16. The Gift of Prophecy

One of the biggest difficulties I have week after week whenever I'm preaching a series of sermons, is to avoid going back and introducing the series again for those who are first-time here.  But, in checking my notes, I noticed that it took five weeks to introduce this series and I don't think I have time this morning to go over five weeks of sermon notes.  Paul writes to the Corinthians in I Corinthians 12, and he says, "Now, concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be uninformed."  That has been the mandate under which we have been laboring for the last few months together, as we have sought to understand, not only the Person and work of the Holy Spirit, but also His gifts as He has given to His church.  For he says that there are "a variety of gifts, but the same Spirit.  And a variety of service, but the same Lord.  And a variety of workings, but the same God brings it all about."

Today, then, we are looking at the gift of prophecy and so I'm going to get right to it.  Usually when we think of the word "prophecy", we think in terms of prediction - something about foretelling.  And while that does have a part of the meaning of the word, it is only a small part.  Because the word translated "prophecy" comes from a Greek verb which means "to tell forth".  And some of the messages that God seeks to tell forth may, indeed, pertain to the future.  We see this amply described in the Old Testament in particular.  But the main meaning of the word "prophecy" is to "tell forth", rather than "foretell".  And to tell forth may involve some of this foretelling, but it's incidental.

People ask me, "What do you think of Jeane Dixon?  Does Jeane Dixon have the gift of prophesy?"  Jeane Dixon, as many of you know, foretold the assassination of president Kennedy four years before he was even elected president.  She foretold Dag Hammarskjöld's death by an airplane accident in Africa when the late United Nations secretary general had not even gone to Africa yet.  She foretold Eisenhower's heart attack and subsequent recovery.  But she also predicted that 1958 would see the outbreak of World War III.  And that the 1960 election would see Nixon sending John Kennedy to an ignominious defeat.  We need to look at scriptural teaching in order to be able to evaluate such current modern-day people who claim gifts such as prophecy.

And here let me state that not everything that follows the introductory statement "thus says the Lord", is prophecy.  Or from the Lord.  As in all the gifts, just as certainly in prophecy, Satan is a counterfeiter.  And he has no qualms whatsoever about introducing his statements by saying "Thus saith the Lord," if it will accomplish his purposes.  Peter Gillquist who was formerly a national representative for Campus Crusade for Christ, tells the story of being in a home where he was with a group of brothers and sisters gathered in Bible study, when one of the group said, "Brother Pete, I have a word from the Lord that is weighing so heavily upon me I have to speak out.

Pete Gilquist said, "If you have a word from the Lord, let's hear it."

And the young man, who was fairly new in the faith - a really rather immature Christian - said, "I have been told by the Lord that the two prophets that are mentioned in Revelation 11 - that latter day prophets who will be slain and brought, subsequently, back to life by miraculous means and then will participate in the preaching of the gospel to the end of the age - I have been told by the Lord that those two prophets are Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, who have just been assassinated.  And if we will gather all the Christians in our community together and earnestly pray before sundown today, God will bring back to life Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, and they will join us in the proclamation of the gospel."  Now, this was introduced by a Christian, in a group of Christians, and introduced with the phrase, "Thus says the Lord".  Now was that, or was that not, from the Lord?  Obviously, it was not a word from the Lord.  And after he had been taken aside and been given, in fact, a direct word of prophecy from Pete Gillquist and some of the rest in bringing him to correction, he came to the understanding of where he had come from.  And he said, "What a relief!  I've been bothered by this and I have not known its source, but I'm relieved to know that this thing can be set aside."

