Gifts of the Holy Spirit - Part 7

 

This message was preached at Word Of Grace Church on March 6th 2022  by Navaz D via zoom. For the audio & video please click here.  To listen to the worship please click here.

GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT PART 7 - BLOG

INTRODUCTION

In the last few weeks, we have been looking at the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. These are vital for us to thrive as Christ-followers and for the church to be a vibrant spirit-filled community.

The gifts are grace gifts and not rewards for good behaviour. You did nothing to earn it or deserve it. They are given freely as the Holy Spirit determines. They are given for the common good: to build up, encourage and comfort the people of God. They are also useful in our interactions with society – to heal the sick, raise the dead and cast out demons.

They help us fulfil our mandate to go into all the world and make disciples, to fill the earth with the Glory of God, to preach good news to the poor, bind up the brokenhearted, set the prisoner free and release those in darkness. You cannot do this on your own. You need the anointing and enabling of the Holy Spirit. Acts 1:8 - But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends….

REVELATORY/VOCAL GIFTS

1 Cor14 Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy. ⁴ Anyone who speaks in a tongue edifies themselves, but the one who prophesies edifies the church.  ⁵ I would like every one of you to speak in tongues,^[b] but I would rather have you prophesy. 12 Since you are eager for gifts of the Spirit, try to excel in those that build up the church. ²⁴ But if an unbeliever or an inquirer comes in while everyone is prophesying, they are convicted of sin and are brought under judgment by all, ²⁵ as the secrets of their hearts are laid bare. So they will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, “God is really among you!” Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. ³⁰ And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop. ³¹ For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged. ³² The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets. ³³ For God is not a God of disorder but of peace—as in all the congregations of the Lord’s people.

Today we are going to look at 1 Revelatory gift: Prophecy. It is such a large one and in essence what you learn here about how a prophecy functions applies to some of the other vocal gifts as well.

PROPHECY

God’s heart is to reveal Himself to us and to speak to us.

There is a difference between Old Testament and New Testament Prophets and Prophecy.

THE PROPHET and PROPHECY
OLD TESTAMENT	NEW TESTAMENT
The weight was on the prophet. If he was proved wrong, he could be stoned to death.	We need to weigh the prophecy.
It was one prophet that functioned at a time usually.	Today prophets function in teams. Now everyone can prophesy and the aim is to raise a prophetic people.
The prophecies of the prophets of the Bible were divinely inspired and we do not need to weigh them.	Today we prophesy in part and know in part. So, it needs to be weighed.
The prophets functioned independently	Function as part of a local church in submission to local leadership.

 

WHAT IS PROPHECY?

Prophecy is the ability granted supernaturally by the Holy Spirit to a believer to speak forth words that come from God, that do not come from your own wisdom and understanding. (Derek Prince)

Prophecy has been there right from the beginning of time to Adam and Eve, Abraham, Jacob, Esau, Hannah, Joseph, etc.

It is Forth telling – call into being. Causes things to happen – Ezekiel and the dry bones. Fore telling – tells you what is to come

 

TWO RESPONSES WE MUST AVOID

1Thes 5:19-21

¹⁹ Do not quench the Spirit. ²⁰ Do not treat prophecies with contempt ²¹ but test them all; hold on to what is good,

We are instructed to neither quench nor despise.

QUENCH: This imagery is linked to fire. You quench fire by pouring water on it. You cannot quench the Spirit himself but you can resist His working or grace upon your life.

DESPISE: To despise is not to give due honour or respect. To belittle or think less than. It could have been that things had gone wrong in the Thessalonian church. The hint lies in the next verse which says: Test everything. Hold on to what is good.  Remember we said all prophecy must be weighed. In other words: eat the chicken throw the bones.

Also, some commentators add that the Thessalonians probably valued the power gifts more and did not care much for prophecy. We need to value all the gifts and allow them to flourish.

HOW TO BRING PROPHECY?

·       Bring it with grace and love.

·       Bring it under submission to the leadership.

