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00:13 Right. Good afternoon. So today we're going to deal with a very uh it is a controversial topic uh which
00:21 is not often dealt with. So um we need to pay it's going to be a
00:28 little bit heavy going. Um so let's uh start with a word of prayer. Lord we ask
00:33 this afternoon that you help us understand your word
00:40 that we may live in submission to the truth as to this wonderful gift of
00:46 prophecy what it looks like how it act how it actually operates within our church. We pray Lord you give us your
00:52 spirit and wisdom. We ask for Jesus sake. Amen. Now, if you look at prophecy, prophecy,
00:59 we talked about this um at the sermon last week when I was talking, we were
01:04 discussing tongues and Paul was lowering the status of speaking in tongues and
01:10 and and actually highlighting that we should instead focus on the higher gift
01:15 which is actually prophecy because of its effect on the church, how it builds and edifies the church. Then the
01:22 question comes to mind is hey hang on I've been in first baptist church x number of years and never seen a prophet
01:29 right so the question is what is prophecy you know how can you talk about
01:34 something which you never practice so very four simple questions today what is
01:39 prophecy why is it still relevant today why should we desire it and how should we
01:46 practice it four questions the first thing is what is prophecy if you look at the passage here. What then, brothers,
01:52 when you come together, each one of you has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a
01:57 tongue, interpretation, prophecy. First and foremost is a revelation. Verse 29
02:03 to 30, let two or three prophets speak that the others weigh what was said. If a revelation is made to another sitting
02:11 there, let the first be silent. comes to the Greek word ep uh apocalypsis which
02:17 is basically releasing information about something which has been previously unknown. It's a revelation that builds
02:24 up the church. Verse three, the one who prophesies speaks to people for the upbuilding, encouragement and
02:32 consolation. The one who speak in tongue builds himself up. But the one who prophesies builds up the church. So the
02:37 prophecy is a revelation from God that actually will encourage, inspire, build
02:44 up the church. It doesn't tear the church down. Uh it can be a revelation about the secret things of an
02:49 unbelieving person. If you look in verse 24 to 25, but if all prophesy and and a believer outsider enters and is
02:55 convicted by all, he's called to account by all the secrets of his hearts are disclosed. So falling on his face, he
03:01 will worship God and declare that God is really among you. So it's a revelation of some kind of secret in some people.
03:08 Uh for example, there was a story by John Wimber who was on an airplane trip from Chicago I think New York to Chicago
03:15 or Chicago New York when he was he got in plane and he saw a couple there and on the man's head he thought he saw some
03:22 words emblazed on his forehead which said adulterer. Imagine you walk around and see oh
03:28 adulterer it's like neon lights and he wonder what's happening here and he kept staring at the man. And the man sat down
03:34 in the plane next to his wife and he looked at him and says, "Hey, why are you staring at me?" And when he said
03:41 that, the name of a woman came to his mind and he mentioned the woman's name
03:47 to the man. The man's face immediately turned white. I think we need to talk. He put him
03:53 aside. That was his mistress and he was sitting next to his wife. And so through
03:58 that uh the man actually acknowledged his sin actually came to know Christ on that plane itself. He came back to the
04:05 same seat acknowledged his sin before his wife and the wife was also led to Christ. These are unusual circumstances
04:12 but they can occur. a cessationist Baptist pastor Charles Spurgeon. He
04:19 writes, "I have little confidence in those persons who speak of having received direct revelation from the Lord
04:24 as though he appeared otherwise than by through by and through the gospel. His
04:30 word is so full, so perfect that for God to make any fresh revelation to you or to be is quite needless to do so would
04:36 be to put dishonor upon the perfection that is the word." So Spurgeon saying the word is so perfect, the Bible so
04:41 perfect that you can't add revelation to it because that would impugn the dignity and authority of the Bible which is what
04:47 he believed. But yet if you look in Spurgeon's life he was in two instances where you actually see him preaching
04:53 while he was preaching he pointed out to a young man he said that young man you have a pair of gloves that gloves you stole from your employer
05:01 and he was right he actually stolen those pair of gloves from employer. Another person he pointed up was a shoe
05:07 maker up in the stands and he said this shoe maker has opened his shop on a Sunday and he made 40 p profit. That
05:14 money goes to the devil and immediately the the shoemaker actually you know
05:19 confessed he was absolutely right. How did Spurgeon know? So here's a guy who doesn't believe in prophecy and who
05:25 actually does prophecy. Uh which is interesting. There are three sets of gifts that we
05:33 have. The priestly gift where we understand and supply uh the basic needs of people through counseling and
05:39 healing. Then the kingly uh gifts which are understanding direction and and group needs like apostles, leaders,
05:45 administrators. The prophetic gifts are those of us who understand and articulate the truth. Evangelists,
05:52 prophets, teachers, preachers, discerning the spirit. So these are the prophetic gifts that will given to build
05:57 up the church. Prophecy is not teaching because if you say when you come together each of you has a hymn, a
06:03 lesson, revelation or a tongue. It's ab it's it's different. It's mentioned separately in chapter 12 29 are all
06:10 prophets are all prophets are all teachers do all work miracles. He gave in Ephesians the apostles, the prophets,
06:17 evangelists, shepherds and teachers. So they're separate. They're not the same gift. Paul's emphasis is order. Verse
06:24 31, you can all prophesy one by one so that all may learn and be encouraged.