That's why the scripture says in I Timothy (Paul writes to the young pastor of the church at Ephesus), "But the Spirit explicitly says that in the latter times, some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons."  And II Peter 2 says, "But false prophets also arose among the people.  Just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies..."  By the way, "heresy", you know, is so destructive and dangerous because it is a mixture of truth and falsehood.  It's not a blatant lie - it's got enough truth in it so the uninformed, the unlearned, are attracted to the truth but snared by the error.  That's why you need to study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman who rightly handles the word of God."  Otherwise you'll hear just a little bit of scripture and you'll say, "Oh, if that's what the Bible says..."  And you get drawn into error, because it's heresy.  And so Peter warns, "these will secretly introduce destructive heresies - even to the denying of the Master Who bought them, bring swift destruction upon themselves.  And many will follow their sensuality."  Have you noticed the enormous emphasis upon feeling in the body of Christ today?  That is nothing less than an emphasis upon the sensual aspects of men.  Now I feel. I have enormous feelings.  Some of them positive, some of them negative.  But they're feelings and they are strong.  And some of you know me well enough to know that I have feelings.  And I like to have feelings.  I enjoy my feelings.  But I will not be controlled in my faith by my feelings.  That is to be led away, following our own sensuality.  "And because of them", the scripture reports, "the way of the truth will be maligned."  How many times have you had people who are non-Christians, comment in a way that maligns the body of Christ on the basis of the sensual behavior of many who call themselves Christians and, indeed, are brothers and sisters in Christ?

So many people say, "Oh wow, they are just carried away - such a hyper-emotional outfit".  Well, the fact of the matter is: frequently, this is the result of being carried away and following their own sensuality.  That is not what prophecy means.  Therefore, it's mandatory that we define it and understand it.  What is it?  Ray Stedman claims that the gift of prophecy is the greatest of all the gifts of the Spirit, and I can't really argue with him because he cites, for a part of the data, that the apostle Paul spends more time on the gift of prophecy than he does any other - in fact, the whole 14th chapter of I Corinthians is given to the study and presentation of prophecy.  Now the reason for its great importance is not because Paul wants to give us a peak into the future, like we sometimes think that prophecy means, exclusively.  But the reason for it's great importance is the exercise of the gift of prophecy, the Bible tells us, builds up the body of Christ, stimulates the body of Christ, encourages the body of Christ.  And remember, we are told by scripture that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are given to build the body of Christ, and if prophecy does that then no wonder it is emphasized as being valuable.  And that's why in I Corinthians 14, Paul says, "He that prophesieth, speaketh unto men to edification and exhortation and comfort."  It's interesting that of all the gifts of the Spirit (and there are as many different numbers of how many gifts of the Spirit there are, as there are people writing these numbers down.  I have a book that says "The 19 gifts of the Spirit".  That's the title of the book.  And I have another book that starts off by saying "there are 27 gifts of the Spirit"  And so somebody's wrong.  I happen to think they're both wrong, because God is a God of creation.  His combination of some of the gifts have mathematically endless possibilities).

But Paul spends more time in Corinth speaking about two of the gifts than he does any of the rest.  And those two gifts are: Tongues and Prophecy.

Now remember why.  The apostle Paul always, in his writing to the epistles, not only writes to encourage and edify and build, but also to correct.  And in the church at Corinth, there were two of the gifts that were being particularly abused.  Tongues was being terribly abused and so Paul, being a problem-centered person, writes correcting them in their treatment of the gift of Tongues.  And prophecy was being neglected.  And so he writes to them saying that they should stir up the desire and seek after that gift.  So he says (listen to these excerpts from chapter 14), "Pursue love yet earnestly desire spiritual gifts but especially that you may prophesy."  Again, "One who prophesies, edifies the church."  Again, "Greater is one who prophesies than one who speaks in Tongues."  Or again, "Since you are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek to abound for the edification of the church."  Or again, "Prophecy is for a sign to those who believe."  And finally, "desire earnestly to prophesy."

Now the word "prophesy" comes from the Greek verb propheme, which means "to speak forth" or "to shine forth" or "to emit in a gripping manner."  Now, if you understand the word propheme, then you see it in the context of the gifts of the 

Holy Spirit as "to make known", "to shine forth", "to speak forth in a gripping manner."  And prophecy in this context always has to do with understanding and correctly communicating the word of God to others in a gripping manner.  So here's a definition (it's a long one, so you may have to borrow the tape for a while to get it off, unless you take shorthand.  I'll repeat it twice): The gift of prophecy is the Spirit-given ability (that is, the Holy Spirit-given ability) to proclaim the word of God with clarity and to apply it to a particular situation, with a view to correction or edification, and thus building up the body of Christ.  I told you it was long, but I want so much to be precise.  The gift of prophecy is the Spirit-given ability to proclaim the word of God with clarity and to apply it to a particular situation, with a view to correction or edification, and thus to build up the body of Christ.

