💥 Prophets, Evangelists, Teachers - Part 1 - Ministry of a Prophet - Five Main Ministries (3:1)

foreign today is the third in a series of studies in which we are dealing with the five main Ministries which Jesus Christ has set in the church for the upbuilding of his body these five Ministries are set forth by the Apostle Paul in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 11. and I'm sure that many of you who've been in the previous studies can say them by heart now let's see if we can go through them just once together Apostles prophets evangelists Shepherds teachers thank you that was good now in the first study we dealt with the great basic principles and purposes for these Ministries and the climax to which the Lord is directing Us in the upbuilding of his body through these Ministries yesterday we dealt with The Universal Church the nature of The Universal Church how it is formed what the word church means an assembly of people called out who meet certain requirements and we considered those requirements the requirements are a direct personal revelation of Jesus Christ granted to the individual by the father through the Holy Spirit in other words the father through the spirit reveals the son and on the basis of this Revelation received acknowledged and confessed Jesus says Upon This Rock I will build my church in John chapter 10 the same basic conditions are stated Jesus said the entrance into the Sheepfold is by the door only I am the door if any man comes by the door to him the doorkeeper will open so in that parable the father is the Lord the doorkeeper is the holy spirit Jesus the son crucified as the door risen from the dead is the shepherd everybody that wants to come into the Sheepfold by God's appointed way must come through the door the Lord Jesus Christ crucified entering in through that door they become members of the Sheepfold they have its blessings and its protection and they have the Risen Christ as their Shepherd so that we see the entrance into the Assembly of God's people on Earth as of such tremendous importance and significance that it is jealously guarded by each of the three persons of the godhead father son and spirit you cannot bypass any person of the godhead and enter into the Church of Jesus Christ now in this Universal Church the total body of Christ God has set certain Ministries which I call Universal Ministries or mobile Ministries the two amount to the same they're Universal in the sense that they function to the whole body of Christ they are Mobile in the sense that they are not tied down by residents in one particular locality so they are both mobile and Universal the other category of Ministries which we will deal with tomorrow are the resident and local Ministries but first of all we are going through the mobile Universal Ministries and we suggested that these are four Apostles prophets evangelists and teach us the resident local Ministry is the shepherd Ministry yesterday we dealt with the first of these three four great mobile Universal Ministries the ministry of the apostle we said that literally an apostle means one who is sent forth and that all through the New Testament those who became Apostles became Apostles by being sent forth during the Earthly Ministry of Jesus he called to him 12 men who were disciples commissioned them and sent them forth and when they were sent forth then they were no longer merely disciples they had become apostles but it says in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 8 that after he had ascended then he gave these Ministry gifts so there are Apostles also given from Pentecost onwards the pattern for these Apostolic Ministries is found in Acts 13 where a group of leaders waited upon the Lord in Fellowship in fasting and prayer the holy spirit said separate me Barnabas and Saul for a special task which I have for them and when they had been separated Sanctified commissioned and sent forth they had become apostles it's interesting to notice and I will deal with this again later that the New Testament gives no endorsement to the principle of the necessity of apostolic succession in other words an apostle does not have to be appointed by an apostle because when the apostles Paul and Barnabas were sent forth from Antioch there is no question that there were Apostles appointed by Jesus during his Earthly Ministry in Jerusalem which is only a short Journey from Antioch if Jesus had insisted on the principle that Apostles must be appointed by Apostles that's the principle of apostolic succession then he could easily arrange that some Apostles whom he had already ordained himself during his Earthly Ministry could have come down from Jerusalem to Antioch and ordained Paul and Barnabas but in actual fact the Lord deliberately set aside that principle Paul and Barnabas were sent forth as Apostles produced from within the Fellowship of the local church in Antioch and all the other Apostles in the New Testament were produced in the same way it's a bringing forth by generation from within the womb of the local church in any area we saw that the nature of the apostolic Ministry in its Essence is that of the master builder he's the one who knows how to set up and maintain Church order he understands the principles of building from the foundation to the roof he has a seal which is the completed edifice his ministry is attested by signs the first sign is the character sign endurance the second sign is the Miracles there are also false Apostles and apostles have to be tried and tested by the church to which they claim to be ministering as apostles now we will go on this morning to the next Ministry the ministry of the prophet I have already defined the prophet literally as one who speaks for this is the literal meaning of the word Prophet Pro fourth fate in Greek to speak one who speaks for he