What Is the Gift of Prophecy? | Episode 143

when Paul taught on spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 14 he opened by telling his readers that they should desire spiritual gifts but especially that you may prophesy did Paul mean that Christians should seek the ability to foretell the future what is the gift of Prophecy and how does it work Dr David K Bernard explains on this episode of apostolic life in the 21st century welcome to Apostolic life in the 21st century a podcast dedicated to helping modern-day Believers live out the teachings of the first century church this podcast is part of the Teaching Ministry of

Dr David K Bernard Dr Bernard has dedicated his life to studying the Bible and helping Believers apply its message to their daily lives in Apostolic life in the 21st century Dr Bernard answers your questions about what the Bible teaches and how those teachings apply to every day life if you enjoy this podcast we encourage you to check out Dr David K Bernard's books Dr Bernard has written more than 30 books on biblical Theology and Christian Living and Leadership visit Pentecostal publishing.com and search David Bernard for a list of available titles enter promo code dk10 at

checkout to save 10% on your order that's Pentecostal publishing.com promo code d kb10 to save 10% at checkout thank you for joining us when Paul taught on the subject of spiritual gifts in First Corinthians 13 or 14 he opened by telling his readers that they should desire spiritual gifts and then he added but especially that you may prophesy and then he concluded 1 Corinthians 14 by saying that we should desire earnestly to prophesy so it sounds like Paul thought this gift was important however in modern America and we think about the word prophesy we might

think about Nostradamus and somebody predicting the future is that what Paul meant or what does prophecy look like in a new testament sense well first of all we're talking about the supernatural spiritual gifts which are covered in 1 Corinthians chap 12 through chapter 14 uh chapter 12 talks about nine particular gifts of the Spirit uh and one of them is prophecy uh and then chapter 14 explains he's dealing with a misuse of gifts where people are speaking in tongues all the time in the public service and he says that's disruptive it doesn't really help people

visitors don't know what's going on there's a time for tongues which he goes on to explain but he says really in the church setting it's more important to speak in the known language uh and then so that's why he's emphasizing prophecy it's not as if prophecy is more important than other gifts but it's in the context of a congregation understanding it would be be better to prophesy in a known language than to speak in tongues in an unknown language for an extended length of time and take over the service and nobody knows what's going on

and nobody is benefited so that's the context now for a full discussion I have a book called spiritual gifts and I have a chapter on the gift of Prophecy but let's focus on Prophecy generally we think of Prophecy as an inspired utterance or an utterance from God now we're not talking in this cont text about uh authoritative utterance as if it were scripture we're not meaning inspired in the way that scripture is we believe that scripture is infallible it's authoritative um it is completely true in every respect comes from God so we're not talking about

the gift of Prophecy having that kind of Authority or infallibility however the basic meaning would be uh prophecy is a supernatural utterance from God in the language of the speaker and hearers whereas tongues would be typically certainly unknown to the speaker and most of the time unknown to the audience or the or the hearers prophecy would be in the known language of the speaker and in the known language of the hearers or the audience so prophecy in that sense can be foretelling or forthtelling so we use that little phrase because when we think of Prophecy

in a more narrow sense we of often think about predicting the future and that while that can be an aspect of Prophecy because when God speaks you know God knows more than we know so often when he inspires us or gives us a word to speak it may be something that we would not otherwise know but the fundamental definition of prophecy is not to foretell the future uh if you think of the prophets of the Old Testament while they did have some predictive statements many of their statements by far the vast majority were warnings or

admonitions or encouragement uh direct messages for that time so to keep this in our mind we say yes it could be foretelling future events or it could be forthtelling just speaking out words of God so let's be practical what are we talking about the New Testament context uh of course in a general sense every time somebody preaches by the anointing of the Holy Spirit or teaches or even shares a testimony we might say that's inspired of God in a general sense but um and so maybe in the broadest sense that's prophecy but in the sense

of a supernatural gift for a specific time we would not consider all anointed speaking to be prophecy in that sense so we're looking at a more restricted definition where God God gives a specific word or specific message to a person to speak so it might be in the coration where everyone is worshiping everybody's praying everyone is seeking after God there's a pause there's a lull and then suddenly someone begins to speak forth in the known language so in North America we're typically we be talking about English and so they just begin to speak a sentence

or a paragraph in English to the whole congregation and we all recognize that is a message from God or I also think prophecy can work in in a context and I've personally experienced that when a preacher is preaching and in a general sense all of his message could be anointed inspired prophetic what have you but there have been times that I have personally experienced and I've seen it where it in the middle of a message it seems like God just takes over and you will say some things that are not in your notes were not

in your conscious mind but directed very specifically and there have been a few occasions where I knew God was speaking to a person in the audience now I wasn't trying to single them out or you know rebuke them or or shame them or anything like that but I knew that the words I were speaking God showed me this person right here needs to hear it other times I didn't know any particular person but I felt like God had just taken over here I am preaching from my prepared notes and and the inspiration of the moment

but all of a sudden it seems like God just drops in something I wasn't even thinking and while I don't know if it's directed A a particular individual of the whole congregation I have this specific clear feeling God has just interjected a direct message to someone or some group of people or the whole congregation that I would consider prophecy so I do think prophecy can be a standalone where God is speaking to someone or or or using someone to speak to a a group or even perhaps an individual and um then or or God may

be in in a message that's already going on God will intervene in a very specific way but in either case you're talking about a supernatural utterance from God in the language of the speaker now now the purpose if you read 1 Corinthians 14 and you look particularly verse three is for edification encouragement and consolation or comfort so it's to encourage and strengthen people so sometimes there may be a warning or there may be instruction there may be admonition but the purpose is not to hurt people to humiliate to shame to manipulate to control the purpose

