What is Prophetic Gifting
Gifts of the Holy Spirit • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 2 viewsIn today’s message, we will look at people who are gifted by the Holy Spirit to be Prophetic and how that plays out in their lives.
Notes
Transcript
Handout
February 22nd 2026
Series: Gifts of the Holy Spirit
Sermon Title: What is Prophetic Gifting
Topic: What are the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and in this part, specifically APEST gifts.
Key Passages: ADD
Topic: Holy Spirit, Gifts, Prophet, Prophetic
Sermon Blurb: In today’s message, we will look at people who are gifted by the Holy Spirit to be Prophetic and how that plays out in their lives.
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***Green in sermons means illustration, something we are looking for a response from, and/or a picture that goes on the screens.
***Yellow means what is yellow will be on the screens and in the handout.
Dedication, Baptism, or Ministry Highlight (1st Sunday, every even month):
Sermon:
Hello, Family Church!
Welcome, whether you are here in person or online.
Family Moment –
Start with something personal from your family life recently to help people get to know you.
Celebrate salvation/rededications/baptisms last week.
Celebrate new disciples and disciple-makers.
PAUSE
If you are new to Family Church, we are SO happy you are here today!
Today, we continue our series on the ways the Holy Spirit gifts us in the New Testament.
Gifts can be spiritual.
Gifts can be physical.
Gifts can be relational.
Gifts can come in all different shapes and sizes.
And this part of this series will walk down several different roads.
As we learn about the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
And we are all NOT gifted the same by God.
We do NOT have all the same talents.
Abilities.
And so on.
And that is a GOOD thing.
PAUSE
Let me put the gifts we are talking about currently on the screens so you can see those…
Holy Spirit APEST Gifts: A-Apostolic P- Prophetic E- Evangelist S- Shepard T- Teacher
Each week we will be going over one gift.
Last week, we spent the entire message looking at the Apostolic gift.
And if you are gifted apositically, what does that mean for you in school, at work, and in the church?
High level….
Apostolic people are the leaders of leaders.
The people who start new companies.
Launch new initiatives.
Bring new sports to a school.
And so on.
And if you missed that message, go back and listen to it online.
This week, we are going to talk about the second gift on the screen.
People who are gifted prophetically, how will that play out in school, at work, and in church?
Then, next week, if you are gifted evangelistically, how will that play out in school, at work, and in church?
Then, in week #4, if you are gifted to shepherd, how will that play out in school, at work, and in church?
Then we will wrap this up in week #5, talking about how people are gifted to teach, how that will play out in school, at work, and in church.
PAUSE
Today, we get to talk about one of my middle gifts.
This one ranked #4th for me.
(Adjust to you)
And if you were NOT here when we took the test to see all that…after service ADD PLACE TO GO…
Pick up that super short and easy test and that will help you as we continue in this series.
ADD where to do online as well…
Like we said last week, Apostolic people are people who LOVE to start new things.
Launch new companies.
Launch new products.
Go into uncharted territory.
Bring new sports to a school.
And so on.
So….
Does anyone want to guess the pastor on staff who had Prophet as their top gift?
Pastor Keith!
Now I know some of you might not know him because he is our Ebenezer Campus Pastor and doesn’t get here a lot.
But he is the guy who is our hard hitting pastor.
Calls it like it is.
Is not afarid to call people into account.
And so on…
For me…(Adjust for you)
I can be prophetic…
Because we all have these gifts.
But it is not my natural inclination like it would be for Keith.
PAUSE
And let me say this…
If you are not, or do not think you are, a prophet…
Don’t tune me out!
You can learn a lot about how other people's minds work in this series.
And if you know how someone like me thinks, it will help you interact with your boss at work.
Maybe a teacher.
Maybe a parent.
Maybe a partner.
And so on.
So even if you are NOT gifted this way…
Stay dialed in and take good notes today because this will help you!
Everyone has aspects of each gift, but most people have one or two dominant areas.
Your gifting can develop over time.
And all roles are equally valuable to the community.
PAUSE
So, jump into the Bible.
If you have your Bible with you —and I hope you do —open it to
Ephesians 4
New Person Bible Connection:
If you do not have a Bible, that is ok!
After service, we will give you an AMAZING leather-bound study Bible!
Just go to ADD YOUR CAMPUS PLACE and get one for FREE!!!
