The Gifts and Callings of the Spirit - Prophecy

That intention was never to elevate that person. It was to elevate the Lord's ministry and the work that the Lord has given them to do So the, the thought that I will keep coming back to, and I hope it sticks with us as we as we work through this, is that gifts are God's provision for mutual service within the body, not rankings of spirituality. 

Okay? Gifts are for mutual service. They are not for ranking, okay? That's completely foreign to how our minds work. We think of, where we, where we-- you might think of where people work on a job, and then there's, you know, there's the pyramid, and you-- this person goes here, and, and that person gets more notoriety, and there's this, and there's that, and there's this, and there's that. 

But at the end of the day, that's not how the body of Christ functions. It's not how it works at all. And so that's what Paul, is unpacking for us in these verses. Now, last week, we looked at the idea of an apostle, all right? And we saw how the apostles were foundational ministries given to the church, foundational callings given to the church to establish the New Testament doctrine as they received it from Christ, to give us those teachings, and then mostly that they are the ones that helped record them so that as we move forward, the church has a foundation to build on. 

Okay? With that being said, we, we look, at the second thing that Paul brought up here in 1 Corinthians chapter twelve, and, I just want you to, to notice the order here. He says, verse number twenty-eight, "And God has set some in the church," right? So that's that phrase we've seen over and over again. 

God has set. God has set. God has set. first apostles, we saw that. Secondarily, we see tonight, prophets. Okay? God has set in the church apostles, and God set prophets. All right? Now, spent a good bit of time last week trying to show you how the apostles in their foundational work were not a continual office in the church because there was certain criteria. 

Their criteria was they had to be eyewitnesses of the resurrection. They had to be with the Lord Jesus during his ministry time. They had to receive their revelation directly from the Lord. that was part of what contributed to their qualification to be an apostle, okay? Paul is brought in. He calls himself one born out of a-- out of due time. 

He brings himself in, and in bringing himself, he, he's really brought in by the Lord. He had-- he receives revelation directly from Jesus Christ, and he's an eyewitness of the resurrection. That's what therefore qualified Paul, and we looked at that in Acts, and we looked at that as far as Paul's writings and things like that. 

So tonight, as we come to this idea of prophets, or we'll take the idea of prophecy, okay? We'll take both of those tonight, prophets and prophecy. We take both of those tonight. They, they-- The prophet is referring to an office. Prophecy in this biblical sense, and I'll try to explain this to you tonight, is referring to the, the foretelling of God's Word. 

Okay? And we're gonna look at some of that as we work through this tonight. So, as with any of these gifts, when you look at the apostle, the apostle was... The preeminent apostle is Jesus Christ. He is the sent one, okay? Jesus Christ is also the preeminent prophet. He's also the preeminent prophet. So all of these ministries don't necessarily go back to, say, like an Old Testament look or a New Testament look. 

They go to a, they go to the Lord Jesus Himself. And so that's what we're gonna work through. So let me, let me try to give you some different places that we'll look at tonight. Regarding, what the Bible tells us about the prophet and prophecy. First, throughout the Gospels, you see the Lord Jesus referred to as a prophet, okay? 

Throughout the Gospels, he is called a prophet. he-- after he raised the widow's son, he's a proph- called a prophet. the Samaritan woman called him a prophet. when he's speaking to the masses and performing his miracles, they called him a prophet. in Luke 24, after the resurrection, he, he's referred to as a prophet by the, disciples on the road to Emmaus. 

So this idea of being a prophet is one that was common to Christ. And even in Deuteronomy 18, Moses says that there's going to come another prophet like him in Israel that will be the focal point of all that God does. Okay, that's Deuteronomy 18. Why is that significant? Because in Acts chapter seven, when, Stephen is giving his testimony before the religious authorities, he identifies Jesus Christ as that prophet that Moses predicted would come. 

