Participants: Pr. David Klinedinst
Series Code: DPR
Program Code: DPR000020A
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00:07 A few years ago I had an interesting experience
00:12 with someone who claimed to have the gift of prophecy. 00:16 It happened like this. I was pastoring 00:20 in western part of Pennsylvania. And at that time I was overseeing 00:24 a multichurch district and I was conducting a series 00:28 bible meetings much like this much like this one for the community at large 00:32 and I remember one afternoon I got this phone call 00:37 and on the other end of the line, was a man 00:41 who claimed to bea seeker after truth. 00:45 He told me he heard about the Bible seminar I was doing 00:49 and he wanted to come and learn more about the truths of the Bible 00:53 so naturally I told him he was more than welcome 00:57 when I mentioned the part of town the meetings were being held he wasn't familiar 01:01 with it so I invited him to meet me at a one the church 01:05 parking lot and he could ride with me and I would take 01:09 him to the seminar well that night as I was preaching I 01:13 could see him sitting there in the crowd it wasnt long before I 01:17 could tell something was definitely wrong he was starting 01:21 to get agitated and irritated he was becoming very 01:25 excitable and even while I was preaching he would shake his 01:29 head and say no, no, out loud as thought 01:33 he was disagreeing with what I was saying from the Bible now 01:37 everyonce in a while you'llhave people who want to disrupt the meeting I was 01:42 silently praying in my mind Lord help the man to be calm and whatever 01:46 the problem is I'll deal with it afterwords thankfully 01:50 God answered that prayer but I will never 01:54 forget the ride home that night. As this 01:58 man was riding in our back seat, Marquita and I were up 02:02 front and I remember we looked in the rear view mirror 02:06 that was in frount of us and we could see in the back this man 02:10 had taken his hood, he was wearing a sweater and a hoodie and he had put 02:14 the hood up over his head so his face was hidden 02:18 and when I looked in the mirror all you could see was this hood 02:22 with no face in it. It was deathly quiet 02:26 and Marquita and I look at each other and wondered what is going on 02:30 here? Then all of a sudden he started saying things 02:34 to me He started arguing with me and telling me the things that 02:38 I was sharing from the word of God where not true and even started 02:42 quoting Bible verse but I could tell from the way he was using 02:46 the Bible he was saying things that did not agree with scripture 02:50 and so I very kindly and politely tried 02:54 to guide him back to what the Bible said but it seemed 02:58 the more I said the more irritate and more agitated 03:02 that he bacame in fact he starting became hyper and talk real 03:06 fast and going on and on and on and I don't know if 03:10 have ever talked to some one where you can't get a word in 03:14 edge wise and I remember as I watched it almost as though another 03:18 spirit was taking control of him 03:22 and so finally I decided maybe I had better quiet 03:26 but then I remebr he said to I'll never forget he looked a me and said 03:31 I have to tell you something I am a prophet 03:35 and have been sent by god to tell you that you are wrong. 03:39 Well let me tell you when someone 03:43 says that it gets to you it tends to get you attention so I wanted have 03:47 an open mind because God does have true prophets and I thought ok I'll listen 03:51 to what he has to say but the more he talked the more 03:55 he was contradicted what the scriptures say and as I 03:59 tried bringing him back to the Bible he finally said to me, 04:03 you cant tell me anything that I dont already 04:07 know. and at this point Marquita and I decided you know what 04:11 we're just going to sit there and say nothing more and not 04:15 respond and simply pray 04:19 When we finally got to the parking lot where we had left his car 04:23 he opened the back door took one 04:27 foot and put it outside of our car on the parking lot and then he 04:31 and stood there or sat there for a few seconds one foot 04:35 outside one foot inside and we're wondering what go on here? 04:39 And then he put the foot back inside the car 04:43 and shut the door and started going on and on 04:47 and on and Marquita and I thought what are we going to do 04:51 and the only thing we knew of is just say nothing 04:55 just pray and let God take care of it 05:00 and fortunately after a few minutes the man got out of the car 05:05 and he left. It was a quiet ride home 05:09 let me tell you because Marquita and I had never experienced 05:13 that before. Now there were a couple of clues that this man 05:17 did not have the true gift prophecy #1, 05:21 he was cotnradicting what the Bible said. #2 05:25 He lied to me and he was dishonest he told me 05:29 he was a seeker after truth when that is not really what he was 05:33 at all. In fact I later found out that he had done this to other 05:37 ministers and churches that were in the area 05:41 and then when I asked him the question when he said he was a prophet, 05:45 I said well tell me where do you go to church? He told me he doesnt 05:49 go to church, He doesn't go anywehre to worship the Lord 05:53 Let me get this stright you're a prophet of the Lord but you don't go to church 05:57 and worship him. That doesnt make sense to me. 06:01 So ever since that experience you can imagine I've 06:05 been a little bit leery and sceptical of people who claim to have 06:10 the gift of prophecy but on the same hand 06:14 the Bible also says there is a true gift that is meant 06:18 to bless and edify God's people so tonight we 06:22 need to know how do you tell the difference. 