Prophecy – 1 Corinthians 12:10

1 Corinthians Chapter 12 Part 6 tonight. We're still back in verse 10. Father, our purpose tonight is to discover while your purpose we believe is to reveal. You have revealed yourself, your ways in your word. We want to discover, Father, more about you, about your body, about ourselves, that we might please you edify one another, be a cohesive group, and make the maximum impact that we can as your people on this earth.

I pray, Father, not only would we learn but we would be motivated to do. For we remember the Lord Jesus told His disciples "If you know these things, happy are you if you do them." And Father, I pray for that as well, that you would bring a sense of happiness, of joy as we discover, as we obey, as we put into practice. In Jesus' name, Amen.

You are fearfully and wonderfully made. David noticed that about his own physical body. And from time to time, it helps that we sort of look at ourselves-- and even though we're all getting a little bit older-- to say I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your body has roughly $30 billion cells that make up you, roughly $30 billion-- $30 trillion, excuse me, $30 trillion cells. So that's give or take a few million or billion depending on your height weight, et cetera.

$30 trillion cells. In each one of your cells is a thing called the nucleus. It's that central corpus, that central part. Inside the nucleus, millions of things are happening. It's like a city. One scientist that I read likened the nucleus of the cells like Tokyo. Messages are being given, millions per second. Things are being produced. Things are being utilized.

And within the nucleus of each cell, you have 23 sets of chromosomes. One set of 23 comes from mom, one comes from dad. That's the DNA, the genetic code, the software that tells the hardware how to act from birth all the way up through death. It's been programmed, size and color of your eyes, your height, the shape of your nose and lips and ears, et cetera. It's all part of the code.

The genetic code is put inside of your nucleus, and it's scrunched together like springs, just sort of tightly tucked. If you could take the information in the software, in the DNA, in the genetic code and transpose it into information that we can assimilate-- i.e. written information-- into book form, if you were to take the information from just one cell in your body, convert it into written information, there would be a pile of books that would be about 50 feet wide by 20 feet deep by 20 feet tall. That's about the size of the stage. Go up 20 feet. All books stacked up. That's the information from one cell.

If you were to take all $30 trillion of the cells in your body and convert it to written information, you would have enough-- Well, you'd take and fill the Grand Canyon 40 times with books. Think of it. The Grand Canyon is about 3 to 20 miles wide, a mile deep, 200 miles long. You'd fill it 40 times with books if you took all $30 trillion cells and converted the information into written information. Fearfully and wonderfully made.

Now as every cell in your body has a genetic code, every church has a genetic code, spiritually. We are the church universal. We're connected to believers all over the world, but every local church, I believe, has its own unique set of gifts and its own spiritual program, its own purpose that we are to fulfill. I think that every church has all of the gifts necessary to make that body function well as the body of Christ.

There are a list of gifts. We've been uncovering one gift per week as we've been going through a chapter 12 slowly. As you know, this is already part six. And the list that is here-- There's three lists by the way in the New Testament about the gifts of the spirit. But the list reveals variety and unity, variety of activities, variety of gifted people. But though there are a variety of gifts and activities, there is the unity of the body. We may play different roles and have different functions in different positions, but the goal is that we function according to the spiritual genetic code program so that there's unity in the body.

And so a doctor has a variety of tools, a variety of sutures, a variety of instruments on the surgical table. A mechanic has a variety of tools that he chooses from depending on what he needs to get done. And there are a variety of gifts, a variety of gifted individuals that I'm looking at right now. All unique. All together in the same body.

A real key to joy in the body of Christ, the church, is to discover what that gift is and to use it to the maximum potential. Rather than comparing yourself with somebody else, saying, I wish I had that gift, I wish I had that position in the body, is to accept how God made you, your unique capabilities, and to function in that.

Now Paul will say-- and I've quoted it, but we're going to read it later on, if we ever get to it, if the Lord doesn't come back before we finish this book. But Paul will say, covet earnestly the best gifts. And you would say, well, what is the best gift. The best gift for you is the ones God has given you. That's the best gift for you.

