Wednesday Prayer #4

I want to welcome you tonight, especially those who may be joining us for the first time.

Again, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your desire to not only grow in your own faith, but your commitment and desire to see our church grow spiritually as well.

The Apostle Paul says the church is like a body. And for the body to function properly, all it’s parts must be engaged. Your presence here tonight is a clear sign that our

I know with certainty that our commitment to pray during this season is going to have a huge spiritual impact on our church, in fact I believe we already beginning to see the benefits of our time together.

Tonight I believe the Lord wants to speak to us in a unique way. I a way that some of you maybe have never experienced.

And so to prepare us for what I believe God wants to do tonight, I want to begin by taking a fews to share some scripture with you in order to give us some direction.

The first passage I want to share comes from . It’s a passage we looked at this past Sunday. And it comes form the first part of Peter’s sermon as he stands up to explain the coming of the Spirit. In verse 16 Peter says:

Acts 2:16-

Acts 2:16–18 ESV

16 But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: 17 “ ‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; 18 even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.

In this passage Peter explains what the coming of the Holy Spirit meant then and means for us today. And as we learned this past Sunday, the Spirit’s coming serves 3 primary purposes:

First, through the outpouring of the Spirit it signifies the regenerational work of the Spirit as He begins to change us from the inside out.

Second, the Holy Spirit has come to empower us for witness.

Second, He’s come to empower us for witness in order to equip us and enable us to share and minister the gospel.

Third, He’s come to convict the world of sin. Jesus puts it like this:

John 16:8 ESV

8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:

And while we could spend time looking at each of those purposes, what I want to focus on tonight is the Spirit’s work of empowerment in our lives.

so, going back to Peter’s sermon, I want you to notice what Peter says in verse 18 about that empowerment. He says:

“…in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.”

As we learned Sunday, the two key words that are important for us are the word “they” and “prophesy”. So let’s begin with the word “Prophesy”.

So, what exactly does that mean?

Well, the word for “prophesy” here comes from the Greek word “propheteuo”. And it’s the idea of speaking under the influence of divine inspiration. In other words, it’s the idea of a person speaking the words or thoughts of God.

So, that tells us a couple of things. First, it tells us this isn’t

In other words,

In other words, it’s the idea of a person speaking the words or thoughts of God.

So, think of it like this. It would be like somebody telling you something and then asking you to relay it to others. That’s all prophesy is. It’s communication from one person through another.

But in this case it’s God asking you to relay something to others, not some other person.

Think of it like this. It would be like somebody telling you something and then asking you to relay it to others.

So, that raises a great question, “What exactly does God want to relay through us?”

So, prophesy isn’t

Well, let’s begin with what He’s not going to relay through us. And in this case the word for prophecy isn’t referring to the prediction of future events.

In other words, the kind of prophesy we’re talking about here isn’t in reference to the prediction of the Chiefs winning the Super Bowl or something like that. That’s not the kind of prophesy we are talking about here.

In this passage Peter wasn’t saying that all would be able to predict what was going to happen in the future. That’s not the kind of prophesy we are talking about here.

So, what kind of prophesy is it? In this case, it’s a word or thought from God that could do one of several things. Listen to how Paul describes and explains prophesy in . He writes:

1 Corinthians 14:1–5 ESV

1 Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. 2 For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit. 3 On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation. 4 The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church. 5 Now I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be built up.

1 Corinthians 14:1-

Paul says of all the spiritual gifts, one of the greatest gifts is prophesy. And it’s important to note that this is the same Word that Peter uses in . Meaning they are both talking about the same type of prophesy.

And from what Paul says we get some insight into what prophesy is referring to:

#1, prophesy is an understandable utterance. Meaning it’s not tongues. In other words, prophesy is the known language of those present. We know this because in this passage Paul explains the difference between tongues and prophecy. Tongues requires interpretation and prophecy does not.

#2, prophesy is meant for upbuilding, encouragement, and consolation. So, what does that mean?

Well, the word for “upbuilding” here means “to increase the potential of someone or something, with focus upon the process involved. To strengthen, to make more able.”

In other words, it’s the idea of communicating something from God that encourages one to grow deeper or causes them to grow deeper and be more built up in their faith.

For instance, it could be some kind of instruction that leads a person to evaluate, make changes, and move forward in their faith journey.

The word for “encouragement” means “to cause someone to be encouraged or consoled, either by verbal or in some cases non-verbal means”.

In other words, it’s the idea of communicating something from God that brings hope into a situation.

For instance, if a person is struggling with depression, a prophesy from the Lord might bring encouragement to their soul.

The word for “consolation” means “to comfort”. In other words to communicate something from God that not only brings hope, but brings peace to a person or situation.

So for example, if somebody was

For instance, it may be a word of encouragement that calms anxiety in a situation you are facing.

