DO YOU THINK God need's you to give messsages to us? "Prophecy Ended In The Old Testament".
God does not need us we need God
But I must say my Friend: You said, "Prophecy Ended In The Old Testament".
Please read this short lesson on Prophecy in the New Testament. Dreams, Visions and Prophecy were an every day occurence
PROPHECY IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
In the New Testament, God was revealed definitively through Jesus Christ, the Son of God (Hebrews 1; John 1:18). When people saw Jesus in action, their reaction was generally that he was a prophet (Mark 6:15; 8:11; Matt 21:11-46; Luke 7:16,39; John 4:19; 6:14; 7:40-52; 9:17); that's why the leaders demanded a sign, so he could be tested as a prophet. So too the disciples (Luke 24:19).
While that wasn't how Jesus primarily described his role, He saw himself as being in their ranks (Luke 13:33; Matt 23:31-39; by inference, also Mark 6:4; Luke 4:24; John 4:44). In Matt 7:22,
Jesus cites prophecy as one of the foremost of works; prophecy in that instance is being claimed by those who did prophet-like things but did not do what God willed.
At Pentecost ( Acts 2), the Spirit became God's active presence among us. This was specifically marked by reference to the prophecy of Joel ( Joel 2:28) that prophecy would become commonplace in the new era begun at Pentecost.
The early church was marked by prophecy: Acts 21:9; 13:1; 11:27-30; 21:10; 15:32, 19:6; also the presence of prophecy is assumed in 1 Thessalonians 5:20 and Romans 12:6.
Paul considered prophecy one of the charismata (Romans 12:6; 1 Corinthians 12), and even as a higher gift much to be sought (1 Cor 14), an office established by God (1 Cor 12:28).
Paul himself waxed prophetic in 1 Cor 15:51-58; he even describes prophecy's vibrant power to convict ( 1 Corinthians 14:24,25). It is key particularly to the church in Ephesus (Acts 19:6; Ephesians 2:20; 3:5; 4:11).
Lastly, Revelation treats prophecy very prominently (Revelation 11:18; 16:6; 18:20-24; 22:9), and even sees itself as a prophetic writing (Rev 22).
Greek apokalypsis (1 Corinthians 14:26,30) is a New Testament word for revelation. It refers less to the art of prediction than it does the speaking of the truth God deems most important in the current situation ( v. 24-25).
See also Jeremiah, who was not predicting things to come but addressing the now when he told the king of Judah to serve the king of Babylon and live. Indeed, what predictions he made were made on the basis of a lack of true response to that Word about his times, based on the consequences of the nation's lack of action.
In Acts 21:8-9, the four daughters of Philip (1) were "prophetesses". The daughters were not apostles like Paul, gospel historians and learned writers like Luke, or even commissioned ministers like Philip. No special role, status or position is ever mentioned for them, save that they were virgins. Yet they prophesied. They were women, who as a matter of course were seen by society at large as a lesser kind of person who could not act under their own authority. Yet they prophesied. Given that Philip was still a very active man, and given the generally shorter life spans of his day, the youngest of those daughters must have been quite young. Yet they prophesied.
The Spirit does not care if someone is young or old, male or female, or has high or low or no particular social or religious status. The Spirit could use anyone to prophesy back then. The Spirit can use anyone to prophesy today.
The early church's evangelism, especially its public preaching ministry, was solidly linked to the work of two of the offices of the body. One of these offices was the apostles. The other was the prophets. ( Acts 13:1-3 tells us something about that.)
The prophetic role in public evangelism grew from the Old Testament prophecies of an outpouring of the Spirit. Prophets are consistently valued highly among the churchly 'offices' or roles, and prophecy is rated chief and most prized among the gifts.
The New Testament-era church was more dependent on the prophetic gift for giving it direction (Acts 13 and 15). Which leaves us with a dilemma for the modern church. If prophets were to speak, would there be a people listening for it?
Paul (1 & 2 Corinthians) had to face the Corinthian Christians' question of what to do when prophecy and other gifts were being used as excuses to war with each other. By the time of the Didache (90-100 AD), the need to test prophecy was fully in the forefront, and the early church was struggling to sort out how to tell the evildoers from the true prophets, teachers, and leaders (Did ch. 11).
to the start
I hope this helps
Pastor Jerry
Posted by: GA5966
AMen, Amen, and Amen. You preach brother Jerry. God doesn't need anyone but I sure need him.
Posted by: JeriRose12
The thing I keep running into on the net is that everyone is "false prophets." But if that's the case, who are the TRUE prophets? They can tell me everyone is false, but they won't produce examples of TRUE prophets. OK, this one broher who renounces what he calls the "Prophetic movement" does believe in prophecy. But so many of those who criticize the prophets of today as "false" may hint at there being real prophets. But they won't say who.