·       Humility – you could be wrong and be willing to be corrected

·       Wait for the correct timing. Sometimes God speaks way ahead of time and you must pray over it, refine and craft the Word and bring it at the right time.

·       You are the postman- your job is to deliver the

·       Do not bring personal prophecies to people whom you know well. Your personal biases can affect the world.

·       If you are new at this gift and you are bringing a word of knowledge or a personal prophecy you must have a leader with you.

·       Be a student of Scripture.

HOW TO TEST PROPHECY?

·       It must agree with the scripture

·       Does it glorify Jesus?

·       Is it building up the person, bringing strength and encouragement?

·       Personal prophecy- Submit it to your leaders. Let it be established by 2 or 3 witnesses.

 

HOW TO RECEIVE PROPHECY

·       Be open to God using another human like you that is loved by God and imperfect.

·       Be gracious toward the person

·       Does the person have a track record of accuracy?

·       If it is a condemning word step out from under it and be released.

·       If you are feeling manipulated in any way – please speak to your leaders

·       If it is a word that witnesses with your Spirit, then you have a responsibility to obey it.

 

ROLE OF PROPHECY IN OUR LIVES

·       Can guide and direct the course of our lives. 1 Tim 1:8 Paul encourages Timothy to live according to the prophetic WORD over His life. Numerous examples in the OT and NT

AREAS TO AVOID

Do not prophecy about birth, death and marriage. Remember we know in part. If you are wrong, it can have devastating consequences.

Do not give a personal prophecy alone. Always call someone who is a leader in the church to stand alongside you as you prophesy. It is a safety net for you and the person.

 

DIFFERENT LEVELS OF THE GIFT AND AUTHORITY

·       The gift of prophecy is for all of us. Paul says I wish that all would prophesy.

·       Maturing Gift/ Prophetic ministry – that is recognized by the wider body of Christ because of your track record over time.

·       Leadership with a prophetic edge.

·       Prophets – Eph 4:11 A Doma Gift

·       Prophet to the Nations.

 

VARIETY OF PROPHETIC IN TERMS OF SCOPE

·       TELESCOPIC – Prophecies into the distant future

·       MICROSCOPIC – Able to look into the heart of the matter.

·       WIDE ANGLE LENSE – 360 perspectives to help you understand things in relation to other things

HOW DO WE HEAR GOD?

·       Nudges, a sense- we have an impression or a thought.

·       Through things in our natural surroundings. God may arrest your attention on an object and speak to you through that.

·       When you are worshipping God may drop a thought in your mind, or a line in the song. Through a sermon.

·       Your daily devotions and scripture reading.

·       Dreams and visions

·       A conversation and circumstances

 

CONCLUSION

 

Don’t doubt the voice and promptings of God if they line up with all the safety measures we spoke about. Submit to your mentor or leadership before you bring it to the public. I did this for years and still do it for larger gatherings.

Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. It’s a part of the growth

Make sure you take care to walk in holiness before the Lord. Take care of your private life and devotion because if it is not right it will catch up with you.

God has given us a great privilege: to be His mouthpiece for a hurting individual or for some to the nations. Be faithful with the little and much will be given to you.

 Word of Grace is an Evangelical (Born Again),  Spirit-filled (Charismatic), Reformed, English speaking church in Pune that upholds the Bible as God's inspired Word for life. We are a church community that has people from every part of India and parts of the world. We are here to put the Great Command and the Great Commission into practice by equipping and releasing every member into works of service.  Word of Grace is a part of a wider international family of Churches called RegionsBeyond.To know more about us please log onto www.wordofgracechurch.org.  

 

Now What? | Chris B

This message was preached by Chris B at Word of Grace Church on  April 28th, 2019. To listen/download the audio please click here. To listen to the Sunday's worship and prophetic contributions please click here

Last time we spoke about Palm Sunday and how Jesus was welcomed as a King. The next Sunday was Easter, and we celebrated Jesus’s resurrection. The Sunday after Easter – Now what? Recently I got a text message from my landlord that for some reason, he wanted to sell the flat. But we have so many memories in that house. I was thinking “Now what?” What am I anticipating? Acts 1:6-8 - 6 Then they gathered around him, and asked him, “Lord, Are you at this time going to restore the Kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his authority.8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the Earth”.

