Ministry Offices - The Prophet
Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.
Ephesians 4:11-16 (NLT)
Ministry Offices - The Prophet
David’s Notes from Bible College
THE PROPHET
1 CORINTHIANS 12:28
28 And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, SECONDARILY PROPHETS....
EPHESIANS 4:11
11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, PROPHETS....
1. Are there prophets today?
Some would tell us that the office of the prophet has been done away with - that there were prophets in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, but there are none today. There is no scriptural evidence for this.
2. The Word of God tells us that He gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors, and some teachers (Eph . 4:11).
a. Some say the only ministries we have today are evangelists, pastors, and teachers.
b. The Word of God makes no distinction. It seems to me the list either stands or falls together.
c. For what purpose were they given? "For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ."
Have the saints all been perfected yet? Is there any work of the ministry going on today? Does the Body of Christ need edifying? Emphatically, yes! Then all these ministry gifts should be in operation.
d. These ministry gifts will be necessary until Jesus comes for His Church .
3. What constitutes the office of a prophet?
1. Commenting on what the New Testament Greek says concerning the office of the prophet, an outstanding Greek scholar said, “The prophet speaks from the impulse of a sudden inspiration, from the light of a sudden revelation at the moment. The idea of speaking from a sudden revelation seems to be here a fundamental, as relating either to future events, or to the heart and mind of the Spirit in general ."
A prophet speaks by direct divine inspiration, an immediate revelation. Not just something they thought of, but something that was given to them at that moment by sudden inspiration.
4. To stand in the office of a prophet, one must first be a minister of the gospel, separated and called to the ministry with the calling of God upon their life. The prophet is a supernatural ministry gift.
a. A prophet is first of all be a preacher or a teacher of the Word of God.
b. A prophet is one who is called to the full-time ministry.
c. A person not in full time ministry may prophesy, but you are not a prophet of God just because you prophesy .
5. Paul encouraged the entire church at Corinth to want to prophesy (1 Cor. 14:1).
Then he gives the definition of what the simple gift of prophecy is : "But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort" (v. 3).
Yet the answer to the question "Are all prophets?" is obviously "No". (1 Cor. 12:29).
To stand in the office of prophet, a person must have a more consistent manifestation of at least two of the revelation gifts (word of wisdom, word of knowledge, or discerning of spirits) plus the gift of prophecy.
The three revelation gifts are:
1. Word of wisdom: Supernatural revelation by the Spirit of God concerning the divine purpose in will of God. This gift always speaks about the future.
2. Word of knowledge: Supernatural revelation by the Spirit of God of facts concerning people, places, or things. This gift is always present tense or past tense.
3. Discerning of spirits: Supernatural insight into the realm of spirits . Seeing and hearing in the spiritual realm.
Any Spirit-filled believer might have occasional manifestations of these gifts as the Holy Spirit. But only as the Holy Spirit wants and as the need for theses gifts and manifestations arises. But a prophet would also stand in the place of preacher or teacher of the Word and would have a more consistent manifestation of them. The difference is that the prophet has a ministry along this line. It becomes a ministry gift on a higher level.
A prophet is one who has visions and revelations.
There are three types of revelations and three types of visions. The highest type of revelation and the lowest type of vision are very similar and sometimes a person cannot tell the difference in them.
1. A spiritual vision. A person has a vision in his spirit, or sees in his spirit. This is the first and lowest type of vision .
Example: Saul on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:1-8).The Bible says about Saul that "...when his eyes were OPENED, he saw no man...."Saul's eyes were shut when he had this vision and saw Jesus. Paul didn't see the Lord with his physical eyes . He saw into the
spirit realm with his eyes closed.
Actually, the Bible says Saul was blinded for a time, so he couldn't have seen Jesus with his physical eyes. Later Ananias prayed for Paul
that he might receive his sight (Acts 9:17).
2. A trance. Jesus pointed out to me that the second highest type of vision is when one falls into a trance.
When one falls into a trance, his physical senses are suspended for the moment. He is not aware of where he is or anything that contacts the physical realm. He is not unconscious; he is just more conscious of spiritual things than he is of physical things.
Examples: Paul.When Paul went to Jerusalem the first time, he said, "And it came to pass, that, when I was come again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the temple, I was in a trance; And saw him [Jesus] saying unto me, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem : for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me"(Acts 22:17,18).
The tenth chapter of Acts relates the story of Peter's vision in which the Lord told him to take the gospel to the Gentiles. Peter went up on the housetop to pray and there "...fell into a trance" (v. 10).
When Peter fell into a trance, he "...saw heaven opened ..." (v. 11). He was seeing into the spirit realm.