To say, what is the best gift is like asking, well, what is the best tool. Well, it depends on what you need to get done. If you want to drive a nail in a wall, don't use a saw. Don't use the plyers. Now you could probably get the nail in there with the plyers. In fact, that is sometimes my problem. I don't always put my tools back where they belong. And so I'll blame my son like my dad did to me. But I say, where'd I put that hammer, if I can't find the hammer, I'll just take a crescent wrench and bang the thing. But it's not the best tool for the job. And there is the best gift depending on what job, what needs to get done by the spirit.

Now we come to the gift of prophecy in verse 10, part of the list, to another the working of miracles-- we covered that last week-- to another prophecy. So those three words are before us tonight-- to another the discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. This is simply a list. The explanation of what these gifts are found in the rest of the New Testament. So we want to look at that tonight.

And by the way, we have slowed down and decided to do this, looking at these gifts individually, simply to clear up the mass of confusion that exists in the body of Christ concerning the gifts of the Spirit. I mentioned there are three lists of gifts. There's Romans chapter 12. It's a shortened list, not a complete one. Neither are any of the lists for that matter. But 1 Corinthians 12 has a longer list of the gifts of the Spirit. And then Ephesians chapter 4 is another complementary list of the gifts.

All three of those lists of the gifts of the Spirit have the gift of prophecy included within them. I can't say that with every other gift. Some gifts are mentioned one place, but not another place. But prophecy is mentioned in all three lists. Chapter 14 of 1 Corinthians is an expansion. It goes in depth, comparing the gift of tongues and the gift of prophecy for use in the public assembly, why one is preferred over the other, but why they both must be kept in check and judged by the rulers and the elders in the church.

But also, sort of to back up a little bit, there was a prophecy that was given in Joel that the early church saw as being fulfilled before their eyes and they quoted-- it's in Joel chapter 2. In Acts Chapter 2, that prophecy is quoted. Chapter 2 verse 17 says, "and it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy." And the early church saw sufficient evidence of that happening before their eyes enough to quote that and say, this is that which was spoken of by the prophet Joel, who said, in the last days I will pour out my spirit on all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.

Now over in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verses 19 and 20, there's a list of little directives that Paul gives toward the end of that letter. He says, "Don't quench the spirit and despise not prophesying." Don't despise prophecies. Don't quench the spirit. Don't despise prophecies. It's as if Paul saw this sense of resistance among some believers, even back then, who would by, whatever activity or whatever motivation, quench the spirit and not allow prophesies to take place, make no room for them.

And so both of those coupled together are very important. Don't quench this spirit. Or as one translation puts it, "do not extinguish the spirit's fire." Do not extinguish the spirit's fire. Don't despise prophecy. There are a few different ways that we can quench the spirit in regards to the context of that despising prophecies. Number one, we can just totally ignore it. And there are some, as we've already mentioned, that just want to ignore all the gifts of the Spirit. They'll read the Bible, but they don't want to really dwell on the part of prophecy or tongues or word of knowledge or word of wisdom or just relegate it to the past, ignore it.

And even if God would like to open up their heart, they're a little resistant to it, like being in the restaurant and you had already enough coffee. And so the waitress comes by and said, would you like more coffee, you put your hand over the cup. So the Holy Spirit comes by and says, I'd like to bless your life perhaps in this way. No, I've had enough. Really? I haven't. I'm always open to more. What would you want to do now, Lord?

Another way we can quench the spirit is what I would call OD, a Holy Spirit overdose. Now I don't think you can really overdose on the Holy Spirit. But some people act like they have. And for some folks, they can't manage a single movement in life unless they're assured it's a word from God.

Even the smallest detail, well, did you hear from the Holy Spirit. Should I turn right or left? No, no, let me get a word. Just make a choice. Should I get vanilla or strawberry? Lord, give me a word. Oh, just pick one. A third way the Holy Spirit can be quenched as by abuse, abusing the gift, which sort of dovetails into number two, but then I would say a reaction to the abuse.

I've seen weird stuff happen in the name of the Lord. That's why I don't want any part of that. And I've seen abuses, too. But just because there's a counterfeit, the counterfeit proves there's something authentic. I've seen a guy walk up to a girl, and he basically didn't have enough guts to ask her out or to get into a relationship. He was socially awkward. So all he knew to do is, thus, sayeth the Lord, marry me.