06:29 And the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets. So there is control. You can't come up to meeting like the
06:35 Greeks. The Greeks like the uh oracle of Delelfi and the Greeks the uh prophetist
06:41 what they have is aesthetic speech. They suddenly they're filled with the spirit as if they're possessed and suddenly they're going to blurt out the
06:46 revelation. It's not like that for Christian prophecy. It is controlled by the prophets themselves and they can
06:53 either bring it out spontaneously or something which they can reflect. Uh this is Peter um verse chap Matthew 16
07:01 verse 16 to 17 Simon Peter replied you are the Christ the son of the living God and Jesus answered him blessed are you
07:07 Simon Barjonah or son of Jonah for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you
07:12 but my father who is in heaven. Here you have a situation where Jesus is recognized to be the Messiah. Jesus is
07:18 recognized to be the Christ. But who told him that? The father in heaven revealed it. Right? So it's a inward
07:26 revelation, inward eye of faith. If you look one Corinthians chapter 2:9, as it is written, what no eye has seen, nor
07:33 ear has heard, nor hearts of a man. Imagine what God has prepared for those who love him. These things God has
07:40 revealed to us through the spirit. For the spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. So it could be a
07:45 revelation through a vision or it could be revelation through reflection and God speaking to our hearts inward eye of
07:52 faith. Is this still relevant today? All right, that's the biggest question. Uh
07:58 there are Christian theologies divided in two camps. One that says the
08:04 miraculous gifts including prophecy are available today that are called the continuous. The other ones are called
08:10 the sessationist is now all these miraculous gifts have ceased. We don't need them anymore. One of the most
08:16 famous prophets is an American called Harold Camping. He kept on making
08:21 predictions of the end of the world. And he put up posters like that. Judgment day, May 21, 2011. He started off May
08:30 21, 1988. The world didn't end. Then he went to 1994, 2008. And his last two
08:37 predictions was in May and October 2011 where he predicted the end of the world.
08:42 And this is not a simple prediction because each time he did that, there were actually people who believed him.
08:48 Now remember, there's a lady in California who actually took a knife and stabbed her 11-year-old daughter and
08:55 14year-old daughter because she didn't want them to face the terrible end. And then she slit her own throat with a box
09:01 cutter. man in Taiwan jumped from the what 15story building because he
09:07 believed Harold camping on the 21st of May 2011 the world would end. So so
09:13 prophecy is controversial. What about the Trump prophecies that we have today?
09:19 A lot of people if you look at all the opinion polls in the United States there always 38% of people who will vote for
09:24 him no matter what he does. And a lot of them believe there's a prophecy. It
09:30 started off with a chap called Dr. Lance Waldo who actually wrote a book called Trump God's Chaos Candidate that this is
09:37 the person that God will actually bring about to bring change back to America,
09:42 replace the Bible in the center of the life of society. So he believed that and a lot of evangelicals uh have bought
09:50 into it. Then there's the trump of God. Did you know that the that prophecy says there's a in Thessalonians chapter 4 on
09:57 the last day before Jesus comes there will be a last trumpet tinging by the by the arch angel right then the dead in
10:04 Christ will rise and and we will be left the last trumpet is trump
10:10 can you imagine last trumpet is trump so therefore people believe in him uh another fire man called Mark Taylor
10:16 watching TV suddenly said Jesus came and appeared to him and said Trump is the man uh he's the prophet so if If you
10:22 believe that then no no matter what happens you're so you're so tied or
10:28 wathed to that pro prophetic vision that you will not leave it. Uh in fact they believe that Trump is Cyrus. Remember
10:34 Cyrus is that Persian uh emperor who allowed Nehemiah to come back and Trump
10:40 is that Cyrus and actually if you do a proper prophecy like that you could actually sell makes money if you see
10:46 Trump next to Tyrus and you sell a gold coin and you actually make money. So if you look at that, it is no wonder many
10:54 people in the Christian church don't want to have anything to do with prophecy because you got all these funny ideas and uh how much trouble it causes
11:01 the church. And if you ask me, I'd rather not have it. Okay, but we have to be faithful to the word of God. Let's go
11:08 and look is it relevant today by looking into the past. We look at Old Testament
11:13 prophets. Old Testament prophets were singularly authoritative and infallible.
11:21 All right. Uh Deuteronomy, if a prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name
11:26 that I've not commanded him to speak or speaks in the same name of other gods, that same prophet shall die. Which means
11:33 that prophet is infallible. You cannot make a mistake. Oops. I'm sorry. Uh is not 21st of May. It's October. Oh, but
11:40 too bad you killed yourself already. You can't make a mistake. Old Testament prophets are spot on. In fact, if they
11:46 are wrong, um there'll be consequences. The prophet will die. Samuel was a
11:52 prophet. He grew. The Lord was with him. And let none of his words fall to the ground. Which means his words were
11:58 perfect. There is no falling to the ground. They all come true. If you look at Haniah, Jeremiah 28, and Jeremiah the
12:05 prophet said to the prophet Haniah, "Listen, Haniah, the Lord has not sent you. You have made these people trust in
12:11 a lie. Therefore says the Lord, behold, I will remove you from the face of the earth. This year you will die because
12:17 you have uttered rebellion against the Lord. In the same year, the seventh month, the prophet Hanat died. So he's a
12:25 false prophet confronted by a real prophet and the false prophet died. See,
12:30 Jesus is the ultimate prophet. All the smaller prophets in the Old Testament, their job was to pave the way for the
12:38 ultimate prophet. The ultimate prophet is Jesus Christ. He brings the true revelation of who God is. Long ago, in
12:45 many times, in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets and but in these last days, he spoke to us by his
12:51 son whom he appointed heir of all things through whom he also created the world.
