Called to be Prophets

From Numbers chapter 11, verses 24 through 29. So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord, and he gathered the seventy of the men, the elders of the people, and placed them round about the tent. Then the Lord came down in a cloud and spoke to him, and took some of the spirit that was upon him, and put it upon the seventy elders.

And when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, but they did so no more. Now two men remained in the camp, one named Eldad and the other named Medad, and the spirit rested upon them. And they were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent, and so they prophesied in the camp.

And a young man rang and told Moses, Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp, and Joshua the son of Nun, the minister of Moses, one of his chosen men, said, My Lord Moses, forbid them. But Moses said to him, Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord's people were prophets, that the Lord would put his spirit upon them. Would that all the Lord's people were prophets, that he would put his spirit upon them.

Now, this idea that certain of God's people have something to say, and so they are the prophets over here, and the rest of God's people are to be the drones doing the chores and perhaps providing the funds, is a distortion of what the kingdom of God really is. See this idea, which we often hold in the back of our minds without even realizing it, that there are certain gifted men and women of God who have profound things to offer through their mouths so they can speak, and the rest of the people of God are to remain silent and live what are called normal lives, is the essence of religious flesh. And this distortion of truth is the foundation of every institution that is built by religious flesh.

If the children of God's kingdom are, in fact, the salt of the earth and the light of the world, as Jesus says they are, if they have been called out of darkness into his marvelous light to proclaim Christ to the world, this makes them, in a literal sense, prophets, and nothing less. If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, if you have been born of God's Spirit, then you have been given a message, and you are responsible to proclaim that message. And being given that message from God makes you nothing less than a prophet.

And what comes out of your mouth under the inspiration of God is, in fact, supernatural, and will be confirmed by God's hand. And you will prophesy not only when you are with the other elders gathered around the tabernacle in some kind of religious setting, but you will prophesy in the camp, like Eldad and Medad did, where people live, struggle, strive, and die. When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place, and suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributed and resting on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven, and at this sound a multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in his own language.

And they were amazed and wondered, saying, Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? How is it that we hear each of us in his own native language? We hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God. And they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, What does this mean? But others mocking said, They are filled with new wine. But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them, Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words, for these men are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day.

But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel, 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. Yea, and on my menservants and my maidservants in those days, I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. Now this baptism of the Spirit which Jesus pours down upon the church on Pentecost was so that what Moses longed for centuries before might come to pass, that all God's people might be in fact prophets, that they might have something to say, utterance given to them by the Spirit of God, and that God with power beyond description would confer what they had to say.

And that's exactly what happened. The message going forth from many mouths moved people in the direction of God, drew people under the influence of the cross of Jesus. Granted, one man among them, Peter, stood up and began to preach, but note that Peter stood up and preached not as a solitary prophet or a lonely evangelist surrounded by a whole host of faithful drones, but Peter got up and spoke as one in an army of prophets.

There were many people speaking, and for this reason, see, 3,000 people were baptized that day, and the thing spread out like an avalanche because it was not tied to Peter's personality or to John's eloquence or to some image that the image makers added to one of them, but it was the result of the Spirit moving in a body of people, going forth, and they just mingled out through the city of Jerusalem giving forth invisible fire from God in normal, ordinary conversation. Wait a minute, somebody objects. In the apostolic church, there was an office known as prophets.

There were specific people who were given the work of being prophets, and that's true. Acts 13, there were teachers and prophets of the Lord ministering to the Lord, worshiping the Lord, and fasting when the Spirit said, Separate unto me soul and body for the work to which I have called them. And in 1 Corinthians 12, Paul says, Are all prophets? True.

There was and there is in the church such an office as prophet, just as there is in the church to this day such an office as teacher, evangelist, worker of miracles, and so forth. But if these prophets are doing their job, and many of them don't even know who they are, praise God, but if they're doing their job, the result is that the body is being so edified that a living word is coming forth from every mouth in the body. In the last days, I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.

And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke as the Spirit gave them utterance. What is desperately needed in our minds, all of us, is to get a vision of the church, the body of Christ, as a nation of prophets, people who have a message which is anointed, supernatural, given by God, who speak that message, and by the power of that message cause the world to see the Lamb of God. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Now we can't make people believe in the Lamb, we can't force them to follow the Lamb, we can't program them into faith in the Lamb, but if we are living and speaking prophetically, we can indeed make sure that they will jolly well see the Lamb. They will have no choice, they will see and they will know what they have seen if you and I are living and speaking prophetically. And to live and speak prophetically has nothing to do with spouting religious jargon, mouthing Bible principles, wearing a pious face, all these spiritual stereotypes.

