Worship Matters SESSION

SESSION NOTES

1 Timothy 1:18-20
18 This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, 19 holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith, 20 among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.

Paul’s instruction is to take prophetic words and actually use them as elements of warfare when our faith is wavering.

When we reject the prophetic - the words given to us to wage a good warfare - we have the potential to shipwreck.

God’s Word is the driving seat, telling us Who God is, and telling us who we are because of the finished work of the Cross, but then the prophetic gives us the specifics of which way we are to walk and what we are to do as we live out that revelation.

“Informed by the prophetic - governed by the Word of God.”

1 Thessalonians 5:19 - 21 - “Don’t quench the Spirit. Don’t despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good.”

Metrics of the presence:

1. His Word in our midst - His active speaking

2. Joy (“in His presence is fullness of joy)

3. Tangible experience (do you feel God?)

4. The gifts of the Spirit in operation

5. Peace (the lack of chaos)

Old Testament vs New Testament Prophecy

The source is the same, but the activity and the order is completely different.

In the Mosaic covenant, the kingdom of God was expressed through the nation of Israel. In the New Covenant, that’s not how the kingdom is expressed. It’s expressed through the new government - the ecclesia - the Church.

So, there’s a dynamic shift in the vehicle that the kingdom is being expressed through from the OT to the NT. And in that dynamic shift, the role of the prophets and prophecy also changes.

When Jesus was born of the tribe of Judah (king), he also became the great High Priest of our Faith after the order of Melchizedek (priest). He was the great Prophet, Himself being the word of God. As such, He fulfilled all three offices.

Isaiah 9 - “Unto us a Son is born… and the government will rest on His shoulders…” The threefold government of the OT - prophet, priest and king - God’s government. Jesus fulfils it all. 

He goes into the grave, is resurrected, and then ascends to the right hand of the Father…and Paul tells us in Ephesians 4 that he gives new offices, in other words he establishes a new government, IN THE ECCLESIA. Paul doesn’t shy away from naming those new governmental roles and offices in God’s new government called the Church: apostle, prophet, teacher, evangelist, and pastor.

Now, a prophet is one of the leadership offices in the church. Their role? To equip the saints in the work of the ministry, to build up the body of Christ in unity, until we reach the full stature of maturity in Christ as we come to the knowledge of the Son of God.

So, ‘prophet’ is one of the servant-leadership roles in the church, but not only that, the gift of prophecy is for everyone.

1 Corinthians 14 - “I desire that you all should prophesy.”

Seven differences between OT and NT prophets

1. Prophets in the OT were appointed to call Israel BACK to the Covenant God made with them on Sinai.
   In the NT, prophets speak to call people INTO the New Covenant with Jesus that He made with His Church. 

2. In the OT, only a select few were appointed to prophecy - in the NT, all believers are encouraged to prophesy. 

3. OT prophets spoke the inspired word of God. In the NT, prophets speak within the boundaries of the written word.

4. OT prophets spoke out of divine revelation on behalf of God (first person) “I will raise up, I will do this, etc…”
   In the NT, prophets speak inspired by the Holy Spirit, but filtered through their own understanding and personality. It’s a human report of a divine revelation.

5. In the OT, prophets spoke authoritatively to the nation of Israel, not only predictively, but prescriptively. 
   In the NT, prophets speak in mutual submission to one another.

6. The prophetic word is GIVEN to the nation of Israel in the OT,
   The prophetic word is SUBMITTED to the church in the NT.

7. In the OT, the people were to LISTEN to the prophets.
   In the NT, the church is to WEIGH and TEST every prophetic word that’s given.

TESTING, WEIGHING, JUDGING

This is one of the great distinctions between OT and NT prophecy, as we’ve already mentioned. In the OT, they were to listen and obey the prophets. 

1 Corinthians 14:29 - Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said.

In other words, you put it in the balance. What’s in the other side of the balance? The Word of God. 

SO HOW DO WE DO IT?

SEVEN questions to ask when a prophetic word/dream comes:

1. Does it align with the Scriptures? 
   If it doesn’t get past this one - then you can not worry about the rest. Nothing born of the Holy Spirit will direct or teach you anything contrary to the written Word of God.

2. Does it align with how the Apostles lived out what they wrote?
   Their ethics, their missiology, their practice, etc.

3. Does it apply to me / us?

   Not every prophecy is universal. “Does that apply to where our spiritual family is at? To our city? To my family?”

   In the NT, prophets aren’t given to countries, they’re given to the Church (Eph 4).

4. Does it line up with what God has already been speaking to me / us?
   1 Timothy 1:18
   Rarely does it come in a vacuum. Especially when it comes to directional words and assignments.
   The Lord builds prophetic history in your timeline to give you confidence in what he’s saying.

5. Does the person giving the prophetic word have a track record of accuracy, integrity and servant-hearted humility?

   In other words, do they have a Barnabas heart, where they lay it down at the disciples feet - and how you steward it is not my agenda, etc.

6. Is it for now?

   Are there any action steps in this prophetic word, or is it just information that you’re going to need in 2 years when it comes to make the step? We live in CHRONOS, God works in KAIROS - seasons and times - so He can speak to us about things that are not going to manifest to us in our CHRONOS until way later and if we try to make it happen, it’s premature.

7. Is it an encouragement or a warning?

   Sometimes the Lord will come to us with a warning and we take it as an encouragement - and we get ourselves into trouble.

These filters and weights can help us receive and process prophecy…

• So that we don’t use the prophetic to escape reality (hyper spiritualism).

• So that we don’t use it to manipulate and manufacture our own imagined outcomes.

• So that we don’t get discouraged and disillusioned with the timing.

• So that we don’t end up despising the prophetic.