speaks forth on behalf of God a message received directly from God what sets the APO the prophet aside is his message he is a man with a special message for a special time and place received direct from God you see this sets him aside from a an ordinary preacher that's considered the example of Jonah Jonah could have walked into the city of Nineveh as a preacher and told those people if you go on living this wicked way God will send judgment that is a general truth of God's word but Jonah was a prophet he had a time element in his message he said it's coming within 40 days if you don't repent that set him apart as a prophet likewise John the Baptist came with a message of repentance which as a matter of fact every preacher should preach and he said if you carry on like this God is going to require it on me you repent but he was a prophet he said there's one following after me in the latitude of whose shoes I am not worthy to one loose he had a special time Factor Revelation this is what sets a person aside as a prophet he has a specific message for a specific time and place which goes beyond the great general principles of the word of God which every preacher and every Minister should unfold essentially I believe the scriptural account of a prophet is one who stands in the Council of the Lord in Amos chapter 3 and verse 7 you have this very remarkable statement Amos 3 7. surely the Lord God will do nothing but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets the word secret is also translated elsewhere in the Old Testament Council he Reveals His inner counsel to his servants the prophets this is the nature of the apostolic Ministry it's a person who understands the inner counsel of God Charles was telling us last night and this is extremely appropriate to what I'm saying this morning that for every age there is a specific purpose of God and to be in the line of God's blessing you must be moving in his purpose for that time essentially it's the ministry of the Prophet to unfold the specific purpose and counsel of God for that particular time situation generation or group so God does nothing this is a tremendous statement all through history God does nothing without revealing his secret counsel and purpose to his servants the prophets again if you turn to First Kings chapter 17 and verse 1 you'll find Elijah's account of himself as a prophet First Kings chapter 17 and verse 1. and Elijah the tishbite who was of the inhabitants of Gilead said unto Ahab the king of Israel at that time as the Lord God of Israel liveth before whom I stand there shall not be do nor Reign these years but according to my word that's the position of the Prophet the Lord before whom I stand I stand in the presence of God I receive his counsel and his message and then I give it forth as I am directed Elijah was directed to go direct to the king and give his message to the king of Israel there's not going to be any rain or Dew for the next three and a half years that was his message having delivered his message he withdrew in Jeremiah chapter 23 you'll find God's differentiation between the true and the false prophets this is the subject which is one of the main themes of this chapter of Jeremiah chapter 23 we will not go into it in detail but I want you to notice the phrase that God uses there to describe what it means to be a true prophet uh in verse 16 of Jeremiah 23 the Lord speaks about the false prophets and he says hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you that make you vain for they speak a vision of their own heart and not out of the mouth of the Lord they have something that just comes from themselves it is not received from the Lord's mouth now in verse 18 He says of these same people for who hath stood in the counsel of the Lord and hath perceived and heard his word that's the true Prophet the man who stands in the counsel of the Lord perceives and hears and then delivers his words so received and then the Lord says of these false prophets in verse 21 I have not sent these prophets yet they ran I have not spoken to them yet they prophesied a terrible thing to do to speak when God hasn't spoken to you if you're speaking as a prophet now listen but if they had stood in my counsel and had caused my people to hear my words then they should have turned them from the evil way so the thing that God asks of the Prophet is that he will stand before the Lord stand in the counsel of the Lord hear the message of the Lord and then take it and deliver it as he has directed when and where and to whom the Lord directs this is the essential nature of the prophetic Ministry now it is necessary to make a difference also between two things that are commonly confused the ministry of a prophet and the gift of prophesying the ministry of a prophet is enlisted in Ephesians chapter 4 the gift of prophesying is listed in First Corinthians chapter 12. now you'll find a very interesting thing if you study this and we're not going to go into it in detail essentially the ministry gifts are according to the measure of the gift of Christ it is Christ the son of God continuing his ministry through the persons who have those particular Ministries Christ the prophet in A man gives the man that prophetic Ministry Christ the Evangelist gives the man that ministry as an evangelist now when we come to the gifts of the Holy Spirit In First Corinthians chapter 12 it's the holy spirit that manifests himself in that gift out of the believer in other words the Ministries are essentially manifestations of Jesus Christ the son of God the spiritual gifts are essentially manifestations of the third person of the godhead the Holy Spirit you see a man may have a valid Ministry under the category of the ministry gifts without being baptized in the Holy Spirit many men have a definite god-given Evangelistic ministry as