Understanding the gift of Prophecy

 27 Apr 25Sermon

        Many of us are discovering and experiencing the gift of prophecy for the first time with the visit of Lora Beth and Peter to us a couple of weeks ago. Many of us received prophetic messages which relate to what God is calling us into, who God has made us to be, messages related to our gifting, some of what we heard from Lora Beth and Peter was related to our past. It was a new experience for most of us and quite exciting and I think a bit surprising. 

How did they know that about me you might have been asking afterwards! 

Some of you might have questions like; why did I never experience this before in my church life? 

Is it real or is it fake?

Is it biblical?  

I wanted to teach a little about prophecy this afternoon, so we can better understand what prophecy is and where it fits into the life of a church and into our own lives. I want to show you that prophecy is something that is very biblical and has always been part of God’s plan. Hopefully I can answer some of questions you might have and give a bit of clarity about it. 

I want to help you understand what to do with the prophecy you received two weeks ago and what to do with prophecies you will receive in the future. I want to help you understand how to discern what is true in a prophecy and what is not true. 

The gift of prophecy like all of God’s gifts to us, is a very good gift. But we need Biblical wisdom to know how to handle it correctly. So hopefully I can help with that now. 

Ok, what is the gift of prophecy?

To put it simply, the gift of prophecy is an ability to receive a message from God and to deliver it to someone else. When someone prophecies- they are speaking out a message to someone else that God has given them. Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology defines prophecy as ‘telling something that God has spontaneously brought to mind.’ The gift of prophecy reveals God's will, guidance, and future plans for a person. It is one of the Holy Spirit gifts that God gives to Christian believers.

What is the purpose of the gift? 1 Corinthians 14:3 says ‘But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort.’ 

People get strengthened and encouraged and comforted by the gift of prophecy.

1 Corinthians 14:31 says- ‘you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged.’ 

So a prophecy can be given to instruct someone as well as encourage them. 

The New Testament as well as the Old Testament is full of examples of the gift of prophecy in operation. We read for example in Acts 11 about the new church that was established in the city of Antioch. It says in Acts 11:27-29 that:

27 During this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 One of them, named Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world. (This happened during the reign of Claudius.) 29 The disciples, as each one was able, decided to provide help for the brothers and sisters living in Judea. 30 This they did, sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul. 

So here are some travelling prophets who travel from the church in Jerusalem down to the church in the city of Antioch and they prophecy something that is going to happen in the near future. They prophesy that a really bad famine is coming. And the church in Antioch hear the prophecy, they no doubt pray about it and discuss it and they believe it to be a true prophecy and they do something about it. They start collecting money together and then when they have got together a collection, they send this money to the elders of the churches in Jerusalem and the surrounding area of Judea. 

They send the money to Judea and Jerusalem because they knew that the churches there would be really badly affected by the famine and would need more money than normal to buy food. It was an act of love and an act of obedience to what they felt the Lord was saying. 

The prophecy was a true prophecy because the famine happened in the reign of Claudius who reigned between AD 41 and AD 54. 

I bet the Christians in Judea were grateful for that prophecy- it saved some of them from great hunger or worse. 

But worse was ahead. 

A few years a later in AD 66, the Jews of Jerusalem rose up in revolt against the Roman Empire- against the occupiers. The Romans sent an army of 30,000 men against the city but the Jews defeated it. In AD 70 the Romans sent a bigger army against Jerusalem. 

But the Christians living in the city remembered the prophecy of Jesus. Jesus had given a prophecy for Jerusalem- it is in Luke Chapter 21. He said:

20 “When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near. 21 Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those in the city get out, and let those in the country not enter the city. 22 For this is the time of punishment in fulfilment of all that has been written. 23 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! There will be great distress in the land and wrath against this people. 24 They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

Luke 21:20-24

The Christians in Jerusalem remembered these words of Christ- that Jerusalem would be surrounded by armies- but was this the attack He had warned them about? 

Well the church historian Eusebius tells us that a prophecy was given to some men in the church at that time and the prophecy was that the Christians should leave Jerusalem and go and live in the town of Pella on the other side of the Jordan River.

And that is what they did. All the Christian disciples in Jerusalem, basically the whole church, left the city, just ahead of the Roman armies coming in to besiege it. And because of this, they escaped the great slaughter that happened when the Roman armies conquered the city after five months of siege. 

It happened just as Jesus prophesied it would. The Gentiles trampled on the city, many fell by the sword and others were taken away as prisoners. But the Christians had trusted in the prophetic word and escaped.

How valuable the prophetic word is!

