July 6, 2011
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Prophetic Ministry by Pastor Don Moore
These are notes from a Bible study taught by Pastor Don Moore at Living Word Chapel on April 15, 2011.
Pastor Don has been speaking about the ministry gifts Christ gave to the Church. On this day we studied what is required and expected from the prophetic ministry.
Jeremiah 1:1 The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin,
A prophet must speak and share what God has told him to share.
Jeremiah 1:2-3 to whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.
These words were given prior to the captivity of the Israelites.
Jeremiah 1:4 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying:
The Word of the Lord – God was speaking TO JEREMIAH. Jeremiah had at least seven scribes who traveled with him and wrote down what Jeremiah told them the Lord said. Some scribes were mental scribes who memorized the passages of Scripture. Others wrote the scriptures down. What Jeremiah said, the scribes took down accurately. This is God calling Jeremiah to the role of prophet and telling him what to do.
Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”
Jeremiah was to be a prophet to the nations, not just Israel. He would visit Egypt and Canaan, and the Word records his messages to the nations. Not only did he minister back then, he is ministering to us today, even in West Hurley or wherever else we are reading these Scriptures.
Jeremiah 1:6 Then said I: “Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth.”
An Israelite youth was someone under 29 1/2 years old. Only after 29 1/2 years could a youth minister in the Temple.
David was anointed and appointed before he was 29 1/2 years, and he faced Goliath as a youth, a youth who was already anointed to be king. He was anointed years before he stepped into this role.
Jeremiah 1:7 But the LORD said to me: Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’ for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and whatever I command you, you shall speak.
God gave Jeremiah instructions. 1. He was sent with a message – the message will be specific to whomever God sends him to minister. It could be a prophesy over a nation, a person, or whomever God wants to speak to. Jeremiah is to deliver God’s message. 2. God commanded Jeremiah (and Jeremiah obeys), and 3. He must speak. When God tells us to say something we need to obey and speak what God tells us to speak – nothing more, nothing less.
A prophet may not be sent to perform healing, deliverance, or dealing with the sick. He is sent to talk, to speak God’s truth. Sometimes he may do other things, but his primary purpose is to say what God tells him to say. His message is not voluntary, God is sovereign. Our obedience is not optional. God will tell us what to do, when to do it, if we do not choose to obey Him, there are consequences.
Jeremiah 1:8 Do not be afraid of their faces, for I am with you to deliver you,” says the LORD.
4. Do not be fearful. When a prophet delivers a message it is not always well received by the ones hearing it. The prophet is not to be afraid. He can deliver messages to Kings and dignitaries, and even if the King doesn’t like the message, don’t be afraid.
Pastor Don said that one of the biggest fears of people is public speaking. People don’t like speaking to crowds. Don’t be afraid to deliver God’s Word.
God promises the prophet that He will deliver him. God will be with you. Say what God tells you to say, if it doesn’t go over well, God will get you out alive.
Jeremiah 1:9 Then the LORD put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the LORD said to me: Behold, I have put My words in your mouth.
God will put the words in our mouths.
Jeremiah 1:10 See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant.
God has sealed the word in the prophet. The prophet is set OVER, is superior to the nations and kingdoms of the earth. He is an Ambassador for the Kingdom of God. God protects those who represent the Kingdom of God. There are some apostles with prophetic anointing. We are to raise up people to fulfill all the roles in the five-fold ministry. The prophet is to speak a word for a specific time, a specific group of people, and to speak as an ambassador of God. God gives the prophet the message he must deliver. In the day of Jeremiah, the Holy Spirit would come and rest on the prophet at the time that he was to speak. Today the role of the prophet is different, for we have the Holy Spirit residing in us. Jeremiah was speaking when the people were under the time of the Law.
We, because of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, can come quickly into the Spirit, and we can stir up the gift that is in us through speaking in tongues, meditation, prayer, the Word. We have discernment of the Holy Spirit, and we speak what the Holy Spirit says, not what the flesh says.
Our Kingdom of God is far superior to man’s kingdoms. When the prophet speaks, the wise king takes notice.
God’s voice registers with our spirit so that we recognize the voice of God, but because it is filtered through our flesh, at times we may miss the mark. God speaks Spirit to spirit, but our mind interprets what the Spirit tells it. But the Holy Spirit is greater than the words we speak. Pastor Don pointed out that sometimes he preaches something from the pulpit and people come up to him later and thank him for the message. When asked, the tell him what they heard, and it is not what he spoke, the Holy Spirit spoke an entirely different message to them.
We can hear the same word and two people will get two different interpretations from the same word, and both can be hearing from God. If the heart of the person is spirit filled, he will hear what God has to say.
The second half of verse ten speaks of six stages of the prophesy, and the seventh is the Work of God,
1. Root out, 2. Pull down, 3. destroy, 4. throw down, 5. build, and 6. plant.
ROOT OUT – It is uncomfortable, but to make a field ready for planting, what is not needed must be rooted out. Root out the hidden behavior, the roots, those things that we hide behind the surface. Jesus, the ultimate prophet, spoke to the churches in the book of Revelation. He pointed out the areas the churches were weak in. For example, you have left your first love or you are lukewarm. When we have something in us that is not of God, we want to let Him root it out of us so that we are fully able to serve Him.
PULL DOWN – what is not of God will be pulled down. When Jesus comes, He is going to pull down all the pagan practices that are prevalent in the church. He is going to pull down the traditions that do not have a Biblical basis. One example is that churches with steeples, especially ones on hills with steeples. That is a pagan practice, and phallic symbols.
The prophet is not a gardener. He comes in and says what needs to be done, and it is the pastor, the shepherd that does the work. The shepherd will root out what the prophet points out must be changed. The shepherd will pull down something that is being put in the place of truth, what needs to be pulled down. We need to know what God said and didn’t say. If God didn’t do it, pull it down. If you are holding on to wrong thinking, pull it down.
TO DESTROY – Some things need to be killed. Sometimes it may be people, God had the Israelites go into Canaan and destroy people – but in God’s timing, for they had shown that they were not going to change and line up with the truth.
Simon the sorcerer had to be rebuked for trying to purchase the gifts of the Spirit. Ananias and Sapphira were killed for lying to the Church about selling their goods and giving them all to the Church. They lied to the Holy Spirit.
THROW DOWN – When things are put in the place of God or when they thing that people are more important than what God wants, there needs to be a throwing down, so that there is nothing to interfere with God’s plans, not to stand in the way of the Word of God. Sing or say what the Holy Spirit says to do, not what we want. Sometimes we can get bored with a song or hymn, but if it is what God wants, we must sing it from the heart.
BUILD AND PLANT – We build and plant, not in the physical, but in the Spirit. The prophet builds a vision/plants a vision. This occurs in the Spirit. Then the people connect with the vision and the pastor supervises the working toward the vision.
All of these aspects of the prophet are essential for the Kingdom to grow.
I hope this teaching blesses you as it does me,
Heather
