Prophecy in the church

     I was reading a book by the Bible teacher Jack Deere. Jack came to Scotland several times and preached at a big Christian convention we had every year in the town of St Andrews. He was a great speaker so I bought his book ‘Surprised by the voice of God.’ In it Jack Deere talks about a particular experience he had. 

One Sunday evening, instead of going to the adult service in his church, he took one of the church staff, who had a strong gift of prophecy and the two of them spent the evening with the ten to twelve year olds in their children’s church. There were about 150 to 200 children there- a big church. 

When they were all seated. Jack Deere asked the children to ask him questions- any question at all. He came in as an experienced Bible teacher, and he felt the children would really benefit from the answers he was to give them. He went in confident, how hard could it be to answer the questions of ten to twelve year olds?

The first child raised his hand. ‘Pastor, he said, why is it that bad things happen to people who love God and try to follow him?’

‘Hmmm’ Jack Deere thought- ‘Why do bad things happen to good people? Theologians have been grappling with that one for 2000 years. He mumbled something about God not wanting robots but friends with freedom and dignity. The kids didn’t look impressed by this answer. They looked a little bored. 

A second 10 year olds’ hand went up. ‘Pastor, why did God create the devil?’ she asked.

‘Hmm, why did God create the devil?’ Jack mumbled another answer about God not wanting robots but rather friends with freedom and dignity. The kids looked even less impressed and even more bored! 

This went on and Jack started to feel that some demon had smuggled the children every unsolved theological problem over the past twenty centuries to ask him.

He decided it was time to stop, he looked over at his colleague who he had brought with him, the man who had a strong prophetic gift. He said ‘Has the Lord show you anything about these kids?’ 

‘Yes he has’, the man stepped forward. ‘He has shown me something for that young lady right here.’ With that he pointed to a young, 12 year old girl sitting in the front row- about that young man back there pointing to another 12 year old sitting in the middle of the room and about this lady in the back, pointing to one of the Sunday school teachers.

He looked at the young girl ‘What’s your name?’ ‘Julie’, she stuttered, embarrassed, not wanting someone to give her a prophecy in front of 200 others. 

‘Julie, while Jack was speaking, I had a vision of you. It was Tuesday night. That’s five nights ago. You went to your bedroom and shut the door. You were crying. You looked up to heaven and said ‘God do you really love me? I have to know- do you really love me?’ God didn’t saying thing to you on Tuesday night. Julie.’

‘He sent me here tonight to tell you he really loves you. He really loves you. He also told me to tell you that the trouble going on around you is not your fault.’ 

Then he went on to prophecy to the young man and to the lady. 

After it was all over Jack Deere called the three people over and he asked them about their experience. ‘Julie’, he said ‘last Tuesday night, were you in your bedroom crying really hard and did you ask God if he really loved you?’

‘Yes’

‘Are your parents fighting right now?’

‘Yes’

‘Are they talking about getting a divorce?’

‘Yes’

‘Do you think it’s your fault?’

She looked up at him and smiled-‘not any more’ she said.

What we see in that story is an example of the value of the gifts of the Holy Spirit in church.

This girl was really blessed and comforted and encouraged, not by Jack Deere’s teaching gift on this occasion, because teaching wasn’t what she needed that evening. God helped her through the use of one of the other gifts of the Holy Spirit. 

This man told her something about her situation that only she and God knew. That she had prayed on the Tuesday evening in her bedroom and asked God if he loved her. 

The man was using the spiritual gift mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12 called the gift of ‘word of knowledge’. God gave the man a ‘word of knowledge’ about Julie. A word of knowledge is a knowing you have about someone’s situation. 

The man also used another spiritual gift mentioned in 1 Corinthians which is the gift of prophecy. 

A prophecy is a spiritual gift that involves speaking out God’s messages, which may include future events or declarations about God’s will. A prophecy conveys God’s heart and intentions.

So when the man said to her ‘you prayed on Tuesday evening asking God to show you that He loved you,’ that was a word of knowledge. He supernaturally knew something about her situation. When the man said ‘God sent me here tonight to say he really loves you,’ that was a prophecy. God’s heart, his thoughts towards Julie were being communicated.

The kind of church service we have is one which is heavy on Bible teaching. That is good, the Bible is God’s word and contains the information we need to make us wise unto salvation. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. A Christian is called to live by the teaching of the bible.

But the Bible itself tells us that God speaks to us by his Holy Spirit as well as by his Bible. And so if we are going to be obedient to the Bible, we need to be open to the voice of the Holy Spirit.

As we saw from that example, there are times when we need more than Bible teaching in church. We need not just the teaching gift being expressed, but we need the other spiritual gifts to be used, like the word of knowledge gift and the prophecy gift. 

That girl needed God to speak to her heart that week giving her an answer to her question and she needed to know that her parent’s quarrelling were not her fault. 