06:26 Let's review begin be reviewing one of the text that we looked at in the 06:30 the last few nights Revelation chapter 12 and verse 06:34 17 This one is on the sreen, the Bible says 06:51 Now remember we studied this remannt, 06:56 that it is refering to this is talking about God's people, 07:00 God's church at the end of time, and they are described 07:04 in two very specific ways. They will be keeping 07:08 God's commandments, according to book of Revelation and we already 07:12 studied that, but notice they it also said that the 07:16 remnent of the last days have what is called the 07:20 testimony of Jesus Christ. So the question is, 07:24 what is that? We'll find that Revelation explains it 07:28 to us. Instead gessing or speculating let the Bible 07:32 give us the answer in Revelation 19:10 07:36 John is in vision, this a differnet vision, but the 07:40 angel comes and says something very significant 07:44 Revelation 19:10 The Bible says 07:48 And I fell at his feet to worship him.( That means 07:52 John was going to worship the angel in the vision)But he said to 07:56 me, "See that you do not do that! I am your fellow 08:00 servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of 08:04 Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of 08:08 Jesus is (is what) the spirit of prophecy." 08:12 hat is the gift of prophecy, you see gift 08:16 of prophecy is when a person becomes a messenger 08:20 for God. They deliver his messages, and his 08:24 words to the people, the Holy Spirit overtakes them and reveals 08:28 things to them, that they are supposed to share with others. This 08:32 angel of the vision had the gift of prophecy 08:36 he was a messenger for God and all throughout 08:40 the Bible, Old Testment and New, you see people 08:44 who have this spirit or gift prophecy . 08:49 You can name a few. people like Jeremiah, or Eliajh, 08:53 Isaiah, and Ezekial, and 08:57 later on we're going find out even prophets in the New 09:01 Testamnet as well so clearly Revelation is saying 09:05 even at the end of time, there will be people with the 09:09 true gift of prophecy but the problem 09:13 is much of the world has a very negative and skeptical 09:17 attitude about modern prophets today probably 09:21 because they had experiences like I had, a few years ago 09:25 and the other reason for the negative attitude, is the devil 09:29 has done a masterful job of coming up 09:33 with some counterfeits.How can we tell the difference? 09:37 between the true and the false? Well look at some of the false 09:41 Right now today there is an explosion of 09:45 interest in psychic phenomena you can go 09:49 one of any 2000 leading newspapers in this country 09:53 andyou will find daily prophetic columns 09:57 or horoscopes and as long as you know your sign, they'll be glad 10:01 to tell you what will happen that day, what you should 10:05 or shouldn't do, and what you can expect and believe it or not 10:09 there are people who actually planned their day around 10:13 what that horoscope says even now we can go 10:17 home and can pickup the phone dial a 1-900 number 10:21 and we can get with in touch with the psychics network where 10:26 people will be happy contact the spirit of dead or 10:30 other spirits and give you advice on some life changing 10:34 decisions that you have to make we can go into bookstores 10:38 and find all sorts of books on new age, astrology 10:42 the zodiac and all these different practices 10:46 and so truth be told prophesying has become 10:50 a multimillion dollar business not only 10:54 in this country but all throughout the world and as 10:58 a resolute of all these counterfeits it behooves 11:02 us to know how can we find the genuine 11:06 so tonight we're going to start this journey by first of all 11:10 taking a look at some of the warning that Jesus gives 11:14 about the false gift of prophecy, so I would you to 11:18 take your Bibles, and I would like you to go to matthew 11:22 chapter 24 and we're going to read verse 24 11:26 The bible says, For false christs and 11:30 false prophets will rise and show great 11:34 signs and (what? )wonders 11:38 to deceive, if possible, even the 11:42 elect. elect. Not lets stop there for a second 11:46 now perhaps you may have not been here the night that we talked this 11:50 but clearly Jesus says in the last days the devil 11:54 is not going to be sitting still and allow people 11:58 to find truth without a fight, it specifically says 12:02 the devil is going to have false christs and prophets in this 12:06 world to confuse us and deceive us to try to lead us 12:11 astray but there is something very powerful in this 12:15 verse almost perplexing notice 12:19 what it says that false christs and prophets will be able 12:23 to do they can show great 12:27 signs and wonders. 12:31 we have to understand is just because some man or some 12:35 woman or some person can do a supernatural phenomena 12:39 or seemingly do some sort of sign or miracle 12:43 Jesus is saying that is absolutely no guarantee 12:47 that that person has been sent by God or that message it is from heaven 12:51 because even the devil can do some miracles 12:55 even the devil can perform signs and wonders 12:59 through others see the biggest test in not 13:03 supernatural phenomena the biggest test is do they teach things 13:07 according to the the wor Of God. And see the sad 13:11 thing is in these last days there will be a lot of people who are 13:15 going to be deceived because they have put all their faith 13:19 in super natural signs and wonders instead of 13:23 on what the Bible and the Bible alone 13:27 says in fact the scriptures go on to talk about this 13:31 the apostle John give warns us in one the letters 13:35 that he wrote I would to invite you turn there as well 13:39 1st John chapter 4 and we want to read 1 13:43 The Bible says, Beloved 13:47 do not believe every spirit but (do what?) 13:51 but test the spirits, whether they are of God; 13:55 because many false prophets have gone out 13:59 into the world. So now obviously John the Apostle heard 14:03 Christ's warnings about false christ and false prophets John was there when Jesus said 14:07 it. So in John's letter he says we shouldn't believe 14:11 everything that we hear thats a good principle to follow. Can you say Amen? 14:15 in fact actually driving up and down the road between Nixa and Springfield 14:20 I see a lot of these billboards that say don't believe everything that you 14:24 hear. Now I don't know who puts it out, I'm supporting to support but