So, based on those three words, prophesy is God’s way of speaking strength, hope, comfort, peace, and encouragement into our lives.

I don’t know about you, but I could use some of that, especially if it’s from God. I mean, it’s one thing to get that from another person, but to hear it from God, that’s on an entirely different level.

#3, prophesy is meant to build up the church.

#4, prophesy can also be used to lead people to Jesus

Paul says prophesies strengthen the church. And again, it’s the idea of increasing our potential. In other words, when God speaks to a church through prophesy, our church gets stronger.

Again, I want that for our church, and I would think you would too.

So, when we talk about prophesy, that’s what we are talking about.

Prophecy: Understandable language that communicates a message from God of hope, comfort, peace, and encouragement that brings strength not only personally, but to us as a body of believers.

Here’s he second thing I want you to notice about what Peter says. Peter says when it comes to the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, “they” and “all will prophesy”.

What that means is, the ability to prophesy is for anybody who is a Christ follower and is empowered or influenced by the Holy Spirit.

What that means then is, anybody in this room who seeks empowerment and wants to be used by God in this way, can prpohesy.

Now, that’s exciting and humbling at the same time, wouldn’t you say? To think that you and I could used by God like that isn’t just amazing, it’s mind blowing.

I mean think about it from this perspective. Let’s say the President of the United States called you and asked you to relay a message to all of us tonight. You’d be pretty humbled and excited if that happened to you, right? You’d be like, “Guys, you’re not going to believe this. But President Trump personally called me and gave me an important message to share with all of you.”

Now, some of you might not be excited about that. But how much more exciting and humbling should it be that the God of the Universe would personally work through you to communicate a message to us. Quite a bit more I would think.

But that’s what God wants to do. He wants to speak through each of us for the benefit of one another.

So, a good question to ask then would be, “How does that work in a setting like this?” Well, I’m glad you asked.

The truth is, there are a number of ways God could do it. But tonight I believe there is a specific way He wants to speak to us. A way that will allow many of you to be used by God in this way. So, here’s what we are going to do.

For the next 10-15 minutes we are going to spend some time in prayer. And during our prayer time, here’s what I want you to prayerfully consider and listen for.

First, I want you to pray that God would speak to you. I want you to ask the Lord to tell you whatever

First, I want you to begin by asking the Lord to speak through you? to give you the ability to prophesy. And in doing so ask Him to give you something to share. To pray, “Lord, what do you want to tell your church tonight? What do you want to say through me?”

Now, I would say most of you have never prayed for something like this. So at first, it may seem a little akward. And that’s ok. But just know, God wants to speak to and through you. All you have to do is ask Him to.

Second, after praying that, I want you to wait and listen. Listen for a word of encouragement. Listen for a word of instruction. Listen for a word of hope. Listen for a word of peace. Listen for a word of comfort. Silence your spirit and allow the Lord to speak to you.

Third, when you feel like the Lord has told you something or put something on your heart, I want you to hold on to that thought. It might be a few words. It might be a statement. But whatever it is, I want you to hold onto it.

So, with that in mind, I’m going to put some worship music on, and let’s spend some time praying and asking for the Lord to speak to us, and then in a few minutes I’ll come back to give further instruction.

Prayer Time

Now that we’ve prayed and asked the Lord to speak to us, here’s what we are going to do.

First, if you feel led by the Spirit to share something the Lord has said to you, for the the next few moments I’m going to give several of you an opportunity to share that thought.

For example, maybe you felt like the Lord wanted to tell us that He loves us. So you would simply say, “The Lord wants us to know He loves us.”

Everybody with me? So, in a few moments I’m going to open the floor for some of you to share a Word from the Lord.

Second, as you share, I’m going to write down what each shares, and then after several have shared, I’m going to relay back to all of us the Words and message God has given us.

Finally, after I read what the Lord has spoken to us through several of you, we’re going to spend a few moments evaluating what the Lord has said. The reason we’re going to do that is because that’s what the Bible instructs us to do. In Paul writes:

Finally, we are going to spend a few moments evaluating what the Lord said. The reason we’re going to do that is in to relation to prophesy Paul says:

1 Corinthians 14:29 ESV

29 Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said.

1 Corinthians 14:29

What Paul is saying is when a prophesy or prophecies are given, we are to weigh it. In other words, we are too evaluate it and compare it to God’s Word.

We are to ask ourselves, “Is what was said Biblical. Does it line up with what we know scripture says.”

Why would we do that? We do it because if it doesn’t line up with scripture, then it’s not from the Lord. But if it does, we can be confident the Lord has spoken to us.

So, we all on the same page? Then let’s begin as one at a time, some of you begin to share what you fell the Lord is speaking to us.

Prayer of Thankfullness

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