God wants this kind of ministry to happen in our church. And he wants to give us gifts of prophecy and words of knowledge and other gifts and He wants us to use the spiritual gifts he has already given us. 

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians ‘follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially prophecy.’ He is telling this church in Corinth and by implication all Christians in all churches, to follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially prophecy.

Many of us are familiar with 1 Corinthians 13, it’s the famous love chapter of the Bible, its read at weddings very often and its lovely to hear in a wedding- love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy – and yes its all the things that will result in a good marriage. And as we read that chapter, we see Paul say if  If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. and If I speak in the tongues^[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.. And we come away thinking that love is what matters and things like prophecy, tongues, faith and other spiritual gifts aren’t very important. 

But then we see the first verse of chapter 14 tells us to follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts. So we need to the gifts of the Holy Spirit as well as needing love. Love on its own is not enough. 

If you visit someone in hospital then you are showing them love. But if you don’t have a gift of faith or a gift of healing then you will leave that hospital and yes they will feel loved, but they won’t be physically any better. They will still be sick. But if you have a gift of healing, then God can use you to heal them, which is much better. Its frustrating having love without the gifts, because loving someone means you want to help them and it’s the gifts of the holy spirit that give you the power so often to help them. 

It’s a very loving thing you are doing when you ask God to give you the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Because the gifts of the Holy Spirit are designed to bless other people. They are God given tools to help other people in the church and outside the church also.

There is one spiritual gift mentioned in the New Testament that isn’t to bless other people but is designed to bless the person himself, and that is the gift of tongues. The gift of tongues is mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12 and 14 and it is a personal prayer language. It’s a language that the person praying doesn’t understand, the person speaking in tongues doesn’t understand what he is praying, but God does. The person’s spirit is praying and words are coming out of his mouth in an unknown language and these words are a prayer to God. Pauls says that when a person speaks in a tongue, he or she edifies himself. That word edify means strengthens, or builds himself up. 

It is a private prayer language that you can use in your house, when you are driving. It will strengthen your faith, it will give you peace as you do it. If you have the gift and you are working in your job, you can quietly pray in tongues under your breath and you will be strengthening yourself spiritually as you do your work. If you have the gift, use it! Pauls says ‘I thank God I speak in tongues more than all of you.’ He prayed in tongues a lot. 

Jim Dean, the man who led me to the Lord himself became a Christian when he was a teenager in the last year of his schooling. He was sitting in a Billy Graham mission in the city of Auckland, New Zealand back in the 1950s. Jim wrote in his autobiography how he came to the Lord. He said

 ‘as I sat in the Auckland Town Hall listening to [Billy Graham], something strange happened to me. When he called for people to go forward to accept Jesus into their lives, I felt compelled to but tried to ignore the feeling. I had to hold onto my chair to stop myself from going forward. I was quite frightened that God would take me up chair and all. But as I sat there, I silently prayed to accept Jesus into my heart…

After I left school, I forgot about what I had done. But although I didn’t realise it then, it was to have a major effect on my life much later. At that time I got the gift of tongues, although I did not know what it was. I used to go around the farm singing in a language that I did not understand. I remember that it made me feel peaceful.’

That’s what I find also, praying in tongues makes me feel peaceful. Jim’s testimony tells us that Christians can get the gift of tongues and not even realise they have it. But it’s a good gift and we should seek to have it. 

But tongues is for your own benefit, not other people’s benefit. 

Prophecy is for other people’s benefit. 

Paul writes ‘Everyone who prophesies, speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort. He who speaks in a tongue, builds himself up, but he who prophecy builds up the church.’ 1 Corinthians 14:3&4 

Now we want this church to be built up or edified. God is telling us in his Bible here that prophecy will help build up the church. And its obvious why. Because when prophecy is happening in a correct way, people will experience what that young girl Julie experienced, they will be strengthened, encouraged and comforted. 

Now some people will say, the gift of prophecy and tongues and the other gifts are no longer being given by God to the church. And they will point to the verse in 1 Corinthians 12 which says ‘For we know in part and we prophecy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.’ And they say when the Bible was completed in about the year AD, then perfection came. Then the Bible was completed, perfected and now, since we have the whole Bible and perfection has come the imperfect, prophecy, disappears. And so they would argue that the gift of prophecy is no longer operating in the church.  

But I think a better understanding of the phrase ‘when perfection comes’ is that it talks about what will happen after Jesus comes again and the dead are raised incorruptible and we will see him face to face.. That is what it means by perfection. For then we will be see face to face, then we will know fully even as we are fully known. Perfection has not yet come. And so the gifts of prophecy and the other gifts are still available.  

Church history tells us the spiritual gifts are still available. 