the 14:28 principle itself is good in fact John 14:32 is saying to test the spirits 14:36 test the person to know whether it is the true 14:40 gift or the false gift even Paul 14:44 in first Thessalonians 5:19 he says this 14:48 Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise 14:52 prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is 14:56 (what?) hat which is good. in other words, the Bible says listen, 15:00 just because there is a counterfeit don"t throw out all prophecies 15:04 don't throw out everyone who claims to have the gift 15:08 simply test it and you'll hold on to that which is good 15:12 and true and genuine in fact really that's what I have told you 15:16 in this seminar, from night number I said one you check everything 15:20 I say from the Bible and the Bible alone and if we 15:24 will learn to test things we hear in a church, things we read in a 15:28 book, things we hear on TV, God will 15:32 send, light to make sure that we stay on the 15:36 right path of truth. So since the 15:40 Bible tells us to test the spirits the next natural 15:44 question is would be what? Well, how do you do that? 15:48 what test has God given to know 15:52 the difference between genuine and the counterfeit 15:56 and the good news is, God gives us three 16:01 very specific tests that are 16:05 so clear and easy to understand 16:09 that if we follow them none of us need worry about being 16:13 deceived so we'll go through all three of thoses tests just 16:17 now most of them will be in your notes, but I would encourage you to 16:21 also write them down, beasuse when you write something it helps to 16:25 remember a lot more. Lets got to test #1 16:29 all of them are in the Old Testament 16:33 I want you to take your Bible, and go to the book of 16:37 Numbers chapter 12 and verse 16:41 6 Numbers, chapter chapter 12 16:45 and going to read something God says in verse 16:49 6 in fact all three are in the books 16:53 of Moses the first five books of the Bible and you may think why so early 16:57 in the Bible well imagine it, right from the begining 17:01 God's people going to have to know hos to tell 17:05 the the difference between a true and false prophet so 17:09 all the way back to the time Israel to the time of Moses 17:13 God lays out very specific 17:17 principles Numbers 12 beginning in verse 17:21 6 The Bible says 17:25 and this is God speaking,Then He said, 17:29 "Hear now My words: If there is a 17:33 prophet among you, I, the LORD, make Myself 17:37 known unto him in a (what?) vision, and 17:41 I speak to him in a dream". Now we're going to pause 17:45 right there. Here is principle #1 17:49 God tell us the avenue that He uses 17:53 to communicate information to a person who is a true 17:57 prophet of God and notice what god says 18:01 God speaks to His prophet through what? visions 18:05 and dreams. The only exception to that is probably 18:10 Moses. Because in verses after it in verse 7 to 8 18:14 God says well I speak to Moses face to face. But beside that 18:18 God says when I communicate on of My massagers 18:22 I want them to share something with my people. The avenue he uses 18:26 to communicate with them is visions and dream. 18:30 period. If it is any other method 18:34 is not the true gift of prophecy 18:38 in fact when you look throughtout in the Bible this is what you see. 18:42 God appeared to Isaiah, Jeremiah and Daniel even John 18:46 the Revelator in visions and dreams thats how God 18:50 speaks to his prophets and that is very important 18:54 to understand because notice, 18:58 God does not speak through tarot cards, 19:02 crystal a balls, astrology 19:06 new age practices, seances, 19:10 and talking to the spirits of the dead, 19:14 those avenues do not come from God 19:18 God speaks to His prophets in visions and dreams 19:22 in fact lets review the verse in the Bible that talks about 19:27 how God feels about these other methods. And God 19:31 uses some very strong language here 19:35 Isaiah 47 verse 12 Isaiah 47 verse 12 tells us God's attitude 19:39 through these other means and medium 19:43 The Bible says and God is speaking 20:11 Now what fire do you suppose is He referring here to? 20:15 He is talking about the fires of Hell God is telling us 20:19 to have nothing to do with these other methods 20:23 since they come straight from the dark world. They lead straight 20:27 to hell because when we contact spirits of the dead 20:31 put our hearts and minds in with seances, 20:35 palm read read and tarot cards,we turning 20:39 are minds over to another type of spirit 20:43 and remember God says the dead rest 20:47 in the grave unconsciously until Jesus comes so when 20:51 these people contact the spirits of dead or they get there information 20:55 from something else. Who are they speaking to? Who are 20:59 communicating with? This is the devil and his 21:03 demons trying to deceive people. That is why God says have 21:07 nothing to do with them run away from it, stay 21:12 as far away as possible. I 21:16 kind of relate these methods to credit card teaser rates 21:20 You say what do you mean? I don't know about you but everyday 21:24 in the mail I seem to get mant different offers 21:28 for credit card applications. Anybody body else have that problem? 21:32 my goodness if I applied for every credit card offer I got 21:36 I could have a limit of half a million dollars and would not be a 21:40 a good thing. But what do all these credit card teaser rates saying? 