When the disciples asked Jesus at what time the Kingdom will be restored, Jesus said that it is not for them to know. The disciples must have thought, “Now what?” To a person like me, the question asked by the disciples is confusing. But the disciples knew what they were asking. First it was Palm Sunday. Then it was Jesus’s death and then it was His Resurrection. Right after this, the disciples were anticipating that the Kingdom would be restored. But when Jesus said that it is not for them to know, they were left with the question, “Now what?” What kind of kingdom were they talking about? What kind of Kingdom were they anticipating? Even now, we celebrated Palm Sunday and then Easter. Now What? 

This morning, I’m going to give you the picture of the Kingdom the disciples were talking about. In the book of Zechariah, we’re going to look at eight visions. These visions are like a coin. There are two sides of a coin. Both the sides together make a coin. These 8 visions are paired as follows:

Both the visions feature the same people.
Vision 1 – Zechariah 1:7-17 - Some horsemen (various colors and riders) .
These riders are the people who go patrolling around. Those days there was peace outside on everyside.
Inside, it was strife. God said that we’re going to bring that peace inside.
Vision 8 – Zechariah 6:1-8 – Four chariots - Horsemen who were commissioned out. They go out on a
mission of Judgment. God’s people will experience God’s peace, the others will be judged.

Vision 2 & Vision 7:
Vision 2--Zechariah 2:1-13 – A man with a measuring line.
There are no physical walls in Jerusalem. God himself will be the Protector as a Wall of Fire. Many
people from outside will come inside and join them.
Vision 7 – Zechariah 5:1-4 – Giant Scroll (Law of the Lord)
The Law of The Lord (Scroll) has 2 sides -
1 – no false vows (sins against God)
2 – no stealing (sins against eachother)
The Lord will send the scroll into the world and it will burn down the houses where the law is broken.
The coming Kingdom is going to be a place of justice and prosperity.
Vision 3 & Vision 6:
Vision 3 – 4 horns and 4 craftsmen
4 horns – Oppressors of God’s people
4 craftsmen – Chase away horns.
The craftsmen will come to terrify and throw down the Oppressors of God’s people.
Vision 6 – Zechariah 5:5-11 – the woman in a basket. This represents all the iniquity of God’s people.
Two women with stork wings come and lift the basket and fly the iniquities away. Both the visions
represent freedom – Freedom from outside Opression and freedom from inside oppression.
We get all these pieces together and come to the center of it all.
Vision 4 & Vision 5:
Vision 4 – Zechariah 3:1-10 -- Clean garments for the High Priest
The great High priest stands with soiled clothes as an accuser. When Satan tries to accuse him, God does
not allow the Satan to say anything.
Zechariah 3:2-4 – the Lord said to Satan, “ the Lord rebuke you, Satan! The Lord, who has chosen
Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?”
Vision 5 – Zechariah 4:1-14 – The Gold lampstand and the two Olive trees.

The 2 Olive trees represent Governor and high priest (righteous). It is here that we start to understand why the disciples were asking about the Kingdom. This kingdom is a place of justice, prosperity, liberty, blameless and righteous. But how is God going to do this? There is a ninth vision. When God’s Governor and High priest obey God that is how the kingdom comes. Jesus is the King and also the High priest.


Hebrews 1: 1-3 – In the past, God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed Heir of all things, and through whom also He made the Universe.3 the Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins he sat down at the right hand of the majesty in Heaven.

This building up of the kingdom has already started. God wants to and is using all of us for building his kingdom. We carry Easter – Death and Resurrection and share it with people who don’t know Jesus.

Final question – if the Kingdom had already started, and we are waiting for it to come, how are we better off when compared to people during the days of Zechariah and the disciples?

1 Peter 1:3-9
We know for sure about this kingdom and the salvation we have. We know the reason why we wake up being hopeful.

1 peter 1:11 – concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, 11 trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that could follow.

