Modern Prophets Part 2
God Protects His Word • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 3 viewsPeople really struggle understanding that authority and position of a modern prophet. We focused on the tests of a prophet in the last sermon. In this sermon we will focus more on the ministry of Ellen White and the accusation that have been brought against her.
Notes
Transcript
I made some
last minute changes.
Not sure how
this will come together.
Reminds me of story:
A pastor was retiring after 25 years in his Church. As he came to clear out his bedroom he found a little basket under the bed with five eggs and $1,000. Baffled he called his wife and said: Darling, what are these eggs and money doing under the bed? “Oh “ she said “ I must confess that every time you preach a bad sermon I put an egg in the basket.” Secretly the pastor was pleased: “Not bad, five bad sermons in 25 years” he thought: “And what about the $1,000?” “Well every time I get a dozen eggs I sell them. (Unknown, Lou Nicholes – Missionary/Author)
This is a continuation
from the last sermon.
For the sake of those
who missed it
I’ll repeat a little.
There are a few categories
of prophets.
Those that write
Those that don’t write.
Prophets that did not write
Elijah
Elisha
Noah
Ahijah
Azariah
Jehu
Micaiah
Multiple Un-named…
Simeon
Anna
Barnabas,
Lucius of Cyrene,
Manahen,
Simeon Niger
etc. etc. etc.
Among those that write
Those in the cannon.
Those not in the cannon.
Majority of prophets
are not in the canon.
Some wrote:
Nathan
Gad
etc.
Most seemingly didn’t.
The SDA Church
recognized Ellen White
as a prophetess.
She passes the tests
of a prophets
(see last sermon).
But there are still
many who are
confused about
position and authority
of EGW in our theology.
I mentioned last sermon
Our teachings come
from the Bible.
Not from extra-biblical sources.
Nonetheless,
hard to downplay
impact of EGW in
theological development.
Story of EGW going into vision
when there was disunity.
Furthermore,
bible teaches
there will be
prophets in last days.
Joel 2:28–32 (NKJV)
“And it shall come to pass afterward
That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh;
--
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
Your old men shall dream dreams,
Your young men shall see visions.
--
And also on My menservants and on My maidservants
I will pour out My Spirit in those days.
“And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth:
Blood and fire and pillars of smoke.
--
The sun shall be turned into darkness,
And the moon into blood,
Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.
--
And it shall come to pass
That whoever calls on the name of the Lord
Shall be saved....
Bible is clear,
there will be prophets
in the last days
before Christ comes.
But Jesus warned about
false prophets too.
Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.
This means we must
be able to
tell them apart.
I covered that
in the last sermon.
This leads me to
another question.
I want to focus on more.
What is the authority
of a modern prophet?
I repeat all of this
to repeat important teaching
from last sermon.
Ellen White
fits into category
of non-canonical writing prophet.
Same position as:
Nathan
Gad
Etc.
They wrote books
but we don’t have them.
Difference is,
we have EGW books.
same authority
of other non-canonical prophets.
People like:
Noah
Elijah
Elisha
Daughters of Phillip
What authority did they have?
Let’s examine,
some scripture.
Speaking of Elisha:
2 Kings 2:23–24 (ESV)
He went up from there to Bethel, and while he was going up on the way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him, saying, “Go up, you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!”
--
And he turned around, and when he saw them, he cursed them in the name of the Lord. And two she-bears came out of the woods and tore forty-two of the boys.
Very intense
part of scripture.
What authority
of that “modern prophet”
(who has no book).
(non-canonical prophet).
What authority
does he have?
Obviously,
significant authority.
Voice of God.
to make dead
to make alive!
“The Lord kills and makes alive;
He brings down to the grave and brings up.
The Lord makes poor and makes rich;
He brings low and lifts up.
They Lord has
ultimate authority
over human life.
Prophet is mouthpiece of God.
Therefore authority
of the prophet is
the authority of God Himself!
Prophet is given power
when speaking
through inspiration
to kill or make alive!
You see,
with God
there are no accidents.
That reminds me
of a story.
