THE GIFT OF PROPHETS

(INTRO) HOW TO TELL YOU MIGHT BE A PROPHET (Me/We)

[1]WELCOME: Good morning everyone! If you’re new with us on campus or joining us online, my name is Nic Cook and I’m one of the pastors here at Cornerstone. Thanks for making it a priority to be with the family of God and learn how to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. We’re continuing our teaching SERIES: called 5 where we have been discussing what it looks like when every Christian takes seriously that they are part of the mission of God. We’ve been looking at the 5 roles that Jesus has given to his church and how every single one of us are called to live out the responsibilities of one of these roles. Just a reminder it says in [Eph. 4:11] “11 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers.” We call these 5 gifts APEST for short. Last week we talked about Apostles and that they are Sent ones! God’s desire is to send people into the dark places of this world and bring light, healing, and flourishing. That Apostles make sure we don’t get stuck and are always looking for ways to expand the kingdom. This week we’re talking about…[2]

· PROPHETS: Just like I did last week, I’d like to share some phrases with you to see if you feel like they might describe you. If they do, you might be a prophet. [3]I can accurately assess a person based on first impressions and know instinctively if they are being real with me. (remember, I said accurately, we all have first impressions, many of them are not helpful.) [4]I sometimes get frustrated and even depressed at the lack of faith or understanding of others around me. (ooh, now that one probably landed) How bout this one? [5]I sometimes feel compelled to speak the truth even if it makes others feel uncomfortable. (I know some of you are like, oh yeah. Then some of you are like, now way, not gonna do that.) How about, [6]social justice for the poor, marginalized, and mistreated means a great deal to me. Or maybe another way to say it would be, I am fiercely protective of those who are powerless. Lastly, [7]sometimes I am able to reveal specific things which have then happened or meant something at a later date. Now depending on your church background, that last statement might have made you either excited or uncomfortable. We’ll unpack that in a bit. Now, like I said, some of you are already excited and resonating with the role of prophet, and some of you are like nope, not me. Regardless of whether you fall into this role or not, it’s important for you to know why they are so important to the church as a whole and how to both identify them, as well as how you compliment them in the mission of God. So this morning if you’ll turn in your bibles to [8][Mark 2:1-12] we’re going to start with Jesus, the perfect picture of a prophet, and then jump into what that looks like for someone to follow in his example. Let’s Pray! [9] [Read]

(TEACH/APP) LISTENING, REVEALING, PROCLAIMING (God)

HOW DID JESUS KNOW THEIR HEARTS? THE SPIRIT REVEALED IT! : I want to focus on [10][2:6-8]. Jesus has just done an incredible miracle. He has forgiven this paralyzed man of his sin. He’s about to do another miracle and make this man who has been unable to walk for his entire life, the ability to be completely healed. However, there are a group of people who are going to miss the miracle because of their hard hearts. They have a preconceived picture of what God can and will do. They are looking for salvation and can’t accept Jesus as the Messiah they are looking for. So, Jesus sees what’s in their hearts and he confronts it. [11]He is simultaneously caring for the powerless and calling out the sin of the powerful. He says, “I know what’s in your hearts, it’s sinful, and I’m confronting it.”

How did he know what was going on in people’s lives that they hadn’t revealed? [12]He did it through the power of the Holy Spirit! Matthew (4:1: led by the spirit), Mark (1:12; compelled by the spirit), and (Luke 4:1: full of the Holy Spirit) all tell us that at the baptism of Jesus, that the Holy Spirit appeared to come and land on Jesus in a way that reminded them of a dove. Then it says that the Holy Spirit led and drove or compelled Jesus to go out into the desert to be tempted and that when he came back, he was full of the Spirit. Does this mean that Jesus didn’t have the Holy Spirit before his baptism? No! Jesus couldn’t have lived a perfect life for 30 years prior without the help of the Holy Spirit. The Scriptures are simply saying, pay attention to the life that Jesus is able to lead because he was dependent on the Holy Spirit! God used the Holy Spirit to reveal to Jesus the things that were in the hearts of people. We see consistently in the Old Testament as well as in the life of Jesus that…[13]

· PROPHETS LISTEN FOR WHAT GOD WANTS TO REVEAL TO THEM AND TO OTHERS: I love the way a pastor and author named Sam Storms describes it. He says that “PROPHECY IS THE HUMAN REPORT OF A DIVINE REVELATION.” Divine revelation simply means God reveals something that no one else would know to us and we speak what we have heard from God to others. God reveals and shares something with us, and we then share that with others. A human report of a divine revelation. We see this in the life of Jesus. The Spirit reveals that the pharisees hearts were hard and then tells them exactly what they were thinking. Another place we see this in when Jesus meets a Samaritan woman at a well. Jesus is talking to this woman who is an outcast and full of shame. Then at a certain point he tells this woman to go get her husband. She responds by saying, I don’t have a husband. Jesus then says [14-15]“You’re right! You don’t have a husband—18 for you have had five husbands, and you aren’t even married to the man you’re living with now. You certainly spoke the truth!” 19 “Sir,” the woman said, “you must be a prophet.” [John 4:18-19] God revealed through the Holy Spirit information and Jesus proclaimed it to this woman. And she responds, only a prophet could have known that. So, a prophet is someone who listens to what God reveals and then reveals it to others. Now before we get into specifics as well as address some common problems and objections. I want to get to why PROPHETS ARE SO INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT. [16]

o PROPHETS ARE PASSIONATE ABOUT HOLINESS AND JUSTICE: The purpose of hearing from God is to help people turn away from sin and turn towards God. They’re passionate about people loving the God who loves us. They’re passionate about confronting the sin that destroys us. And they’re passionate about making sure that the powerless are taken care of. Just like Jesus, they say “there is sin in your hearts that is keeping you from following Jesus.” And just like Jesus, they look at the suffering person in front of them and want to see them loved and cared for. That’s why I used the language of passion! They feel strongly about sin and injustice, and they feel strongly about loving the God who loves us so passionately.