Okay? So that brings all these connections here, the idea of Christ as a prophet. Now, when I say prophet, you might have the thought of, like, what you know of Old Testament guys, that they, you know, maybe they look like John the Baptist in your mind. Mm-hmm. Like, they, you know, they ate honey and locust and, you know, their, their clothes were, you know, not the most comfortable things and they, you know... 

And, and, and that would be true in, in some aspects of Old Testament prophets. But then you also have, like, Isaiah, who was a nephew of the king, in that sense. So, you know, c- came all over the spectrum when you come to Old Testament prophets. But there's a unifying principle when the word prophet is used, and that is a person that has been especially equipped, a calling of God, a gifting of God of a person to give God's word to God's people. 

Okay? so in the idea of this-- the prophet and their message, they are proclaiming divine revelation, they are sometimes revealing something that had been previously hidden, and they are foretelling future events. Okay? Now we think of that like the prophets in the Old Testament, and you look back and you see, like, Moses prophesying to Pharaoh, and you see Elijah prophesying and Elisha prophesying, and you, you get all those different things. 

You think about the widow and the, the barrel of meal, and he says, you know, "Make these cakes," and God, you know... The, the sense of, like, they foretold what future events were. But their primary work is that they were a recipient of a divine revelation, and then they spoke that revelation to the ones that God intended for that message to come to, right? 

When you come to the New Testament, there are prophets At work in the New Testament period. they, they are there. There's one particular one that you see mentioned multiple times in the Book of Acts, and he's got one of those names that you're just like, no one's signing up, themselves up to name their child this, but- Right 

his name is Agabus. Agabus, that's his name, right? I don't, never heard, never met an Agabus before, but, you know. but he is an important, figure, and I'll show you why. two times we see him exercising the office, if you could call it, or the gifting of being a prophet. The first one is in Acts chapter 11. 

So if you turn there to Acts chapter 11, let me, take you to verse 27 and 28 in Acts chapter 11, and let's look at, let's look at what he says here, okay? verse 27 in Acts 11 tells us this, "And in these days came prophets from Jerusalem, unto Antioch." Okay? So within the church of Jerusalem, there are these individuals who are receiving divine revelation from God, and they are speaking that revelation to the church, okay? 

And that was absolutely part of normative life at that point, okay? You say, "Well, that's a little different than how we live, how we operate, how we understand things." Yeah, and I'll, I'll show you why here in just a few minutes. but in that day, prophets were a reality in the church, okay? 28 says, "And there stood up one of them named Agabus." 

So if you're thinking about how do you spell it for, you know, naming somebody that, maybe you name your dog Agabus, I don't know. and what does he do? "He signified by the Spirit that there would be a great famine or dearth throughout the world, which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar. then the disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send relief to the brothers which dwelt in Judea, which they also did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul." 

Okay, so what happens? God reveals to him this great famine that's coming, and he tells that message to the church, okay? So why would God tell him that this great famine is coming? Because those in Judea are going to need help. Mm-hmm. And the church responds to that message that comes from God by taking up supplies and gifts and things like that, so it could be sent with Barnabas and Saul back to Judea to help those believers over there, okay? 

So God knew a need. He put a message in the prophet. The prophet spoke it to the church. The church took action on what God said and were a blessing. Now, the church could have heard that and said, "Eh Well, what doesn't happen? Well, then the need isn't met. They don't participate in meeting the need. Maybe God meets it another way. 

He can. But God's method here was to make known what he-- was gonna happen so that this body of people could then get in on helping serve one another, right? It's this whole concept. The gifting of their material blessing, their wealth, their-- what they had, was put into their hand so that they could take that, and that gift could be used for the benefit of the whole body, okay? 

Do you see the principle we've been working on as we study this? He comes up again all the way back in Acts twenty-one. Acts twenty-one, we'll see him again. And, we're gonna bounce around a good bit tonight. So if you were kinda hoping to like anchor in one passage, I might get you a couple minutes in that at the end, but we are gonna bounce around, a little bit tonight. 