And she blew the whole thing off, which was a good thing to do, because that guy was a wingnut. But we can see that or hear that and react to it and say, I don't want any part of it. Now when we think of a prophet or the gift of prophecy, you might have still tucked in your head sort of an Old Testament fuzzy picture of a guy in a robe, in sandals and a staff, and long stringy hair, and a frown on his face, never smiles-- that's a prophet. Banish that idea, at least for tonight, because we're dealing with prophecy, in a biblical sense, moreover, a New Testament sense. We'll compare the old and the new.

But simply, a prophet is somebody who is a spokesman one for another person, a mouthpiece, a voice, a representative, a vocal representative, speaking for another person. You remember Moses was called by God. God wanted to use his voice. He kept resisting. And so God said, you shall be as God unto Pharaoh and Aaron shall be the prophet. He'll be your spokesperson. He'll speak for you. You tell him what to say and he'll tell Pharaoh what to say. It's one who speaks for another.

In Hebrews chapter 1, we read God who at various times in various ways spoke in times past to our fathers by the prophets. God spoke through them. It was the voice of God, but God used the human voice to do it. Now in the Old Testament, the prophets were sent to nations outside of Israel, sometimes enemy nations. Jonah went to Nova.

Sometimes prophets were sent to a portion of the nation of Israel, like the northern kingdom, others to the southern kingdom. Sometimes they gave a political message or a message of local importance, local judgment. Others spoke predictably and spoke of the kingdom age. When you think of prophecy, there is a predictive element involved. There is a foretelling of future events. But much of prophecy isn't necessarily a foretelling of future events as it is a forth-telling of God's truth. It can be both. It can be either or it can be both. And principally in the New Testament, we find a forth-telling more than a foretelling of future events.

Now let me map out what I want to do tonight, because it's just listed here. But as I said, there's a lot of information to understand the gift of prophecy, we have in view. I want to look at prophecy briefly in the Old Testament, prophecy in the New Testament. Then I want to give you a five-fold description generally of how prophecy works among believers. Then I want to give you a three-fold specific description of how it works in 1 Corinthians 14. Then I want to tell you how you can tell a true false prophet from a false prophet. That should be sufficient information I think to understand the gift.

First of all, prophecy in the Old Testament-- who was the first prophet? It was Moses. Moses was the first. He was called a prophet of God, not just a man of God, but the prophet of God. And he spoke on certain occasions, even though Aaron spoke as well for him. But he was considered Israel's first prophet. He was a spokesman for God to the people of Israel, who he delivered out of Egypt.

Much of what Moses did was instruct them, give them God's direction. Remember Jethro in Exodus 18 gave them the mandate? He said, now Moses go out there and speak to the people the word of God. Instruct them. Give them statutes and the laws. Show them the way to walk. Show them what they must do to serve the Lord. And it says, he heeded the voice of his father in law. He became the teacher, the instructor.

At other times, Moses predicted the future of Israel. Deuteronomy 32:2 is a prediction. It's a song that has 43 verses in it that shows the future of Israel. Basically Moses says, you're not going to be content with God. You're going to want to follow other gods. And when you do, God's going to send you to Babylon. You're going to wail there for a long period of time. Then God's going to bring you back. He predicted and mapped out their future.

Now what's interesting about Moses, as well as some others, is Moses never asked for the job, a prophet. He didn't put in a prophet application. He didn't go to prophet training centers. He didn't want the job. Remember how he got the job? He was walking in the backside of the desert, and he saw bush burning. He goes, that's weird. I got to check this out, comes, and checks it out. And the Bush starts talking.

Moses, whoa. The bush just talked to me. He knows my name. Yeah, take your shoes off. OK, and then God begins to tell Moses how that he wants to deliver the children of Israel out of bondage. They've wailed. They've cried unto me. And I'm going to deliver them. Great, well, I'm going to use you, Moses. And remember, Moses tried to weasel out of it? Four or five different excuses. Oh, my, that you should send me. Don't worry. I'll be with you. Just go.

Oh, but I'm not very eloquent. Don't worry. I'll be with your mouth. Oh, but who am I going to sent me? I mean, I don't even know you that well. Just say that I am sent you. Yeah, but what if they don't believe me. He had excuse after excuse after excuse. He was reluctant to do it.

But God called him. God insisted that he have this profession as a spokesperson, a prophet, a deliverer. It's very similar to the New Testament gifts. In fact, look over at verse 12. "The spirit distributes to each one individually as he wills." It's God's will, God's call. You can't say, I've decided I'm going to learn about this gift and do it. It's a gift God gives to you of his own accord.