§ The Church needs people who will stand up and say the hard things people don’t want to hear. They need people who will call sin a sin and cry out “woe to you who call bad things good and good things bad!” The church needs people who will advocate for those that the world ignores. They’re the spiritual bulldogs who annoy us by telling us we’re not living out the good news to the poor and oppressed. They don’t do it because they like feeling hated or ostracized! They do it because it must be done. Now, if you have the prophetic gifting and begin living into this role, let me speak directly to you…

§ [17]YOU WILL FEEL ALONE, BUT YOU’RE NOT. SO DON’T GIVE UP, WE NEED EACH OTHER. Just like I mentioned last week, Jesus said in [18-19][Lk. 11:46-47] that people will hate apostles and prophets. They’ll mistreat them and sometimes try to kill them. Then later they’ll honor them because they realized they were wrong. My wife and I joke about not naming a kid after a prophet because they lived hard lives. Telling people the truth and calling them to live a certain way is uncomfortable for everyone. Even Elijah who one day is calling down fire from heaven, the next day finds himself in the fetal position under a bush wishing he could die. You’re going to experience really high highs and really low lows. And as Elijah stood before God, and God said, Elijah, what are you doing here! Elijah says “I’ve been zealous for you, your people are awful, and I’m the only one left!” God says, no you’re not. I’ve got Elisha to help you, and by the way, there’s 600 other prophets who have been faithful. Go back to my people and keep doing my work. You need them and they need you. So, prophets, you’re not alone. We need you. The church needs you to hold us accountable. God desires a holy Bride who changes the world by caring for those he cares about. Now, let me address some potential questions and objections…[20]

(JC) HOW DOES THIS WORK? (JC)

If you grew up in a background that believed that the Holy Spirit did certain things in the New Testament and the early church, but then quit doing those when after the church had grown and was established, you may say that we don’t have prophets anymore. Additionally, if you grew up in a Charismatic or Pentecostal church and saw people do wacky things that didn’t seem biblical or have been hurt by someone who comes up and says “god told me to tell you…” then you too might want to ignore this role. First, the church background I grew up in ignored certain gifts of the Holy Spirit and believed many of these gifts no longer happened. However, when Paul writes about these roles, he says that they are given so that we can [21][Eph. 4:13] be mature and reach the full and complete standard of Jesus. Question. Have we reached maturity and look fully like Jesus and have lived into his example? No! Then we still need all these gifts. So let me give you some helpful things to understand about Prophecy.

· PROPHECY INVOLVES…[22]

o REVELATION: Revelation means God shows us something that only he knows. He perfectly communicates that to us. But just like in human communication, just because someone says something, doesn’t mean we heard it correctly. So, prophecy also includes…

o INTERPRETATION & APPLICATION: A prophet may hear it and misinterpret it. For example, in the Old Testament, God tells Jonah to go and preach to Nineveh that he’s going to judge them. Jonah tries not to because he hates the Ninevites. But after God finally gets him there, he preaches, God’s going to destroy you. Then he’s angry that when they repent God spares them. God said go tell them judgement is coming. Jonah just assumed judgement meant they were hopeless. An immature prophet will simply assume they know how to apply what they have heard to how the person should respond. They assume what God will do. However, a mature prophet like Agabus in [23-25]Act 21:7-11 does this. [Read] I love that Agabus doesn’t give an application to what he’s heard from God. He simply says, God wants you to know that you’re going to be imprisoned. He could have said, so you probably shouldn’t go. No. He simply stated what he heard from God and let Paul apply it. If the Holy Spirit had wanted Agabus to tell Paul what to do, he would have given him that information. Instead, the Spirit only told Agabus what to say, not how Paul should respond. Lastly, true prophecy must be…[26]

o FAITHFUL TO PREVIOUS REVELATION AND COME TO FULFILLMENT: If someone says, this is what God said to me, and it isn’t faithful to what God has said previously in scripture, it’s a lie. God doesn’t contradict himself. If it doesn’t come to pass, it’s a lie. God’s ways always come to pass. So to get really practical, we must both…[27]

o TEST AND TRAIN PROPHETS: If someone comes up to us and says “God has spoken to me and wants you to know…” Do two things. Look at the fruit of the person speaking to you. Does their life exhibit a commitment to holiness and to justice? Are they living in a way that makes them truly able to hear the voice of the Spirit? If so, then take heed and ask the Spirit to confirm it to you. If their life is not one of holiness and justice, be very careful. Secondly, if an immature prophet does hear from God but either approaches you the wrong way, or gives you an application that wasn’t from God, don’t simply discount the gift. We don’t do this with people who are gifted as teachers. If a gifted but immature teacher gets up and preaches a horrible sermon, we don’t say, yea, don’t ever do that again. No, we say, let’s look at what it takes to do this well. The same should be with prophets. Hey, you may have heard from God, but I think you approached me the wrong way, or I think you may be going beyond what was revealed and assuming what the application should be.