Rather, to live and speak prophetically has only to do with being indwelt in the center of our lives by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, who was given on Pentecost to the Church to bear witness to Jesus, is the Spirit of Prophecy. And He is raising up at this hour a prophetic people, made up of those followers of Jesus who are serious enough about following Jesus to answer a threefold call which is being also put upon every one of us in this room today.

First of all, the Spirit of Prophecy calls for a life lived before God. As the Lord God of Israel liveth before whom I stand, said Elijah more than once. And he was not exaggerating, he did stand before God.

This man lived before God. The reality of realities for Elijah was not the king or mankind or lands or houses or nations or wealth, but God. Elijah saw clearly in this life what the sons and daughters of Adam only see at their death, that life in this world is measured only by our relationship with the true and living God.

Now there are lots of people in Christendom who will talk about walking before the Lord and who will claim to be living before God in continuous communion with Him. But there are very, very few people in Christendom who are in fact aware of how radically people can live a life which is down to earth and simple and day by day and remain continuously in communion with God. Now that's the kind of life our Lord lived.

And that's what He's calling for from us. Nothing less. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added to you.

Fear not little flock, it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell what you have, give alms, provide yourselves with purses which don't grow old, a treasure in the heaven which never fails, where no thief breaks in and moth no longer destroys, for where your treasure is there will your heart be also. I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in His word do I hope.

My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning, thirsting in the morning, looking for Him. O God, Thou art my God, early will I seek Thee in the morning. My soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh longeth for Thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is.

When that becomes our life, to live, eat, sleep, everything before God, we will have utterance from the Spirit Himself and that utterance will be prophetic and it will be as natural as breathing. Secondly, the spirit of prophecy calls for a mouth that speaks from a heart that's on fire with God. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

Good or evil. We're all the time worried about, you know, whether we're gonna be eloquent enough to get this across. I got something to say but I don't know how to say it.

But that's a fallacy. If your heart really has something to say, your mouth, I don't care who you are or how shy you may think you are, will find a way to say it. And if your heart is on fire with God, your mouth will give forth prophecy.

So, keep your heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life. And the issue, the flow, is especially across the mouth. Keep your heart for God.

Fix it on God. Circumcise the foreskin of your heart. Love God with all your heart.

Worship Him with the whole heart. Then the heart will begin to catch fire. When the heart catches fire, the mouth speaks prophecy.

And one sure, absolute guarantee of a heart that will be on fire, and the only one there is, is a heart that is indwelt by the person of Jesus. See, not principles lifted out here and there from things that Jesus said and put together into some new system. Not thoughts about Jesus, but Jesus Himself.

I'm crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. Christ in you, the hope of glory.

When the spirit of Jesus burns inside your heart like a flame, then you will speak prophetically. And what you say will be confirmed by the living God to those who hear. And finally, the spirit of prophecy.

Is calling for a mind that is free from the chains of fear. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Now to live and speak prophetically always has its consequences.

You can get yourself killed. It can be dangerous. There were consequences for Elijah.

There were short consequences for John the Baptist. And there were consequences for our Lord. How many gifted prophets of God shriveled on the vine over the centuries down to this moment because they were afraid to do the thing that needed to be done or say what they knew had to be said.

They were afraid of the consequences, afraid of man, afraid of failure, afraid of poverty. And how many of us have had blazing light and failed to move on it because we were afraid. And so the truth of God sticks in our throats like a chicken bone and we walk around like whipped dogs and wonder what's wrong with us.

Blame everybody else and criticize everything in sight. The Spirit of the Lord is calling all of us this day to turn away from our fear and let Him renew us in His power and His love and His soundness of mind. And in the last days it shall be God declares that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams.

Yea, and on my men servants and maid servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit and they shall prophesy. The cities of this earth are soon going to hear a witness as powerful and as clear as was heard in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. Because the Spirit who poured out such life on the church at its beginning is even at this time pouring out such life at least as great, if not greater, upon the church as it moves now into the final stretch before the end.

The Holy Spirit is calling for prophets, people who will be willing to speak the witness to the Lord which God has already put in their hearts and to live with the consequences of that witness even if it means their own death. And that call rests upon every single believer in this place. And every day of our lives we are either answering that call or rejecting it.

Maybe we could take a little time, perhaps standing up would be better, to wait upon God. Okay? And then we'll move from there into the next step.