12:57 So Jesus is that final prophet as it were. And Jude says, "Behold, belove uh beloved, although I was very eager to
13:03 write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was
13:09 once and for all delivered to the saint." That mean that entire gospel is delivered to you once and for all. So if
13:15 that's the case, why would you need other prophets? The function of prophet is in redemptive history. The prophets,
13:23 the prophecies are fulfillment of the covenant promises that will come in Jesus Christ. So what the prophets do
13:29 they explain and they unpack the significance of what Jesus has done in redemptive history. Now given that kind
13:35 of idea of what prophets are why would you need prophets today? Now let's look
13:40 at that verse in chapter 13. Paul writes, "Love never ends. As for
13:47 prophecies, they will pass away. For tongues, they will cease. As for knowledge, it will pass away. We know
13:54 for what we know in part. We prophesy in part. But when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. Now the two
14:01 sides, whether the continuous or the cessationist read this verse and they both find evidence there. Uh the whole
14:08 crux of the matter is what does it mean the perfect? When the perfect comes, the partial will go away. The partial is
14:14 obviously knowledge, prophecy, and tongues. They will all cease. When the
14:19 perfect comes, the perfect can be three things. Some people say it's the Bible
14:24 or the matured church or the second coming of Christ. Which one is the
14:30 correct answer? If you look here in chapter 13 112 gives you some idea. He
14:36 uses illustration of a child. When I was a child, I spoke like a child. I thought like a child. I reasoned like a child.
14:42 When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now, what I see in the mirror dimly, but then face to face I know.
14:50 Well, now I know in part, I shall know fully even as I've been fully known. Now, this is an illustration of what the
14:56 perfect is going to be. All right? And so, therefore, if you look the first the
15:03 first principle when you come to interpreting scripture is you when Paul writes to the people of Corinth in AD55,
15:10 what did they understand was the meaning of the word perfect? All right? Because you are now in 2019. your ideas of
15:18 perfection is different from what they would have believed. Now if you look at this scheme,
15:24 creation, Christ coming, the canon which is when the Bible was uh assembled together, second coming of Christ and
15:30 eternity. Love is eternal. It will it goes all the way to the end. So you must
15:36 desire to love, right? Then you actually have either the spiritual gifts end when
15:42 the Bible was created in AD39, the perfect revelation of God, or spiritual
15:50 gifts end of the second coming of Christ. If you were a Corinthian Christian reading the Bible at AD55,
15:58 which do you think he'll be thinking the perfect second coming of Christ or was he will he be thinking 300 years from
16:05 now the Bible be created? Obviously if you're a first centuries reader you would be thinking it's this
16:11 one isn't it right? So it's very hard to justify sessation this for you to justify that when the perfect comes even
16:18 now we still squabble over the meaning of the Bible. How can you how can you say that our understanding is perfect as it were. So uh this is Thomas Shriner.
16:25 This is one of the foremost Baptist theologians. He's the professor of biblical interpretation at the southern
16:31 uh southern baptist theological seminary. He writes certainly this text teaches that gifts could last until
16:37 Jesus returns. There's no definitive teaching in the Bible that they've ceased. We might even expect them to
16:43 last until the second coming. But we see hints of Ephesians from Ephesians 2:20 and other text that the gifts played a
16:49 foundational role. I conclude then that one Corinthians 13 8-12 permits but
16:54 doesn't require gifts to continue until the second coming of Christ. So from a staunch sessationist theologian, he will
17:00 permit this idea that the gifts may continue which is a very fair comment.
17:06 The Old Testament looks forward to the new. If you look at the Old Testament, there's a time during Moses' time when
17:11 there were about 70 elders and all the 70 elders who were filled with the spirit of God and they begin to prophesy
17:17 and actually Moses said these words uh would that the Lord's people were prophets that the Lord would
17:24 put his spirit on them. He would Moses desired that everybody would be filled with the spirit. Everybody would desire.
17:31 And in the Old Testament, you've got the Holy Spirit filling prophets. But in the New Testament, the Holy Spirit fills
17:36 every single believer. Joel prophesies, "And in the last days, there will be
17:42 shall be, the God declares that I will pour by spirit in all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Your
17:47 young men shall see dreams. Your old men shall dream dreams. Your young men shall see visions. And even on my male
17:54 servants and female servants in those days, I will pour out my spirit, and they shall prophesy." the the coming
17:60 Holy Spirit immediately results in prophecy. So is there a difference
18:05 between an Old Testament prophet and a New Testament prophet or someone prophet
18:10 sitting in first baptist church somewhere out there? Is there a difference? It's sort of like looking at
18:15 policemen. You look at the policeman, they're all dressed like this. And I see same color uniform in Sunway pyramid and
18:22 riding the sedway. And you don't know whether to scold them
18:28 and say, "Well, you going to scratch my car or not because you you don't know whether they're real policemen
18:34 or private policemen paid for by Jeffrey Ch, right? You don't know. Uh so the
18:40 issue here is authority. Actually, they're both police. The one
18:45 riding the sedu in Sanway pyramid is a auxiliary police. He has authority only
18:51 in Sanway pyramid. You step outside to to Sunway cannot I mean to to sub no
18:57 authority. Okay. So the whole issue is semantics. What do you mean by prophets?
19:04 Okay. So the issue is authority. Paul says there you know the we're all
19:10 built on the foundation of apostles and prophets. Christ himself being the corner. So there is a foundation of the
19:16 church. The concern is as expressed by Thomas Reiner, if prophecy still exists
19:21 today, it's hard to resist the conclusion that foundation established by apostles prophets hasn't been completed.