We see from the Bible that both Peter and Paul fell into a trance and saw into the spirit realm.
3. An open vision. This is the highest type of vision. When this happens, one's physical senses are not suspended. His physical eyes are not closed. He possesses all his physical capabilities, yet he sees and hears in the realm of the spirit.
The prophets of the Old Testament were called seers. They would see and know things supernaturally.1. A prophet may speak forth his revelations through the gift of prophecy . This is on a higher level than simple prophecy.
If the Holy Spirit is not moving do not try to produce a manifestation yourself.
Misconceptions people have about the prophet's office.
1. Many think that a prophet is supposed to do nothing but prophesy. But the foremost ministry of the prophet is to preach or teach the Word of God.
a. A prophet does more than prophesy. In fact, very often when they are giving forth the revelation of the moment they are not prophesying at all, they are just telling what was revealed to them. For example, Agabus "signified by the Spirit" that there would be a great drought (Acts 11:28).
b. A prophet does more than have revelations .
People get into error who think, I'm called to be a prophet (and they might be) so they're always trying to have a revelation, or always trying to prophesy.
c. Before anything else, a prophet would be a preacher or a teacher of the Word. Jesus said John the Baptist was a great prophet, yet we have no record that John ever foretold anything. Rather, he forthtold or preached the message of the Kingdom of God under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
d. The laying on of hands goes with the prophet's ministry . 36
e. A healing ministry goes along with the prophet's office. And when the prophet exercises the gifts of healings (or any ministry function), it is a prophet's ministry in operation.
Examples of the prophets ministries and manifestations.
1. Elisha.
LUKE 4:27
27 And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.
Elisha had a healing ministry. And people knew about it. The reason Naaman came to Elisha was that a little Jewish maiden was captured by Syria in a war against Israel. She was a slave in Naaman's home. When she learned Naaman had leprosy, she said, "...Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would recover him of his leprosy" (2 Kings 5:3).
2. Jesus.
Jesus stood in the office of prophet. His healing ministry exemplifies all the varied manifestations you would not see in just one per- son's ministry.
3. A prophet's healing ministry can operate through the laying on of hands.
4. The prophet’s office can operate in various ways and methods.
a. Elisha didn't lay hands on Naaman . He didn't even go out to see him.He had a word from the Lord.He sent a messenger saying, "...Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean" (2 Kings 5:10).
b. Jesus ministered healing through laying on of hands.
But He also ministered healing by other methods . For example, without touching ten lepers, Jesus said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the high priests." As they went, they were healed (Luke 17:12-14).
Jesus spit on the ground and made clay of the spittle and rubbed it on a blind man's eyes and said, "Go wash it off in the pool of Siloam" (John 9:6,7).Why did He do that? Because the Spirit of God told Him to. He was standing in the office of the prophet. Gifts of healings were operating through Him .
Jesus was anointed with the healing power of God (Acts 10:38). And on other occasions, Jesus ministered healing by the transfer of power. In other words, people were also healed when the healing anointing flowed out of Jesus into them. The woman with the issue of blood is an example (Mark 5:25-34). (See also Matthew 14:34-36;Mark 6:56;Luke 6:19.)
5. Many people think that a prophet should always know everything about everyone and everything that is happening in everyones lives.
a. That is not possible. Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, would have known he didn't stand one chance in a million of getting by with what he did when he lied. (2 Kings 5:20-27).
b. The Lord only tells a prophet what He wants them to know. God does not tell a prophet everything.
6. Some people think that because a person is a prophet, people can ask them anything at any time, "Have you got a word from God for me?"
a. You cannot invent these things as you will.
b. God may give you a word to share with a person and He may not. The majority of times He will not.
7. Be very careful with peoples lives. If you do have a revelation, seek God for wisdom on how to handle it properly. When speaking to people do not make up situations and only speak to a person when you absolutely know it is God speaking to you. It is better not to speak to a person than to speak something wrong and out of error. This will hurt and bring confusion to a persons life.
8. Do not get into pride with names and titles.
Do not say, "I'm a prophet." You may be a prophet one day, but wait for God’s perfect timing, let God bring you into the fullness of His plan for your life. If you are a prophet God will show others that you are a prophet, do not exalt yourself.
If you are called to the prophetic office, let God set you into that office. Don't try to put yourself in a particular office. You don not even need to say, "I'm a teacher”, if you do not know. God may want to make an evangelist out of you. Wait and find out what God wants you to do. It will be worth it and God does not put someone into an office or ministry gift if they are a new christian. It usually take years of development, tests and trials to mold you into a stable and secure minister.
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