You have your Bibles turn over to
1st Corinthians chapter 12. Today we're talking about the
prophet. Thank you, Pastor Mike, for
ministering on the teacher. Wasn't that powerful Come on,
wasn't that powerful? It's so important that we have
these gifts in the body and they have not died out.
You know, the only gift is not the pastor or the evangelist.
They are not the two remaining. They all five are in effect and
the church, the local body church needs them all.
I do believe there is AUS model that has occurred that has
basically caused these gifts to move around where they're not
planted. There's a lot of people that are
in the teaching gift that spend more time roaming around and
they are being planted in one local body.
Same thing with the evangelist. But God intended for these gifts
to be planted locally. That doesn't mean the gifts
can't be used in other congregations and in other plate
conferences. I'm not saying that I do not
believe when you look at Scripture that they were
designed. To to solely just be.
Not assigned to a locale. I believe when you look at
scripture, you'll find that they were in these locations.
They lived among people. They were in a local area that
allowed them. Let's just think of Jesus
himself. Jesus, who is the king of all
His ministry, was confined to Israel.
That doesn't mean he didn't impact Gentiles, doesn't mean he
didn't touch people that were outside of Israel, but he, his
ministry was confined to Israel itself.
He came to visit them. Amen.
His ministry as far as his death, burial, resurrection,
opened the door for the world and he always intended that, but
he kept himself mainly within a certain boundary.
Jesus didn't go to Rome. Jesus didn't say, you know what
there Caesar, he needs the word. I mean, does Caesar need the
word in Jesus lifetime? He did not go.
He stayed in a location submitted to his father to do
exactly what he was called to do Amen.
So it's more important to know where you're called than to
just. Go anywhere.
Amen. And in the local body, all of
these gifts need to be here. So First Corinthians chapter 12,
verse 18 to 20. I want to cover a lot of ground.
So we'll move and we have communion a little bit later in
this in the service, he said, but now God has placed the
members, each one of them, say each one in the body just as he
desired. That was horrible.
Say each one thank you, each one that.
Means you. So nobody is outside this rule.
No one, no one is a special case.
God has placed each one of the members in the body just as he
desired. Now again he said, I'll build my
churches of me. And so God will place you in a
local place, which means you have to have an expression
within that local place. If you do not have an expression
in that local place, you are amputated from it.
I don't care whether you're fivefold or a St.
You are to have some kind of input within the local body, OK.
And then out of that God can utilize you, but God is placing
you. You don't pick your church.
He does. He does.
OK, He does. So God places each one of them
in the body. And salvation is not is not
placement in the body, it's access to the family because
placement in the body is purpose.
Because this chapter here says, how can the eye say to the hand
or the ear or whatever the case may be, You understand, well,
all of us are saved. Every one of us call on the name
of the Lord to be saved. Everyone has that.
So if if it's only about salvation, then we would all be
an ear, all would be a nose, all would be if it's only salvation,
it's not salvation is the doorway in.
Then it gets specific and God begins to say, here's where I
want you to grow and do these things.
Verse 19 And if they were all one member, where would the body
be? But now there are many members
but one body. Aren't you glad there's many of
us? God is too creative for us to
all look alike. Never covet someone else's gift.
Be the gift you are. We read this that Ernest Gentile
said why stress local churches so much?
Very simply because the local church is the key messenger of
Christ to the secular community. The people of a local church
become the heart, the hands, the voice of Jesus Christ.
This brilliant strategy is God's way of maintaining active
spiritual life in his Saints and then through them impacting the
secular world. When the people of the community
see the members of a local church body, they hopefully will
see Christ. You know, the Bible's about a
king, his Kingdom and his role offspring.
And it's very important that we unite as a church because when
we do and we do the work of the Kingdom, then we can do some
pretty amazing things. Do you understand?
The President of the United States of America does not hold
all power, does not hold all power, that the greatest power
actually resides within the local community.
We on a government level, we begin to press into general
elections for the big positions, whereas school boards, county
commissions, and city commissions are creating all
kinds of policies within your local community that if you were
active in it, you may be you could change your community.
Now, why do I say that? Because during COVID, not every
state functioned the same. Yet the president will say
something, but the states are saying something.
Some states completely shut everything down.
Other states did something different and it even happened
locally. Even in our state that was a
little navigated COVID differently and in in many cases
became an example of maybe how to navigate.
During that time, there were counties that defied what the
governor said and had imposed different mandates.
Well, how can this be? So what we do is we look to
Jesus Christ when Jesus Christ says the power of me is in you
locally. Now think about that for a
moment, that there's such power that resides with us when we
unify to the point that we are going to do the Word of God, no
idols, because we are the expression.
Of God's Kingdom. And we're going to find our fit,
do our part, and release our gift into our community.
And it won't matter what a president says.
It will not matter because the gates of hell cannot prevail
against the Church. He has given us a Kingdom that
cannot be shaken. No weapon formed against the
church can prosper. If God be for you, who can be
against you? That's the power of the local
body church. The power not because you
understand some local body churches are are making greater
advancements in their community than others.
And it's when people come together unselfishly to release
their gift. Ephesians 47 says it this way.
But to each one of us, grace was given according to the measure
of Christ's gift. So every one of us have a gift.
You are the gift that God has made you.
And be that gift all right in Ephesians verse 11 of the same
chapter saying he gave some, so not all have this.