So trying to lay this out for you. we see this, prophet mentioned again, and, what precedes this is something that makes people really nervous. It makes, it makes believers nervous sometimes, and there's really no need to be nervous about this. Well, what is it that makes believers nervous? You know, I'm, I, I kinda like, let's get into what makes us-- Let, let's get into the awkward. 

Let's just step right into it, and let's let the Bible talk about it and, and see it in the right light. That's kinda where I like to be on it. If there's something that's maybe needs to be pressed on to get to the bottom of it, let's press on it, and let's see what it is. So what's-- what happens here? Well, Acts twenty-one verse nine says this, of, of Philip, the evangelist. 

It says he has four daughters, and at the end of the verse, it says that they prophesied. Well, that makes some people really nervous that, that they would be prophesying. Well, what, what did that mean? Well, it meant that they were receiving, a revelation of truth from God, and they were making it known. 

Can God do that? He's God. He can do as he chooses, right? I mean, it's, he, he can operate in, in ev- whatever way he wants. There's not a thing that was wrong with this. You say, "Well, wait a minute. Doesn't Paul say some things about, like, the church in order?" It's like, oh, those are two completely different avenues. 

We, we're not talking about the function of the, of, and, and distinction in the church because Paul's already dealt with that as we've studied through Corinthians. What he's dealing with here is just how God is accomplishing his work in the transitionary period of the book of Acts. You know why it was such a transition period? 

They were living out what you and I have recorded. They couldn't turn to 1 Corinthians 15 at that point and get like, "Okay, what's the, uh... Talk to me about the doctrine of the resurrection, Paul." They, they didn't have that. If you'd have said, "Turn to 1 Corinthians 15," they'd have looked at you and said, "Corinthians? 

You mean those immoral people that, that their name is, is synonymous with debauchery? Like, they're gonna get a book of the Bible directed to them?" Well, that's just how God works. That's just his, that's just his business, right? Okay. So why is that absolutely appropriate? Well, it says these daughters are prophesying. 

It doesn't say who they're prophesying to. It doesn't say what message they delivered. It just says that God was accomplishing his work of making his truth known through them, and that's great. Could've been in, in the context of witnessing and making Christ known. Could've been in all that thing. But that doesn't need to be something where people get, "Oh, the, the Bible talks about prophets and women prophets," and all that. 

Great. We don't need to get ups- oh, don't get upset over that. That was God doing his work in that time. Now, when you come to the formation of the church, God honors and works through other means. Does that mean that this is less valuable than that? No, because remember as we studied, it's not about value. 

This has nothing to do with rank. Your spiritual calling and your gift is not about your rank. It's about fulfilling a place in the body, because the Lord has a work for all of us to do to further what he's accomplishing all around. So with that said, look at what happens in verse number 10. Luke writing says, "And as we tarried there many days, there came down from Judea a certain prophet named Agabus." 

Okay? So he gives the prophecy in 11. Guess he goes back to Jerusalem. He comes back, and now Paul is there. And you say, "Well, do you really need a prophet if Paul is there?" Well, the Lord thought you did, because, you know, I, I think it would be fair to say that if you read the New Testament, you could imagine Paul being a pretty, like, strong-headed man, you know? 

I, I, I think as, as... That would be a fair statement to say that Paul was pretty opinionated and, and pretty driven. So when the Lord had a message, he decided a prophet needed to deliver this message to the Apostle Paul. So what's his message? He says, verse number 11, "And when he was come, he took Paul's belt, and bound his own hands and feet, and said, 'Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owns this belt, and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.'" 

What's his prophecy? Well, Paul is going to Jerusalem to take the gifts that have been given, and Agabus stands and grabs Paul's belt and s- and gives this prophecy as this comes directly from the Holy Spirit How do you test the message of a prophet? Through the gospel. Was it true or not? What happened to Paul when he r- got, got to Jerusalem? 