Now not just Moses, but others were reluctant when God called them. David was reluctant. He was out watching sheep. He didn't think he could do it. By the way, David is called a prophet in Acts Chapter 2. Jeremiah, he didn't want to do it. He goes, hey, I'm just a kid. And God said, don't say I'm just a kid, because it's irrelevant who you are. It's all about who I am and what I can do through you.

But there is this built in reluctance many times when God calls a person, which I think is beautiful. There's this sense of inadequacy. There's a sense of humility when God calls a person. And when God calls a person, you will often see that in the scripture and even in our own time. Who am I to do that? Rather than a presumption of, it's about time you called me to do this, God. I'm very gifted. You've been missing out on a very wonderful individual for a long time. Now it's about time. Good move. There's this humility that is built in, as with so many that God has called.

Now the hesitation to become a prophet is understandable, given the job description of a prophet. It's nothing you want to tread into lightly. In fact, listen to this-- Deuteronomy 18 versus 20 and 22. The prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die, no margin of error.

And if you say in your heart, how shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken, when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not happen or come to pass-- so if foretelling kind of a prophecy-- that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken, the prophet has spoken presumptuous. You shall not be afraid of them. And they we're told to let that person die-- so a very stringent job description. There weren't a lot of people going, I want to be a prophet. Unless they knew they were called, nobody would tread into that job lightly, because you had to be perfectly accurate.

There are notable prophets in the Old Testament. Elijah, Elijah, we've covered them in these studies. There are also what we call major prophets and minor prophets. In your Bible, you have the Old Testament divided into the major and the minor prophets-- not that some were minor, less important and some were like the heavyweights, the PhDs and these are just the interns. It's just that the bulk of their prophecy is sometimes longer and others are sometimes shorter. That's all it means.

Isaiah, Jeremiah, these were major prophets, Ezekiel, a major prophet, Habakkuk, a minor prophet, but a very important one. Now in the Old Testament, the prophets didn't always speak words when they brought a message forth. Sometimes they acted it out. It was very interesting. Theologians call this a pedagogy in biography. Act it out. Let them remember it by a visual aid.

And so Ezekiel was told to make a model of the city of Jerusalem. And every gathered around. What's he doing? He's making a model. What's it of? It looks like Jerusalem. He'd draw the skyline out. He'd makes a clay tablet. And then he'd destroy it, smash it, build siege works against. What are you doing? That's what God's going to do to you. Whoa. And to see it can make a great impact rather than just hearing, thus saith the Lord.

Jeremiah wore a wooden yoke around his neck and walked around Jerusalem, this big wooden device to control oxen. And it was just out of the fashion thing. It didn't look good on you. I know. But it's a message from God. What is it? Well, there's a yoke on me. There's going to be a yoke on you. The Babylonians are going to control you and lead you where you don't want to go.

Isaiah walked barefoot and naked for three years. So he was the streaking prophet, I suppose you would say. And many of these profits, for obvious reasons, weren't very popular, not just for that reason, but because of the kind of message that they brought. Jeremiah was beaten. He was put inside of a miry pit, a cistern of mud. Isaiah the prophet was sawn into with a wooden saw. Jesus said a prophet is not without honor except what? In his own country, among his own house. That's the Old Testament.

In the New Testament, it's a little bit different, but there are similarities. By the timing the New Testament opens, prophecy had been dead for centuries. There were 400 silent years, we call them. God didn't say anything to anybody. And then Jesus Christ comes on the scene and the prophetic gift comes alive. Jesus was called the prophet, the prophet.

Remember Moses' prediction? He said, the Lord your God will raise up a prophet from among you like me. Him, you shall listen to. And they go, the prophet, the prophet, like Moses. And that's why, when John the Baptist came on the scene, he was baptizing in the Jordan. They ask him, are you the prophet. He goes, nope, I'm not the prophet. Jesus Christ was the prophet in that he was the ultimate spokesman for God, the last word, the last message God ever wanted to bring humanity. You might say his period was Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 1:1, God who at various times in various ways spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets has in these last days spoken. And in Greek, it's spoken once and for all, through his son, whom he has appointed heir of all things. So the final message of salvation, the plan of God is fulfilled and wrapped up in Jesus Christ.

