Women Who Sew Pillows
Notes
Transcript
Before we get to the message this morning I wanted to let you know of a new resource.
For the past couple of weeks I have been using a new software to create my sermon outline.
This means that my sermons are now available on our Faithlife Group page AND on our webpage
The outline from which I preach and audio are available under the menu item “Content”
In fact, you can see all these slides as you listen to the audio.
You can still take notes on the back of the bulletin, but this high-tech resource is also available.
Fasting and Prayer
Fasting and Prayer
I also want to encourage you to join us in fasting and prayer this week.
Tonight we will meet at 5:00 pm.
Monday through Saturday we will meet at 11 am except Thursday when we will meet at Meeks Park
We will be praying through the letters and images of the 7 churches of Asia.
PLEASE, come be a part. PLEASE pray for this nation (especially Thursday), pray for the church, pray for Christians enduring persecution (I read about a 70+ year old preacher in Great Britain…), pray for the Light to shine forth so that many come to Jesus before it is too late.
But let’s turn to God’s Word this morning!
Women Who Sew Pillows
Women Who Sew Pillows
Text: Ezekiel 13:17-23
Where did I get the Women who sew pillows thing?
And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe to the women that sew pillows to all armholes, and make kerchiefs upon the head of every stature to hunt souls! Will ye hunt the souls of my people, and will ye save the souls alive that come unto you?
Women of the Bible
Women of the Bible
For the past few weeks, leading up to Mother’s Day next Sunday, we have been looking at just a few of the women of the Bible.
We have looked at accounts of real women like Phoebe and Tabitha
And symbolic women such as the great harlot and the Bride of Christ.
Women have been and continue to be very important to the Kingdom of God.
At the same time, women can be great enemies of the Lord.
Such as the great harlot of a few weeks ago and
The women mentioned in our text this morning.
This morning we are turning our attention to this group of women named in our text:
Women who sew pillows (KJV) or
Women who sew magic wrist bands, bracelets or magic charms (as it is listed in most other modern translations)
CJB - magic pads for all their arm joints
Because they are very similar to men and women we see in our society today.
False prophets
False prophetesses
The Word Biblical Commentary says:
Among the Judean exiles there were female counterparts to the male prophets of vv 2–16. They had a private rather than a public ministry: their concern was not to interpret political issues but to resolve the personal problems of their clients, like the prophets of Mic 3:5. Moreover, they performed magical spells as a means of prognostication.
The exact nature of these magic wristbands and shawls is lost in the dimness of ancient history.
Probably these are the tools of the trade for witches.
Or at least, women who have tried to syncretize Judaism with the false religions of Babylon or Mesopotamia.
That part is interesting, maybe even a little comical to modern thinking (even though we have computer-derived horoscopes, crystal balls, and other modern contrivances).
But may the Lord help us to understand what these women are doing in the light of the same sorts of things we see right now in the 21st century.
A Day of Deception
A Day of Deception
Ezekiel, instructed by God Himself, set his face against these false prophetesses.
Showing God’s hostility towards what they are doing.
God was against their practices for several reasons.
First, according to verse 17, they prophesied “from their own inspiration.”
According to what they made up in their evil hearts.
According to what made them the most money.
What gave them the most notoriety.
Does that sound familiar?
Like something that could happen today?
2020 was a year for many false prophecies.
Too many of which did NOT come from God, but from the desires, the hearts of the one pronouncing their predictions.
To tell you the truth, it made me sick because of what it did to many Christians.
It caused many people to despise prophecy in direct disobedience to:
Do not quench the Spirit;
do not despise prophetic utterances.
Which in turn led people to discount TRUE prophecy and genuine moves of the Holy Spirit.
Folks, we don’t need anything that causes people to turn FROM God.
Things like false prophecies.
We need a true move of God from men and women who hear from Him.
But like in Ezekiel’s day men (vs. 2) and women (vs.17) spoke, NOT from God, but from their own inspiration.
They CLAIMED to be speaking from God like in vs.2:
“Listen to the word of the Lord!”
God says, earlier in Ezekiel 13:
“O people of Israel, these prophets of yours are like jackals digging in the ruins. They have done nothing to repair the breaks in the walls around the nation. They have not helped it to stand firm in battle on the day of the Lord. Instead, they have told lies and made false predictions. They say, ‘This message is from the Lord,’ even though the Lord never sent them. And yet they expect him to fulfill their prophecies!
Why, in this day, did people make all of these false prophecies from their own hearts, from their own inspiration?
I’m afraid that for too many they wanted fame.
They wanted accolades.
They wanted to be thought highly of.
It wasn’t about God getting the glory — it was about promotion of self.
Still others did it from a desire to encourage those who were discouraged.
Maybe they thought they could provoke a self-fulfilling prophecy.
They thought if they said in the name of the Lord, then God would HAVE to bring it to pass.
Whatever their motivations, they did not hear from God and caused harm.
Verse 22 tells us the result of false prophecy in Ezekiel’s day...
The righteous were discouraged and disheartened, while
The wicked were encouraged in their wickedness and discouraged from repentance.
What a sorry state of affairs!
Thank God that the Word of God is very clear about how we are to judge prophets, prophetesses and their prophecy
To be able to tell whether or not what they predict is of God.
Criteria for recognising true prophets
Criteria for recognising true prophets
First of all ...