For example John Knox, the founder of the Church of Scotland had a real strong gift of prophecy. Knox was on his death bed- nearing death. His friend, a man called William Kirkcaldy, was fighting for John Knox’s enemy, Mary Queen of Scots. And William Kirkcaldy was holding Edinburgh Castle against an English Army. John Knox sent a message for Kirkcaldy- he said- unless he leaves the evil path that he has started out on… he shall be pulled out of that nest (meaning Edinburgh castle) and brought down over the wall with shame and his body will shall be hung before the sun, so God has told me’

The message was delivered to Kirkcaldy in the castle. But he ignored it. On 29 May 1573 Kirkcaldy was forced to surrender. The castle gate was blocked by fallen stones and couldn’t be opened, and so he had to be lowered down from the wall by a rope in shame. He was executed by hanging at the Market Cross of Edinburgh. His body was facing east, but before he died, his body swung round and faced the west, so that he hung before the sun, just as John Knox had prophesied.

By the way John Knox when he was a young man was mentored by a man called George Wishart. They travelled around the country together. When Wishart and John Knox was leaving the town of Haddington together, Knox asked to go along with him to the village of Ormiston. But Wishart said ‘no’ he said ‘one is sufficient for one sacrifice’. At Ormiston Wishart was arrested and eventually executed. But Knox survived, because Wishart had a gift of prophecy and God warned him what was coming. 

Sadly the Church of Scotland and our own church, the United Free Church of Scotland, hasn’t held on to the gift of prophecy that George Wishart and John Knox and many other reformers demonstrated is available to God’s people in Scotland. But it is time we reclaimed the gift and got it operating in our church again.

Last week we had our long period of worship. And right after the musical worship we stopped to listen to God and try and get a picture or a word from him, for either yourself or others. And some of us shared things you were getting from the Lord. 

For example Tom here got Candy’s smile coming to mind and when I asked Tom what he felt God was saying through that- Tom said he felt it was about joy. The message seems to have been God wants us to have more joy. Very simple, but valuable. 

Norma pointed out after the service that when Jesus was doing his work, there was joy. Everywhere Jesus went ,there was joy. After Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, there must have been great joy. When a church doesn’t have joy, it’s a sign that Jesus isn’t doing all He wants to do in that church. That’s a good point Norma made, Joy is a true sign Jesus is moving in people’s lives. We need the joy! We need to let Jesus do his work so there is joy in our midst. And actually recovering the gift of prophecy will lead to joy.

Now when a prophecy is shared – generally that word will comfort, strengthen or encourage. And the message that God wants to give us more joy is a comforting, strengthening and encouraging word. 

Not every prophetic word will comfort, strengthen or encourage, some prophecies can be warning words or words of judgment like John Knox’s word to William Kirkaldy. In the bible you see words or warning or even judgement. You are weighted in the scales and found wanting- that’s a word of judgment which Daniel interpreted for the king. But normally prophetic words are words that encourage.  

When a prophecy is shared it needs to agree with the Bible, it can’t go against the Bible. That word about joy for example. Well when we read the Bible we read that joy is a fruit of the Spirit. We read Isaiah 61:3 also, which tells us that God gives his people the oil of gladness instead of mourning and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. And so joy is very biblical, God does generally want to give his people joy. So that simple prophecy about God wanting to give us more joy is an encouraging word and it lines up with the Bible’s teaching.

Now what we did last week was practicing something that for most of us is quite new. And maybe you felt a bit like you did when you first tried riding a bike or driving a car. Not very confident. A bit shaky. And not very good either! When you start out doing something for the first time, you don’t tend to be very good at it. You learn to drive a car and you go very slow along the road and you get nervous because there is a line of cars queuing behind you and when you try reversing round a corner you end up in the middle of the road or half way up the pavement! But after a few lessons you start to get a bit better and it all comes a little bit easier. 



It’s the same with listening to God, we are all learning. We are all learning to hear God for our own lives. And we are all learning to hear God for other people.

It is my understanding that every Christian with the Holy Spirit has some ability to prophesy. That is we all have an ability to hear a message from God for someone else. 1 Corinthians 14:31 says ‘for you can all prophesy in turn, so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged.’ So in principal everyone in the Corinthian church could have their turn in sharing a prophetic word for the church.

We can all do it, some maybe better than others, but the ability to prophecy is there for all Christians. But we are all learning, we all have our learner plates on. So we will make mistakes and not be very good at it to begin with. But that’s ok. We all have to start somewhere. There is plenty of grace.

So lets try something for a few minutes. Let split into groups of three. 

Lets close our eyes and do what we did last week. And ask God to speak to us. To give us a picture in our minds. Or a word in our minds, or give us a memory maybe, or let him speak in whatever way He chooses. Lets see if something comes to our minds. Just relax. No worries if nothing comes. But maybe you will just get something come to your mind, the first thing that comes, hold on to it. 

Lets try it. 

What is coming into your mind?

Then ask what does that image in your mind, that word, that memory mean. What could God be saying through it? Is it for you or someone else?

If you wish tell the others in the group if anything is coming to your mind. If you think you might be receiving something.