ISO a Biblically-Sound, Spirit-Filled Church: "Prophecy" 11/6/2022

Today: Prophecy

 

This is - by timing alone - introductory

  • As your elder team currently meets weekly to discuss this series and what God is up to with us, we’ve discovered so much to teach thru as we follow the Spirit, that these 4 weeks can only be introductory. We’ll be in this movement of the Lord for quite a while.
  • And we WILL see God pour out His Spirit on those with the gift of prophecy in this place.
    • And if you haven’t studied NT prophecy before, you’ll be absolutely floored at how many people will begin to edify, encourage, and comfort one another in our church body as we press in.

 

Today I will cover the following:

  • A brief word study on prophecy
  • Cessationism
  • Scriptures that teach:
  • The gift 
  • To Whom
  • The purpose
  • Weighing the words
  • To Obey
  • To Love within the gift
  • What exactly IS a prophetic word?
  • Prov 29:18

Word Study: προφητεύω

  • (pro-fay-tiU-oh) Prophēteuō = to foretell divine events, and/or speak under divine inspiration, and/or exercise the prophetic office
    • Used 208 times in its various forms (present, past, future tenses, plural)
      • Most commonly found in Acts, Romans, and 1 Corinthians
      • In the OT, the Hebrew word for prophecy (in all its forms) is used roughly 420 times. Interesting… when we think of prophets, we often think of Old Testament prophets. But considering that the NT is literally 4 times smaller than the OT, it’s the NT that uses the term TWICE as much, mathematically speaking.
    • Some, over time, have watered down its meaning to simply “preaching”
      • That “speaking under divine inspiration” is simply the gift of teaching
      • We’ll get to that in just a sec…
    • As to the last definition, Ephesians 4 seems to imply that there is an “office” of Prophet, while 1 Cor 12 and Romans 12 focus on the gift of prophecy.
      • Many theologians separate the two today. And they may be right in doing so. You might hear some say, “I’m not a Prophet, but I did get a word from the Lord…” which is to convey that they do not hold the “office” of prophet in the local church, but they do have the gift of prophecy.
      • I’ll save the in-depth teaching on this for later.
      • For now, just tuck that away - we’ll get to it in the proper time, I promise.