evangelists who are not baptized in the Holy Spirit I'm not saying that they should not be baptized in the Holy Spirit but I'm saying that their Ministry does not depend on the baptism in the holy spirit it's not a manifestation of the Holy Spirit but it's a projection of the ministry of Jesus Christ I've I had great problems about this for a time until I saw the difference between the ministry gifts which are the continuation of the person and Ministry of Christ and the spiritual gifts which are manifestations and their Supernatural manifestations of the Holy Spirit from within the believer now this applies particularly to this relationship between the ministry of a prophet and the gift of prophesying and I think I can show you sound scriptural evidence that they're distinct if you look in Ephesians 4 11 this key verse that we have looked at so many times Ephesians 4 11 you find it says there he Christ gave some apostles and some prophets I think the text makes it clear that he did not give all prophets not all are going to have the ministry of a prophet not all are going to have the ministry of an apostle and so on I think that is perfectly clear but now turn over to First Corinthians chapter 14. First Corinthians chapter 14 and look at what Paul says about the gift of prophesying the manifestation of the Holy Spirit First Corinthians 14 31 Paul says ye may all prophesy one by one all my exercise the gift of prophesying but not all necessarily will have the ministry of a prophet the ministry is the continuation and extension of the ministry of Jesus Christ the spiritual gift is the manifestation of the Holy Spirit now I'm not setting these one against the other nor am I making any division within the godhead but there is nevertheless a clear scriptural distinction between the person of Jesus Christ and the person of the Holy Spirit essentially the ministry gifts are related primarily to the person of Jesus Christ the spiritual gifts are manifestations of the person of the Holy Spirit all may prophesy it's within the revealed will of God for all Spirit baptized Believers to prophesy but that does not mean that all Spirit baptized Believers will have the ministry of a prophet he gave some prophets but she may all prophesy now what we are talking about today is not the gift of prophesying but the ministry of a prophet now stay in First Corinthians 14 and let's look at the next great principle that is established first Corinthians 14 29 sayings let the prophets plural speak two or three and let the others in the Greek is plural and by implication it's the other prophets judge you will notice that Paul assumes that prophets minister in teams they are not on their own as individuals we've already seen this principle is true of the Apostle the Apostle in the New Testament never ministered as an apostle on his own as an individual apostles were sent forth in teams they ministered in teams there was a certain sense of collective responsibility exactly the same is true of the Prophet that the prophets plural speak two or three and let the other prophets judge in other words no one man as a prophet is to be a dictator and say thus set the Lord and you've got to believe me whether you like it or not because when one Prophet says thus said the Lord the other prophets have the right to say well now I acknowledge that as a genuine manifestation of God's spirit or I do not accept that all prophesying and the ministry of all prophets in the New Testament Church is subject to judgment any person in the New Testament Church who sets himself up as a dictator who is not subject to judgment is out of line with scripture actually this is one of the greatest causes of problems in the charismatic movement is prophecy and a prophetic Ministry which are not submitted to judgment and in most cases you'll find that this type of person operates as an individual well the Lord has shown me and I'm telling you but that is not a scriptural attitude in every case except one and the exception is not important in principle wherever prophets are mentioned in the New Testament they're mentioned in a group let's have a look at this now let's go through these and there are approximately 10 persons mentioned in the New Testament as having the ministry of prophets we look at all the cases very quickly the first is in Acts chapter 11. acts the 11th chapter verses 27 through 30. and in these days came prophets plural from Jerusalem and to Antioch and there stood up one of them named agabus and signified by the spirit he gave forth some Revelation by the holy spirit that there should be a great dearth or famine throughout all the Civilized World which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar then the disciples every man according to his ability determined to send relief unto the Brethren which dwelt in Judea who would need special help in the time of famine which also they did and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul notice a group of men and it could not have been less than three I probably in my opinion was more but at least there were agabus and two others a group of men came down from Jerusalem functioning together as prophets one of them agabus stood up gave forth his Revelation it is clear from the teaching of the New Testament that the other prophets must have endorsed that revelation if they had not endorsed it the church would not have acted on it here's the great Safeguard which ratchually runs through the whole of the New Testament it's the Safeguard of plurality there are no dictators in the True Church of Jesus Christ neither an apostle nor a prophet is a dictator each one must function within certain limitations function as part of a team and be subject to the total discipline of the body of Jesus Christ this is such a tremendously important principle the neglect of