The dictionary defines “accident” as an unforseen event or one without apparent cause. Any Christian who understands the sovereignty of God will immediately determine from this definition that there is no such thing as an accident.
It’s like the cowboy who goes to buy some life insurance. The broker asked him if he had any accidents in the past year, to which the cowboy replied
“No. But I was kicked by a horse,
chased by a raging bull
and bitten by a snake
that laid me up for a while.”
The agent said, “Weren’t they accidents?”
To which the stockman replied,
“No, they did it on purpose.
(Source Unknown).
In the end,
there are no accident
God is fully in charge.
Let’s examine
another non-canonical
prophet of God.
Noah!
Genesis 6:5–8 (NKJV)
Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
--
And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the Lord said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth,
--
both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
This famous story
Noah and the Ark.
What can we learn?
God made decision.
He is final authority.
He finds man to help.
Genesis 6:13–14 (NKJV)
And God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
--
Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch.
Noah is instructed
how to build a boat
to save people and animals
from coming flood.
And behold, I Myself am bringing floodwaters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die.
God instructs Noah personally,
anything that does not
get on this boat will die.
Tells him to bring food.
Tells him about the animals.
Tells him bring family.
Question:
as people see
Noah building huge boat
how were conversations?
Did Noah warn them?
Of course!
and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly;
Bible calls Noah
“preacher of righteousness”.
Clearly Noah preached
to more than
his own family.
Speaking of Noah
Heb 11
“faith chapter” says:
By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
By his preaching
and his actions
He condemned the world.
What this tells us
is that they were
all warned of
the coming flood.
Yet!!!
they chose
to ignore the word
of their modern prophet.
I hear people say.
Modern Prophets,
not authoritative
devotional value
don’t agree with […]
God has not give us
the authority to
take those positions
about words of prophet.
They are the words
of God Himself.
Completely Authoritative.
We are not allowed
to sit in judgement
about them.
Just like we,
have now right to
decide if Noah
authoritative or not.
Either the prophet
passes tests of prophet
or does not.
If prophet passes,
all words spoken through
inspiration of God
are authoritative
(Word of God)!
If words of the prophet
disagrees with
my cherished thoughts;
I must change
my cherished thoughts
or be judge by God!
Noah and flood.
People didn’t like
Words of God.
They could:
disregard
jest
diminish
devalue
distrust.
But only at
peril of their soul.
Those who did not
accept words of
non-canonical prophet
died 1st death
and second death.
Do not downplay
words of prophet.
Do not neglect
words of prophet.
At peril of our soul.
It does not matter
how counter-cultural
these words seem.
We reject God’s words.
God rejects us.
Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”
Conversely,
opposite is true.
Speaking of 72 disciples
Jesus sent out
as His prophets
speaking His Word:
He who hears you hears Me, he who rejects you rejects Me, and he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me.”
If we reject
words of messenger
words of prophet
we reject God.
Very Dangerous Ground!!
Skip this quote???
Final words
from a modern prophet:
If you, my brethren, who have been acquainted with me and my work for many years, take the position that my counsel is of no more value than the counsel of those who have not been specially educated for this work, then do not ask me to unite with you in labor; for while you occupy this position,
--
you will inevitably counteract the influence of my work. If you feel just as safe in following your own impulses as in following the light given by God's delegated servant, the peril is your own; you will be condemned because you rejected the light which heaven had sent you. - 5T 688
Resume Here???
If God sees fit
to send a prophet,
We better listen.
Truth and error
always at odds.
Daniel Webster said: “If religious books are not widely circulated among the masses in this country, I do not know what is going to become of us as a nation. If truth be not diffused, error will be. If the evangelical volume does not reach every community, the pages of a corrupt and licentious literature will. “If the power of the Gospel is not felt throughout the length and breadth of the land, anarchy and misrule, degeneration and misery, corruption and darkness, will reign without mitigation or end.” These words of a century-and-a-half ago had a strangely prophetic ring.
If we don’t
receive the truth
We will receive
error!
APPEAL
APPEAL
Take time
to test modern prophet.
If prophet
passes the tests
accept all inspired words.