Category: Spiritual Gifts
THE GREATEST SERMON I NEVER PREACHED!
Today I preached the greatest sermon I never preached!
I preached it not from a pulpit, but from a recliner chair in a chemotherapy clinic!
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Distinguishing Flakey from False Prophets
The prophetic movement and or prophetic leaders have perhaps been the most controversial in the Body of Christ the past several decades. Some of it has to do with the fact that many people are afraid of any move of the Spirit and or criticize that which they do not understand. However, as someone who has functioned in prophetic ministry since the early 1990’s, I would say that a fair share of criticism against the prophetic is warranted because of either “flakey or “false” prophetic ministries. It is the objective of this article to attempt to bring a distinction between a flakey and false prophet.
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Practical Guidelines for Personal Prophecy
This is a list of practical guidelines for personal prophetic ministry aimed at helping to avoid the pitfalls inherent in operating the prophetic gifts of the Spirit.
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The Manifestation (Charismata) Gift of Prophecy
THE PROPHETIC GIFTS ARE THE GREATER GIFTS
1 Cor. 12:31 “But earnestly desire the greater gifts.”
Among the manifestation gifts of the Spirit, there are “GREATER” gifts, that is to say, some gifts have a greater spiritual impact and require a greater anointing to operate than others. The term “greater gifts” also indicates there is an order of ascendency among the three categories of manifestation gifts as well as within each category. In other words, of the three categories of manifestation gifts, some are greater than the others, and each category has an order of importance as well. For example—
1 Cor. 14:5 “and GREATER is one who PROPHESIES than one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets….”
This verse presents an example of “greater gifts” within a category of manifestation gifts. According to this verse, among the Vocal Gifts, prophecy is the greatest, interpretation of tongues is next, then tongues. Not only is the gift greater, but the “one who prophesies”, according to this verse, is operating in a greater level of the anointing than the “one who speaks in tongues.” The exception to this is—”unless he interprets,” meaning that if the person who speaks the message in tongues also interprets, then he is operating equally in anointing, gifting, and equipping as the “one who prophesies.”
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ALL Scripture is God-Breathed and MUST be Believed!
I consistently meet Christians who challenge parts of the Bible solely because they do not fit their denominational standard. Pastors are especially guilty. Calvinists reject “Arminian” teachings and Arminian believers reject Paul’s writings about election, predestination, and the sovereignty of God. What is our obligation? We are to believe all of the Bible regardless of our being able to reconcile it. It is in the theological challenge that we learn. Our first responsibility is to God–not our local church. Mental stretching does for our spirit what physical exercise does for the body. Such work-outs may be painful and tiring–but, they produce strength.
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Prostituting Supernatural Gifts
We were sitting around the conference table, when suddenly our Senior Pastor, David Wilkerson burst into the room, obviously quite upset. He walked to the conference table and leaned on his fists and bowed his head in intense silence. He didn’t want to explode in anger, and yet his volcano of frustration was obvious. He said, “I just got off the phone with the wife of a well-known minister. If I said his name, you’d all know him. He’s hooked on pornography and his poor wife doesn’t know what to do. She’s looking to me for advice. Last week the son of a mega church pastor told me his dad is hooked on drugs and has a mistress on the side. I get one or two calls like this every single month from relatives of these so-called mighty men of God. Do they not have any fear of the Lord in their hearts?”
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Supernatural Manifestations in Revival History
With the phenomena associated with the “Toronto Blessing,” the Pensacola/ Brownsville revival, and the ministry of Rodney Howard-Browne, such as falling under the power of the Spirit, trembling, holy laughter, etc., people have tended to either completely accept or completely reject all such phenomena. However, when we study the history of the church, in particular the evangelical and holiness movements of the eighteenth to early twentieth centuries, we see that many of these manifestations have occurred in these movements, but such phenomena were neither accepted out of hand, nor dismissed summarily.
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Apostolic-Prophetic Restoration in the 21st Century (Pt-1)
Following His death, burial, resurrection, and numerous appearances in His resurrected Form, on the Day of Ascension, on the Mount of Ascension, as He was ascending on High, the Apostle Paul, who, as an apostle born late (1 Cor. 15:8), as it were, was not even there, but who reveals to us by revelation of the Spirit, that Jesus relegated and delegated His five-faceted anointing that He Himself ministered through during His fleshly ministry, unto the Church that He is building (Eph. 4:8-13), fulfilling the type and shadow of Elijah’s Prophetic Mantle falling down upon his successor, Elisha, as he was being translated into Heaven alive, having eluded death (2 Kgs. 2:1-15). Jesus, as He was ascending, according to Paul’s prophetic narrative in Ephesians Four, relegated and delegated His five-faceted ministry anointing unto certain persons of His own election: “some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of the service (ministry), to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain unto the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.”
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10 Prophetic Abuses and Manipulation
I have found the prophetic gift, including inspirational preaching, teaching and prophetic words to be the most edifying of all the gifts as St. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 14. However, with every true gift of God comes either a counterfeit and or an abuse. You can say that about all of the cluster of gifts mentioned in Ephesians 4:11. The prophetic gift can especially be very dangerous if left un-checked, since people think the words spoken are directly from God and will often obey them without question or the use of discernment. Based on all my years of operating in the prophetic, as well as mentoring, nurturing, overseeing and hosting many prophetic ministers, the following are ten signs of prophetic abuse and manipulation.
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Your Spiritual Diet Could Be Killing You!
There is an increasing measure of unbelief in today’s churches. Weak faith, little faith and no faith is at an all-time high. Strong faith, exceedingly great faith, and the kind of faith that causes Jesus to marvel (Matt. 8:10) is at an all-time low.
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PRAISE, INC
Worship is serious business as far as God is concerned and He wants His people to so consider it when they approach Him. A superficial attitude only reveals a basic unfamiliarity with God on the part of the worshiper. By bringing into the worship experience things incompatible with the nature and character of God can only bring reproach upon the congregation and leadership. The trend today to drag elements of our culture into a service set apart for the worship of God must displease Him.
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How Long Will Shallow, Spiritless Revivals Suffice?
In a time when repentance is needed the most, we have teachings sweeping the land that tell Christians they don’t need to repent. In a day when there is a deplorable lack of holiness in the church, we are being told that we are already holy enough through Christ’s sacrifice (2 Cor. 7:1). In an hour when we sadly lack God’s power, we are oversaturated with church conferences that focus on numbers. Whatever it takes to grow numbers seems to be the cry of every powerless pastor.
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