We are better off because we have Jesus , we experienced grace while they were waiting and pleading to experience that.

Word of Grace is an Evangelical (Born Again),  Spirit-filled (Charismatic), Reformed, English speaking church in Pune that upholds the Bible as God's inspired Word for life. We are a church community that has people from every part of India and parts of the world. We are here to put the Great Command and the Great Commission into practice by equipping and releasing every member into works of service.  Word of Grace is a part of a wider international family of Churches called RegionsBeyond.To know more about us please log onto www.wordofgracechurch.org. 

Living from the INSIDE OUT-1| Karen W and Donna K

Karen W from Heart of the Matter Ministries International and Donna K are friends of Word of Grace Church and have been a blessing to us over the years. This year as we celebrate our 15th year anniversary as Word of Grace Church, Karen and Donna have blessed us with this Prophetic message. This message was preached by them at Word of Grace Church on June 25th, 2017. To listen/download the audio please click here. 

This entire month, we will be dealing with healthy relationships. We have a word for this house. I flow in the prophetic with an apostolic anointing. Not too long ago, I had a dream. In this dream there were 2 spirits. I was in a room, and suddenly, there is this weird looking spirit with a red face and was very angry. This thing came to me and we began to wrestle. He charged at me and I pushed him out. he kept coming and I kept pushing it. I look at Jesus and said help! Then there were two of them and both were charging at me. We were wrestling and they came together and formed one new thing. Jesus was standing behind glass doors and couldn’t get in. Something from the outside tried to get in me. Then I was angry and asked Jesus why he did not help me when this entity was trying to get inside of me. Then I saw Jesus removing a mask and he said, the mask got put on my face by you. For the thing that is outside which is trying to get inside changes the relationship we have with God. So today’s message is called INSIDE OUT.

When things which are on the outside try to get on the inside, it affects everything we do. The Lord is saying we need to recognise the negative things that are on the outside and are getting on the inside and taking us away from God. The spirit of religion is an evil spirit that comes with lies and deception and keeps us from having an open relationship with God.  We fight in our own flesh and it exhausts us.

We were talking to our students about living out of our spirit. That is how God created us. I had a dream where my spirit from the inside came out and there was so much life in it. My Spirit came to the front and I decided I am never going back. We need to live with that life on the outside.

People live life in two way:

1. From the outside- in, where your circumstances and history gives you identity  and it is always an inward battle. 

2. From the inside out where we have identity inside of us and we live from that identity. The Spirit man is alive to God. That is how we are supposed to live. We can live connected to God, knowing who we are. Religion is about living outside in. It tries to affect behaviour.

Matthew 6:22- “The eye is the lamp of the body; so if your eye is clear [spiritually perceptive], your whole body will be full of light [benefiting from God’s precepts]. 23 But if your eye is bad [spiritually blind], your whole body will be full of darkness [devoid of God’s precepts]. So if the [very] light inside you [your inner self, your heart, your conscience] is darkness, how great and terrible is that darkness!” (AMP). So when we think about darkness, we think about sin. But darkness here is about not knowing who you are- not letting the light of God to shine. We often beg God to do stuff. This is the beggar’s mentality. When we live from the outside in, we live helpless. Every day is battle and the light that we think we have is actually darkness. Darkness is being distracted with all the things happening in the world. The darkness of of low self esteem, of having an orphan spirit, like you don’t matter, the darkness of trying to measure up to someone else. Lies that the enemy tells us from the history of our lives.

Inside Out- Meet your emotions (Video- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WpKGqYAClk)

We have a body, we are a Spirit, we have a soul. Things come to us, in the body, but the soul responds to it with the emotions, decisions, etc. it is our soul that pretty much runs our mind. What triggers our body are the 5 senses. So the things that make us joyful, hurt us, etc. becoming memories in our soul. The body is triggered by the sense, but the soul remembers it and responds in the same way. Be careful what our eyes look at, what we are listening to, because all those things affect us. This is how God created us, that we would live life- to have our soul in alignment with our spirit- then our thoughts, emotions and actions are lined up. When we walk in this alignment where the spirit receives its truth from the Spirit of God and informs the Soul about it. Then the Soul begins to line up with the spirit. Then our thoughts are becoming his thoughts. Then our behaviour follows in alignment to the soul. Then the very heart of man comes into perfect alignment to the heart of God.