Exactly as this prophecy foretold Now interesting, verse 12, "When we heard these things, both we and they of that place besought him," that's Paul, "that he would not go to Jerusalem." In other words, when the audience, they hear this, they take this prophecy from Agabus and say, "Well, that's a clear indication, Paul, you don't need to go. 

You need to not go there." And Paul says "That wasn't a prophecy that meant to forbid me going. That was a prophecy just relaying what was gonna happen as I obey the Lord to go where I'm supposed to go." So that's where he says in verse 13, you know, "What mean you to weep and to break my heart? for I am ready not only to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus." 

Paul's like, "You know, I appreciate your love and, and you're kinda like softening my heart and breaking me up over here, but you need to understand I'm in this thing to the end with Jesus, and if that means I'm preaching the gospel and that takes my life, so be it." Okay? So Agabus is a New Testament prophet who is revealing what God had given him to give to the people. 

Okay. so prophecy cannot be reduced only to prediction, so it's bigger than just prediction in the New Testament sense. but prediction is one genuine expression of it, okay? So the prophet revealed the message that God had given him, okay? That's what the prophet did. They revealed the message. We'll look at this when we come later, but when it-- we look at the gift of a teacher or the pastor-teacher, this is-- the teacher, explains the meaning of the message and how it applies. 

So the, in, in a sense, obviously the message originates with the Lord, but the prophet just declares it. The teacher is the one to unpack it and explain it, okay? Agabus is just out there declaring. So there's a New Testament office, New Testament calling with the gift of prophecy to the church. Okay. In the technical sense, prophecy involved direct revelation, okay? 

Today, whether it's preaching or teaching, that is proclaiming, but it's just applying the revelation that is given in the scriptures, okay? So here's the way that this works together. Once the foundation was laid by the apostles, once the, the gospel foundation is established in the writings of the New Testament, divine revelation is complete. 

It's complete. So according to the New Testament, and especially as Christ closes out the New Testament in his words- In that sense, God is not speaking a word to be recorded. Okay? Now, this is an area that can get a little murky because we hear all the time, and maybe it's even said, "God spoke to me. God spoke to me. 

God spoke to me. God spoke to me." I think we need to be wise in how we relate to what, what we determine to be in the sense God speaking. Because God speaking would mean, like, there's some kind of audible voice, and that audible voice told me something specific. If you're, if we're gonna use it in that sense, is God speaking today? 

God is absolutely speaking today, and he speaks through his word with the illumination of the Holy Spirit. But is God giving specific words and further revelation to us today? No, because that's the closing of the New Testament record. That's what Christ says in Revelation about not adding anything more because the, the period of God inspiring the, the, the, the New Testament writers and giving, you know, um... 

That old-- That illustration I try to use all the time. When it comes to your New Testament, y-your Bible, God picked up a pen named Paul and wrote through him. It retains Paul's phrasing. It retains Paul's, cadence and his way of thinking in it, but it's God writing his word through him. A-and John and James and Peter, God picked up a pen named and wrote, and that's what you get into, 2 Timothy 3, that, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God." 

These words are then God-breathed. So we can conflate things if we, if we get in this habit, and we can say, "Well, God spoke to me." And what comes out is more a circumstantial dealing with how we should navigate a certain situation. I think it's, it, it's firmer ground to say, "God is leading me to do this," than to say, "God spoke to me and said this." 

'Cause I, I mean, you, you, you can get on social media and you can see people claiming that God spoke to them about things that, you know... I, I... This clip popped up the other day about this, this guy, I guess it was some conference he was preaching at. And, and, he, hi-his whole message was, "I've got a word from the Lord. 

I've got a word from the Lord. I've got a word from the Lord." And he's building this up, and he's creating this drama about the whole thing, this, "I've got a word from the Lord." And, you know, if I-- To be gracious to that, you know, could I say that God has really burned something on my heart to deliver a truth to the church? 