The church is meant to experience the ministry of the prophet- like Agabus in the book of Acts and Lora Beth and Peter a couple of weeks ago here in Corstorphine. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14- ‘Now you are the body of Christ and each one of you is a part of it. And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different tongues.’ 1 Corinthians 14:28

Prophets are one of the ministries that God has appointed in his church.

What is a prophet? A prophet is someone who God has given a higher level gift of prophecy to than is normal and who has received a call from God to make prophecy a large part of their ministry. A prophet will prophecy accurately and effectively and is often recognised by the wider church as standing in the office of prophet.

However the Bible tells us that every Spirit filled Christian can prophesy to some extent. We won’t all be prophets but every Christian filled with the Holy Spirit can receive an ability to get revelation from God for another person, in other words to prophesy- some prophesy at a higher level and some at a lower level.

Paul says to the church in the city of Corinth in 1 Corinthians 14:31- ‘you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged.’ So Paul thought in principle that all the members of the church in Corinth could give a prophecy, one after the other. And if they do, they will instruct and encourage each other.

Paul was very keen that Christians received the ability to prophesy. He says in 1 Corinthians 14:1 ‘Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophesy.’ He says again in 1 Corinthians 14:39 ‘Therefore my brothers and sisters, be eager to prophesy.’

That’s a Bible command ‘be eager to prophesy.’ So we should really want to prophesy. Why? Because we will bless our brothers and sisters in the church when we do. We will comfort, encourage, build them up and instruct them.

Hopefully some of you are getting stirred up in your spirit and you are thinking; ‘I would like to prophesy.’ Well the first step is ask God for the gift of prophecy. Jesus said ‘ask and it will be given to you.’ He said your Father is a good father, much better than your earthly father and he will surely give the Holy Spirit to those who keep on asking. Luke 11

So ask him for the Holy Spirit gift of prophecy. And then be open to your Father, through the Holy Spirit giving you pictures in your mind or words coming to your mind, or feelings/impressions or dreams at night which contain a message for someone else. Pray about what you receive. Ask God what to do with it and if you feel the Lord giving you the go ahead, just share it to that person privately. Tell them ‘I think God might be saying this to you’. Tell the person, ‘I’m just learning how to prophesy, I’m not sure, but I think God might be giving me this message for you.’ You will make mistakes, everyone who learns makes mistakes, but don’t worry. God likes it when we step out in faith and take a risk. Better to bold that to be fearful. 

A good place to practice using the gift of prophecy is in your cell group. Because you are surrounded by friends and you are in a safe environment where you can practice and learn. 

You see it’s not just people like Lora Beth and Peter and Joy who can prophesy- many of us here are called to prophesy through the Holy Spirit. I know some of us here already have the gift. God wants to raise up many people in this church to use the gift of prophesy. How can I say that? Because that is the Biblical picture, the Bible model.

A prophecy doesn’t have to be complicated. I remember being in a church in Inverness about 15 or 16 years ago. It was a difficult season in my life. As I mentioned, I had been turned down to be a pastor by the Church of Scotland and I was wondering what to do next with my life. What job or training do I try next? I was confused and wondered what God was doing. But in that church in Inverness, I was at workshop on prophecy and a man, who didn’t know the situation I was in, simply said these words to me, ‘I will quickly correct the situation.’ It was a prophecy- ‘I will quickly correct the situation.’ Very simple. I knew what he was talking about, even though he didn’t.

The prophecy gave me reassurance that the Lord was going to do something to help. And He did- God opened the door for me to train to be a pastor with the United Free Church. 

Soon after I came to this church in Corstorphine- I got a prophecy from someone in Glasgow. This person didn’t know anything about this church, about the church building. We didn’t have a church website at the time, so this person had no way of knowing what the building was like. 

The prophecy this person gave me was – ‘I see a pewed church [this means a church with benches in it called ‘pews’]. She said ‘It’s time to rip the pews out!’ She said ‘I see really beautiful silver legged chairs and silver backed chairs with lovely colours on them and colours in the house of God.’ God says ‘your facilities are not facilitating anything.’ The Lord says ‘I am going to bless the refitting of your building… ‘as soon as you announce it, some will walk away and as soon as you announce it, some will fight you.’ 

This person didn’t know that our building had pews in it. She didn’t know that. 

Here is a photo of what it used to look like in the church sanctuary- 

God said to that prophetess that the old pews were there and it was time to take them out and put in nice coloured chairs. I prayed about it and discussed it with the others and it happened. 

I am glad we did, because that is why we have nice chairs through here that you can all sit on! And because we did, we can have plenty of space for coffee corner and the youth on a Sunday.