is not to establish Doctrine so the purpose is not to undermine Church government so if someone begins to prophesy and they're attacking the leadership of the church or they're undermining the pastor or they're contradicting the pastor that's out of order uh if they're trying to establish a Doctrine that's out of order we have the Bible for that so God is not going to contradict or undermine his own efforts he's given us the Bible for doctrinal teaching he's not going to use personal prophecy to contradict that he's given us Church government including pastors for the various

purposes of of leading and um exercising Spiritual Authority and responsibility and and and so forth shepher in the flock so he's not going to undermine the leaders that he's placed in the congregation and that's why 1 Corinthians 14 says the spirit of the Prophet is subject to the prophet meaning that even if you feel God is in is given you a word you have to learn to use it an appropriate way is it the right time is it the right message is going to cause confusion so you still have responsibility to use it properly um

not to abuse it so um but it's and it's overall interestingly 1 Corinthians 12-4 talks about these Supernatural spiritual gifts embedded right in the middle chapter 13 is a chapter on love and it says if you had all the gifts of the Spirit put together and it names prophecy and you don't have love you're nothing so I think it's important to recognize that the whole context of these spiritual gifts is to encourage to build up to bless to comfort to be exercised in love so when somebody tries to use it to manipulate people to tell

people their future to tell them what to do if it's not designed to help and encourage and build up then you know there's something wrong and that's why you shouldn't rely on Prophecy to try to uh kind of like a fortune telling or say well you need to do this you need to marry this person or you need to do that that's not the purpose of Prophecy if someone tries to use it to run your life to tell you what to do you should step back and we have a a very amazing example of this

in the book of Acts uh where Paul is on his way to Jerusalem and you can read the story in Acts 20 and then in Acts 21 how God has led Paul to go to Jerusalem and when he gets there he's going to be arrested ultimately he's going to go before Caesar so on the way he gets various prophecies that when he goes Jerusalem he's going to be arrested he's going to be bound well the listeners all assume well God is telling you not to go God is warning you Paul cuz nobody wants to get

arrested so obviously God is trying to tell you don't go but Paul already knew God had told him to go so Paul said no I'm going to go and then finally the people said all right the will of the Lord be done so Paul the the the hearers and even those who were giving the prophecy they said through the spirit that Paul shouldn't go well if I I think if I examine it carefully I think what happened is they gave an accurate Prophecy from the spirit that when you get to Jerusalem you're going to be

arrested you're going to face opposition and persecution they assumed and then their application would be any normal person would think God is telling you don't go but Paul knew God had already instructed him so Paul understood God is Not canceling his plans that he's already given me but God is forewarning me God is preparing me so when I get there and I get arrested I won't suddenly think oh I miss God's will no I will know I'm in God's Will and God prepared me God warned me he was helping me to see no you are

in my will even when these things happen to me happened to you don't worry uh I've got a plan for you and so that story shows this that even when somebody gives a valid prophecy through the spirit it's still up to the recipient to use spiritual discernment as how it applies to their own lives and that's why I would say we shouldn't try to use prophecy as a shortcut to discern the will of God God has given us very basic ways to discern his will through prayer through counseling with our pastor through study of God's

word through he's given us a brain to evaluate and reason the pros and cons of major decisions and depending on the type of decision our our family our spouse so we have all these means of discerning God's will God is not going to Short Circuit that process by just some kind of Miracle uh prophecy or or some other thing and I've I've usually found when there is a prophetic utterance or something else related to the will of God usually it's in one of two ways number one to confirm a process so in my own life

there have been times I'm facing a decision praying seeking God examining the pros and cons getting direction feeling like well I think I need to go this but I'm not sure and there could be a prophetic word that just drops in my heart and the speaker doesn't know what it refers to but I do and I can say yes so it's a confirmation of a process that's already going on or other times a prophetic word may be to open your understanding open your mind so you're not really thinking a certain direction but a prophecy can

come not to give you the ultimate result but to tell you open your mind to something you may not have considered or God is beginning to do a work but then you will still need to go to a through a process that I've already mentioned to confirm that so we shouldn't use prophecy as a short circuit uh to seeking God's will but we we should understand that often it will help us confirm at a key time or perhaps it will uh start us on A New Path of of Discovery or discernment uh but we still

have to rely on all these other elements to know the will of God for our lives uh so I think Prophecy in the right way can be a great blessing to a congregation or sometimes even to an individual uh but it should never substitute for the written word uh for Spiritual leadership including the pastor uh or um the process of discerning God's will for your life all those things uh are are very important so prophecy I believe should be normal in the life of a congregation uh as as you read 1 Corinthians 14 not everyone

is going to prophesy in that special sense all can witness all can teach a Bible study all can share the gospel uh so in a general sense we can have an anointed utterance all of us can but not all of us is going to exercise that specific gift of Prophecy but when it does happen it can be a great encouragement great confirmation and a great blessing to a congregation or group of people and I I ALS I give examples in my book spiritual gifts also in my book reaching Austin I talk about some key times

where the prophetic word really encouraged our congregation or a family that was going through a situation and it was very helpful to hear from the Lord uh that we that we felt like God's in control and we just need to follow his plan thank you for listening to this episode of apostolic life in the 21st century if you enjoy this podcast please take a moment to give us a review on Apple podcasts Spotify or your favorite podcast app we also appreciate it when you share Apostolic life in the 21st century with a friend or family

member and make plans to join us again next time as we look at how the Bible applies to Everyday Life