this was a gift that AND He wanted me to WALK IN IT.
That’s when I began to study it.
I read the verses on it
I sought out books & collected as much info as I could
I talked to people I trusted about their views of Prophecy & what it means to hear from God.
Eventually, I WAS convinced that I had this gift but felt like it was something that needed to KEEP HIDDEN because…
I was afraid of what others might think so out of fear I hindered it…
I don’t know that I’ve fully gotten over that but here WE ARE, as a church…and I want to bring others along for this journey.
FIRST, we want to go to the scriptures to help us form our understanding around the gift of Prophecy (most of our time here because it’s connected to an Old Testament Office of the Prophet) and then Discerning Spirits…
1. THE GIFT OF PROPHECY
1 Cor. 14 gives us a lot of on this…
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 is setting this up as a compare/ contrast with the gift of tongues. So, when I pull the descriptions of Prophesy out it gives us THIS…PROPHECY is:
To be “eagerly desired”
Prophecy “speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging, and comfort.”and
Prophecy “edifies the church” as opposed to the personal edification of tongues in the context.
Now what we get here is more like the benefits and descriptions BUT WHAT’S THE DEFINITION that seems to be ASSUMED by both Paul and the reader, as he writes this letter?
We don’t have a direct definition so much as we have clues and examples…
All of which build upon the foundation of, but are different from, the Old Testament “Office of Prophet” usually defined simply as a “mouthpiece” for God.
You see, in the OT, The Prophet was a distinct position of authority held by few and set apart from the average person:
They gave warnings for the future, calls to repentance, and declared the coming “Day of the Lord.”
VERY OFTEN writing in poetry
When they spoke it was with the highest authority in the governance of God’s people & equal to scripture. When they delivered a message it was like:
“hear the word of the Lord” or “thus say the Lord” followed by a FIRST PERSON address from YHWH because they spoke on God’s behalf.
Now, because of the power they had, they were required to be 100% accurate and, if they messed up or led people astray they were executed as False Prophets.
THIS IS DIFFERENT than how we operate today…WHY?!? Some things have changed:
We have Jesus’ life, his priestly role, and sacrifice which
reoriented our relationship to the covenant law through the example of His life and
the way in which we belong to the community of believers.
The impartation of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost means that
God indwells his people creating direct access instead of having to go to a prophet and
empowers us with gifts including the Gift of Prophecy
The Word of God was solidified into the Canon of scripture which gives us authoritative,
SO, the New Testament Gift of Prophecy is less authoritative because we submit to the Bible - which is our highest authority. This means:
no more “thus saith the Lord”
All revelation comes underneath the scripture, held to it, and tested against it.
What was once an office of authority for a few has become a gift available to all.
Various verses help us to KNOW: It was some kind of VERBAL or written impartation wherein God gives a person or group of people INSIGHT that edifies, directs, or encourages them.
Let me give you a few more definitions from a variety of sources to round this out:
One commentator says, Prophets are “The “ones who hear and listen to God.” They are usually pioneer thinkers who envision a future for the church, which the church cannot see yet, & points toward it.
Another source says, New Testament prophetic gifting shares a common feature with the OT prophets declaring a message believed to have been received directly from God that consistently includes both:
“Foretelling” or the prediction of future events and,
“Forthtelling” or exhorting /challenging people about God’s will for their present circumstances which often includes calling out sin.
I love that it puts these two ideas together because there DOES tend to be two stereotypes:
Those who think prophetic gifting is FORTUNE TELLER for Team Jesus!! OR
those that say it’s those angry people who point their crooked finger at everyone yelling “repent of die!!”
Bullhorn guy - Br. Jeb
So WHICH IS IT?? Well, it’s neither really so we need to get the “angry psychic” caricature out of our heads…however there is a grain of truth in each!
It seems prophetic gifting does include both: foretelling and forthtelling which makes sense because, if they are getting information from God, who is:
beyond our finite limitations of knowledge and limited vision,
or outside of our time restrictions
So the message would be!
SO, if the message is for something in the future, it would have a FORETELLING feature.
One example is where God allowed Joseph to interpret a dream which warned the Egyptians to prepare for a famine.
1. Some prophecies have a future orientation: FORETELLING.
2. Another kind of prophetic message involves FORTH-TELLING
It’s a call to REPENT from sin or, better, a call to RETURN back into a right covenant relationship when God’s people violate it (lots of examples in the OT) AND
3. A THIRD kind of common message is declaring the coming “Day of the Lord.”
In the end, a Prophetic Message can contain ALL KINDS of communication from God AND prophetic gifting is to be a vessel of communication and to relay that message obediently.