As it says here in Deuteronomy
A true prophet’s word will be fulfilled
A true prophet’s word will be fulfilled
“You may say in your heart, ‘How will we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?’
“When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.
And in…
“The prophets who were before me and before you from ancient times prophesied against many lands and against great kingdoms, of war and of calamity and of pestilence.
“The prophet who prophesies of peace, when the word of the prophet comes to pass, then that prophet will be known as one whom the Lord has truly sent.”
Next ...
A true prophet’s teaching promotes righteous behaviour
A true prophet’s teaching promotes righteous behaviour
“If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder,
and the sign or the wonder comes true, concerning which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serve them,’
you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the Lord your God is testing you to find out if you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
“You shall follow the Lord your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him.
And then ...
A true prophet’s godly life will reflect his calling
A true prophet’s godly life will reflect his calling
“Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
“You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they?
“So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.
“A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit.
“Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
“So then, you will know them by their fruits.
The same Jesus who says “Do not judge...” in verse 1 of Matthew 7 tells us to judge prophets and their prophecies.
Quite obviously, Jesus does not command us to never judge anything or anyone.
Chuck Swindoll tells us:
What Jesus is condemning ... [in Matthew 7:1] is a judgmental, negative, haughty attitude that assesses others with a suspicious spirit [like the Phaisees]. People who have such an attitude are always on the hunt for faults, mistakes, or imperfections in others. And they find them! There are always petty flaws and failures to be exposed. They do this out of an attitude of superiority, presumption, prejudice, and pride. The result is a destructive, condemning attitude and a blindness to one’s own faults. This is the glaring hypocrisy that Jesus emphasizes here.
Swindoll also says:
[Jesus] didn’t mean for us to be naïve and lack discernment. In fact, the Lord would soon warn His listeners to “beware of the false prophets” (7:15) [which we just read], which requires discernment. Likewise, 1 John 4:1 says believers are to “test the spirits to see whether they are from God.” This requires observation, weighing facts, and drawing conclusions. Jesus’ warning in the Sermon on the Mount against hypocritically judging others doesn’t mean we’re to support false teachers blindly or neglect our responsibility to call out genuine deception or wickedness when we see it.
So, one of the ways we “judge” whether a prophet or prophetess is of God, a TRUE prophet, is by the life they live.
A true prophet will acknowledge Jesus Christ as divine
A true prophet will acknowledge Jesus Christ as divine
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God;
and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.
You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.
They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them.
We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
God places a strict requirement upon his prophets that they should proclaim only what is divinely revealed:
God places a strict requirement upon his prophets that they should proclaim only what is divinely revealed:
God has always required His prophets to speak only what He tells them to speak.
In 1 Kings we see a prophet named Micaiah being coerced to speak a false prophecy, But he was a prophet of God, he refused ...
Then the messenger who went to summon Micaiah spoke to him saying, “Behold now, the words of the prophets are uniformly favorable to the king. Please let your word be like the word of one of them, and speak favorably.”
But Micaiah said, “As the Lord lives, what the Lord says to me, that I shall speak.”
But prophesying smooth words, pleasant words, words that confirm what people are wanting, is what people want to hear!
“An appalling and horrible thing
Has happened in the land:
The prophets prophesy falsely,
And the priests rule on their own authority;
And My people love it so!
But what will you do at the end of it?
We hear a similar condemnation in:
For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. They will reject the truth and chase after myths.
Today’s Prophetic Climate
Today’s Prophetic Climate
This is that day.
That day when people do NOT want to hear the truth.
A day Jesus predicted in ...
“At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another.
“Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many.
And in
“For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.
Such a prophetic climate existed in the churches of Asia near the close of the first century
Jesus condemned yet another symbolic woman in the church at Thyatira...
‘But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.
Even though false prophets and prophetesses are a characteristic of the day...
What Are We To Do?
What Are We To Do?
I still exhort us:
do not despise prophetic utterances.
God is speaking to His people in THIS day like He always has...
So, get closer to Him.
Grow in the anointing of the Holy Spirit:
I am writing these things to warn you about those who want to lead you astray. But you have received the Holy Spirit, and he lives within you, so you don’t need anyone to teach you what is true. For the Spirit teaches you everything you need to know, and what he teaches is true—it is not a lie. So just as he has taught you, remain in fellowship with Christ.
We have never needed TRUE prophets and prophetesses more than today:
Prophet Arise Prophet, Arise
PROPHET, ARISE
by John Eckhardt
The Lord is setting a flame
To His prophets around the globe,
They are coming forth with power,
It is time to arise.
They are coming out of the cave.
It is a new day of boldness,
So now come forth,
It is time to arise.
You will no longer hide,
You will now speak forth.
God has seen your tears,
It is time to arise.
He has heard your prayers,
You have not been forgotten,
The day of hiding is over,
It is time to arise.
You now know who you are,
No more confusion,
I have called you by name
It is time to arise.
You are special to Me,
A new breed set apart,
I do not reject you,
It is time to arise.
Hear me when I call you,
And now obey My voice,
Your God is now speaking,
It is time to arise.
Do You Know Jesus?
Do You Know Jesus?
So, if we want to walk in truth, we must abide in fellowship with Jesus.
Does that describe you today?
If not, turn to jesus.
Recommit to Jesus
Maybe God is calling you into a prophetic ministry.
Speaking truth and light to lies and darkness that predominate this world.
Come forward, let us anoint you and pray over you that you will only, ever speak God’s Word.