21:44 0% for 24 months or 21:48 2.9% for 18 months, now on the surface 21:52 that does sound pretty good doesn't it, if you do have credit card balance 21:56 who wouldnt want 0% financing but you know 22:00 once you have transfered your balance, what happens 22:04 once the 24 months is over? Yes! 22:08 It rate goes up to the real rate which many time is 20, 22:12 25% sometimes more and guess what you've already transferred 22:16 your balance so you are sucked in. That is 22:20 exactly the way the devil works with his method 22:24 God said he speaks through his prophet, the genuine gift 22:28 is manifested through visions and dreams 22:32 That is test #1. How about rest #2 22:36 this found in the book of Deuteronomy chapter 22:40 18 lets go there Dueteronomy 22:44 chapter 18 and we're going to start read in 22:48 vesre 20 The Bible says, 22:52 and this God speaking, But the 22:57 prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, 23:01 which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of 23:05 other gods, that prophet shall (what?) die.'Now does God take 23:09 that pretty serious? Yes or No? Indeed he does. Then 23:13 verse 21 give us the next text. And if you 23:17 ay in your heart, 'How shall we know the word 23:21 which the LORD has not spoken? when a prophet 23:25 speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not happen 23:29 or come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD has 23:33 not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; 23:37 you shall not be afraid of him. Now notice 23:41 the question, the people are asking the Lord listen 23:45 how do we know if someone is a true prophet anybody and came and say 23:49 they have a message for us from the lord, how are we supposed to know 23:53 if He really sent from you and notice the test. 23:57 that God gives He said if the things they says 24:01 If it does not happen or come to pass 24:05 they are not a true prophet of the Lord 24:09 So that is test #2. A true prophet of God will always be 24:13 a hundred percent accurate when they are relating 24:17 what God shared with them in a vision or a dream 24:21 Can you say Amen? You know when you think about that makes 24:25 perfect sense becaause someone who has the genuine 24:29 gift who has been taken over by the holy spirit, 24:33 are they sharing their own thoughts and opinions when they speak 24:37 prophetically yes or no. No! 24:41 they are not. it is God's message so can God be wrong? 24:45 yes or no. he cannot so if what they say 24:50 does not come to pass. God is telling us this is 24:54 a counterfeit gift, you need not pay attention to it. 24:58 that test righ there throws out many 25:02 the so called modern prophets today 25:06 maybe someone we have heard of, no disrespect, I mean disrespect but is an example we're 25:10 looking at, Jean Dixon was been looked as a 25:14 modern psychic and prophet. But when all her prophecies 25:18 have been studied, she accurate anywhere from 30-60% 25:22 of time, 60% give her the 25:26 benefit of the doubt, cause sometimes people are so ambiguous 25:30 they can mean all most anything so we'll give it the benefit of the doubt 25:34 say 60%. if I'm going to say thats from 25:38 God if they are right 60% of the time 25:42 what is that saying on the flip side, so we're saying God is wrong 25:46 40% of the time now I don't know about but you but I'm not willing to say that 25:50 are you? See the tests said they will be accurate 25:54 100% of the time. That does 25:58 away with people like Edgar Casey, Nostor Domis 26:02 who perhaps have been accurate half the time but 26:06 innacurate the other half. At the 26:10 end of the year I don't know if you have ever done this, but once December comes if you 26:14 you go through the checkout line at Walmart or any these other grocery or 26:18 convenience store what do you always notice on magazine 26:22 racks near the end of the year. All these 26:26 special magazines that have the sensational propheies for the coming year 26:31 sometimes we buy them, curious about what they say 26:35 You what by the time the end of next year comes, we never go back 26:39 to see if what they said was true but you know there is a Christian magazine 26:43 that decided to that and when tested these so called 26:47 prophet and prophecy you what they recovered? The 26:51 average leading psychic accuracy was 16% 26:55 in the those prophecy. 16%!!!! 26:59 in my mind I'm think I can guess better than that 27:03 am I willing to say God is wrong 84% of the time 27:07 if it is the true gift of prophecy, they arent speaking 27:11 on their own, they are speaking for God, they will be accurate 27:15 in what they say. Can you say amen? 27:19 Now I understand not everyone who is a prophet predicts the future. You know 27:23 like Elijah he didn't really predicted future, except wouldn't raining for 3.5 years 27:27 in fact if they're a prophet, that doesn't even mean they have to write a book in the 27:31 Bible you think one of the greatest prophets in the Old Testment, who 27:35 I just mentioned is Eliajh. Did he write a book in the Bible 27:39 Not one he didnt write one solitary word in canon of scripture 27:43 Now of course he is quoted and there are stories about hom 27:47 but sometime a person is simply a messenger form God not neccesarily 27:51 prediction of the future, but when they do, 27:55 they should be accurate if they're from God 27:59 the only exception to that is when there is a conditional 28:03 prophecy. A conditional prophecy what is that? 28:07 That's when there is a condition to it. Can you think of conditional prophecy from the 28:11 Bible? I'm thinking of Jonah. Remember how 28:15 God told Jonah to go to Ninevah 28:19 and what was supposed to tell Ninevah? That in 40 days, 28:24 Ninevah is going to be destroyed 28:28 unless they what? Repent! There was a 28:32 condition you will be destroyed 40 days, but the 28:36 condition is you will repent God will relent. Did Ninevah repent? 28:40 They did in fact it says their king put on sackcloth and ashes 28:44 and the whole city repented as a result 28:48 God did not bring that disaster upon them because 28:52 there was a condition base to it. Even 28:56 prophets make mistakes in there human nature. They're still sinners they still 29:00 need to be saved by the grace of Jesus Christ and His blood that 29:04 is blood shed on calvary. Amen? so they may have personal opinions 29:08 that may not be accurate but when they speak in vision 29:12 when they speak what God tells them, they will be 100% 29:16 accurate because it isn't their message its God's emssage. 29:20 That is test #2. Then comes test 29:24 #3. This is also in the book of Deuteronomy. 