Absolutely. But to say that God gave me some new revelation that I'm gonna lay on you, that's outside the biblical narrative. Okay? So God is, has completed his revelation Does that mean that God in some way is not leading us? No, God's absolutely-- The Holy Spirit is guiding us. The Holy Spirit is leading us. 

But when God speaks, he speaks through his word. He speaks through the written record of scripture as it's illuminated by the Holy Spirit. Why is that so significant? Because if you still have prophets in the church today, then there's some way in which the word is not fully sufficient If, if, if there's extra revelation coming, then in some way this was not enough. 

That- that's, that's where this whole thing works its way out. and that's, that's a, that's a very real part of this. So, when, when we look at the, the meat then of what the prophet is in this New Testament sense declaring, we see that really worked out in 1 Corinthians 14, and there are parameters laid on the message of a prophet, because remember, the Word's not complete at that point. 

So God is still making things known to individuals, and they are passing that into the church, okay? But there's parameters. it was not an uncontrollable religious performance. It wasn't like somebody got all worked up and, and just like said things that they were completely out of their mind and didn't have control of themselves, that there wasn't a statism that was going on with it. 

Because remember, that's what 1 Corinthians 12:1-3, Paul's condemning the Corinthians for doing. They took their paganism and what it meant to be, you know, really worked up for their deity into the practice of the work of the Spirit, and it didn't match, okay? Does that mean that we don't get excited or, or emotional as God works in our lives? 

Not at all. Not in the slightest. But it's never an uncontrolled just eruption. It's according to truth, and that's built into this. How is it? 1 Corinthians, the latter part of 1 Corinthians 15, builds in that there was limited participation in the church for this, okay? only, two or three prophets would be in the gathering, okay? 

Only two or three. the only one speaker at a time. There's only one. It wasn't like this person got up and was prophesying over here, and this person over here. One, at a time, and the current speaker would yield when it was appropriate. Well, you know, it wasn't like, "Well, okay, I, I, I have something to add." 

Like, "No, I'm not done yet. You back off." That, that, that wasn't the spirit of it. It was governed. there was evaluation of what the prophet said in among the church. There was evaluation. 1 Corinthians 15:29, other qualified people judge the message. If you're, if you're still there in 1 Corinthians 15 or in that part of the, the scriptures, let me just show you. 

1 Corinthians 15:29 says, "Let the prophet speak two or three. Let the other judge." Okay? So this isn't some just like religious, you know- Fanaticism just pouring out of them. It was governed by the Lord, okay? the prophet was in control of themselves as they were prophesying. look down at verse number, verse 32. 

It says, "The spirit of the prophets are subject to the prophets." Mm. So in other words, yes, the Holy Spirit was working through them- Right ... but they weren't in some sense of ecstasy as they, or some trance as they were delivering this. They were very well in their own, faculties just being a conduit that God was delivering what was needed to the church. 

and it was marked by peace. Look at verse number 33. "God is not the author of confusion, but of peace." So it's not frenzy, it's not disorder, it's not interruption, and it's not loss of control. This is so important because remember how the Corinthians have abused the spiritual gifts. They've turned spiritual gifts into a sense of, like, ranking in the church. 

What I, what gift I have elevates me above someone else, and Paul is tearing that whole thing down. This isn't about you making yourself to be something. You're a conduit in the church to be a blessing and help and encouragement to all as you are making Christ known, and the gospel's doing its work. 

Here's the beauty of that. When we have the conclusion, the full New Testament record of scriptures, everything that needs to be known of Christ is there. It's all there. I mean, look, as we're work- we're working through Ephesians, I'm just, I'm-- We could literally study Ephesians for years. That's true. We could, we could go Old Testament, New Testament. 