it is causing havoc and disaster in many areas of the United States at this time moving on to acts 13 we have this passage there now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers they were both prophets and teachers the two Ministries go very closely together and there are named five men their names are Barnabas Simeon Lucius manian and soul now we've had three before at least and five that makes eight that's the minimum acts 15 32 we have two more it says Judas and Silas being prophets also themselves exalted the Brethren with many words and confirmed them so Judas and sinus also were acknowledged as prophets and notice that part of the prophetic Ministry is exhortation it's included in the prophetic Ministry being prophets they exalted the Brethren so we have at least 10 persons and probably more actually designated as Prophets now turn on to acts 21 we have a very interesting case acts 21 verses 8 through 11. the next day we that were of Paul's company departed and came under caesarea and we entered into the house of Philip the Evangelist would you notice that because when we come to deal with the Evangelist we don't need to turn back to that text Philip is the Evangelist he's the only man specified by name in the whole new testament as an evangelist isn't that remarkable 28 persons are called Apostles at least 10 occult prophets only one is called an evangelist and yet the church today dubs people evangelists right and left and never dares to apply the title Apostle or Prophet isn't that remarkable all right we entered into the house of finnet the Evangelist who was one of the seven deacons and Abode with him the same man had four daughters virgins which did prophesy they exercised the gift of prophesying they were not necessarily prophetesses and as we tarried there many days they came down from Judea a certain Prophet notice the difference named agabus and when he was come unto us he took Paul's girdle and bound his own hands and feet and said thus saith the Holy Ghost so shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles notice how gracious the holy spirit is you see the holy spirit is never a dictator he's the spirit of Grace notice the operation agabus came down went over to Paul took Paul's girdle from off his clothing he did not bind Paul's hands and feet he bound his own then he set into effect Paul if you will accept it this is what lies ahead of you in Jerusalem that's the grace of the Holy Spirit see most people would have come along and tied Paul up and said Paul that's what's going to happen to you but agabus tied himself up and said Paul you have the choice but if you go to Jerusalem this is what lies ahead now agabus here was operating on his own you may say well that breaks your principle but it doesn't really because if you look back you found that what agabus told Paul was only the final confirmation of what Paul had already been shown in many different places along the line of his journey turned back to Acts chapter 20. and read with me verses 22 and 23 Acts 20 Paul is here speaking to the Elders of the church at Ephesus and he tells them what God has been showing him all the way of his journey and now behold it says I go Bound in the spirit he was already Bound in the spirit before agabus gave him that Revelation this was just the final confirmation he wasn't Bound by man he was bound by the spirit of God he could have gone elsewhere he could have made his own decision he could have taken a different course he could have avoided Jerusalem the bondage was not external it was his bondage to the will of God in the Holy Spirit Now Behold I go Bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem not knowing the things that shall before me there say that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city saying that bonds and afflictions abide me every place that Paul came to there came forth in some way or another a revelation that he was headed for bonds and afflictions in the city of Jerusalem so when agabus gave that Revelation it was not something on its own which Paul had to believe without confirmation it was just the final confirmation of what or Paul had already been shown this is what I want you to understand never let anybody dictate to you with their own revelation if Paul if somebody comes up to you says sister God assure me you'll go to Nigeria say praise the Lord I'll wait till God shows me uh wait till I have confirmation never let anybody dictate to you by revelations you're headed for disaster the moment you do it I have seen lives families and churches wrecked by directive Revelations and prophecies that were not adequately tested and confirmed by the people who acted on me never do it it isn't scriptural and any person that has that desire to dictate and direct the lives of others I'll tell you frankly is not motivated by the Holy Spirit because that is not the motivation of the Holy Spirit I'll tell you what such persons are in most cases they're witches you might not like the statement but it's true there are a lot of witches in prayer groups exercising dominion over people prophesying on them giving them Revelation confusing them and bringing them into bondage where the spirit of the Lord is there is what Liberty not bondage I spoke to a young couple last night they've been to a prayer group in this area where they've got nothing but confusion eventually they gave up different people that prophesy different things over them at different times till I thought well we don't know what to believe this whole thing is out of line with scripture all right let's look now at a beautiful picture of the prophetic Ministry in relationship to the church that's given in the Old Testament in the prophet Zechariah the fourth chapter Zechariah you know comes near the end if you're looking for him you go backwards from the