How does it happen? We have examples in the bible of:
Dreams, Visions, an Impartation of thoughts (or impressions), words, and messages from God.
Doesn’t this sound like a word of wisdom or knowledge?
Yes - I think there is a similarity and, possibly, overlap in the gifts.
How does it work itself out in life?
PREACHING: It can happen during a conventional preaching and teaching moment on a Sunday morning. It makes sense that, as I’m intentionally prepping, seeking for the gathering of believers, God I may disclose a timely and prophetic message for our community though I don’t believe:
every message has that weight or intention.
It is not on par with scripture.
POETRY: Just like the prophetic tradition in the OT, word-pictures, and abstract clues work really well for artists, poets, song-writing, etc.
PRAYER:
Focused prayer and seeking God on a given topic or in a specific time.
Waking up at 4am for a season.
When I pray for people, I will often have a picture or series of pictures that develops in my imagination.
I pray over you all in the sanctuary according to where you tend to sit and if I believe something comes to mind, I write it out and give it to you.
PRESSING: Doing or thinking about something else and spontaneously, there is an almost interruptive thought.
This actually validates it for me because, in my own train of thought, I may conclude an idea, but when it comes out of nowhere, I can consider it wasn’t just my own, natural thoughts.
Sometimes a message is for:
my own awareness or others
I have had times when God told me a message was for a later time
How do you know when to tell someone?
In fact many of the same parameters that I gave for wisdom and knowledge, specifically the X/Y Axis that I gave with Certainty on one end and Risk on the other
<SHOW THE PIC AGAIN>
If God gives you a prophetic declaration I would follow this same paradigm.
There is another aspect from this chapter that I want you to see because Prophecy isn’t just meant for the church but those outside as well…skip down to verse 22 (the verses in between are about tongues and we will cover those next week):
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!”
Can you see how powerful that would be to someone who is not a follower of Jesus? While, I believe, this gift is MOSTLY for the people of God, it has missional implications:
Acts records the “Macedonian Moment” where a vision from God breaks barriers for the Gospel to expand into new territory.
Jump down to verse 29 to finish…
29 Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. 30 And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop. 31 For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged. 32 The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets. 33 For God is not a God of disorder but of peace—as in all the congregations of the Lord’s people.
Here we see Paul apply a bit of ordered practicality. Remember, the Corinthians were actively using the gifts (and Paul encourages this) BUT they were also abusing the gifts (that’s part of the beauty of this book is it’s a correction of their misuse) so he provides clarity for an organized gathering of believers wherein non-believers may be present and it’s possible the WHOLE service may have been built on waiting for Prophetic Messages (like quakers today) so they should:
First take turns, not talk over each other, & NOT everybody should speak because it’s too chaotic!
Then “Weigh it” or discern it
Verse 32 tells us that there SHOULD BE some ability between a few people with this gift to discern, be held accountable, and make sense of the message.
1 John 4:1 adds: Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
One thing to note is that, while Paul corrects them (meaning they are messing it up), he doesn’t shut them down or cancel the usage of the gifts altogether.
Car wreck analogy:
Either stop driving
Make everyone else stop driving?...NO! Correct the bad driving and get back out on the road.
My experience:
Tends to be spontaneous and I
am not predictably “in control” of it, as in, I cannot just prophecy “on call.”
I do have dreams that inform me about things and some have been predictive and come true.
All dreams? No. Which ones?
Some dreams just seem potent, significant, or meaningful OR
It stays with me, haunts me, or bothers me throughout the day
Reflects something in the day? Less credible but not always b/c God is sovereign.
I mentioned that get pictures in my head while I’m praying for others sometimes:
I’ll pray according to the picture if I’m not sure whether it’s God or if it is just my imaginationIt’s. This is my way of “Sowing it out” to see if it has a prophetic anointing and it catches the person right.
It often feels like puzzle pieces and clues often (is that biblical?):
1 Cor. 13:9-12 “For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
OT examples seem to be clues with very accurate details that are obvious when they are fulfilled but NOT when they are spoken. Ex:
PSALM 22: “12 Many bulls surround me; strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.
13 Roaring lions that tear their prey open their mouths wide against me.
14 I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted within me.
15 My mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death.
16 Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me; they pierce my hands and my feet.
17 All my bones are on display; people stare and gloat over me.
18 They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.”
Jesus is from…Egypt? Bethlehem? Jerusalem? Nazareth? Galilee? YES!