Now, what does the Bible teach, concerning this gift?  There are four things I'd like to highlight that the Bible teaches.  The first is: the prophet is a person who speaks for God.  A spokesperson.  Moses is a good illustration.  Moses stands before the burning bush, curious as to why this bush is burning without being consumed, and the voice of God comes to him from the bush and says, "Moses take off your shoes.  The place you're standing on is holy ground.  By the way, I have a job for you.  I want you to go and talk to Pharaoh."  Now, forty years before, Moses had fled from the presence of Pharaoh.  He knew Pharaoh.  He'd grown up in the guy's house and he was scared to death, because he was on the lam.  He was running away - he was a fugitive from justice.

And what was the excuse Moses gave God?  "I...I...I can't talk."

And God said two things: "I'll provide Aaron for you in case you're tongue-struck, but remember Who made your tongue in the first place."  And He calls Moses - this inarticulate felon, working as a shepherd, when he'd been trained as a statesman, and working for his father-in-law on the back side of the desert - what an unlikely candidate for God to call as a prophet.  And God called him.  And he was, because he spoke for God.  In the old testament, it seems that the emphases of prophecy is on predicting (or foretelling).  But always, it is predicated or conditioned on the response.  Illustration: how many times do you read in the old testament prophets where one of the prophets says, "Thus saith the Lord, unless you repent... something will take place..."?  Their response would condition the fulfillment of the prophesy.  And so while, frequently in the old testament, the prophecy seemed to be a foretelling, or predictive thing, it was always to be conditioned upon the immediate response of the people.  It was a word from God proclaimed and interpreted for other people.  In the New Testament, God's revelation was given directly to men like the apostles.  And when these revelations were given, they interpretations and explanations of already written scriptures.

Illustration: when Peter, on the day of Pentecost, when the signs and gifts of the Holy Spirit were so manifest that a huge crowd came running around to see what was going on, Peter stood up in the midst and he spoke as a prophet.  He received the gift of Prophecy along with the other gifts he received on that day, and he exercised his gift of Prophecy by doing what?  Preaching to them from the prophet Joel and from the Psalms.  He used, not a new word from God, but a fresh understanding of the word previously given, and used that to apply it to the particular situation of the time, which was: "Jesus, Whom you crucified, Whom God raised from the dead, is indeed the Promised One."  That's the exercise of the gift of prophecy.  It did not have any "thus saith the Lord" surrounded by spooky mood music.  It was simply an exposition of that which God had clearly given in His written and revealed word.  But it was done by the power of the Holy Spirit.  And you can see the fruit of it - 3,000 converts.  What a sermon!

Second thing.  Not only does the prophet speak for God, but the second thing is: if the prophecy is a predictive prophecy - that is, a foretelling - it must be 100% accurate.  That is why I say without any fear of contradiction on a Biblical basis, Jeane Dixon is not a person with the gift of prophecy from the Holy Spirit.  There is no question in my mind.  She fails every Biblical test.  You draw your own conclusions as to where her gifts come from.  Deuteronomy 18 says, "And you may say in your heart, 'How shall we know the word which the Lord hasn't spoken?'  When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is a thing which the Lord has not spoken and the prophet has spoken presumptuously."  So John warns his readers in I John 4, "Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they be from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world."

The third thing about prophets: the main ministry of the prophet is to proclaim God's revelation in such a way that it is applied to the life situation.  And here, again, I simply refer you to Peter in Acts 2.  He proclaimed the word of God and applied it to the specific situation of the people who had gathered around, and that brought them to a commitment of Jesus to be the Messiah.