Matthew 5:8 “You’re blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.” (MSG)

Your pastors right here, this is their life, this is their heartbeat. When you are living from the inside and you have healed from the things that your body has experienced. We will get to be with him eternally, but living in him means being healed and in connection with Him. These leaders are about building you because you are the church.

1 John 1:5-7- “This, in essence, is the message we heard from Christ and are passing on to you: God is light, pure light; there’s not a trace of darkness in him.  If we claim that we experience a shared life with him and continue to stumble around in the dark, we’re obviously lying through our teeth—we’re not living what we claim. But if we walk in the light, God himself being the light, we also experience a shared life with one another, as the sacrificed blood of Jesus, God’s Son, purges all our sin.”

We often live on the outside in, always having reaction to a lot of things. When our world, our culture, everything affects us, the soul takes over. Most of the time, we live soul to Body and body to spirit. But God wants us to come higher and live Spirit to soul and Soul to Body. When we live like this, adoption happens- spirit to spirit. We have an identity.

When we walk in a culture of honour, we are able to love people the way God loves them. God wants to do an amazing thing in this church- to build a caring community together. It is happening. This whole month, we will enter into a world of how to deal with conflict, to build healthy relationships. When we walk in his light, we are able to have connection with one another. If we are not, we are easily offended, intimidated and inauthentic in relationships. People can live as 100%, 75%, 50% and 25%. We want to be as real as we possibly can. But when we have the outside-in syndrome, people only show 75%, 50% or 25% of themselves. I had to go through a transformation to learn to love myself- both good and bad.

When people are not experiencing the full freedom of God, we are living outside-in. Wholeness is a part of the Kingdom of God and it is a way to live. I want to honour Colin and Navaz who are learning about these things themselves and bringing it to the church. I am going to talk about the difference between the kingdom of culture and the Culture of the kingdom. Our life is hid in Christ. And when we live in the light of Christ, there is freedom.          

Word of Grace is an Evangelical (Born Again),  Spirit filled (Charismatic), Reformed, English speaking church in Pune that upholds the Bible as God's inspired Word for life. We are a church community that have people from every part of India and parts of the world. We are here to put the Great Command and the Great Commission into practice by equipping and releasing every member into works of service. To know more about us please log onto www.wordofgracechurch.org.  

Thirsting for God: Part 1| Rodney H

This message was preached  by Rodney Haggar at Word of Grace Church on January 29th, 2017. Rodney leads the Jubilee Church in Worthing, UK. This is Part 1 of a two part message on the Prophetic. To listen/download the audio please click here. To listen to the Sunday's worship and prophetic contributions please click here

2 kings 3

It’s a story about Elisha, and about Israel and Judah. I hope you are thirsty for God. There is far more than you’ve ever experienced. First a bit of History- The nation of Israel has been spit in 2 nations- 10 tribes in the north called Israel who had military control over Moab. 2 tribes in the south called Judah who had control over Edom. Moab saw Ahab’s death as a moment for breaking free. Israel joined forces with Edom and Judah to go against Moab. The kings of Israel were ungodly. Another ungodly king named Joram decides to go through the desert of Edom. They are going through this desert and run out of water. In desperation, these three kings go to the prophet Elisha. Elisha prophesied from verses 15-20. “But now bring me a musician.” And when the musician played, the hand of the Lord came upon him. And he said, “Thus says the Lord, ‘I will make this dry streambed full of pools.’ For thus says the Lord, ‘You shall not see wind or rain, but that streambed shall be filled with water, so that you shall drink, you, your livestock, and your animals.’ This is a light thing in the sight of the Lord. He will also give the Moabites into your hand, and you shall attack every fortified city and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree and stop up all springs of water and ruin every good piece of land with stones.” The next morning, about the time of offering the sacrifice, behold, water came from the direction of Edom, till the country was filled with water.”