29:28 so lets go to 5 chapter backward 29:32 go to Deuteronomy 13 and verse 1 29:36 "If there arises among you a prophet 29:40 or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign 29:44 and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, 29:48 of which he spoke to you, saying, 'Let us 29:52 go after other gods'─which you have not known─'and let us serve them,' 29:56 And then vesre 3 tells what we should do. you shall not 30:01 listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, 30:05 for the LORD your God is (What is that word?) 30:09 testing you (some version say testing, some version say proving) 30:13 testing you to know whether you love the LORD your God 30:17 with all your heart and with all your soul. Now catch that 30:21 here a prophet, so called fulfills the first two 30:25 test they get their information from vision and dreams and what they 30:29 comes to pass, they're even doing signs and wonders but 30:33 the prophet is saying let us go after other gods let's ignore 30:37 God's commandment lets ignore His 30:41 law lets ignore what His word clearly 30:45 states. God says that is not a true prophet 30:49 of the Lord. So in other words if fulfill the first two 30:53 test, but they fail test 3 which says this 30:57 A true prophet will always be in harmony 31:01 with the Word of God. It will never contradict scripture. 31:05 ever. So think about 31:09 it is the Holy Spirit taking ocntrol of the person who has 31:13 the gift of prophecy. Who is it that inspired 31:17 the messages of Scripture? The Holy Spirit, Holy 31:21 Spirit took control of these authors as well. So is the Holy Spirit 31:25 going to say anything through a so called prophet 31:29 that is going to contradict himself in the Woord of God? 31:33 That's not going to happen, A true prophet will always be in harmony 31:38 with what God's Word teaches so even if they do sign and wonders 31:42 they get their information from vision and dreams their prophecies come to pass 31:46 if they contradict God's word, God said it is the counterfeit 31:50 gift throw them aside do not listen to 31:54 what they say. In fact that is pretty true 31:58 even we're trying to decipher trure today. Notice what 32:02 this prophet said let's go after other gods let's ignore God's 32:06 Law.Even today whether it be a church 32:10 or preacher, when someone tells me 32:14 to ignore what God's Law clearly states 32:18 I dont care what kind of fantastic reasoning they have 32:22 God says it is not from the Lord and you 32:26 have a clear example here in Deuteronomy that is why 32:30 Isaiah made this statement. In Isaiah 8:20 he wrote 32:34 To the law and to the testimony! 32:38 If they do not speak according to this word, (then what?) 32:42 it is because there is no light in them. 32:46 Now what word do suppose that Isaiah is about? 32:50 The Word of God they contradict this word. 32:54 The Bible says there is no light in them, it doen't matter if 32:58 if the are popular it doesn't matter if their on TV, it doesn't 33:02 there're the biggest church in town, it doesn't matter if they can do signs and wonders 33:06 if they speak not according to this Word there is no 33:11 light in them and popularity means 33:15 nothing. Do you understand why these principle are so important 33:19 today? If we follow them God will 33:23 lead us to truth, I remember 33:27 a few years ago, I had come across a book in a bookstore 33:31 that the title fascinated me. It was called divine 33:35 revelations of hell. Now if you were here when we studied this subject 33:39 the other night we learned something. But in this book it was 33:43 someone who claimed to have the gift of prophecy who had been taken 33:47 off in vision and shown what the horrors of hell are right now 33:51 happening today, people's flesh being ripped out by demons, 33:55 flesh falling off bones in great graphic detail 33:59 but I knew as soon I read it , it was false 34:03 gift because this person was describing hell as though 34:07 it was burning right now and we learned the other night the Bible 34:11 is absolutely clear from the Word of Jesus, hellfire 34:15 deos not burn till the end of the world, nobody is burning 34:19 in hell right now. Not my opinion, not a churches, 34:23 that is what Jesus said in Matthew 13. So when I saw that book 34:27 contradict scripture I knew right away even though 34:31 teh pearson may be sincere it is not the geneuine 34:35 gift of prophecy because it contradicts the Word of God 34:39 so just looking at these test lets put three of them 34:43 on the screen here. Test #1 They 34:47 receives their messages in visions and dreams. Test #2 34:51 they will always be 100% accurate and test #3 34:55 It will never contradict the Word of God 34:59 some of the on the Bible talks about. Is they point out sins 35:03 of God's people. It is not always a happy go luckily message when someone 35:07 communicates something from the Lord, and they provide guidance and consol 35:11 for God's people. So here is the question 35:16 obviously there were people with gifts of prophecy in the Old Testament 35:20 but was there the gift of prophecy in the New Testament? 35:24 or did God some how end this gift 35:28 after Old Testment times? And the amazing thing is 35:32 even though we sometime overlook it. Do you know there 35:36 were prophets even in the early New Testament church 35:40 let me show you a couple of things in Joel chatper 2 35:44 verse 28, Joel utters a prophecy 35:48 near the the end of the Old Testment period and he looks into the New 35:52 Testment and into the last days. I want you to notice what 35:56 he writes Joel 2 verse 28 36:00 The Bible says "And it shall come to pass afterward 36:04 That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; 36:08 Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men 36:12 shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see (what?) 36:16 visions.And also on My menservants and on My 36:20 maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. 