The fourth thing is - now hang on to your hats (some of you may get shook up about this) - the Bible demonstrates that prophecy is not limited to men.  It is slanderous the way some people use the word of God.  And they either proclaim it to be a sexist book or they use it like a sexist book.  I can find absolutely no distinctions made in the word of God when a person comes to know Jesus Christ, he is neither Scythian, Barbarian, Greek, free, slave man, man, or woman.  Those distinctions have passed away.  And so you find that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are given to all.  Peter in Acts 2 quotes the prophet Joel and says, "What you are seeing is that which was prophesied of old by the prophet Joel, who said (among other things), 'Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.'"  Luke 2 reports that beautiful story of Mary and Joseph bringing the infant Jesus to the temple - probably for the bris ceremony.  And when they brought the infant Jesus to the temple, old Simeon found them.  The Spirit of God witnessed to him that this was, indeed, the Promised One.  And then you remember old Simeon's prayer, "Oh Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation."  But there's another character that's told about in Luke 2, and that's an old lady by the name of Anna.  Anna's whole purpose is to look for the salvation of Israel, and when she sees this infant Jesus, and hears Simeon's testimony, she then (it says in Acts 2) told all them that looked for the redemption in Jerusalem.  And she is called "Anna the prophetess".  Acts 1 tells about Philip the evangelist and describes the fact that he had four unmarried daughters who were all prophets.  And Paul, in I Corinthians 11, goes out of his way to give specific guidance to women who have the gift of Prophecy as to how they should exercise that gift in the church.  Now, if women don't have those gifts, what in the world's all that stuff about?

I could say some more along this whole line, but you know, a lot of you are thinking well, what's the Bible mean when it says, "Women, keep silent in the church"?  Let me tell you something.  If that's really what the word of God meant, in terms of "Women, shut up when you come inside the door of a church" then the Kingdom of God would not have been blessed with the fact that the mission program of the church has 85% been carried on the shoulders of women throughout the centuries.  And the Christian education program of the church - Sunday school classes - are carried on the hearts and shoulders of women as well.  And God wouldn't have blessed it if that was against His will.  When it says, "Women, keep silent in the church" what it means is "You women who sit on this side of the church and your husband's on that side of the church," as was the custom in those days, "stop disrupting service by saying 'What did he mean?' to your husband across the isle."  Now, if you doubt that, do some research.  Study.  Come to me, not with your opinions or with some other author.  Come to me with your evidence from the word of God.  I just can't stand by any longer and see God's women shut up and bottled up, as though they're second class citizens.  Paul, writing to the church in Rome said, "hey listen.  Now I'm sending to you Phoebe.  And Phoebe was useful to me in the ministry, and she is a prophet.  And she is a deacon.  Give her everything she needs for her ministry."  Now you can play all the games you want to and say she taught Sunday School for those 15 and younger, but there's no evidence in scripture.  I didn't mean to get going on that, but so help me, the Bible talks about the gifts of the Spirit and doesn't make these narrow little kind of silly distinctions that we make.  Oh boy, how do I get back?

Alright.  Let me just give some instruction with regard to the exercise of the gift today.  Is the gift of prophecy for today?  You'd better believe that it is.  If our definition is correct by the Biblical evidence, which I believe it is, it means then that it is mandatory that the word of God come and is freshly communicated in a gripping and compelling way to our world.  So, who has the gift of prophecy today?  Some preachers.  Every so often, believe it or not, this preacher is given the gift of prophecy.  Somebody will come up to me and say, "Oh Pastor, last week that message you preached just met me at exactly where I needed to be.  And this is what happened..."

And I'll say, "What was it about the message...?"  And they'll tell me what they heard and I don't remember saying that at all.  In fact, I didn't intend to, if I did.  But God, by His Spirit, has this wonderful ability to overpower our inadequacies as well as to use our abilities. But not all preaching is prophecy, because not always is the body of Christ edified or built up or corrected or disciplined.  Sometimes it's not the word of God.  Same way with writing and music and personal one-on-one encounter or group sharing.

Now there's some cautions concerning the gift of Prophecy today.  Remember, the prophet gets his message from God and he proclaims it to others.  That message was from the written word of God frequently, as it was in the case of Peter on the day of Pentecost.  But at other times, it's a new revelation that comes from God.  And this new revelation was eventually recorded.  And every time we read our new testament we benefit from that fact.  That New Testament was a new revelation from God.  How many times did Paul write, "And thus I say in the name of the Lord"?  Or, "The Lord gives me this word to tell you?"  And the body of Christ is built up.  Now, does God give new revelation today?  Yes, He does.  But that new revelation - hear me - must always 100% of the time be in absolute keeping with the written revelation.  If it is not in consistency with what we find in the pages of Holy Writ, it is not from God.  Someone said to me, not too long ago, "Well, I know what the Bible says about that, but the Lord has told me..."

