Introduction
- The summary of a prophet’s ministry.
- The Call of a prophet.
- The Development of a prophet.
- The Heart of a prophet.
Main Point: The prophets guard covenantal faithfulness and loyalty, sharing the heart and message of God with people.
Summary of the prophet’s ministry
Ephesians 4:11-12 ESV
“And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.”
Prophets protect VERTICAL and HORIZONTAL
Vertical: God matters more than anything else.
Horizontal: Justice but not just social-justice.
The call of a prophet
Jeremiah 1:5-8 ESV
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born, I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.”But the Lord said to me,
“Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the Lord.”
“God doesn’t Call the Qualified, He Qualifies the Called”
The development of a prophet
Jeremiah 1:9-15 ESV
“Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the Lord said to me, “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.” And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Jeremiah, what do you see?” And I said, “I see an almond branch.” Then the Lord said to me, “You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it.” The word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying, “What do you see?” And I said, “I see a boiling pot, facing away from the north.” Then the Lord said to me, “Out of the north disaster shall be let loose upon all the inhabitants of the land. For behold, I am calling all the tribes of the kingdoms of the north, declares the Lord, and they shall come, and everyone shall set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, against all its walls all around and against all the cities of Judah.”
- Prophets develop in three main areas, which we see in the call of Jeremiah
- Revelation: what is God saying?
- Interpretation: what does it mean?
- Application: what should I do about it?
The heart of a prophet
The heart of a prophet is to find gold in people’s lives.
John 4:7-15 ESV
“A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”
This doesn’t mean prophecy isn’t corrective, it just means prophecy begins with hope and ends in restoration.
Prophets prune, they don’t destroy.
John 4:16-19 ESV
“Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.”
John 4:28-30 ESV
“So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” They went out of the town and were coming to him.”
John 4:39 ESV
“Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.”
Prophecy begins with hope and ends in restoration.
Conclusion Prophets share the message of God and are motivated by the heart of God. Today, you may be resonating with the gift of the prophet that Jesus gave to the Church. If so, here are a few “next steps:”
- Tell someone.
- Pray and ask for God’s heart for His people.
- Pray and ask God to reveal next steps as you develop as a prophet.
- Find a community of people to develop as a prophet.
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