19:27 So the risk which the evangelical church struggles with with allowing prophecy is
19:33 that if the if you say revelation come from God and comes from prophecy, it is possible to add to the foundation,
19:39 right? And so that's the perfect risk there. Now let's look at New Testament
19:45 prophets. This is what Paul says. Where two or three prophets speak, let the others weigh what is said. So somehow
19:53 when you prophesy, it's got to be weighed. Wayne Grudum from Trinity
19:58 Evangelical College in Chicago. He writes his book called New Testament Prophecy. Uh he suggests this in the Old
20:06 Testament all of them were authoritative. The authority of the words in the New
20:11 Testament equivalent of the Old Testament prophets were actually the apostles. This is authoritative actual
20:18 words and the form foundation of church. But the others another group of uh new testament prophets which are not
20:24 apostles and who live under the authority of apostles and their authority of general content not the
20:29 word itself and they actually function as to build the church. Okay. Now let's
20:35 look at the verse here. Let two or three prophets speak. Let the others weigh.
20:41 The word we way is very carefully chosen. The word is diiaakrino. There are two words in Greek that could be
20:46 used. You could have someone say a prophecy then you could judge. The word is kr. You could decide good prophet,
20:55 bad prophet or no prophet. That's kr. Instead he used diiao. Diro is to listen
21:03 carefully and sift the good from the bad, accepting some and rejecting the rest. There's a deliberate use of the
21:10 word diacrino. So krino is to judge. Diro is to sift through good grain,
21:17 false grain. Keep this. Throw that away. All right. So, and let two or three
21:24 prophets speak. Let the others weigh what is say. So, you're not weighing the prophet, you're weighing what is said.
21:32 Okay? So, that's a difference there. So the controversy is in Old Testament prophecy you got to score 10 out of 10.
21:39 New Testament prophecy is a mixed bag of nuts. Some good some bad. So you got to go and listen and see whether u you know
21:46 what he's saying is actually true revelation not. So the issue is authority. Obviously Old Testament prophets
21:52 the authority is absolute just like the apostles but the other New Testament prophets which Paul talks about are not
21:60 completely authoritative. So what he what Wayne Grudam has done is pointed us to the Agabus prophecy which is an
22:07 example of New Testament prophecy. Here we have Paul. Let me read to you. While
22:12 we were staying for many days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea coming to us. He took Paul's belt, took off his
22:19 belt, bound his own hands and feet and said, "Thus says the Holy Spirit, this
22:24 is how the Jews in Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver
22:30 him the hands of Gentiles." And then we heard this, the people there urged him not to go to Jerusalem. So here we have,
22:36 you go to Agaba's house. He grabs Paul's belt and he ties it on his hands and
22:42 legs and says, "The man who owns this belt will be handed from the Jews will hand him to the Gentiles, which are the
22:50 Romans." Okay, remember what actually happened. If you look at the actual
22:55 event, verse 30-33, the whole city was stirred up. The people ran together,
23:01 they seized Paul, dragged him out of the temple. And once the gates were shut and
23:06 they were seeking to kill him, the word came to the tribune of the cohort, which is basically a Roman uh military officer
23:13 that was in that all tourism was out in confusion just like Hong Kong. Huh. All
23:18 right. He had once took soldiers and centurions and ran down to them and they saw the tribune and the soldiers and
23:25 they stopped beating Paul and then the tribune came and arrested him and ordered him bound in chains. Now look at
23:32 the prophecy which Agabus give. Is it accurate?
23:39 Is it accurate? If you look, how many of you think it's accurate? Only nobody.
23:46 Only one, two, three. All right. How many of you think it's not accurate?
23:53 Yeah, we are split here. It's good to be split. All right. Because I think it talks so so clear. You see, there are
24:00 problems with this prophecy. First of all, who did the Jews hand him to the Romans? No. The Romans rescued him from
24:06 the Jews, right? They were if you gave Romans the the Jews half a challen,
24:12 right? It was the Romans who came and saved him, right? Where the where the actual prophecy says the Jews in
24:18 Jerusalem will bind the man who owns the belt and deliver him. He didn't he didn't bind Paul and gift wrap him and
24:24 give him to Roman. The Roman, they come and rescue him. So if that's the case then the agmas prophecy is inaccurate
24:31 and so therefore new testament prophecy needs to be carefully weighed isn't it? So that's the argument Wayne Grudam
24:37 gives. Uh and then but but in defense of Agabus if you look at Paul's own
24:42 testimony. So verse 20 seven chapters later on when Paul was testifying he said after three
24:49 days he called together local leaders of the Jews and when they had gathered together he said to them brothers though
24:54 had done nothing against our people or customs of our fathers yet I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem
24:60 into the hands of the Romans. Now if Jerusalem is a metaphor for the Jews, so
25:06 Paul is saying, "I was delivered from the Jews to the hands of the
25:12 Romans." So Paul interprets his whole experience in the light of the prophecy.
25:18 And yet it wasn't exact. But the problem is that most prophecies aren't exact.
25:24 You you give the prophets too tight uh uh too narrow a margin. And then Agabus
25:31 used prophetic symbolism which what Ezekiel used and he also used the phrase thus says the lord. So there is some
25:38 evidence that new testament prophecy has some error there. But there are this is controversial. And then just before that
25:45 happened, uh the disciples with who were with Paul also had a prophecy. Before we come in the sight of Cyprus, leaving it
25:52 on the on on on the left, we sailed to Cyrus and landed at Tire for there the ship was to unload its cargo. Having
25:59 sought out the disciples, we stayed there for seven days and through the spirit they were telling Paul not to go
26:06 to Jerusalem. Here is prophecy. Here are a bunch of disciples.