And he gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as
evangelist, some as pastors and teachers for the equipment of
the Saints, for the workers, service to the building up of
the body of Christ. If it goes on.
And it says till we reach to maturity, and the church
definitely hasn't reached to maturity, equipping is still
necessary in the earth. Discipleship is still the number
one focus of the church, which then requires all five of the
five fold ministry gifts to still need to be in operation in
today, in in, in life today. And so the responsibility of the
apostles, the prophets, the advantages, the pastors and the
teachers is to equip the Saints. My number one responsibility is
to you, anyone else's supplement, anyone else, this
particular individual that I said I had coffee with ask
permission to come to our services on Wednesday because
their church doesn't have them that they attend.
I said, I'm just going to be very candid with you.
You can come. But here's the thing, it'd be
very short that you're going to have to make a decision.
You cannot be in one church in another because what I'm I am
not here for you to come over here from somewhere else.
You cannot be in two local body churches.
You need to connect with a vision.
So ultimately you can come, but unless you hear God say your
gifts released here, you need to go back to where you're at.
Amen. Because for me, I only want to
oversee the ones God has assigned to me.
I'm not here to save all Saint John's.
I'm here to save the ones assigned to me.
I'm here to equip the ones assigned to me.
And anywhere I go outside here, other than Anchor Faith
Churches, I am supplement. I'm just a supplement.
All I'm there for is just supplement the real ones of the
local body. I'm there to supplement that
pastor. I'm there to supplement that
apostle. I'm there to supplement that
prophet. I'm there to supplement that
evange. I'm there to supplement that
teacher because they should have those there.
And all I do should, all I should be doing is echoing what
they're equipping them already. Amen.
Because the most important people within the local body
churches all of us doing our part Amen.
So Ernest said this again. He said the object of the
fivefold gifts is to enable the whole church to become
spiritually mature and truly function as representatives of
Christ's Kingdom. Do we want to do that?
I said, do we want to do that? Well, let's talk about the
prophets today. In John chapter 6, verse 45, it
says this. It is written in the prophets,
and they shall be taught of God. Everyone who has heard and
learned from the Father comes to me.
So we see here here in John, New Testament concerning the
prophets because obviously there are prophets in the Old
Testament and New Testament, and we'll mention some names.
I'm not going to do an exhaustive study into these
prophets because it is not my assignment in communicating the
fivefold ministry to do an exhaustive study of each gift.
OK, that would be a different day at Anchor Faith Live class.
You would go to our Bible college on Sunday night.
You can receive extensive study into that.
Unless the Lord wanted me to go into each one of these gifts at
a later date to break them down more, we would.
That is not the intent of this. We are to see how they function.
And that we should they should be within the local body.
Church OK. And so we see here that it is
written of the prophets and they shall be taught of God.
So a prophet should be taught of God.
Put that verse back up. They shall be taught of God.
Now I was reading Rick Renner in his book The Apostle and
Prophets and I'll be honest with you, I did not know the history
of Balaam like Rick Renner showed me because many of you
have read about Balaam and you're like I don't understand
what the problem is. He heard God.
Well, here's the history of Balaam.
Balaam is a prophet but not a prophet of God.
Prophet just means someone who has the ability to hear into the
spirit realm and then speak on behalf of that spirit realm.
The prophet Elijah, remember him?
He came and challenged who? The prophets of Bell.
The prophets of Bell had the ability to tap into the spirit
realm where there are other voices beside God and they would
channel is a term, a conduit where they would hear the
demonic, evil, familiar spirits, unclean spirits even, and they
would hear that voice and then speak it.
Now we would call them false prophets, meaning they're
speaking not on behalf of God the Creator, but on behalf of a
different spirit, but they're hearing from the spirit realm
none the less. OK so he's telling us that the
prophets that God sends to rabbit should be taught by him,
not taught by some other religion, not taught by some
other spirit. This is why you under need to
understand why Paul had to cast out the spirit upon the little
girl in the book of Acts. Because she was a slave of two
guys who owned her and she had a evil spirit or an unclean spirit
upon her. A deceiving spirit really,
probably a familiar one that would allow her to fortune tell
she was in social witchcraft but she would see Paul and that
spirit on her would have say through her.
These men preach from the Most High.
In essence that spirit is they cause those spirits know who God
is. When Jesus came around, what did
they say? Have you come to torment us
before We know who you are. You're the son of the most hot.
We know you. And he's like, shut up, right?
In essence, don't you advertise for me.
You're factual with your information, but when I'm out,
you'll use that as a deceptive tool.
So if this girl would have been left alone after Paul
establishes this church in this community where he works
miracles by the truth God and only God, when he left to plant
another one. That girl could come in through
the immaturity of the church at being at baby stage as a
Christian and begin to say, did I not tell you that he was, that
he operated with the power of God?
Did I not say that he was a messenger of God?
Now hear what I say. But the minute he said, rebuke
that spirit and cast it out of the girl.
Then when he left town, that spirit wasn't there either.
Come on, are you hearing me? So when we talk about prophets,
yes, there are false prophets, it doesn't mean they can't hear
into the spirit realm. It's who are they listening to
in the spirit realm. And Balaam was a prophet to
other spirits. So when he boast again, did the
prophets of Baal believe that Baal was God?