Now Jesus anticipated, after his mission on earth, that there would come other prophets. Let me give you two scriptures. Matthew chapter 10 verse 41, "If you welcome your prophet as one who speaks for God, you will receive the same reward that a prophet gets." Also in Luke 11:49, he said, "I will send prophets and apostles to them, and they will kill some and persecute others." And that happened, didn't it? There were designated prophets in Jerusalem, Cesarea in Antioch and Corinth and Thessalonica in Asia Minor.

There were prophets at different places we read about in the book of Acts. A notable one, some of you will remember, is a guy by the name of Agabus. Remember that guy? Acts chapter 11, Agabus was a prophet. He comes into the church and he predicts-- now it's a foretelling-- he predicts a famine. In Acts 11 verse 27, it says, "Prophets traveled from Jerusalem to Antioch. And one of them named Agabus stood up in one of the meetings to predict by the Holy Spirit that a great famine was coming upon the entire Roman world. This was fulfilled during the reign of Claudius."

He foretold something that happened. Now this guy wasn't just a guy to speak. He was also very demonstrative, like Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah. In the 21st chapter of the Book of Acts, later on, as Paul is making his way from Ephesus toward Jerusalem and he stops off in a certain place. Agabus takes Paul's belt and wraps his hands up tight and wraps his feet up tight. So you've got to picture this. He's sort of in a little ball, and he ties his hand and his feet together in front of the people.

Now honestly, if I were there, I'd look at this guy doing that and I'd think, what is this nut doing. But it was a prophecy. Once he was all tied up in a knot, he said, thus says the Holy Spirit. The man who owns this bill will be bound by the Jews in Jerusalem and delivered to the Gentiles. That was Paul, and it happened. It was a prophecy.

So that's prophecy in the Old Testament, prophecy in the New Testament. I want to give you a general description, putting a lot of scriptures together, a five-fold description generally of prophecy in the New Testament. Number one-- prophecy was a direct word from God for a situation at hand. It wasn't a sermon. It wasn't a person giving a Bible message, a teaching or a preaching of the gospel. I say that because some mistake the gift of prophecy for just good Bible teaching.

The reason I know it's not that is because the gift of teaching and the gift of prophecy are differentiated in two separate texts. Acts 13, it says, "At that time, there were in Antioch prophets and teachers." And also 1 Corinthians chapter 12 distinguishes the gifts one from another.

Having said that, however, I have personally noticed in a message in this sermon that is already prepared-- I've thought through what I'm going to say. I've looked up texts of scripture. I've studied material. I kind of know where I'm going-- that many times the Holy Spirit will impress upon my heart something different. It's laid upon my heart by the Holy Spirit. He impresses me with some other line of thought that is different. And I'll go for it.

Acts chapter 13, "Judas and Silas themselves being prophets also exhorted and strengthened the brethren with many words." There is an archeological book, a dig called the Bodmer Papyri, if you're into archeology, the Bodmer Papyri that was dug up, that highlights a sermon given by a second century pastor from Sadris, one of the places in Turkey, or ancient Asia Minor.

The sermon is given. And at a certain point, the church obviously understood that he was speaking directly from Jesus to the church apart from what he had studied. He was laying out a theological treatise of the mercy of God. And then he breaks into a direct prophecy to the church, a diversion from what he had studied in his message.

A second generality about prophecy-- it was clear speech that did not need interpretation. It wasn't an ecstatic utterance, like the gift of tongues. It didn't need an interpretation. And so that is why in 1 Corinthians 14 Paul argues that prophecy is more advantageous when you have a group of believers gathered more than tongues. Because if you speak in tongues, nobody will understand what you're saying. It's absolutely fruitless and useless unless there's an interpreter. And that's why intelligible speech is more important.

So clear speech that didn't need interpretation, it engaged the mind of the speaker. It didn't bypass the intellect, remember that, because the gift of tongues is a gift that bypasses the intellect, but not prophecy. And because it's understandable, it's therefore more helpful. It encourages believers. It convicts unbelievers. Look over chapter 14, 1 Corinthians verse 4, "He who prophesies edifyies the church." Verse 24, "But if all prophesy and an unbeliever or uninformed person comes in, he's convinced by all and he is convicted by all. And thus the secrets of his heart are revealed. And so falling down in his face, he will worship God and report that God truly is among you."