26:11 When you say through the spirit means prophecy, right? telling Paul not to go. So was the spirit wrong or was Paul
26:19 disobedient? Big problem here, you know, because the spirit said don't go and then Paul purposely went. So there is a difference
26:27 between revelation and inference. See God can reveal something to you but as a
26:33 human being you can infer. Isn't it right? So the infallib the fallibility
26:40 comes with revelation comes and there's inference. So here we have inference causing issues here. So we have the
26:47 wheat and the shaft. Inference is human and revelation is from God and you need
26:53 to be able to discern the two. Look at major doct but see in major doctrinal issues the church doesn't come together
26:59 and wait for one prophet to stand up and the prophet says thus says the lord. It doesn't happen. In fact, if you look in the old New Testament, there was a
27:06 situation when some men came down from Judea and he was telling other people, the brothers, unless you're circumcised
27:11 according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved. You come to the church and say, "Oh, you all must be Jews
27:17 before you become Christians, which means you must bur, you must take off your circumcision and you must not eat
27:23 pork. Then you become a Christian." And people were really upset. How do you decide which is right? So they went to
27:29 Jerusalem and in the process this is how they decided in Jerusalem Paul and
27:35 Barnabas testified that God had saved the Gentiles gave them the gift of the
27:40 Holy Spirit. Number one. Number two Peter testified as to what God had done
27:45 with Cornelius and the Gentiles. They were filled with the Holy Spirit were they prophesying with tongues and his
27:50 implications. And then they began to debate with debate means a sharing of ideas. Who's got better ideas? And the
27:57 last one was James appealed to scripture. At the end of all that, you know what they wrote? They wrote and
28:03 said, "For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no
28:10 greater burden than these requirements." Even after all that discussion, all they could do is conclude it seem good to the
28:16 Holy Spirit. And yet you have no New Testament prophets nowadays in certain churches coming saying, "Thus says the Lord." I think that's very very
28:23 arrogant. Here you have all the apostles, the church all gathered. Through all the scripture reading and
28:29 through all the discussion, it came out says it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us. And that is the kind of
28:36 humility that we need to have. And the the prophets uh Silas and um uh uh Judas
28:46 were prophets. They encouraged and strengthened the brothers without many words. So their main function of
28:52 prophecy was not to decide the doctrine but to encourage with words and the main
28:57 ministry which Paul and Barnabas remain antio teaching and preaching the word of the lord. The teaching preaching
29:03 function is number one. The the the prophecy is just encouragement. So
29:09 there's also a misunderstanding on the meaning of prophecy. We're not meaning the same thing. There's unscripturated
29:15 prophecy which is basically Moses who wrote Pentatue, Isaiah, Jeremiah, those
29:20 are in the Bible is inscripturated. But do you know there are lots and lots of prophets whom you never heard their
29:27 names nor their writings. If you look at one Kings 18, Obadiah took 100 prophets
29:32 and hid them in the cave. Did you hear any writings about the 100 prophets?
29:37 What about Moses 70 elders? They all prophesied, right? Are they recorded in the Bible?
29:43 noninscripturative prophecy. What about Saul? Verse 19 of chapter 19 1 Samuel
29:49 and the spirit of God came upon him also and he went Saul and he prophesied. So Saul prophesied. Do you have a book says
29:55 the prophecies of Saul? You don't have because there's unscripturated prophecy
30:00 and non-scripturated prophecy. So New Testament prophecy is non-enscripturated. It's application of
30:06 gospel truth. Such prophecies must still be evaluated and they're principally submissive to the apostle and the
30:14 gospel. So here we have a summary. Old testament and new testament prophets. The old testament prophet once he's
30:20 verified there's no repeated check on his authority and his content. The new testament prophets are always checked
30:26 every single time. The old testament prophet is actually killed if he's
30:32 false. The new testament there's no death penalty. Paul never mentioned the death penalty. Why? Because it's
30:39 different. Uh the Old Testament prophet says, "Thus says the Lord." These such words are very rare. Prophet held
30:45 authority. Prophets in the New Testament are under the authority of the apostles, elders, and the scrutiny of the church.
30:52 Highrofile and the New Testament prophets are low profile. So, Grudom I
30:57 think is correct. It's the infallible prophecies are actually from apostolic uh uh witness and the fallible new
31:04 testament prophets are the prophets of chapter 14. Uh the issue is other issue
31:09 is fallibility. You cannot have prophecy which is fallible. If that's the case then what about teaching and preaching?
31:16 You think all the preachers who come up here are infallible? Heavens forbid, right? They make
31:21 mistakes. So by the same things that prophecy can be just as you check the preacher up here you also check the
31:28 prophets up here right they don't have the aura of authority as well so I think
31:34 a good summary is you take goodam's position
31:40 and shriner's position is that it's a distinction without a difference you
31:46 have a revelation of god and Thomas shrer says this revelation of god is called impression impressions. You go to
31:53 your brother and say, you know, I have an impression that that that you shouldn't go on this trip. You know, let me pray for you. Right? If you were
32:00 weighing Gudom, you'll come up to the person say, I think I received a prophecy from the Lord that you shouldn't go on a trip. You're both
32:06 using a distinction without the difference. You're both saying the same thing, right? But one is a prophet, one
32:11 is under is an impressionist. All right? So you come to Baptist church, you call it impression. You go
32:16 to charismatic church, you call it prophet. But actually, they mean the same thing. You know why? because
32:21 they're both revelation from God. They're both fallible. They need evaluation. They both don't confer un
32:29 checked authority. They both cannot go beyond scripture. And they both apply scripture to the situation. So it's
32:36 basically a distinction without a difference. Okay? New Testament, Old Testament, prophecy. So why should we
32:42 desire it? Well, Paul says you have to earnestly desire special gifts, especially the g the spiritual gifts.
32:48 especially you may you may prophesy so that you could build people up, encourage people and console people.