We could do what Marty's always-- Marty has told me for his birthday one year, Marty wants to have a Sunday where it's just, like, stop when it's actually done, not, like, don't pay attention to time. Just, just go on. Just keep going and just keep going, just keep going. And if, so if that's three hours, four hours, what- whatever it is, that's what Marty wants for his birthday. 

I'm gonna do it for him one day. I'll give everybody fair warning. And you gotta go, take off. I understand. You wanna go get lunch and bring it back? Come on, it's fine. and then I'm gonna take a nap afterward. but- That's true ... you know, that's the culture of the New Testament church. That's why when Paul was long preaching at night- Oh, yeah 

and the young man fell out the window, like- ... church culture was very different, but it was not marked by confusion and disorder. It was go-- Even in those points where they didn't have the scriptures finalized and formalized yet- Oh ... it was still governed by order and peace. So what does all that bring it back to? 

there, there's a lot more here. when a, when someone made a prophetic claim to be speaking for the Lord, the, the utterance that they gave had to exalt and confess Christ as Lord. That's from 1 John. apostolic truth must agree with the message that's being spoken. So in other words, they took that, and they went to what the apostles had taught them. 

discernment, of other prophets and other gifted evaluators would be used. it had to be accurate. You know, that's one way I think John points that out, is, is recognizing someone's not of Christ if it doesn't, if it doesn't become reality. But again, what's it all for? For the edification, the building up of the whole body Well now we have what Peter says, a more sure word of prophecy We have the record of the scriptures. 

We have the completed revelation that God has given us. That's why an office like a prophet, one receiving direct revelation from God, and then delivering that revelation to another, that's why that was a foundational gift to the church, that as you get into the end of one Corinthians 13, when Paul says, "When that which is perfect has come, what's in part is done away." 

When you get into, 15, when you start dealing with the, or 14, you start dealing with the temporary nature of some gifts versus the permanent nature of others. That, that's why all that's come together because now we have the completed record in the Word. We have what God wants us to have, and now we just unpack it and, and lay it out for folks. 

We preach the gospel from it. We exalt Christ from it. We build each other up in the Word. That is why it's plastered on everything. Where the Bible is taught and people are loved is the core principle of this body of believers, because God has revealed himself in his Word. When we get in the Word is when we encounter the truth regarding him, and we're made better. 

We, we get a better view of our God. And so were prophets part of the New Testament church? Absolutely part of it, an essential part of it. As we've seen through Acts with specifically this man, Agabus. Were they functioning in the churches? They were absolutely functioning. But again, just like the apostles, it was never to draw attention to themselves. 

It was never to make something of themselves. It was for mutual service. It was, it was a calling and a gifting given to the church so that believers are made better for the Lord. So, in that sense, when it comes to that idea of prophecy, receiving a direct revelation, and then declaring that direct revelation to those gathered, that was a foundational characteristic of the church. 

Once the apostolic message was preserved in scripture, that dire-direct revelation function was no longer necessary because we had the full revelation, and now we get into that revelation, and we get back into, what he says there at the end of 12. He says secondary... firstly, apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers. 

Okay? Then next week we'll come to teachers because that's where we have the completed revelation, and we dig into it. And once we dig into it, now we can understand what the Lord has- All right. Father, thank you for the time to look at this topic tonight. Thank you for the way you have gifted the church and, how you have manifested that gift throughout different seasons and different ages. 

And, we recognize tonight that a gift that was so prominent, for that to fade, from, from view as you've brought the completion of your Word, brings us to remember that no gift in itself should be pursued. We receive that as you have called and, and enabled. and because of that, we act for you based on what you've given us, so that we can be a blessing to the body and exalt Christ. 

So now, as we'll think on this more and, and come back to look at more of this next week, help us, I pray, to serve your purposes. The gifts and callings that you've put on us all, may we give ourselves to pursuing them. May we do the work of putting self to death, so that our, our, our, our u- our usefulness to you is, is becoming greater and greater. 

And Lord, we'll, we'll try to serve you the best we can, and give you the glory for it. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.