beginning and from the end and you're not far away Zechariah that's of the Old Testament of course Zechariah Chapter 4 we'll read verses one through six and then verses 11 through 14 we'll miss out the middle bit this is a vision that Zechariah had the angel that talked with me came again and waked me as a man that is wakened out of his sleep and said unto me what seeth now and I said I have looked and behold a Candlestick all of gold with a bowl upon the top of it and his seven lamps thereon and seven pipes to the seven lamps which are upon the top thereof and two olive trees buy it one up on the right side of the bowl and the other up on the left side thereof so I answered and spoke to the angel that talked with me saying what are these my Lord and the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me knowest thou not what these be and I said no my Lord then he answered and spake unto me saying this is the word of the Lord unto the rubbable saying not by might nor by power but by my spirit set the Lord of hosts then there's a sort of something that's not directly related to that and we go on verse 11. then answer die and said unto him the angel what are these two olive trees upon the right side of the Candlestick and upon the left side there are and I answered again and said unto him what be these two Olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves and he answered me and said no is thou not what these be and I said no my Lord then said he these are the two anointed ones literally in Hebrew sons of oil that stand by the lord of the whole earth notice the phrase there stand by the lord of the whole earth that's the prophetic position and Ministry now keep your finger in Zechariah if you can and just turn to revelation the 11th chapter for a moment and we have a scriptural interpretation of these olive trees these two anointed ones Revelation chapter 11. verse 4 speaking about two Prophets who are to come forth at the close of the age the Revelator says these are the two olive trees and the two candlesticks standing before the god of the Earth in other words it's a direct reference to the prophecy of Zechariah verse 10 of Revelation 11 they that dwell upon the Earth shall rejoice over them and make Mary and shall send gifts to one to another because these two Prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth in other words the olive trees are pictures of the prophetic Ministry so we have the Candlestick in the center The Olive Tree one on the right hand one on the left and out of the branches of the Olive Tree a gold pipe directed into the bowl on top of the Candlestick discharging pure fresh olive oil out of the olive trees into the bowl now I have a little picture of that here which I trust will help you to see it vividly I think it's rather a nice picture now here is the Candlestick it's always a seven branched Candlestick as you know and everywhere in scripture I would venture to say that Candlestick is always a type of the church this is interpreted in the first chapter of Revelation you don't need to turn there so here is the church typified throughout all ages by the Candlestick on either side the prophetic Ministry discharging fresh olive oil into the central Bowl you see by the laws of gravity if these are Hollow whatever is here will flow down here until the level is the same in all the seven bowls so in order to burn brightly the Candlestick must be filled with what olive oil what is olive oil a type of always in scripture invariably the Holy Spirit so out of these prophetic Ministries the church is continually replenished by the oil of fresh Revelation which causes the light of the church to continue Burning Brightly if ever the oil supply is cut off the light of the church must go out here is the relationship therefore of the prophetic Ministry to the church as a whole it is to bring continually fresh Revelation it's to stand in the counsel of the Lord and to interpret to the church the present immediate purposes of God that apply specifically to that time that group that situation you see Proverbs 29 18 says this where there is no vision the people perish or get out of hand or lose control or are made naked there are many different translations in that word people cannot live in spiritual blessing and victory without direct Vision now I'm sure you understand I'm not talking about something that supersedes or contradicts scripture I'm talking in exactly the same terms as child spoke the Revelation out of scripture that's relevant to that particular age and situation it says in the book of Samuel in the days of Eli when the little prophet Samuel was emerging in those days there was no open Vision they had all the apparatus of religion they had the Tabernacle they had the ark they had the priesthood they had the sacrifices they had the law of Moses but they were a dead cold backslidden people because religion doesn't keep people alive it's only fresh oil that causes the church to burn continually with a bright flame that fresh oil comes from the prophetic Revelation appropriate to that situation and generation we cannot live on past Revelations what Wesley said was relevant to Wesley's time what Luther said was relevant to Luther's time but we cannot live the day on Luther Wesley Finney or any other person of the past we must have our own direct up-to-date fresh oil being discharged continually into the church this is the function of the prophetic Ministry foreign

Channel: Derek Prince

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Keywords: Holy Spirit, Spiritual Warfare, derek prince radio, apostles, derek prince sermons, ministry of a prophet, prophets, evangelists, teachers, derek prince

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Length: 33min 53sec (2033 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 12 2023