Romans 12:6
Prophecy
The
Ministry of the Holy Spirit.
It is God who
gives the gifts.
Psa.
84:11 Ezek. 11:19 Dan. 2:21-23 Romans 12:11 Eph.
4:7,8 Hebrews 2:4
The gifts are
all different according to the grace given to us. (Romans
12:6)
I Cor.
12:4, One body many parts, church many gifts and they are not the
same.
Gifts are
given to glorify God.
The Holy
Spirit dwells in the church and is at work in believers to teach
them, to renew their minds, and to produce in them the likeness of
Jesus through sanctification. He binds believers together in unity.
He gives supernatural gifts of grace: the words of wisdom and knowledge;
gifts of faith, healing, the working of miracles, prophecy, and discernment;
tongues and their interpretation. The Holy Spirit is there , empowering (power)
and anointing the Christian for service and witness to Christ.
Prophecy.
The
first thing that comes to our mind is that propecy means teaching on future
events. There are teachers today like Hal Lindsey and many others in the
evangelical church who teach nothing but future events and these teachers are
regarded as the prophecy gurus. Also in the church today people get
excited on prophecy than any other subject and if there is a prophecy
seminar on the book of Revelation or Daniel the church will be packed, but if
there is a seminar on the Holiness of God or on Prayer only a few would
attend. The word prophecy is greatly misunderstood by the church
today.
Before we see
the word prophecy we need to know the word prophet. Because it is the
prophet who declares the prophecy.
PROPHET —
Except for God’s call, prophets had no special qualifications. They appeared
from all walks of life.
A person who
spoke for God and who communicated God’s message courageously to God’s Chosen
People—the nation of Israel.
The Prophet’s
Call. Prophets received their call or appointment directly from God. Some
prophets, like Jeremiah or John the Baptist, were called before birth (Jer. 1:5;
Luke 1:13–16), but their privilege was not a birthright. Their authority came
from God alone whose message they bore (Ex. 7:1).
“a proclaimer
of a divine message,” 1 Sam. 9:9, indicating that the “prophet” was one
who had immediate communication with God. “the prophet” was one upon
whom the Spirit of God rested, Num. 11:17-29, one, to whom and through whom God
speaks, Num. 12:2; Amos 3:7, 8.
PROPHECY
GK word, propheteia signifies
“the speaking forth of the mind and counsel of God” It is forth-telling of the
will of God, whether with reference to the past, the present, or the future.
Here in Romans 12:6 it does not mean foretelling things to come but explaining
the will of God to the people, explaining the whole counsel of God.
Although God gave Agabus the gift of predicting an event in the book of Acts
21:10-11, in the N.T. declaring the
purposes of God, whether by reproving and admonishing the wicked, or comforting
the afflicted, or revealing things hidden before and now explaining to the
church, teaching the gospel.
Function of prophecy can
be broken down into two.
1.
Prophesy. 2. Minister
Jesus ministry was to prophecy,
not merely predicting only the future events, also revealing the whole
counsel of God. Then he ministered, as did not come to be ministered
unto but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many.
The ministry of the prophet is
to teach and exhort the church. Teaching the word of God so the people can
understand. Not the eloquence of speech or the emotions but where
sometimes people will look up to the speaker but not to the word of God,
teaching in a sense with genuineness, really believing what you are saying
so people will take it seriously. Not as an actor. The purpose of
their ministry was to edify, to comfort, and to encourage the believers, 1 Cor.
14:1-3. Today False doctrines, a different gospel, and even doctrines of demons
have been introduced into many churches via a movement that claims to be a
movement of God. Benny Hinn, Maurice Cerrillo, Keneth Hagen, Kenneth Hagen and
these people are claimed to be the prophets of the church today, and just
because there are healings and people are slaying all over the floor and like
the Toronto movement people are all over scattered laughing with animal
sounds, they are not from God, they are from Satan to decieve people. They
say, God spoke to me, and gives a long story, and their teachings
contradicts with the doctrine of the Bible. The word prophecy in the new
testament today is not foretelling future events but revealing the whole council
of God to the church.
Revelation can come through
dreams, visions (to see, perceive; trance), oracles (load), signs, wonders, and
miracles. Or God may appear in theophanies in natural phenomena (cloud; fire;
bush), in human form, or he may speak through prophecy (foretell; to hear; to
say, utter, affirm; prophesy).
See Hebrews 1:1-2.
The office of the prophet is to
stay humble before the Lord. In one sense we prophecy and then we
minister. Means to become a seer (Declaring the mind of God) Then becoming
a servant, ministering his salvation to the people. Prophet is the God's
seer and man's servant.
As a prophet he needs to
understand God then help others to understand God. He is like a waiter to
the customers. Understanding what is in the menu, then serving what is in
the menu. He does not cook what he likes only serves what is in the menu.
Then to exhort. Means to warn
to invite to tell kindly, boldy the sinner is lost to repent and to believe so
he may be saved. Simply to reson with him as you would reason with a
drowning man, helding a rope to rescue him.
True Prophet of
God will convict the sinners of their sins
The work of the prophet
is to convict the people of their sins, to communicate God’s will, to turn their
hearts and minds to God and to obey him. Acts 3:19
True Prophet of God will
edify the believers
It expresses the strengthening effect of teaching, 1 Cor. 14:3, 5, 12, ; 2
Cor. 12:19; or other ministry, Eph. 4:12, 16, 29
True Prophet of God will
have a burden for evangelism
Lifting up Jesus to draw ment to
God. Taking the gospel out to the streets, to the towns, to the cities to
Countries and to the villages. Obedience to God's word.