36:24 See Joel is looking into the future there and he says there will 36:28 be people men and women old and young, who 36:32 have the genuine gift of prophecy 36:36 so if that is true, that means I should be able to find 36:40 some individuals with those gifts in the book of Acts Don't 36:44 think? think? I mean if Joel said in future He going 36:48 pour out His Spirit, we should see prophets in the New Testment 36:52 You know what? They are there we just tend to overlook those 36:56 verses. Let me show you a couple, let's take our Bibles 37:01 and lets got to the book of Acts, I want to lookup two 37:05 specific passage lets star in Acts chapter 37:09 13 and verse 1-3 37:13 Acts chapter 13 ane we're going to star in 37:17 verse 1. The Bible says, 37:21 Now in the church that was at Antioch there 37:25 were certain (what?) prophets and teachers:(and then it 37:29 names them) Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, 37:33 Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with 37:37 As they ministered to the Lord 37:41 nd fasted, the Holy Spirit said, "Now 37:45 separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work 37:49 to which I have called them." Then, having fasted and prayed, 37:53 and laid hands on them, they sent them away. 37:57 Now letspause here for a second. It says we're at 38:01 the church in Antioch and there were certain prophets 38:05 and teachers and it names these individuals 38:09 so clearly God blessed some people 38:14 with the gift of prophecy to provide guidance for the early 38:18 New Testment church. In fact it tells us in this passage 38:22 one of the things the gift of prophecy told them to do 38:26 they were told to seperate, what two people? 38:30 Barnabus and Saul to be missionaries 38:34 for him. They were sent away. Saul would become the missionary to the Gentiles 38:38 in a sense. Now I would you thinkabout something. If the holy spirit 38:42 had not directed the church to do that through the gift of prophecy 38:46 do you think that would have made Saul a missionary 38:50 for the church that soon? Think about who Saul was. 38:54 now. He was the greatest enemy of the Christian church 38:58 I mean he left Jerusalem to try to put christian in prison and 39:02 execute Christians and in Dascus on his way to there 39:06 he is converted and this is still somewhat early on 39:10 and probably some of the christian were saying lets just wait and see 39:14 if this guy is genuine we don't want to sat him apart and send him out 39:18 to gentile lands yet, In fact if the Holy Spirit 39:22 had not intervened they may of never made him a missionary we don't know 39:26 but it was the Holy Spirit through the gift of prophecy that gave 39:30 that early church guidance and look what happened to the gospel 39:35 because of ministry and missionary travels of Paul 39:39 Can you say Amen? See 39:43 when you think about it, Christians of the 1st century, 39:47 what class ofpeople were most of them from? 39:51 Upper class or Lower class? They were 39:55 loser class because if you were upper class 39:59 you weren't going to follow some God who was crucified as a criminal 40:03 on a cross you take about humbling your 40:07 life and surrendering your heart and admitting 40:11 sinner, people in the upperclass aren't going to do that. 40:15 or follow some guy who was nailed to a cross. Because they don't recognize 40:19 their need. It was the lower class that were 40:23 mostly christians, there were some upperclass, the majority was 40:27 lower class and think of the impossible task 40:31 that Jesus gave those christians. He said you're going to take the gospel 40:35 Where? The whole world every nation, every people group 40:39 every languages. How are these uneducated christians 40:43 who don't know all these languages or cultures, how in the world are they 40:47 are they gospel all there different languages. it is because 40:51 the church was blessed with gift of prophecy God 40:55 guided them through this gift on how they could take the gospel 41:00 to the world and that is why the 1st century says the christian church 41:04 turned the world upside down. God 41:08 always guides his people with the gift of prophecy. The true gift 41:12 that is. In fact there is another example, since we're in Acts, 41:16 lets go to chapter 21. Acts 21 and I want to read 41:20 something to you specific in verse 8 Acts chapter 41:24 21 and verse 8 41:28 The Bible says, And on the next day, 41:32 we who were Paul's companions departed 41:36 and came to Caesarea, and entered the house of 41:40 Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, 41:44 and stayed with him. Now notice verse 9 41:48 Now this man had four virgin daughters 41:52 who prophesied. (Who did What? prophesied) And as we stayed 41:56 And as we stayed many days, a certain prophet named Agabus 42:00 came down from Judea. When he had come to us, he took 42:04 Paul's belt, bound his own hands and feet, and 42:08 Thus said, (he is basically uttering aprophecy here) 42:12 says the Holy Spirit, 'So shall the Jews at 42:16 Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt, and 42:20 deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.' " 42:24 now let look at this second, it'sfascinating. They go to Cesaria 42:28 they stay with Philip the evangelist, 42:32 he has got for daughters that do what? Prophesy! 42:36 Now it doesnt tell us what they said, they never write any book 42:40 of the Bible you don't need to, just cause you have the gift of prophecy 42:44 used to deliver messages to the christian church and then 42:48 in verse 10 mentions a very specific prophet named 42:53 Agibus, and as far as I can remember this is one of the only places he is mentioned in the 42:57 Bible. Agibus came from Judea, had a 43:01 message for Paul. He took Paul's belt, bound 43:05 his own hands and said, thus says the holy Spirit whoever owns this 43:09 belt if you go to Jerusalem, you're going to be bound it's go going be 43:13 the beginning of the end. Why did God say that 43:17 see Paul was planning to go to Jerusalem 43:21 remember what Jerusalem was. He had not been back to Jerusalem 43:25 sense he left there planning to kill as many christians as 43:29 he possible could and on the road to Damascus he is converted 43:33 and all these Jews back in Jerusalem understand what 43:37 Saul is now converted and they now look at him as 43:41 biggest traitor thae ever lived and they have determined if ever 43:45 get their hands on that guy, they'll kill him on the spot 43:49 Paul has