32:55 Paul's warning to the church, First Baptist today is twofold. You should not
33:01 reject nor should you abuse prophecy. And he summarizes this best in one
33:08 Thessalonians 5. It says, "Do not quench the spirit. Do not despise prophecy."
33:14 Why would you despise prophecy? Well, uh, John Piper tells the story of one day his wife was pregnant and a woman in
33:22 church, well-meaning as she was, came to him and gave him quietly a slip of paper
33:28 and a slip of paper he read, "I heard from the Lord. He revealed to me, your wife will die during childhood, child
33:34 child birth." Imagine the shock on his face. You think he ran and told his wife?
33:39 If you're a smart man, you won't do that. So, he kept the prophecy to himself. And Noel
33:47 gave birth, survived and the son was well. So obviously this is not right. So
33:54 after the experience of lad, John Piper describes that he tended to despise prophecy because it's such hurtful
33:59 things and people get it wrong. But Paul says do not despise prophecy. So even
34:06 though you want to protect your wife and all that, you you allow yourself to be vulnerable because God may speak. Maybe
34:13 that woman was wrong, but somebody else may be right. Isn't it? On the other hand, you're not supposed to abuse
34:18 prophecy. He says, "But test everything. Hold fast to what is good." Which means
34:23 all the bad stuff you throw away. You don't let the bad stuff tell you that all prophecy is wrong, but you hold on
34:30 to what is good. So, I think that is a very very very important um advice to us
34:37 that we do not despise prophecy. We test everything that's forward. So Anthony
34:43 Tisselton describes pro prophecy as prophecy as a gift of the Holy Spirit. He combines pastoral insight into the
34:50 needs of persons, communities, and situations with the ability to address those with a God-given utterance or even
34:56 a longer discourse which is like a sermon whether prompted or prepared with judgment with decision and rational
35:03 reflection leading to challenge or comfort or judgment or consolation but ultimately building up the addresses
35:09 addresses. So people who preach the gospel are also prophets in the sense that sometimes when you preach you feel
35:15 the Lord's leading and it actually touches people's lives. So that is a prophetic gift as well. So u now how
35:21 should we practice it then? Okay. Well corporate participation what then
35:27 brothers when you come together you have a hymn a lesson a revelation a tongue
35:32 let all things be done. So which means you might have a choice of a song. I mean this church big problem for us we
35:38 never give you a choice of a song but if you go to a brethren church that's the closest I've seen you sit around a brethren church we all sit around a
35:43 circle then somebody will suggest a song and then they'll sing somebody will suggest a Bible verse they'll read
35:49 somebody have a sharing and all that so that's a kind of brethren kind of setup where the new testament is practiced
35:55 like this so which mean the prophecy the same level as a hymn you know same level as a teaching you know so
36:02 everything is corporate participation and if you are speaking in tong tongs. It must be intelligible. Uh and then
36:08 there two or three prophets speak. Let the others weigh what is said. Now when
36:13 the prophets speak, what are the others? The others could be the prophets,
36:18 the whole church or church leaders. It's unlikely to be the prophets. So most
36:24 likely it'll be the whole church or the church leaders to come and weigh what is
36:29 said because you could have said things wrongly. All right. So in this particular church the last few years we
36:35 haven't had any prophets come. I had one lady who who who comes out of the blue some years ago she came off the street
36:41 never knew who she was with a look of urgency she came to the to me and said look I got a prophecy for first baptist
36:47 church. Okay then I said good tell me what it is. Oh cannot tell you must tell
36:52 the whole church first. Obviously you cannot even tell me. How can I let you come up here and tell the whole church?
36:59 So you see everything must be weighed, isn't it? So you have to go through the elders. There's any of you who have
37:04 prophecy today. You bring it up to your leaders. We will try to weigh what it's going to be like and then allow you to
37:09 come on platform. And the important thing is that you can do that. But when your prophecy is wrong, I expect you to
37:16 come back up here and apologize. Hopefully nobody's killed themselves over what you said. All right? But there
37:23 are charismatic church I've talked to where the the person actually comes up and then say, "Look, I got it wrong. I'm
37:29 sorry." And that's good because you you allow yourself to be vulnerable. You don't despise prophecy and yet you don't
37:34 actually abuse it. Acts chapter 16, uh, a vision appeared to Paul. You know,
37:40 visions are so authoritative, isn't it? People say, "I got a vision means it's got to be true." But look here, a vision
37:46 appeared to Paul in the night. Man of Macedonia was standing there urging him, saying, "Come to Macedonia and help us."
37:53 And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had
37:59 called us to preach the gospel to them, listen to the words. Paul got the prophecy. We sought to go into Macedon.
38:07 We, you know, concluding that God had which means when Paul had the prophecy,
38:13 he actually consulted Barnabas and all the rest and they concluded after discussion that it should go. Unlike
38:20 many of the prophets today say God told me means y'all shut up. I'm going to go right. So it's a corporate thing
38:26 together. So prophets are under the authority of the apostles. If anyone thinks he has a he's a prophet or
38:33 spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I'm writing to you are a command of the Lord. If anyone does not
38:38 recognize this, he is not recognized. So which means there are no apostles today, but we have the Bible. the Bible with
38:44 the writings of Paul and James and Peter. They form the bedrock foundation of our truth and all prophecies will not
38:52 go beyond scripture. Now let's come to the interesting part that will be
38:58 upsetting to some women. Verse 33. Now verse 33. Unfortunately,
39:06 if you read most your Bibles, they put the full stop at the wrong place. Okay? You see the word for God is not a God of
39:13 confusion but of peace as in all the churches the women should keep silent in the churches. Now this is in Greek
39:20 there's no full stop you know um you can either do for God is not a God of confusion but of peace as in all the
39:27 churches of the saints. Okay which means you read like this for God is not a God
39:32 of confusion but of peace as in all the churches of the saints which is a nice innocuous reading. I think the the the
39:38 the readings the girls like this. The other way is put as in all the churches. You put a full stop there. The women
39:45 should keep silent in all the churches. All right. So you translate it that way. Okay. I prefer the former one. Okay. Uh
39:53 there's a tension in one Corinthians chapter 11. The women are allowed to what? Every wife praise or prophesy with
39:59 her head uncovered dishonors her head. So you got to cover your head but you can speak here. You know, you ask them
40:06 to keep quiet, to be silent. All right? But there's a different context in that
40:11 area. They are prophesying or they are praying. In this area, they are checking the prophecy of their husbands. Okay?