There are FALSE Prophets too!
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”
Matt. 17:14. They will trick and deceive people with:
False information or
Real info from demons
This is a good segway into the next gift mentioned in the scripture…
2. THE GIFT OF DISCERNING SPIRITS
Once again, we do not have a direct definition of the gift so let me give some commentary opinions:
Not just natural discernment…
JNT: “...the ability to tell whether a particular phenomenon is from the Spirit of God, from a person’s own spirit, or from some demonic spirit; one might call it the supernatural ability to avoid being deceived…This particular gift is often needed in order to discern whether healings, miracles and prophecies are truly from God”
NIV APPLICATION says it “probably refers to the God-given ability to discern if an apparently inspired speaker is ministering by the power of the Holy Spirit or by some counterfeit power.”
St Ignatius developed an entire Spiritual Discipline to help people exercise this gift.
So, those with this gift are awakened to something going on in the spirit Realm around us that we cannot see or discern naturally!
What does that mean? Well, I’ve tried over and over to remind you that
the Unseen, Immaterial, and the Spiritual is AS REAL as
the Seen, tangible, and material in our world.
Once again, there is a dualistic way in which we put all these things up into the “attic of our brains” as a dis-integrated world.
People with this gift are more integrated and aware of the unseen.
Those with this gift are quickly and accurately able to discern whether there is something spiritually unusual going on around us. So they may know when
A person is:
Well intentioned or
Ill intentioned or dangerous
A message is from a
Real prophet OR
False Prophet
A supernatural event is of
Angelically empowered OR
Demonically empowered
A “convincing person” is saying
Something True OR
Something False
A given circumstance is:
Something Good OR
Something is Evil
Couple warnings:
1. While I think this gift can move through intuition, it is not just suspicion or a critical spirit:
If you suspect everyone is bad, you’ll be right sometimes.
2. A danger of this gift is that it can turn into unhealthy assumptions not empowered by god resulting in
Damaging gossip
One thing I’ve seen, and it pops up during political seasons a LOT, people can know all of a sudden discern that this candidate or media outlet is bad and it just so happens to:
agreement with your party or
Disagreement with the one you don’t like
Don’t spiritualize your political bias and call it biblical discernment.
EXAMPLE of Spiritual Discernment:
Paul called out the spirit of divination/Pythos who, on the surface, is saying something that seems good: “These men are servants of the Most High God and are proclaiming to you a way of salvation!”
Paul discerns the intentions of Simon the Magician in Acts 8.
Developing the gift:
Jamie Winship guided us not to run from sudden feelings of fear, anxiety, or emotional responses (since we usually just want it to go away). Instead, train ourselves to stop and ask God:
“What's happening in this moment?”
“Is there something I need to know or something you are trying to make me aware of right now?”
Jamie added: “its like pain on your arm”
Here is a call to practice these gifts in responsible but bold and courageous ways.
Vision of Cancer & Pastor Gee
This was a wake up call for me!
I didn’t speak about it out of fear and I regretted it.
It did serve to embolden me so that I didn’t let it happen again.
There are ramifications for hindering or ignoring the gifts b/c we just might be losing out on something that God wants to be made available to us.
COMMUNION:
(1 COR. 11:23B-26)
“The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
PRAYER REQUESTS:
We are hosting prayer team meetings for both the congregation at large and individuals to sign up for individual prayer.
SUGGESTIONS FOR WORSHIP:
“Praise & Worship” Spotify playlist and “Praise & Worship” YouTube playlist (slightly different from each other), both of diverse music that are being constantly updated!
Bethel Music :
Bethel Music’s hours of live music YouTube Playlist, also being constantly updated
Bethel provides chords to most (if not all) of their songs here (just have to register email, but free!)
Live worship moments from the Upper Room YouTube Playlist
Journal writing! (I’m a writer too, so sometimes creative writing and writing my thoughts to God is my form of worship.)
Declare and worship with truth by singing and praying scriptures.
WORSHIP NIGHT! Dedicate a night to worship with friends and family, your house church or neighbors, those who need prayer, love worship, or just enjoy music through a video chat platform like Zoom. You can have one person leading at a time (switching off to whoever else wants to lead) while others sing along, pray, or prophesy, etc.
Serving your community, both online, in person, or both, is a great way to worship God, from spreading encouragement and God’s Word online to physically serving food to others. If you are able to go out and serve, click here for opportunities.
COMMISSIONING:
As Jesus said in John 20:21,
"Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you."
Go, be the Church!
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Amen.