determined he's going back to Jerusalem because he has such 43:53 a passion to share the gospel with his country men 43:57 but God tried warning him through the gift of prophecy 44:01 said Paul don't go there. I know you have good intentions 44:05 I know you have a love for your people, they aren't going to accept it 44:09 Paul it is going to be the beginning of the end. And you know what? 44:13 Paul didn't listen. The church tried 44:17 talking him out it but because he loved his country men 44:21 so much he went to Jerusalem any and ignored this prophecy 44:25 and you what? God was right 44:29 it was the begin of the end for Paul, there was a riot 44:33 he was arrested he appealed to be tried 44:38 before Caesar and he was shipped to Rome where 44:42 eventually died in Rome, 44:46 it was the beginning of the end God was trying 44:50 to guide his church through gift of prophecy 44:54 that is why it says in Ephesians 44:58 and He Himself gave some to be prophets 45:02 or some to be apostles some prophets some evangelists 45:06 and some pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints 45:10 saints for the work of (what?) ministry, for the edifying 45:14 of the body of Christ, God gave his church all the gifts for 45:18 what purpose? for the ministry! We do not 45:23 control the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit controls us. Can you say Amen. 45:27 very important to remember that. But now here is the question 45:31 we lead to . Were there prophets in the old Testament? 45:36 Were there prophets in the new testment? Could there 45:40 be someone or some people with the gift even today? Yes! 45:44 Acording to the Bible. That's why we read 45:48 in Revelation 12:17 And the dragon was wroth 45:52 with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant 45:56 of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, 46:00 and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. In other word two Characteristics 46:04 God's last day people. They keep His commandments they have the testimony 46:08 of Jesus, which we already leard is the gift of prophecy 46:12 So now what is this telling us? 46:16 God says there is a remnant movement in the last days, not we study that the last 46:20 couple nights. That movement is going to be christian 46:24 of all faiths who band together, draw people back to the 46:28 commandments of God and back to the Bible and the Bible alone 46:32 God says that remnant movement is going to have the active gift 46:36 of prophecy. now lets put together some things that we 46:40 learned. Revleation said that 1260 years 46:44 of persecution, the Papal persecution. That lasted 46:48 to 1798. Revelation said there would be 46:52 there would be a remnant after that and in the early 1800s 46:56 The Great Advent movement began 47:00 and what happen in what is called the Great Advent movement 47:04 Religious persecution is gone now America exist with religious liberty 47:08 So now you have people from all faith Catholic 47:12 Baptists, Methodist, Episcopal 47:16 Lutherans coming together and saying lets study 47:20 the Bible, lets learn the truth of the Bible, lets throw 47:24 away all the traditions and commandments of men that came from the 47:29 apostasy of the middle ages, lets just come back to the bible 47:33 and as they did they this group of people discovered the Sabbath. They 47:37 discovered the commandments of God they discovered the soon coming of Jesus Christ 47:41 eventually they all those christian formed together in what would become 47:45 known as the Seventh Day Adventist movement, or Seventh Day Adventist church 47:49 and in that great Advent movement with 47:53 people from all denominations. There was a young Methodist lady 47:57 named Ellen Harmon, her married name was Ellen White who began 48:01 receiving visions and dreams. So far we've talked about the 48:05 false gift of prophecy. I'd like to show you what I believe is an example 48:09 of the true gift of prophecy. While this remnant 48:13 group was trying to bring people back to the bible and the Bible alone 48:17 God used this women Ellen White who had 48:21 2000 visions and dreams that provided guidance and 48:25 council for this advent movement that was trying to draw 48:29 people back to God's word and back to His 48:33 commandments. It's a small group they didnt know how to do this. 48:37 Herprophhecies were always accurate,and fulfilled, they never 48:41 contradicted the Bible, they always focused on Jesus and the 48:45 cross, they denounced the sins of God's people, 48:49 You know what is really interesting she wrote over 55,000 48:53 pages and is the fourth most translated writer 48:57 in history. all with an eighth grade education 49:01 an you believe? It says that she wrote over 50 books 49:05 She lectured to thousands, on three different continents 49:09 now one of the most famous books she ever wrote, is called The Desire 49:13 of Ages. I actually have a copy of this book. The Desire of Ages 49:17 is a book that takes Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John the four Gospels 49:22 on the life of Jesus and puts them all together 49:26 this book has almost 4000 Bible verses 49:30 in it and it was voted by the Library of Congress to be the best 49:34 book ever written on the life of Jesus, of course next to the Bible 49:38 the Bible is number in fact one of the workers or directors 49:42 of the library of congress made this statement. Now these are not my words 49:46 he said, 50:02 Now he is talking 50:06 outside of the Bible, the Bible is the number one by far on the life of Jesus 50:10 Christ. Can you say Amen? But out side of that he talks about something 50:14 this woman with an 8th grade education wrote, 50:18 and I've read this book. It brings out so many lessons 50:22 that many times we overlook. In the book 50:26 that she wrote, She wrote The Great Controversy which talks the prophecies 50:30 of the end times.She made this staatemnet: She said 50:34 In our time there is a wide from their departure from their 50:38 doctrines and precepts, (talking bout the doctrines of the Bible?) and 50:42 there is need of a return to the great Protestant principle 