And I said, "Wait a minute!  He did not!"  Because He's already told you.  He changes not.  Don't tell me there's some new revelation that countermands this.  There is no evidence of that.

That's why the scripture says, "We have a more sure word of Prophecy."  The word of God is our all-sufficient guide, and anyone that claims a prophecy that is not consistent with the scripture is a false prophet.  Leslie Flynn says, "Until the completion of the New Testament during the apostolic age, prophets gave necessary spiritual and special revelation and reliable guidance.  Since the completion of the Bible, in which Divine revelation is once for all written, the gift of prophecy is now primarily identified with proclamation based upon that word."  The apostle Peter in the passage of scripture which I read for you from II Peter 1, referred to some spectacular experiences.  He said, "We were there when Jesus was baptized and a voice from heaven said, 'This is my beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased."  Wow!  What an experience.  "We were also there on the blessed mount" (that's the mount of transfiguration - only the inside guys got to go: Peter, James, and John).  And he said, "We were there when we say this Jesus transfigured."  Now, if Peter had been given to following his sensual nature, Peter would have been impressed with that experience and said, "Hey if you really want to know what it means to follow God, you've got to have one of those experiences on the mountain where you hear voices."  But Peter goes on to say, "We had these experiences.  They're marvelous experiences.  They're 'wow' kind of visions.  But we have also a more sure word."  More sure than experiences.  More reliable than emotion.  More provable.  "We have a more sure word of Prophecy, where unto you do well that you take heed, as to a light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawns and the daystar rise in your hearts, knowing this first: that no prophecy of the scripture is of private interpretation.  For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit."  And that's why I say, without fear of contradiction, anyone who claims a word from God that is inconsistent with the clear understanding of the scriptures is a false prophet.  I don't care how many books he's written, and I don't care how spellbinding a preacher he is.  God is not adding to His inspired word today.  However, the need to interpret and proclaim the truth of that inspired word is tremendous.  And that's the sphere of the gift of prophecy is the articulating in a compelling manner what God has said.  And if we have it revealed, as we certainly do, then the gift of prophecy is to proclaim this and I don't mean just preachers.  The study of the scripture is demanded.

Now, I have to touch on a danger, or a word of caution.  The gifts of the Holy Spirit are frequently given, in large measure to the young in Christ, as one of the means the Holy Spirit uses to give assurance.  He also equips them for the work of the ministry to which, they too, have been called by the gifts.  But the danger that I frequently see in American church society today is that they take the easy way out.  The gift of prophecy is abused and misused every day because the study of scripture demands scholarship and study and discipline and time and it's hard and it's a lot easier to say "God give me a word" than it is to study and know what word He has given.  So there's an abuse of the gift of prophecy today by many who would pull back from serious study and preaching of the Bible, and simply run around simply run around thrilling to meetings where "thus saith the Lord" is continually given, because it's easier to take it in through the ears than it is to take it in through the mind and the heart.  And at the same time, some of these people are grossly ignorant of the word of God.  So they can't tell, on Biblical grounds, whether the "thus saith the Lord" they're hearing is really from God or not.  They have no frame of reference.  Anything that dilutes, or sets aside, the supreme authority of scripture must be resisted as of Satan.

How do you know when the gift of prophecy is being exercised?  First, it is absolutely consistent with the word of God.  Second, if it is predictive, it is absolutely 100% accurate.  Thirdly, the Holy Spirit bears witness within your own spirit.  There is a "mutual vibration" to the same tune - the same sound.  You know that this is of God.  There's a witness within your spirit.  But notice: that's third, that's not first or second.  First is the word of God.  Second is the accuracy.  Third is the witness within your own spirit.  Fourth, is the body of Christ edified?  Is it built up?  Is the body encouraged or comforted or challenged or disciplined?  And fifth, do the saints (that's you and me) become more mature and better equipped?  We judge the gifts by the fruit it produces, not by the noise it makes.  Remember the demonstration of the reality of a gift is the reality of the fruit it produces when it's exercised.