40:19 Now, there are three passages. The third passage is in 1 Timothy chapter 2 when it says, "Let a woman learn quietly in
40:26 all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man. Rather, she should remain
40:33 silent. For Adam was formed first and then Eve and Adam was not deceived but the woman was deceived and became a
40:40 transgressor. We'll preach on that one day that that passage is enough to fill books.
40:45 But this afternoon I'm just going to summarize the commonalities in all the
40:51 three passages and to be able to harmonize them into a paradigm that
40:56 works. First of all, there are restrictions in all three passages to
41:02 women. All right? So that's why I don't take an egalitarian stance to say they
41:08 all do the same thing. The restrictions in prophesying and preaching uh and
41:13 speaking for women are that they have to have a head covering. Okay. The restrictions on chapter 14 for the women
41:20 is that they cannot weigh the prophecies of men. The restriction in chapter two of Timothy is that they cannot teach of
41:27 authority over men. Now these are restrictions but you must understand why
41:33 the rationale for one Corinthians chapter 11 the rational is that this issue of shame in their culture and
41:39 gender distinction. There's a gender distinction that's why women should be seen to be submissive to their husbands
41:45 and so therefore they wear a veil. In chapter 14 the issue is shame and submission. In chapter two the issue is
41:52 shame and submission. This is the same issue which Paul brings up in each
41:58 situation. But why is this Paul's thinking or Paul relies on the scripture
42:03 and he goes back into the theological basis? The theological basis in chapter 11 is Genesis chapter 2. Women created
42:11 for men and not men for women. See, so therefore if the theology supersedes the
42:17 culture which means the time Genesis 2 is written so long ago and it applies to AD55. will also apply in 2019.
42:25 Right? So therefore the issue is gender distinction. Women created for men and
42:30 not the other way around. Verse 14, the law is invoked and I think by inference this law is Genesis chapter 2 which
42:37 means this issue of submission and shame. So you cannot have a woman coming up during the prophecy time and whatever
42:44 a husband says she stands up say hey that was wrong. All right? Because it doesn't show gender distinction. It
42:50 doesn't show submission. All right. And chapter 2 of uh Timothy, the law is
42:55 invoked. Genesis chapter 2 and three talking about Adam being created first. That's why the women don't play a
43:02 leadership role in terms of teaching or having authority over men. So here
43:08 harmonizes all the three things. Paul is not discriminating against women. He
43:13 just says that there are different gender distinctions and roles within the church of which he's comfortable with.
43:20 And it's based on scripture as it were. Finally, the challenge. So my brothers,
43:25 earnestly desire to prophesy. Do not forbid speaking in tongues. In all
43:31 things be done decently and in honor. We need to do things properly. There are
43:38 lot of prophetic abuses. For example, prophecy intentionally
43:43 given to people of wealth. Oh, these rich people you give prophecy. the old people you don't even the the the other
43:48 people you don't even look at them or prophecies based on prior knowledge on this called insider trading.
43:55 You go and find out what's really the problem and then you go and prophesy over him. Whoa, you must be a pretty bad
44:01 prophet. Uh prophecies that draw attention to the prophet themselves, self-interest or prophecies that are
44:08 given for monetary gain. Um, for example, I was in a church uh uh uh in
44:14 Australia in Melbourne, big church called City Life, 9,000 people. And there was a Malaysian gentleman who
44:21 actually went full-time. He went there and then he he he functions as a prophet giving prophecy. And then we asked him,
44:28 hey, how you survive? The church doesn't support you here. Church doesn't support you there. Oh, you know, I'm a prophet
44:33 and God gives me insight into the stock market. So he says I he doesn't need tithing you
44:38 know from you guys because the stock market gives him all the money. So if he and he tells people the Lord has given me revelation you must buy this stock
44:45 called KMN. I nearly bought the stock so I know. So everybody in the church and
44:51 all the Chinese you know uh permanent residents all sit down while there's all
44:57 you know bitching about Malaysia in those days sit down they also share share market tips you know and this
45:02 prophet said you know the Lord told me like that and everybody went bought you know some and I know one guy who was so rich he's got he he sold his old
45:09 business there and he opened up a post office which was very boring in Australia and he spent $12 million
45:14 buying the stock which was 10 cents and it went to 80 cents you know how much you
45:20 huge and one day the market crashed. Everybody lost their pants. Profits for
45:26 monetary gain is the oldest game in the book. Don't fall for that. Profits that
45:32 are used to to manipulate relationships. I had a patient of mine
45:37 who who came to me you know in Chinese men marry Indian girl and and they
45:43 hadn't had sex for three five years. At the end of five years they said I think we must have babies. How do babies come
45:49 about without sex? So they come and as consult me and and and I said, "How did you guys
45:54 get married?" Because you're not sexually attracted to her. Uh you can't get erection. Uh well, because one day I
46:01 was sitting there and then God revealed to me that you must go next door and marry the woman next door. Said, "Why? I
46:07 don't even know the woman next door. Now you go." So he went next door, knocked on the door, she opened it, and he
46:13 explained that, you know, you're from the same church and and God has told me to marry you. And the stupid woman said
46:19 yes. You see they never check and weigh what was being said. Isn't it? Were you on
46:25 marijuana when you actually had the prophecy? You know what was happening? And they actually got married because
46:31 they both thought they were being obedient to the will of God. And five years down the road the wheels fall off
46:36 the wagon. Isn't that Thank God for Viagra. It worked.