Yes. So when Balaam says I can only
say what God tells me, that doesn't mean he's talking about
creator God. Yet when God said shut all the
other voices and say these spirits have no right to talk
about my nation. So God got involved and he
could. Balaam tried to get back to the
spirits that allowed him to speak so that he could gain
access to money, but God wouldn't let it happen.
Are you hearing what I'm saying? So prophets are to be taught by
God those that are hearing from God.
Now look at what it says here in Revelation.
I want to show you something here.
They're to be taught by God. So what would they be taught?
Look at this in Revelations 1910.
Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said do not
do that. I'm a fellow servant of yours.
John seeing an Angel, you know, and he's dropping down.
He said no, don't do this, says your brother, who hold what the
testimony of Jesus worship God for here it is.
The testimony of Jesus is. The Spirit of prophecy is the
spirit of prophecy. So do you need a prophetic word?
Are you one of those females that I need a prophetic word?
I'm glad you do. Read your Bible.
I need a word from God. Read your Bible, man.
I just need God to speak to me. Read your Bible.
Because if anyone says something to you that is not contained
within the word, then you've not been prophesied to by God.
Because God only teaches his prophet.
It is written. That's what he teaches.
So if somebody is a prophet, their words are always going to
be in alignment with the scripture.
Hallelujah, I said. Hallelujah.
They are going to be in alignment with the scripture.
What is prophecy? The word prophecy properly means
to predict future events, but it also means to declare the divine
will, to interpret the purposes of God, or to make known in any
way the truth of God, which is designated to influence people.
So in essence, when someone is prophesying, they are giving you
the divine will of God. His Word is His will.
I said. His word is His will.
Now in the old covenant, obviously God himself did not
live in man. Man was not born of God or born
again. So God spoke to man through his
prophets. But we're in a new and better
covenant. Amen.
I said we're in a new and better covenant now.
Because we're in a new and better covenant does not mean
that the prophet gift is no more.
It's still here. The advantage is, is that you
have in you the Holy Spirit and your spirit man is alive to God
to know God's voice, that when a prophet speaks to you, you can
now test the spirits yourself. Amen.
You do not have to be like the Old Testament people, which is
let's see if what he says comes to pass.
That was the test for the prophets.
Are you hearing me? It was the test.
If they were a true prophet, then it came to pass.
If it did not come to pass, then they weren't in the Bible told
us to don't even be afraid of them.
But Samuel, not one word that he spoke, it did not come to pass.
But here's the tricky thing about prophets is that prophets
could say things in future events that would go beyond your
lifetime to see it exist. How do we know this?
Look at Deuteronomy chapter 1818.
It says this. And I will raise up, come on,
and I will raise up a prophet from among your countrymen like
you, and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to
them all that I command him. So again, a prophet of God is
only going to speak what God actually says.
And the Spirit of God is never contrary to the word of God.
Never. Amen.
It's not contrary. Matthew 122 says this.
Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the
Lord. How?
Through the prophet. So now we're in the New
Covenant, and some things are being fulfilled that had not yet
been fulfilled by a prophet of old, which tells us in the Old
Covenant. Although the condition to know
whether a prophet was of God or not was whether it came to pass,
some of them spoke beyond their own lifetimes and the lifetimes
of their hearers. So that can become even a
challenge there. But in the new covenant, it's
not the case. In the New Covenant, you have
the Spirit of God within you. You are alive to God with your
spirit because you are born again.
You are a new creature in Christ, and you do not have to
just receive what someone says. Thus saith the Lord, because if
it does not bear witness with your spirit, you can reject it,
just like you can reject any thought, any other thought that
would ever come to your end. Can a true prophet of God speak
to you, William, about what you are or ordained to do before you
entered your mother's womb? Absolutely.
But if it doesn't bear witness, then you are not to receive it.
In the New Covenant, we have a check and balance.
Are you hearing me? Now?
Here's the thing. Prophecy is not so much to prove
the prophet is right as much as it is to prove the Lord is
right. It's not about the prophets, but
the word spoken through the prophets.
Put that scripture back up. Now all this took place to
fulfill what was spoken by the Lord.
In the US, we want to run after the Prophet.
It's not about the prophet, it's about the word of the Lord.
It's about the word of the Lord. I can tell you time and time
again that after a particular prophet left the earth, I heard
multiple ministers would come that I happened to be around at
various times and they would say, oh, I found minister so and
so. And they they're a prophet like
the one they used to follow. And you know their mannerism.
And I'm like to my thinking to myself, what are we doing?
We have Jesus and the Holy Ghost, why do we want to
substitute our own intimacy hearing to run after a person
that I shouldn't even be concerned about the person, but
more concerned about the word spoken because what the person
speaking is more important than the person.
Matthew 217. Says.
Then what has been spoken through Jeremiah the prophet
was. So what's the purpose of
Jeremiah speaking? To release what God is saying?
It's not about Jeremiah. Now I use Jeremiah first because
nobody wants to be Jeremiah. Everybody wants to be the
prophet Elijah. Let's call fire down from
heaven. Let's do these great miracles,
signs and wonders. None of that happened with
Jeremiah. Jeremiah just prophesied about
the doom and the captivity of Israel.
He preached to them to repent. Although the Lord says
everything you say, they will not repent.
So you would almost say, why even talk?
Because God is that awesome. Think about it.
God knows there's no hope for this generation to repent.
Zero. However, they'll never stand
before me one day and say if you, you, you thought I you
thought I was not going to repent this how man does God.