And there are so many Christians today - and I say this with sadness - that are weak and malnourished because they are seeking to consist on a diet of spiritual junk food.  And instead of giving themself to scholarship of the word of God, or any of the real scholarly writings concerning the word of God, they are reading froth and pap.  Religious sounding, glossily covered, but religious pablum.  And they'll never have the strength to stand in the days that are coming upon us, if that's all the nourishment that they have.  Their intake, spiritually speaking, is too deficient in edification to ever sustain them in any decent measure of spiritual health.  It is so much easier to run to meetings and just be blessed and made warm and fuzzy than it is to give myself to scholarship.  I would much rather take Thursdays and just diddle around than I would take Thursdays and spend that day in disciplined study of the word of God.  But if I don't, I become as weak as anyone who doesn't.  I don't have an inside track with God.  And so it's mandatory that we give ourselves to the study of His word, that we be able to know it so that when we hear a "thus saith the Lord", we have a framework that can allow us to discern and we can be mightily used of God to share that word in a compelling and communicative way to our world.

Now, do people today have the gift of prophecy?  Oh yeah.  And I'm not just talking about preachers.  I know a lot of preachers that don't have the gift of propechy, and I know a lot of times I just have the gift of speech, not the gift of prophecy.  And I pray earnestly desire to prophesy, to see the body of Christ built up through the clear and effective and stirring and gripping word from God.  But the Plymouth Brethren, bless their hearts, they've got the idea right.  In the American church, the emphasis is always on the hired gun.  "Who's your preacher?"  The Plymouth Brethren church, they know that it's a multiple ministry.  It's a shared ministry.  The word of God does not just come to one designated representative of the congregation.  The word of God can come to any member of the body of Christ.  And it does.

You say, "Well, if that's the case, Pastor Bud, why in the world don't we have the gift of prophecy here?"  Some of you haven't been listening.  We do.  In almost every public meeting I can think of, there is an opportunity given.  In this service, we call it "Laymen's Viewpoint" where, if you have a word from the Lord, you are encouraged to share it with the body of Christ for its edification and its building up and its correction and its discipline.  The only caution I'd give you is you'd better make sure it's from the word of God - it's consistent with His word.  But if that's a word from the Lord you have for us, give it to us.  Otherwise, we are poorer.

Donald Grey Barnhouse says, speaking in his commentary of the book of Romans. "I do not agree with commentators who apply some of these tests only to the giants of church history."  God does not mean primarily Paul and Augustine and Luther and Calvin and Wesley and so on.  God is here talking about the little preacher up the north fork of Peak Creek.  He's talking about those that we call "laymen" although they form the vast majority of the body of Christ.  This test really speak to you and me.

Finally, it's necessary to remember that the exercise of the gift of Prophecy is not necessarily some sort of formal presentation or discourse.  It doesn't always have to say, "Thus saith the Lord" with the sound of violins or heavenly singing in the background.  Sometimes "thus saith the Lord" communication as brother and sister, husband and wife, child and parent, parent and child, co-laborers, fellow workers, together just simply sharing their heart - what God is doing and what God is giving in guidance to other people.  That is the gift of prophecy.  Any time the word of God is declared in an affirming and a gripping and a up-building way.  Now you say I'm compromising what the Bible means by "prophecy".  No I'm not.  Alexander Hayes says, "There are many varieties of the gift of prophecy.  The variety possessed by one may be the telling forth of God word to adults.  That of another may be for witness to children or in the open air."  And I thought of Larry and Lorna Frickle, who are right there.  God has called them and gifted them with the gift of prophecy.  And you don't believe it?  Watch them declare the word of God to the children.  To some people, He calls with the gift of prophecy to speak to unbelievers, or to believers, or to a small company of two or three, or just another one.  All are exercising the same gift: telling forth the word from God.  And that is prophecy.

I end with this last word: earnestly desire to prophesy.  That's what His word says.  That's how we're instructed to be.  Let's stop sharing our mutual ignorance.  Let's stop pooling our mutual opinions.  Let's desire to speak His word with clarity and gripping power to a world that doesn't care about your opinion, but needs to hear His word.

Go into the world then, as men and women called by God to share His word, seeking and rejoicing in His gift of prophecy, and declaring His truth because you know His truth and are demonstrations of it.  God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit will be with you in your ministry and will give you joy and effectiveness, and with me in mine, until by His grace we're together again.