Third generality about prophecy-- not every Christian has the office of a prophet. That's obvious. But every Christian is told to be open, to pray for it. Looked down at 1 Corinthians chapter 12. That's the text. We're in verse 29. Begin there. "Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? Do all have the gift of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?" It's a rhetorical set of questions. There's only one obvious answer. What is it? No, not everybody does.

But look at chapter 14 verse 1. "Pursue love and desire spiritual gifts, especially, that you may prophesy." So every believer is to be open to it, because it's so useful and helpful to the church. A fourth description of it or general truth about it-- it's controllable. It's controllable. Please remember this. You don't need to go into an altered state of consciousness to prophesy or think that you have to reach a certain kind of voice or this compulsion comes over you. I can't control it. Here it comes. Thus sayeth the Lord. No, it's controllable.

How do we know that? Because Paul instructs the prophets in the Church of Corinth and chapter 14 to be quiet and to not say anything until others have finished. And then he says, limit it to two utterances and prophecies, maybe three, at the most three, and in turn, one at a time, not everybody at once. So obviously, then it is controllable. It involves the use of the mind. It's subservient to rational thought.

Look at chapter 14 verse 32, spells it out. "The spirits of the prophets are subject to the control of the prophets." They're subject to the prophets, or the control of them. The Living Bible renders that verse this way. "Remember that a person who has a message from God has the power to stop himself and wait his turn."

A fifth generality-- prophecy was never gender specific or male only. There were prophets and there were prophetesses. In fact, that term is used in English in the New Testament. In the Old Testament, Miriam was a prophetess. Deborah, Huldah was a prophetess. In the New Testament, Luke 1 one opens up. We read Anna, who was a prophetess. And in the book of Acts, Philip has four virgin daughters who prophesy, four unmarried girls. All of them have the gift of prophecy. Isn't that cool?

Every one of his daughters, like quadraphonic prophecy. They're all going off at once. It could be really cool, kind of in turn, wow. Paul gives instructions in 1 Corinthians 11 to women who exercise the gift of prophecy, talks about women who pray or prophesy with their head uncovered versus having their head covered. And then what about Joel's prediction? In the last days, I'll pour out my spirit on all flesh and your sons and daughters shall prophesy.

So it's not just prophets in the church, but prophets male and female. In fact, all of the gifts are that way. There's only one office that a woman is barred from in the New Testament and that's teaching men, i.e., a senior pastor of a church. But all the gifts in their place can be used by men and by women equally.

Now having given those generalities, let me get specific. And to do that, I want you to look at a particular verse, chapter 14 1 Corinthians. Let's read the first three versus. 1 Corinthians 14, this now is more specific description of prophecy. "Pursue love and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy, for he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him. However, in the spirit, he speaks mysteries. But he who prophesies speaks edification, exortation, and comfort to men."

That's the verse I want to hone in on those three things-- edification, exortation, and comfort to men. That's what prophecy is in the New Testament sense. Or you might say it's to build up, stir up, and cheer up the church, to build up, stir up, and cheer up the church. First of all, he mentions edification, somebody that has the true gift of prophecy, when he gives an utterance from the lower to a person in a specific situation. It will build that person up. It won't tear them down.

And yet, I've listened to some so-called prophecies, thus saith the Lord. And it's like they try to be God's demolition Derby. Thus saith the Lord, oh, my children, you're all a bunch of idiots. I would reject that immediately, given this description. It doesn't build up. It doesn't stir up. It doesn't really cheer up, edification.

Then it says exortation or encouragement. You're prompted. You're encouraged to keep going in the Lord. You're encouraged to put into action what you've heard, what you've learned. It's an exhortation. Instruction and exhortation are two different things. Instruction is like, when I first taught my child, my son, how to ride a bicycle. You get on the seat. You try to balance yourself. This foot is on this pedal. This foot is on that pedal. There's a forward motion. And you just keep it going. That's instruction.

Exortation is the shove down the street. Now put it into action. You know it now. Let's go for it. Edification, exortation. And the third is comfort the message the utterance will assure us of God's love, that all things work together for good to those that love God. So it'll build up, stir up, it'll cheer up.