Oh, now, now you know, if if you would have put me in this, I
would have come on. There is no condition that man
can find himself, that God will not have put man and proven that
man needs him. He is airtight in his case with
all his creation, that he's the only righteous, the only one who
keeps His word without fail, the only One, just the only one
holy. And even though he knows because
he's God, he won't leave it on his knowing, He'll have it
recorded. Well, now I.
Would have if you I sent Jeremiah shall I pull up that
day here's Jeremiah talking right now here you are oh let's
go ahead and get inside your heart let's hear what you were
saying inside well the Lord knows my heart yes he does let
me go ahead and let's play that he said they're stubborn
they're. Stiff neck.
Rebellious. You're going to be opposed so
hard, but I'm going to set your face like Flint and you're going
to be just as opposition to them.
Man. Jeremiah wouldn't make it in the
US today, not most churches. They'd be like running Jeremiah
at the church. Be like, you're mean guy.
Jeremiah's like you don't repent because Jeremiah was not a mean
man. Jeremiah was a man, holy but
speaking. Truth.
To a rebellious generation, no conversion in Jeremiah's
ministry. Yet he was successful because he
did the will of his Father. Oh my Mama.
And everything that he spoke came to pass.
Some came to pass when Jesus showed up.
Next one, Matthew 1817 says this.
This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the
prophet. He himself took our infirmities
and carried away our diseases. So something Isaiah said years
earlier, decades, 100 years earlier comes to pass when Jesus
shows up. Why?
Because anything being prophesied, the majority of
things being prophesied are to glorify and recognize Him.
Anything being prophesied is so that we have a recognition of
Him. Prophecy is not to put emphasis
on the prophet, it's to put emphasis on the Lord.
Amen. Amen.
Matthew 2415. Therefore, when you see the
abomination of desolation, this hasn't even occurred yet, even
in our lifetime, which was spoken through Daniel the
prophet stand standing in the holy place.
Let the reader understand. So there are things that Daniel
has prophesied that hasn't even occurred.
There are things Enoch the prophet has prophesied and it
hasn't even occurred yet. There are things John the
Apostle spoke of prophetically that has not occurred yet.
Yet there will come a time that it will be said it is fulfilled
as spoken by the prophet. Now, the prophet's not the
emphasis, it's just the gift that communicates the divine
will of God. Amen.
And you know what? God is so gracious to us that He
really does. He really doesn't have any
problem by utilizing those gifts to create the atmosphere of a
spiritual awareness so that God can let the Church know of where
they're at and where they're going.
But let me say this It does not matter what a prophet says,
because a prophet's word to you means nothing unless you act on
it. If you don't act on it, they can
prophecy over you all day long. But what they say doesn't come
to pass without your participation.
Oh, I see you a preacher to the nation.
Well, what are you doing to prepare?
Yourself to do that then. Are you studying to show
yourself approved unto God? Because God's not going to send
you out without study, without being equipped, without being
tried, without being, you know, tested without doing your part.
Well, the prophet said I was going to do, I'm just waiting
for it to occur. You're waiting for it.
What are you? What are you doing to do your
part so that it comes to pass? Jesus was prophesied that he was
the Messiah. He had to discover his own self
in scripture. But here's the thing that Jesus
had to do. He had to maintain holiness and
not sin. So when he was tempted on all
accounts like we. Were he chose not to sin.
The prophetic words of him from Isaiah, Jeremiah, Elijah,
Isaiah, all those words spoken to him only came to pass because
he submitted his will to do God's word.
Prophetic words don't come to pass.
Just the prophet is not a wizard that you see on TV, not some
magic trick. The prophet is someone who hears
the divine will of God and speaks it.
Prophets from Rick Renner's book No, this is from Ernest Gentiles
book again he says this prophets are to seek his face, hear his
voice, and discern his will. They are called to edify,
comfort, and exhort the churches to inspire, direct, and inform
in the ways and purposes of God. They function most successfully
in conjunction with church leadership and apostles, which
implies that if they are not connected with a local body
church and functioning with the other gift of the apostle, they
don't. They don't function as
effectively. Prophets enable your church to
experience divine direction and spiritual insight.
Prophets are to build up churches, not take not control
or take over. Prophets will not usurp the
authority of the house. Prophets are special giftings to
discern demonic activity, reveal divine strategies, recognize
callings and giftings, and impart prophetic gifts.
They preach as well as prophecy. In fact, they are one of what
Rick Renner says or Ernest, a class of teachers.
They are in actually within the class of the gift of teachers.
They prophets help work or excuse me, they preach as well
as prophesied, declaring at the moment what God is saying to
specific churches and individuals.
Prophets will help work with the people of the Church to bring
them into a higher level of prayer activity and prophetic
expression. You know you have a prophet
among you because they pray a lot.
If they say they're a prophet and they are not known with
prayer, you should probably put false.
In front of it. Are you hearing me?
Let's look over to John Chapter 4.
John chapter 4, Jesus is the greatest prophet, right?
Will we say that Jesus obviously is thirsty?
His disciples went to get some food.
He's actually hungry. They went to get some food,
leaves him out of well, and a Samaritan woman shows up.
So he begins to have some discourse with her.
All right. And so he said to her, go call
your husband and come here. And the woman answered and said,
I have no husband. And Jesus said to her, you have
said correctly, you have no husband, for you have had five
husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband.