1.      An army needs water- these three kings badly miscalculated how much water they’d need. Or maybe the army became bigger than they estimated. For whatever reason, it was a big mistake. Without Elisha’s intervention, it would have been a total defeat. It’s the same for us. We are not civilians, we are an army. A soldier for Jesus. We march under the flag of the lion of the tribe of Judah. We march under his flag. We fight in a desert. India is a spiritual desert. It is dry of spiritual truth. Only 2.11% of the population is Christian. So, 1.2 billion are not Christian in the nation. This nation needs life-giving water.  But interestingly, a vast majority do believe in a God. So there is a thirst for truth, but it’s a dry place. As a church, to march in this desert, we need water. Without the power of the spirit, the church remains defeated and weak. God is calling to build a strong church in the power of the spirit. The church marches on the spirit. It’s got the life of God in her.

2.      God provides the water: v. 16-17 Here God came to the rescue of his people. Elisha speaks about a storm, before which there is a wind and rain. Says they will not see that. The sky is going to remain clear. When the rain comes, it cannot be contained. It comes down like a tidal wave. But Elisha prophesied the exact moment when the water came. But God is able to send life giving water to the most barren places. The water quenched the thirst of God’s people. The people must have been in joy and delight. It brings life.  

Also, it made their enemies flee. They saw the water and thought it was blood. Thought that they turned on themselves and broke cover. This is true in our own lives. When the Holy Spirit touches people, they find new life, a dream and destiny, new visions. In 2015, we had a very interesting time in encountering God at Jubilee Church, Worthing. The thick presence of God did not make us fall over, we went down. Everyone had amazing encounters with God that it was transformational. When you meet the holiness of God, it will change you. I once had an encounter when Jesus walked into the room with all his majesty. It was remarkable, I couldn’t move. The people who had encountered him, stayed changed. We can’t live in that moment of encounter forever, our bodies can’t handle it. But we remain changed forever.

Water needs to flow to stay fresh. In the story, the water came in the direction of Edom and the country was filled with water.   

In India, Pandita Ramabai’s story and mukti mission in Assam. When god comes in this holiness, Christians weep and confess their sins. The presence of God undoes you. At this time, Christianity increased by 70% in our country.

3.      Worship in prophetic- Elisha was angry at the king of Israel. At that moment it’s always easy to prophesy wrongly. Worship was his pathway to hearing the voice of God. One of the things we rediscovered was the role of worship in welcoming the presence of God. There is a link between worship and prophesy. It’s the environment we create to focus on heaven. In my own personal ministry, God restored my love for worship.

Heaven is noisy. Day and night they never ceased to say holy holy holy… there is this choir. Then the 24 elders cast their crowns. There is this noise. It is a place of continual worship. As we worship we’re just joining in with heaven. It’s a live feed from heaven. As we worship, it’s like breaking an alabaster jar of perfume at Jesus’ feet. It fills the room and blesses everyone. We linger in the presence of God and wait for the spirit to move. As we do that, he moves more and more remarkably.

The river beds are dry and waiting for water to flow. In every Christian, there is a riverbed waiting to receive the spirit. God never designed these river beds to be dry. There are trees growing on the banks. How dry is your riverbed today. Are your channels blocked? If the riverbed is full of rubbish, when the flood comes, it creates chaos. Are there things clogging up the flow of the spirit? The key is this- make Jesus lord of every part of your life. It’s a lifestyle that reflects that. The conviction of sin in the time of revival is too terrible for words. We don’t often see the conviction of sin in our lives. When the spirit of God pours out, it floods everywhere.

Let’s pray if your riverbed is dry, ask for God to fill it.   

Word of Grace is an Evangelical (Born Again),  Spirit filled (Charismatic), Reformed, English speaking church in Pune that upholds the Bible as God's inspired Word for life. We are a church community that have people from every part of India and parts of the world. We are here to put the Great Command and the Great Commission into practice by equipping and releasing every member into works of service. To know more about us please log onto www.wordofgracechurch.org.