Here's a paragraph out of a systematic theology by Dr. Duffield and Van Cleave on New Testament prophecy. Sums it up nicely. They say quote, "Normally, in the operation of the gift of prophecy, the spirit anoints the believer to speak forth to the body, not premeditated words, but the spirit supplies spontaneously to uplift and encourage, to incite to faithful obedience and service, and to bring comfort and consolation. The words need not be an archaic English or in a loud and altered voice nor spoken in the first person." In other words, it can be done very naturally, supernaturally.

Of course, the best context for the use of the gift to prophecy would be in a group where everybody can be edified and the gift can be managed, a smaller group, a kinship group, a home fellowship group, a prayer group, a men's Bible study, a woman's prayer group, et cetera. It's beautifully done because, in a group like this, though we used to do it when we were much smaller, if somebody gives an utterance and they're way in the back or way in the front and the other person on the other side of the room can't benefit, can't hear it. It's difficult to do. But in the right context, it can be very beautiful.

Now let me end up by giving you tests, a test you can apply, four tests that you can apply to this gift to see if it's right on or not. Now listen up, kinship leaders. Listen up, home fellowship or small fellowship leaders or prospective pastors. These are tests that we can all apply. First of all, the theological test-- any utterance that somebody gives in the name of the Lord, if it's a legitimate utterance, will never contradict the revealed word of God.

Well, this is a prophecy from God. Well, let's see what the prophet Jeremiah or Isaiah or Habakkuk or the New Testament says. This gift of prophecy will not negate that gift of prophecy. And the word of God is always the foundation. Paul told Timothy, the word of God is [SPEAKING GREEK] is the Greek word, inspired or God breathed. It's the foundation. It's supervised by the Holy Spirit.

And the Bible is pollutant free. The Bible is pollutant free. It's inherent. You can't say that about somebody else's utterance. That's why you've got to filter everything somebody says through the pollutant free filter of the word of God and match it up, the theological test. When Paul speaks about prophecy in Romans chapter 12-- that's the first list in the New Testament of the gifts-- he says, if you have the gift of prophecy, let us prophecy according to our proportion of faith, or literally according to the faith, the faith, the embodiment of the New Testament truth, that's the faith, as Jude said in Jue chapter 3, "the faith once for all delivered to the saints." So you compare it.

So if somebody stands up and says, thus saith the Lord, Jesus said, I'm coming back next Tuesday, that's not right. No man knows the day or the hour. It says so. There's 88 reasons why Jesus is coming in 1988. It's not right. Youu don't know the day or the hour. Well, but you can know the year. Oh, whatever. We're always to live in anticipation of it.

So that's the first one, the theological test. Second test-- the confessional test, the confessional test-- how is that being uttered? When a person gives a prophecy, is it in the spirit and character of Jesus Christ? Listen to it very carefully. Does it build up? Does it cheer up? Does it stir up? And does it glorify Jesus Christ? Does it glorify Jesus Christ?

In Deuteronomy, not 18-- I mentioned that-- but in Deuteronomy chapter 13, it says, if somebody comes to you in the name of the Lord and gives you a prophecy that comes to pass, predicts something that happens, it still may not be true. But once it comes to pass, if they lead you to follow other gods, it's a false prophet. That guy's to be excommunicated or put to death. That's the confessional test.

Third test is the factual test. Does it happen? If somebody says it's going to happen, does it happen? Is it factual? Does it line up? Agabus predicted a famine. Did it happen? Yeah, now frankly, again, if I was in the book of Acts and Agabus said, thus saith the Lord, a famine is coming, I probably would have thought, who is this guy. But once it happened, I go, oh, he's a true prophet. It's factual. It actually came to pass.

And the fourth test, the moral test-- the moral test. How is that person living his life, that's spokesperson for God, man or woman? How are they living their life? Jesus said, you will know them by their fruit. You and I are called to be fruit inspectors. Now I know, when you do that, people say, don't judge me, bro. Say, I'm not bro. I'm a fruit inspector, bro.

And you're commanded to do that. It's called accountability. We keep each other in check. It's healthy for the body of Christ to do that. And if someone speaks in the name of the Lord, how is that person living morally? What is the fruit like in their life? What are they producing, not just what are they saying? Remember Jesus said, beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing. Oh, they look just like it. And they go, bah. But inwardly, they are ravenous wolves. You'll know them by their fruit, what their life produces.