This you have said, truly. Now look at this next verse.
The woman said to him, Sir, I perceive that you that you are a
prophet. Now why does she perceive this?
Because this guy I've never met in my life has now just told me
my history concerning relationships.
Now why did Jesus do this? Just to show off.
There's a reason why a prophet would develop access to personal
accounts within your own personal life, because this
woman actually has a yearning that Jesus perceived because he
had spoken to her concerning water.
He said Now if you knew the gift that was before, you would have
asked me for water and you would have asked me for a drink and I
would have given you living. Water.
She's like. What, you don't have nothing to
draw the water out? How's this even possible?
He says Man, my water is everlasting.
So then he ends up going into her history.
The prophetic gift or the prophets gift shows up.
So we understand that the prophet can communicate very
specific things about God's plan, purpose, direction of a
church, future events of things. It was fulfilled by the by the
word spoken to Jeremiah. It was fulfilled through the
word spoken through the prophet Isaiah.
We know those things occur concerning Jesus's life
personally, but the prophet will also be able to speak into very
detailed things concerning your own personal life if it's for
the purpose of directing you to the Messiah.
See, the profit is not to be your fortune teller.
Man. I went and they told me
everything. Well, what did you get?
Just that they know your stuff now.
Because if the prophet says, here's this, come back later,
I'll tell you more. Oh, you better not come back
later. The reason they need you to come
back later because the familiar spirit they're operating on, he
can deploy to send to go home with you and watch you.
So when you come back and tell you what you were wearing the
next day because you've given permission, see, this is what
happens when you go to the little card readers and all
these things. You're giving them the authority
to send the spirits that they access to follow you.
So then they can prophecy to you and we get enthralled by natural
things. They how would they have ever
known? Well, demonic spirits know if
you let them follow you. Now, the devil and demonic
spirits are not omnipresent. They're not everywhere.
Most of them don't even know we exist because our carnality
keeps us in a place that you know, they don't even have to
touch us. They don't even have to attack
us. We destroy ourselves through our
own flesh and lack of knowledge. However, they will use you and
destroy you and work their calls more if you will entertain them
or go to someone who entertains them.
But Jesus ultimately in this passage of Scripture, because he
tells he said I perceive your prophet goes on and communicates
to her. This is the first person he ever
reveals that he is the. Christ, it was a woman at a well
who obviously wasn't living a perfect life, but she had a
hunger. She wanted to know what about
this Messiah? Since you're a prophet, all the
prophets are talking about him and we want to know.
He says you're looking at him now.
What did it do to that woman? He calls her to go in to the
community and say there. She didn't say there's a
prophet. She said the King is here, He
has told me intimate details of my life.
The King is here, the Messiah is at the well.
He told me this, this would have never known it.
He told me this, he told me this, he told me this.
And the whole town comes out and say, who is this guy?
Now they probably came after because they're thinking, well,
he's probably some prophet or something, let's see ourselves.
But then when they heard him speak, it says, we believe that
you are the Christ now, not because of what the woman said
to us, but we have heard with our own ears.
So what was the value of him saying?
You've said correctly that you don't have a husband.
You've had five, and the one you're with now is not your
husband. What was the value of him
prophesying as a prophet? It brought her to the king.
This is the number one role. The reason why a prophet is
going to speak something over your life is so that you can be
closer and walk more intimately with the king.
If they're going to talk to you about your life and details of
your life, it's to get you so that you'll move over to want to
put God first, move first in his with him.
Stay loyal and connected to Him. That's the whole purpose behind
the prophet so that you can fulfill destiny.
You can do. That's why I know for me, I, you
know, you see the profit function in people and we all
have these questions where we're asking the Lord and asking the
Lord and asking the Lord and you know, because we're living by
faith. Sometimes you're like, can
somebody just be a confirmation, which is all covenant?
Because when you have an inward witness, you don't need an
outward 1. And if you have an inward 1 and
someone gives you an hour one, it better line up with your
inward one, because many have had an inward 1 and got an hour
one that was different from the inward 1 and they abandoned the
inward 1 and followed the outward 1.
And I said man never happened in my life, never had anyone
prophecy over me. No one spoke to me concerning
prophetic things of my life, telling me about my past,
talking to me about my future, nothing.
Never happened as a believer, a St. someone following God to
attain to the gift he's called me to be.
But then once I came here and God released me to to be the
apostle and pastor of Anchor Faith Church, then all of a
sudden someone prophesied over me and when you hear the
prophecy, you realize there's nothing to do with me.
What I realized because I asked the Lord, I said, why is this
first time that a word's ever been spoken over me and it has
nothing to do with me personally.
It has to do with your church that I'm a part of.
He said, Son, you've always followed my word and it is the
spirit of prophecy. I've not I have not needed to
use any outside help for you to accomplish.
The assignment thus far, Hallelujah.
And today when I get in meetings where there's profits I have, I
don't care one bit. I want their gift to be, but I'm
not wanting them to come to me if God.
Wants them to come to me. Fine.
But I'm not personally like, oh, I want it.
I don't have that. There's a a prophetess we're
going to bring to the Church, I said.
In a meeting that she was in, because Daryl Morgan, who was on
our board, he just recently came off, said man, Pastor Earl, you
know, I would encourage you to come.
You know, she obviously functions in this particular
gift and you know, just really good teaching.