Or you can always download the Family Church app and follow along on your phone as well.
Simply download the app and click "Sermon Notes" on the main page.
Here is something interesting about the APEST gifts…
These are all gifts given by Jesus.
Here is what the Bible says.
Ephesians 4:11-16 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers,
12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up
You can leave that verse on the screen.
And let me remind you…
Look at what Jesus said…
These APEST gifts have a clearly defined purpose by Jesus.
Look at that verse in your Bible.
These gifts are “to equip” the church…
And to equip the people of the church to do “works of service.”
And we are not just serving people for fun.
We are not serving people to feel good.
We are not serving people because we feel like it.
We are doing it…
Look in your Bibles…
“So that the 'body of Christ,' aka the church, 'will be built up,' aka grow!”
So, the PRIMARY reason we are gifted with these gifts by God is to build God’s church….
Do not miss that in fact…
Why don’t you write that down…
The primary purpose of the APEST gifts is to build up God’s church.
(Repeat)
And you might think that means church growth in terms of number of people…
Which, yes, that is part…
But that is not all it means.
Because if you look at your Bible, build up is not the end of the sentence.
It continues with:
13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
So here we can learn something else…
Being “built up” does not just mean numerical church growth.
These gifts are designed to bring us into unity.
Do you see that in the Bible?
These gifts will also help us know Jesus better.
Do you see that in the Bible?
These gifts will also help us become mature like Jesus.
Do you see that in the Bible?
As we live out our giftings…
We will help others and ourselves become more like Jesus.
PAUSE
And it goes on to say….
14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.
15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.
16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
You can stop reading there…
Note those ending words.
“Each part does its work.”
Again…
We are all gifted differently by God, and that is GOOD!
PAUSE
So….
Let’s talk about the gift of being a prophet.
The Prophet cannot help them self in communicating truth, calling, warnings, and encouragement.
They have a unique ability to see hear from God,
discern what people are called to do in the future,
expose motives,
reveal truth,
and bring clarity
Prophets often see what others don’t.
PAUSE
Look at the role description in your notes….
People who are gifted as a Prophet: • They hear God and speak God’s heart • They call people to account • They reveal God’s perspective • They discern spiritual reality
Now I am sure some of you are wondering…
Ok, so how will this play out in life?
If you are gifted this way in school.
You’re the type of person who, when you see someone do something wrong…
You have to call it out.
You are the type who can see when people are fake or lying.
You have a passion for justice and truth.
And maybe you can hear God and are not afraid to tell others what you hear God saying…
PAUSE
If you are gifted this way in the working world.
You are the one who, in a meeting, if someone says something that is off… you're going to call them out…even if it is the boss!
You can see things that others do not.
And maybe you can hear God and are not afraid to tell others what you hear God saying…
PAUSE
If you are gifted this way in the church world.
These are the fire-and-brimstone preachers.
The preachers who love to confront people with wrong ideologies.
Think like Elijah, who confronted hundreds of prophets at one time and then had no problem calling the people to slaughter them…
Hosea who called people to repent.
Isaiah who called people back to Holiness.
In the church world it will always be drawing people back to God.
PAUSE
See church….
Even if you are NEVER in ministry…
These gifts God has given you will be used.
PAUSE
So, let’s learn more about it from the Bible so you can better understand who God created you to be and what He created you to do.
Let’s start with what does “Prophet” mean Biblically?
You will see the definition in your notes.
The Greek word prophetes means: a forteller, proclaimer, conveyer of a God’s message.
There are SOOOO many prophets in the Bible.
PAUSE
Let me give you 4 marks we see in the Bible for the Prophetic Gift.
4 Marks of the Prophet gift: 1) Deep sensitivity to God’s voice
Prophetic people hunger for God’s presence and are tuned to hear Him speak.
Or as Amos said in the Bible…
Amos 3:7 “Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing His plan to His servants the prophets.”
Prophetic people are better at hearing from God.
Listening to God.
And obeying what God tells them to say or do.
It is not that we all cannot do that…
We can.
But those gifted this…it just comes naturally to them.
Where other people, like me, it is something I have to work at.
2) Passion for holiness
Prophetic people “just know” when something is off or out of alignment with God.
Prophetic people carry God’s heart for purity and call others to Christlike living.