50:46 the Bible, and the Bible only, as the rule of faith 50:50 and duty. See the true gift of prophecy 50:54 should always point people back to the what book? To the Bible 50:58 the Bible and the Bible alone never should it point them somewhere 51:02 never should it be used to exalting oneself as messenger 51:06 It always pointing to Jesus and it always back to the Bible 51:10 that is what the genuine gift is supposed to do 51:14 now soemtimes there is misunderstandings and I want to be clear about this 51:18 because I've heard people say, oh well those Seventh-day Adventists 51:22 they're a cult because they follow what Ellen White says and Ellen White 51:26 is their Bible, Now I want to publicly say and say it video 51:31 nothing could be further from the truth I would not belong 51:35 to a movement that places some human being above what the 51:39 word of God says can you say amen? We've been here at this seminar 51:43 so you tell me. What book has been used above all others 51:47 the Bible and the Bible alone. How many Bible verses have we 51:51 looked up each night. I don't exactly know how many but we 51:55 looked up lots of them. In fact some of you have indicated I've used the Bible more in this seminar 51:59 than I have my entire life. It's 52:03 always amazing how people will just repeat something that was 52:07 written in a book somewhere by someone who apparently has a prejudice 52:11 or a vendetta and believe it and never have fellowship 52:15 in a Seventh-day Adventist church. But the truth is you 52:19 could find someone who wrote a book against every church that ever existed 52:23 I could find you a book someone wrote against Catholics or book someone against 52:27 Methodist Just someone who has an agenda the fact that 52:31 someone would spends their life desparaging another group 52:35 ought to be an indication of what kind of spirit is behind 52:39 the book. Doesn't that make sense? You always go back to the Bible 52:43 But just to be clear I'm going to show you the official statement 52:47 of the Seventh-day Adventist church on the Gift of Prophecy 52:51 And this is just word for word 53:24 Never should anyones word be placed 53:28 above what scripture says that is not what the gift of 53:32 prophecy is for. I'm just going to show you real quick 53:36 I believe this a good example of the genuine gift, Iwant to show you 53:40 something she wrote a 150 years ago her first book was called 53:44 Early Writings and she made this statement, She said: 53:49 I recommend to you, dear reader, (What?) 53:53 the Word of God (notice she didn't say I recommend to you dear reader 53:57 myself on my word) I recommend to you, dear 54:01 reader, the Word of God as the rule of your faith and practice. 54:05 By that Word we are to be judged... The Holy Scriptures are 54:09 to be accepted as an authoritative, infallible revelation of His 54:13 will. They are the standard of character, the revealer of doctrines, 54:17 and the test of experience... (and then these last two sentence 54:21 cap it for me) Little heed is given to the (what?) 54:25 to the Bible... the Lord has given a lesser light 54:29 to lead men and women to the gift of 54:33 greater light. That encapsules the true 54:37 prophecy in one sentence. Someone who has that gift 54:41 is a lesser light that is to point people back 54:45 to the greater light. It is not to bring up new teachings 54:49 or new doctrines, it's simply to point people back to what they have been 54:53 ignoring from the beginning. That is the greater light of the Bible 54:57 and the Bible and the Bible alone, that is the genuine gift. 55:01 The false is when someone place their word above it or wants to drawing 55:05 the attention to themselves and unfortunately we have seen that happen in the world 55:09 There is one other thing I want to show you because I fine this humorous 55:13 Even back in her day there were some people who 55:17 starting to take her writings and try to place them above the Bible 55:21 and whenshe found out what the were doing, I want you to 55:25 listen to the startling rebuke she gave those people 55:29 now understand back then they called people 55:33 sister so and so and brother so and so that from the 1800s. But she wrote 56:06 see when someone says that 56:10 and prevents people from trying to place writings where they don't belong 56:14 that is the genuine gift. If she would have said oh yeah my 56:18 writing are better than the Bible, please place them above the Bible. That would have been 56:22 absolute guarantee that is a false gift of prophecy. It always 56:26 points people back to the Bible. 56:30 But folks here is the point tonight, you might be saying well pastor 56:34 Dave how do I know if she or any person 56:38 really has the gift of prophecy, Friend it comes down 56:42 to those three test. Do they get there message 56:46 in visons and dreams, are they 100% accurate 56:50 and do they every contradict the Word of God. 56:54 But folks the truth is this you 56:58 can't test the spirit until you know your 57:02 Bible. You cannot test the spirit between the 57:06 true and false unless we spend time everyday 57:10 reading this word this is the most 57:14 important book in the christian life. Can you say amen? 57:18 But yet we spend so little time in it. 57:22 Oh we watch our television. We have our sports games. 57:26 Oh we'll watch the entertainment world 57:30 all while our Bible sits on the shelve and gathers dust 57:34 the prophecies of the end time are being fulfilled right 57:38 now in front us. Tonight I ask you, 57:42 you have you made the Bible a priority in your life 57:46 that is why it says: All scripture 57:50 is given by inspiration of God and is profitable 57:54 for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for 57:58 instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be complete, 58:02 thoroughly equipped for every good work. 58:06 I wounder if tongiht you would be willing to you say Lord 58:10 I need more time in the Bible 58:15 I need to make it a priority so I 58:19 can know the truth are we willing to say 58:23 in our hearts, Lord help me to spend more time in Your Word. |
Revised 2018-12-15