I said, great, I'll come. And so we came, my wife and I,
and she called me out years ago. She pulled me out about where
Marissa is, pulled me out of the aisle, told me to stand up.
And then she said these words. This, this today makes me laugh.
She says, are you a golfer? I said no, ma'am, but I am
today. Isn't this crazy?
I never would have golfed honestly, but the Lord told me
to and I didn't even remember this till we were talking about
having her come and we were like are you serious?
She said that because what she saw would only take place now.
And now I golf. So she saw me in the future, she
says OK, she said, well, like a golfer, I see that as they
they're swing. You have the ability to turn
whole communities. You can turn them from One
Direction. All you have the you have the
anointing to turn. Whole.
Communities. Now that's what was prophesied.
Now again, does that sound personal, you taking it as
personal, but I don't, I don't as an apostle of a church that
has members that want to do the will of God.
You don't change community unless you are a church.
So what he she was saying is, is that the gift in the ministry
had the has the ability to change communities, not a
community and Anchor Bay churches in a community, at
least this one is. But there are other communities
that we have and we're going to have additional communities,
which means then it's those local bodies that are going to
have the ability through the Apostolic anointing on the
congregation that will be able to turn whole communities from
One Direction into another. Hallelujah, I said Hallelujah.
Now why is it that we would get excited about a prophecy if all
of a sudden I say, Brandon, thus sayeth the Lord and we're like,
wow, the Lord and I'm like, right on.
I'm prophesying saying everything We're like.
But then when, you know, sometimes we as ministers get up
and begin and people are like, no.
OK, well look what he's saying. Mark chapter 6 Look at this.
I can tell you why we're going to give it to you right here.
Mark chapter 6, verse one through 6.
Jesus went out from there and came to His hometown and his
disciples followed him. When the Sabbath came, He began
to teach in the synagogue. Why?
Because prophets are a class of teachers.
They have the teaching gift as well.
A prophet will always have the teaching gift, OK, if they can't
teach their way through a paper bag, they are not the prophet of
God, he said. A men and the many and the many
listeners were astounded saying where did this man get this,
these things and what is this wisdom he has given and such
miracles as these performed by his hands.
Now what have they noted concerning Jesus?
He's a he's taught. They're astonished at what he's
saying. Man, I ain't never heard nothing
like this. They admit this, this word is
something else. Then they see evidence of
supernatural power associated with the individual.
They've heard this dude. It is known that miracles have
happened with this person. But look at verse 3.
Is not this the Carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of
James, and all these boys? Are not his sisters here with
us? And they took offence at him?
What did they take? They took offense at him.
Why did they take offense at him?
I mean, they know the word that he preaches, has wisdom,
authority, miracles, functions in power, but they're offended.
Why are they offended? Because they recognize they're
familiar. Oh, let's go on.
Jesus said a prophet is not without honor except in his
hometown, among his own relatives, and in his own
household. You know what the Bible calls
the church? The household of God.
OK. And he could do no miracles
there. He could do what?
No miracles there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick
people and healed them. Verse 6 And he wondered at their
unbelief, and was going around the villages teaching.
The only remedy to unbelief is more teaching.
More teaching means we're going to teach.
We're not going to do any miracles here.
We're not trying to perform. We're just trying to get you in
faith. We're trying to get you to
connect with God, see God for who He is, begin to recognize
God for who he is. Put your eyes on him.
Do you understand? They are actually looking at the
Christ, but they don't see the Christ, They see a Carpenter.
So what's he saying? He said now the prophets not
without honor, except in his hometown, the place he's at the
most, the people he has grown up with, the people who has heard
his voice the most, his own relatives.
Well, who's my relatives? Who is your mother and your
brothers and sisters? It's those who do the will of
God. So I'm in the household of God
with the family of God among my relatives, which tells us that
if the prophet is among us, and they are the ones you'll have
the biggest problem with is the one that you've heard the most.
And the minute you begin to see yourself, and it's true that you
put your pants on the same way and that you can hear God too,
then they all of a sudden become familiar to you.
And familiarity breeds offense. And your offense doesn't remove
their power, their authority, their wisdom, or their
anointing, but it renders it ineffective in your life because
it's how you have received them. See, they didn't receive Jesus
as the prophet. Oh man, here's the thing.
What if among us, someone began to move in that prophetic gift?
You're like, well man, that I was just in the nursery with
them. Who cares?
You were just in the nursery with God's using them as a gift
to release a word. It's not about them.
It's about the words spoken through them by God to help you
become all that you are supposed to be.
But the minute you get offended because you've made their voice
familiar. And when you make someone
familiar, you don't listen anymore.
Familiarity is close proximity. One of the most dangerous words
I ever hear from people. Man, I just want to be close to
you, Pastor. In my mind, I'm like.
Do you really? Because you're already admitting
you want close proximity, which you're going to have, you'll run
the risk of making me a familiar voice in your life and
abandoning the anointing. All my life, not because I made
myself anointing. God has anointed me just like He
has anointed you. I do not despise anyone moving
by the Spirit of God with the gifts, nor do I despise the
fivefold ministry gift, no matter how much I've been around
a person because I want to receive the gift.
And here's the thing. If.
This is the case with the prophet.
You would find it's the case with all 5.
All of the ministry gifts. Why do people leave churches?
Because they get familiar with their pastor's voice when they
first come in, the pastor's voice, this, that, and the
other. But all of a sudden when they
sit around for so long, they hear the same voice, hear the
same voice. And what do they do?