And this prophet didn’t know that our church building was not in a good condition. We had very expensive electric heating in both parts of the building. We had dark wood everywhere and the floors were all in a bad way. She didn’t know that but God told her and she said its time to improve your building. It was already in my mind to do it, but the prophecy was an encouragement to get going and actually do it and that the Lord would bless it.

And God did bless it – because we ended up selling the pews to a wedding venue at a good price and very easily.

But the prophecy wasn’t 100 percent correct. Because the prophecy said that when I announce the refitting of the building and the removing of the pews, some people would leave the church and some people would fight it. Well that didn’t really happen. No one left the church. And yes some people weren’t very sure about the changes to the building, but in the end everyone accepted it. So the prophecy was slightly incorrect. It was mostly correct, but not 100%. So you see why its important to weigh prophecy, to evaluate it, because prophecy can include some things that are not from God but from the prophet’s mind. 

But that prophecy about the building was very helpful to me at the time. 

In Paul’s letter to Timothy in the Bible, Paul tells Timothy to ‘stay there in Ephesus and command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer or devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies.’ (1 Timothy 1:3&4). So apparently in the church in Ephesus there were some teachers teaching bad doctrine and Timothy was told by Paul to command them to stop it. That wasn’t an easy job for young Timothy, to rebuke false teachers in a church. Then Paul reminds Timothy of the prophecies that had been spoken over his life in the past- which should be an encouragement for him to step up and correct the false teachers. Paul says in 1 Timothy 1:18

18 Timothy, my son, I am giving you this command in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by recalling them you may fight the battle well.

So by recalling the prophecies that had been given to him, Timothy will have the knowledge and strength to do the right things and fight the battle well and stop false teaching in the church in Ephesus.

When someone gives us true prophecies and we remember them and hold on to them – these prophecies help us fight our battles well. We are in a spiritual battle, we are fighting against evil and we need all the help we can get to win. Prophecies give us the strategies and wisdom and encouragement we need to win the battles we are in. 

Prophecies are not a replacement for the Bible and good Bible teaching. The Bible has an authority that prophecy does not have. Most of God’s will for your life, you already have in the pages of scripture. If you know your Bible well, then you know most of how God wants you to live. ‘Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path’ as Psalm 119:105 says referring to the words of the Bible. You can trust the words of scripture as being all inspired by God and having God’s authority behind them. 

But it is the Bible that tells us that God has given the church the gift of prophecy and He wants us to use it. But that doesn’t mean that the gift of prophecy replaces scripture or has the same authority as scripture. 

That is why Paul tells the church in Thessalonica to test the prophecies that are given. He says in 1 Thessalonians 5:20-21 ‘Do not despise prophesying, but test everything, hold fast to what is good.’

We are never called to test the words of the Bible, because they are all God breathed, God inspired and therefore have God’s full authority behind them. But we are called to test the words of prophecy, because they don’t have the same level of inspiration and authority as scripture. Like the prophecy about the pews, they can be a slightly off.

When you receive a prophecy, ask yourself- does this line up with scripture? How do I feel about it, is there a peace about it? Speak to others about it. Ask God to confirm it. 

And then ask and think about what to do in response to the prophecy. Prophecies are often conditional. There is often a condition to them being fulfilled. Some prophecies are unconditional, God will just do what he says he will do. Jesus prophesied the Roman armies would attack Jerusalem. That was I believe an unconditional prophecy, it was always going to happen. But some prophecies won’t be fulfilled if people don’t pray, don’t obey God. Like I had to take the pews out of the church before we could get the nice chairs installed.

So when someone gives you a prophecy, what I would recommend is try and write it down. I have a journal and I try and record the things the Lord is telling me, especially the prophecies. It means I don’t forget them. And writing them down or typing them out is easier for me to think about them, pray over them and so on rather than just leaving them recorded on MP3 on my mobile phone. It means that 5, 10 years later I can find them easily. I can pray over them. I can reflect on them. 

That is helpful. 

Let me finish with this. Two weeks ago Lora Beth gave a prophecy to the church that said we would be growing very quickly 2 or 3 times bigger. I believe that is a true prophecy. Why?

Because in the summer of 2014 a wife of my cousin came to visit this church. She came from Belgium, she sat in one of the old pews and she saw a church with 12 Scottish people in it. 

But in September 2014, she had a dream and in the dream she was again visiting the church. But this time the church was a church of 100s of people and it was an international gathering in a really big building. It wasn’t a small Scottish church but an international church of 100s of people in a big building. I can show you her email from September 2014 with the prophecy. 

Today it looks like we are moving in that direction. Lora Beth’s prophecy was a confirmation of the 2014 prophecy from my cousin. Its good to remember the prophecies you get, because there comes a time when they start to come to pass. Even though they might take their time, if they are true prophecies and if you are obedient, they will come to pass.