46:42 So uh pro prophecies commissioning people to high level leadership dramatic
46:48 prophecies given to build an audience of prophecy that goes beyond scriptures to teach doctrine. For example, Bishop
46:53 Carlton Pearson had a dream. The Lord told him in a conversation that all people will be
47:00 saved. No need to have Pari go and and Andrew go and sacrifice their life. No
47:06 need to have the the you know you know the Adams come all the way to Malaysia
47:12 to risk their lives. After all everybody will be saved. So this called a doctrine
47:18 of universalism which it goes against scripture. All right? Or a Jim Baker
47:23 remember him? He had a scandal right a sexual affair with Jessica Han and then
47:29 he got resurrected again. He's still on TV and he says you need to keep voting for Trump and all the Republicans
47:35 because he says what's coming if we keep losing you're going to see the leaders of the church and the leaders of the gospel and the political conservative
47:41 leaders that are powerful you you're going to see them suddenly die suddenly killed suddenly as they were driving as
47:48 suddenly as they were on a boat suddenly in an airplane you're going to see them one by one and God spoke this to me
47:53 years ago what will happen near the end I believe we're in that time it's still desperate it's life and death it's
47:60 hatred of murder in the country. Vote for Trump.
48:05 This is the prophet. He runs a TV program. This is what we need to avoid.
48:11 All right? We need to avoid when you come up to have prophecy over you. People now prophets will always say,
48:17 "Release your faith for your miracle from God today. Something good is going to happen to you today. Uh God, you
48:24 know, has a wonderful plan for your life." You know, sometimes prophecy is like reading your horoscope. You know,
48:31 why do you see go to a horoscope? Why do you see a prophet? Because you want to know the future, isn't it? It's the same
48:37 thing. It's the same curiosity of you want to, you know, not wanting to trust God. Uh that's the problem. In fact,
48:43 prophets are like doctors. Yeah. Doctors, you go to doctor, this doctor tells you the truth. You're going
48:49 to die. You don't like, right? So, you go to another doctor who tells you, "You're going to live. We we just need to operate on you and relieve you a lot
48:55 of your money. All right. So, you find a doctor who will sing the song that you like to hear.
49:01 That's the doctor you want. And that's exactly like a prophet, isn't it? You find a prophet who will sing the song
49:07 that you like to hear. And I tell you, Jeremiah 23 says this, exactly this.
49:13 Thus says the Lord of hosts, "Do not listen to the words of prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain
49:18 hope. They speak of visions of their own minds, not from mouth of the Lord. They
49:25 say continually to those who despise the word of the Lord, it shall be well with you and to everyone who stubbornly
49:31 follows his own heart, they will say no disaster will fall upon you. That's Ezekiel said. How many of somebody just
49:38 share with me how somebody came to two prophets came to his father who was suffering from terminal cancer and told
49:45 the father you will not die. Two prophets obviously he died. I mean,
49:52 you're pushing 75, 85, you're going to die. When you going to die? Death is
49:58 natural. Death will come to all of us. We have natural. We have the second healing of the Lord. Completely complete
50:04 healing when we're in heaven. And yet, we we go against this grain of reality as if death doesn't exist for us simply
50:10 because we're Christian. How does that work? God does heal. And
50:15 when he heals, he heals in dramatic fashion. I have full belief he will. But for most of us, we're going to be with
50:21 him in heaven, that's not a bad deal. And yet, we are always duped by these
50:27 people because we want to hear what we want to hear. See, those who despise the
50:32 word of God, those who stubbornly follow their own heart, many of our searching for prophecies because we despise the
50:38 word of God. We don't want to listen to the word of God. If they tell us about our sin, we get upset. They tell us that
50:44 we're going to be rich and have a good job and a wonderful wife, we are very happy.
50:49 So therefore, it is our our own despising the word of God that brings us into problem. When then we get in
50:55 bondage to certain individual leaders, presumptuous beliefs or we're led by human thoughts, impressions, and
51:03 impressions. Let me end with Matthew Chandler. He says, uh, we receive from the Lord a
51:10 word that doesn't contradict scripture. It doesn't stand in the sufficient
51:16 contrast to the sufficiency of scripture but it personaliz means it it applies
51:21 the scripture to your own life and the message of scripture is always the same repent and believe in the gospel of
51:29 Jesus Christ. So when you come to the church we encourage prophecy we encourage people who teach who lead who
51:36 have the hymn who are evangelists who are teachers. to bring it to us and for us to evaluate to weigh and whatever
51:43 builds up the church we will celebrate that together so that the church is
51:48 built up. All right let's have a word of prayer. Father Lord we thank you that in these
51:55 last days you have not left us without a witness. You have put the Holy Spirit in
52:03 all of us in all flesh. We can see visions. We can dream dreams. We can
52:09 hear from you in a living manner. And that we have the precious word of God.
52:14 We pray this church that we will be neither afraid or that we be against the use of
52:20 prophecy so that your name will be glorified. We ask for Jesus sake. Amen.