Next thing you know, they're going to YouTube.
They're trying to hear another voice.
I want to hear something else, want to hear somebody else.
They quit coming to hear from God.
They just started looking at the individual.
I mean, what sin did Jesus commit that they should be
offended at Him? And it says he could work No
miracles there. Well, see, the anointing is
gone. No miracles are happening.
What if in some churches, miracles aren't happening?
And it's not because the minister is not anointing, It's
because the congregation has made them familiar.
Well, all they do is teach now. Well, I wonder why?
Because it could be that you didn't come expecting to
receive. Come on.
Say Amen. Anyway.
Hallelujah. Yeah.
They are blaming Jesus Christ, the head of the church.
You leave that meeting like, yeah, just a couple people got
healed. Nothing really spectacular
happened, nothing real supernatural.
And it's. Jesus's meeting.
It's the Son of God. And Jesus is like, wow, wow, it
says he wondered. And why did they have unbelief?
Because they looked at a Carpenter instead of a prophet.
Come on, are you hearing what I'm saying?
For me, arity renders the anointing associated with the
gift towards you ineffective. This could be said of all the
gifts. When you become familiar,
offense is inevitable. It's inevitable.
Again, I'd never make anyone call me Pastor Earl.
I never make anyone call me Apostle Earl.
I never make anyone call me anything associated with the
gift that I am. Not by you, not by title, but by
the Holy Ghost, period. God has no problem with calling
people prophets. I'm not a prophet.
I am not a prophet. I have moved in the gifts.
I have seen things in the future at times, but I do not function
in the office of the prophet. I do not OK.
I function in the apostle and the pastor's office, of which
we've already taught on. Every once in a while I get over
into the teacher, but that's rare.
I mean, the true teaching anointing.
All right. And sometimes I do the work of
the evangelist because it's something that the pastor has to
do. But I'm not an evangelist.
Are you hearing what I'm saying? But the minute.
People, Brother Earl. Hey, Earl.
Well, there's consequences for that.
You can call me what you want to.
You can call the staff what you want to.
You can see us all as you know, we're we're just all just
brothers here. Yep.
Let me take you to a little scripture.
Now let me read this first from Rick Renner out of his Apostles
and Prophets, and then I'll read the scripture.
You can turn over there. It's Matthew chapter 10.
True prophets then and now are not placed in the ministry to be
popular with their audiences, to tickle the fancy or everyone who
heard, who heard their messages. These men and women are set in
place to obediently deliver the word of the Lord, even those
words that many deemed unpleasant.
Prophets of old often suffered at the hands of disobedient men,
those who mocked the message. Some prophets were ridiculed and
scorned, while others were imprisoned.
Still others paid the ultimate sacrifice to deliver the word of
the Lord, But it was the prize they were required to pay if
need be, in order to speak as God's mouthpiece and make the
will of God known in certain situations or season or hour.
This is no less true concerning the prophetic ministry today.
Matthew 1041 says he who receives a prophet.
In the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward.
Why could Jesus in his hometown not give a prophet's reward that
day? Because they did not receive the
prophet. In the name of a prophet, if you
receive a righteous man. In the name of a righteous man,
you'll receive a righteous man's reward.
You like Pastor Earl, Brother Earl, brother Earl, and you can
call me Brother Earl and I'm a righteous man, and you'll
receive a righteous man reward. But when you need the anointing
of the gift, it's not coming to you.
And when it doesn't come to you and you're around me and you're
around me and you're around me and around me, around anyone in
the staff, for that matter, all the men that have been in a
men's meeting or 318, please stand up.
Please stand up faster than this.
Now you need to understand this. Pastor Mike, please come down
front. Pastor Mike does not do this so
that you become familiar with him.
You'll lose out on the anointing associated with his his life to
to release a better father out of you, a better husband out of
you, a better mentor, a better friend.
One of the greatest risk is when you become knowledgeable about
that which has the teacher has given the pupil.
And remember, the Bible says the pupil is never rising above the
master. But when do the pupils rise
above their masters? When they get familiar with
them. Take offense at them.
And then they don't want to hear nothing they say anymore.
So you want to say, Pastor Mike, you want to release, you want to
receive the pastor in the name of a pastor so you can receive a
pastor's reward. Because when you go through
marital problems, you want the anointing associated with his
life to help break the things off you.
That's keeping your marriage bound.
Can I get a 123 from somebody? All right, you can be seated.
That was a. Good opportunity, Pastor Angie,
stand up. I mean, this lady's around and
about everywhere, right? See her so much you get tired of
seeing her. Now you say that.
But you know what? Well, Pat, you know when people
are familiar with me is when they don't show up at service
when I'm not here. No, I didn't tell you sooner.
I'm not having the lady stand up because she was actually falling
asleep, that's why. No, I'm kidding.
I'm kidding. I'm kidding.
She's she's not. No, there's an anointing.
I said there's an anointing. Come on now.
Now everybody's saying Amen today, but five years from now
we going to say Amen. You see what I'm saying?
Because when she is sitting in an office with you ladies and
she's telling you about your stuff by unction of the spirit
of what needs to change, and it's not because she's right,
you're wrong. The word is what's right and we
are trying to conform ourselves to it.
Come on, come on. Because she's only communicating
with the word and you want to receive the gift.