This idea was very important to the early church, so much so that in the second quarter of the second century AD-- the time when many people would say, well, the gifts of the Spirit ceased with the early church. This is second quarter second century-- a book surfaced called the Didache, or the Didache is the Greek pronunciation-- The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles on how to tell a true prophet from a false prophet.

There was a lot of people milling their way through the church saying, thus saith the Lord. I'm a prophet of God. And they were staying with people and living off of people. And it became so critical at that time that they had to devise a way, and they've brought up this book that was supposedly written by the 12. But it's not a canonical book. It's not part of the scripture. But it became a guide to church leaders on how to determine a false prophet from a true prophet.

And I've read the book. I've read the document on a few different occasions. And it's fascinating. One is the test of fruit, the money. If somebody comes into your midst, the book says, the Didache says, if somebody comes in your midst and claims to be a prophet of God and wants to stay with you, well, you'd open up your home and be hospitable to them and welcome them in the name of the Lord and let them stay three days. If they stay more than three days, the book says, that person's a false prophet. Get them out. Kick him out, because obviously he's there just to sponge off of you. And so the three days was the limit. And after three days, get a life.

If somebody comes into your midst and by the spirit says, prepare me a meal-- you can picture it. Wait a minute, I'm getting a word from God. You're to make a big meal. It's to have turkey and potatoes and cranberries. I really like cranberries, and pumpkin pie. The instructions were, make it. But if that prophet eats of it, he's a false prophet. Feed it to the poor. But if he's going to partake of it, then you know why he gave the prophecy.

Or if somebody comes into your midst and begs for finances, he's a false prophet. I'd love to bring that book back today and put it all over Christian television and Christian radio. If you don't send in your check, we're going to go under. Go under. Where God guides God provides. But these were the regulations of the prophets.

And part of that moral test I would say is, is that prophet a loose cannon or in submission to a local church. That's God. That's the New Testament. I've had people say, well, I don't really belong to any church but I'm a prophet of God. Well, I reject that person's prophecy completely, because that is not anything in the New Testament.

I remember one time when I was in California, I was in San Bernardino and we had an Afterglow and the guy stood up and spoke and says, thus saith the Lord, Ronald Reagan is the Antichrist. That bothered me because I liked Ronald Reagan. He was the governor of California. I thought he did a good job. I thought he did a great job as president. But he said he was the Antichrist.

So I went over to talk to him. It wasn't even my church. I was just helping a guy out. And we were doing an Afterglow. So I went and talked to him. And that's the line he gave me. I don't belong to any church. I am God's servant. I'm just the floating prophet. I said, well, float on out of here, would you, because you're not welcome here. And Ronald Reagan turned out not to be the Antichrist. So he was a false prophet.

It's a legitimate gift. We shouldn't ignore it. We shouldn't quench the spirit. We shouldn't despise processes. We should walk that line of Lord, I'm open, but I'm discerning at the same time. And some of you are looking at me through this whole study like I've never heard any of this before in the churches I've been to. I've never experienced any of this before.

Well, how about asking the Lord if that's something he wants to do with you or through you? How about it? Why not be open to God? Just ask him. Didn't Jesus say, if you being evil by nature can give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask? Maybe this is a manifestation he'd like to do in your home group, in your kinship group, in an Afterglow that we have from time to time. It can be a beautiful expression. You can walk away edified, comforted, encouraged.

Heavenly Father, thank you for the time we've spent together week by week, opening up the word, discussing it comparing scripture with scripture, and being able this evening to have a full orbed view of this gift of prophecy-- something in the Old Testament, something renewed and honed in the New Testament, and for a great purpose Lord, for the edification of the body of Christ, for the comfort of the body of Christ, to stir us up to good works.

Lord, I pray that as we are open, I pray, Lord, that we would never quench the true spirit. I pray that we would never quench the Holy Spirit, that all of us would, by your grace, live holy lives, lives that are seeking to give to others what you've given to us, the gifts, the encouragement, whether teaching or prophecy or the gift of giving or the gift of helps. But Lord you have a plan for this cell, this group of believers, this church. You wrote the code, Lord. And I pray that we would all respond and be involved and be open with discernment. In Jesus' name, amen.