Let me show you an example of this from the Bible.
In 2 Samuel 12 we read about this conversation between the King named David and a prophet named Samuel.
And you are about to hear Samuel call the king out BIG TIME!
2 Samuel 12:1-14 The Lord sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor.
2 The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle,
3 but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children.
It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.
4 “Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him.
Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.”
5 David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan,
“As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die! 6 He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.”
7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man!
And if you read through the end of verse 14…
You will see Samuel keeps calling him out even MORE harshly!
Prophetic people have a PASSION for holiness.
PAUSE
Now…I will also say this…
You can be gifted this way, but have the passion for the wrong thing.
There are people who have LOTS of passion….
But passion for things that are not from God.
And the reality is that with all these gifts, you get a choice.
You get a choice to use these gifts to bring God more glory and grow His kingdom…
OR…
To use it for your personal desires.
Your choice…
And this next point is why it can be hard for some people.
Because prophets also have a…
3) Burden for the broken
Prophets often feel deeply the weight of sin,
injustice,
or spiritual dryness.
Which again….is how people can get mislead…
Some people can see brokenness…
Or injustice…
And they feel they have to champion that cause because the person is down and out…
Or magalized…
BUT…just because there is a perceived injustice does not mean it is real.
OR Godly.
That is why Isiah said:
Isaiah 61:1 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me… to bind up the brokenhearted.”
Isaiah one of the greatest prophets wanted to help heal the brokenhearted.
And Jesus said much the same.
Matthew 9:36 “When He saw the crowds, He had compassion for them…”
Jesus saw people mislead by culture.
By society.
By dead religion.
And he wanted something better for them…
And usually…but not always….out of that desire comes…
4) A source of encouragement and strength
Prophets, at times, are also called to strengthen, comfort, and encourage.
1 Corinthians 14:3 “The one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging, and comfort.”
Isaiah 50:4 “The Sovereign LORD has given me a tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary.”
It is not always calling out bad things.
Sometimes it is calling out the good things.
Encouraging people.
Cheering people on.
PAUSE
So, let’s pivot….
Let’s talk about how this gift will show up in your life.
Let’s start with the students.
Students… in school,
You notice when people are hurting.
You noticed when someone is spiritually drifting.
You speak truth even when it’s unpopular.
You encourage friends deeply and personally.
You care about purity,
integrity,
and authenticity.
And I know students…
You might feel like Jeremiah in the Bible.
You might think you’re too young.
You’re afraid to say what God says to say.
Jeremiah said this….
Jeremiah 1:6-8 6 “Alas, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.”
7 But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you.
8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord.
Students…
Just because you young it does NOT mean God cannot do big things through you!
Just follow God in how he calls you!
PAUSE
Adults in the workplace…
You sense undercurrents in meetings that others miss.
You value ethics and truth above profit.
You speak up when something is wrong or unjust.
You encourage coworkers in meaningful ways.
You help teams stay aligned to values and mission.
You will be like Daniel who not only as a young man…
But also as an adult…
He said the right things…
And did the right things…
NO matter the potential personal cost to him.
In the Church…Prophetic people:
Call the church to repentance and revival.
Encourage the discouraged.
Bring clarity in prayer.
Discern what is spiritually healthy or unhealthy.
Help keep the church aligned with God’s heart.
That is why Paul said this…
1 Corinthians 14:1 “Earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.”
I know this gift can sound crazy and scary…
But when God speaks to you…
And through you…
It changes the way you operate!
PAUSE
So, to wrap this all up…
Church, the prophetic gift is a gift of alignment.
Aligning God’s people with God’s heart.
We need prophetic voices today more than ever!
Voices that will:
Call us back to God.
Call us to focus on God.
Call us forward.
Prophets remind us that God still speaks, and the church still listens.
PAUSE
But before we pray, let me give you a life application today.
If you are new or newer to Family Church, we LOVE to end our messages with something for you to talk about with someone else.
Something to help you apply the message to your life.
So here is this week’s Life Application…
Life Application: If you have the Prophetic gift, pray about how you could use that to build God’s Kingdom more.
If you do not, pray about how you could support someone who does in expanding God’s Kingdom.
As a result of today’s message, I will….
Prayer:
Make sure to do a salvation call!
Offering:
Thank you all for being here today!