You don't want to be a third year Ki student, say, ah, Pastor
Angie's doing this class. You need to be like, thank God
Pastor Angie is doing this class.
And you draw on the anointing, you can be seated.
Thank you. I don't have all the pastors in
here anyway. Right?
But the one that has the biggest challenge is the one married to
me. Because it isn't a statistic,
it's reality. They are the most abused gift in
the body. They are.
It's unfortunate. This is why a lot of them in her
position don't make it or try to take over.
Now I'm going to be very candid. The Pastor Marcy and Pastor
Angie function so well in the gifts, the gift that they're in,
confident, bold, submitted to God, but also submitted to their
husbands and to a Jezebel. This is problematic because they
long for the authority without ever submitting, and all they do
is display submitted authority. That's all they display.
Come on, ladies, you know what I'm talking.
Yeah, it happens. And Pastor Marcy functions.
She started out, you know, teaching a whole lot, you know,
But through the years, God has moved her a little more
prophetically. She can get over into teaching,
but she has very much gotten into prophetic utterances.
And I can give you many. Why is it that Pastor Marcy does
our prayer? Not because I don't know how to
pray. It's because it's the incubator
of her gift. Now, again, you can do what you
want to do. It doesn't matter, but we would
be remiss to not receive people for their giftings because in
order for you to be equipped, you cannot despise them and you
cannot become familiar with them.
Just because I play softball, flag football or tear down a
wall with you doesn't make us equal.
Because we're not equal people anyway.
You're you. I'm me.
I'll pull your gift, you pull mine.
That's the purpose. Because the minute I see you as.
Just another congregation member that I'm trying to figure out
how to get them through their carnality and live in maturity.
Then I've done you a big disservice.
For me, it's never that way. It's only one way.
You're a gift from God and we're going to pull your gift out
because that's our purpose. And we're going to deploy you.
And if you mess up, we're going to talk about it because that's
what we're here to do. Hallelujah.
So that we all become better. Amen.
There are plenty of prophetic examples that we can use Plenty
that's happened within this house, not only through my wife,
but through other people. And I don't even talk about them
all. Why?
Because the prophets, even in the Old Testament, there were
minor prophets and they were what they call major prophets.
And the and the only difference between them is not because one
was more spiritual is that it was the gift associated that
gave them a territory different that's.
All it is. And you can't be something
you're not gifted. Stay within the anointing you
are. Stay in the anointing that you
are, but draw from every anointing and so.
When we need When you need to draw on the pastor's anointing,
pull on it. When you need to draw on the
Prophet's anointing, pull on it. When you need the teachers
anointing pull on it. Evangelist whatever.
You pull on it and you'll get the reward.
What service is is more predicated on your receiving.
Of the gift. Because when we read this
passage, Jesus was not in control, The hearer was.
The hearer was, and a hearer who has made you familiar, that has
now offended at you, will attack.
You just know that. But it doesn't matter.
It doesn't. Stop you, you.
Just be you and move. Do the will of God for your
life. Hallelujah brother Hagin.
I will close with a couple of his examples.
Pastor Marcy's had multiple ones where she's called out crack
houses 1 summer that was exposed.
Another particular thing with some women, prostitution, I mean
there have been multiple things that just through prayers come
up in the spirit. She spoke it out, we prayed
about it and it did things. It's happened.
Brother Barry has seen things in the future concerning our
service, and there's others and the.
Reason why I don't talk about them a whole lot is because I'm
not here to create a culture for you to try to run and say hold
and you hang out with them. Now why are you hanging out with
them? Well, you know they give words.
Your word is in the word, and a true prophet, if you do that
honestly, is not going to give you a word that's right.
And if one does start giving you words because you're hanging out
with them all the time because you want it, then they're not
really a a prophet of God. All right, Brother, Hagin in
1979 said. What is this?
Sound of tramp, tramp, tramp. It's.
A prophecy that the ministry uses because they see that it
has been fulfilled or in fulfillment because all over the
world. This particular prophecy of
those that had graduated from Rhema now is in 59 countries,
318 campuses globally. They used to say back in the day
there's not a place on the planet that the sun doesn't set,
that a Rhema graduate isn't pastoring.
Now they say there's not a place on the planet that the sun
doesn't set, that there's not a Rhema Bible training college.
Not only is there ministries there, but there is also a
school. Hallelujah.
Now here's another thing. We don't live by prophecies from
prophets. We live by the Word of God.
So even if a true prophet has delivered a word, we don't live
by that word. We live by the word of God That
then will produce that word. Whatever it is in our life.
Because you will not get the word the prophet releases to you
to come to pass in your life if you are living by that prophecy.
Because although it is a divine will of God for your life, it
will not come to pass unless you live by the word.
Is it God's will? I close with this thought
worship. Team, would you come?
Is it God's will that none would perish and that all would come
to repentance? We'll all come to repentance.
So that prophetic word is not reality in the context that
everyone saved. It is a desire of God.
We know it's His will. For them to be saved.
But God will not override your will to be saved.
So it's the same when you receive a prophetic word.
If you do from a prophet, that word is released to awaken you
to God's divine will potentially in your life or whatever you may
have a destiny or purpose or an assignment for that matter.
It may not be the whole scope of your life it.
May just be an assignment for you.
You don't live by the prophecy, you live by the Word.
When you live by the Word, a prophecy can be fulfilled.
Amen. Amen.