"MANIFESTING THE SPIRIT IN PROPHECY"
(I Cor. 12:10)
1.) Prophecy - is a spontaneous outworking from the fullness of the Spirit word of edification,
exhortation, and comfort foretelling a message of the future or forthtelling the message of
the hour.
(A) One filled with the Spirit may at anytime open his mouth and out comes prophecy,
"spontaneously." He may speak on saints or sinners, a message of the hour.
Generally we think of a prophet as one who tells the future, this is true:
(A) Fore-telling is giving history before hand, Prophesying the future.
(B) Forth-telling is giving the message of the hour.
(C) (Joel 2:28) And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all
flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream,
your young men shall see visions:
(D) (Acts 2:16) But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
(E) RESULTS: (Acts 2:1-4) and (2:12) And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they
were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as
of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there
appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And
they were filled with the HOLY GHOST, and began to speak with other tongues, as the
Spirit gave them utterance.
(F) Spontaneous prophecy retelling Joel's prophecy.
2.) Sometimes prophecy comes in dreams and visions. (Matt. 1:20) "But while he thought
on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream,
saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for
that which is conceived in her is of the HOLY GHOST."
(A) After Jesus ascended up into heaven (Acts 1:10, 11) "And while they looked
stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold two men stood by them
in white apparel: Which also said, ye men of Galilee, why stand ye
gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you
into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into
heaven." (Acts 1:10, 11).
(B) The testing of Jesus Christ is the Spirit of Prophecy. And I fell at His feet to worship
him. And he said unto me, see thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy
brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is
the Spirit of Prophecy.
(C) Prophecy declares you are free.
(E) (Gen. 3:15) And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed
and her seed; it shall bruise his heel. (Rom. 16:20) And the God of peace shall bruise
Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.
(Numbers 11:35) And the people journeyed from kibrothhattaavah unto Hazeroth; and
abode at Hazeroth.
(F) Prophecy does three things, EDIFICATION, EXHORTATION, and COMFORT.
(1) EDIFICATION:
(A) Praying in the Spirit builds yourself up. Paul said, (I Cor. 14:4-5) He that speaketh
in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God; for no man
understandeth him; howbeit in the Spirit he speaketh mysteries. I would that ye
all speak with tongues but rather that ye prophesieth: for greater is he that
prophesied than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the
church may receive edifying. (I Cor. 14:15) What is it then? I will pray with the
Spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the Spirit, and I
will sing with the understanding also.
(2) EXHORTATION:
(A) (Acts 2:38) Then Peter said unto them, Repent and be baptized everyone of you
in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift
of the HOLY GHOST.
(B) (Matt. 11:28, 29) Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I
will give you rest, take my yoke upon you, and learn of me: for I am meek and
lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
(3) COMFORT:
(A) (Matt. 9:2) And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy lying on a
bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; son, be of good
cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.
(B) (Matt. 24:27) For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto
the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be.
(C) (Jo. 16:33) These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace.
In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer I have overcome the
world.
(D) (Acts 23:11) And the night following the Lord stood by him, and said "Be of
good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must
thou bear witness also at Rome."(4) PROPHECY DECLARES YOU ARE FREE:
(A) (Luke 4:18) The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the devil's captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.
(B) (Mark 11:22-24) And Jesus answering said unto them, have faith in God for verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, what things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them and ye shall have them.
(C) (Heb. 4:12) For the word of God is quick, and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
XXXXV.) THE GIFT OF TONGUES: (Mark 16:15-18)
Our study now bring us to the gift of tongues or "divers kinds of tongues." The word "divers" is italicized in the King James Version of the Bible, which means it was added by the translator. Actually, the verse reads, ". . .to another, kinds of tongues. . ." But in another place Paul said that God set in the church diversities of tongues. Therefore, it would be acceptable to say "divers" kinds of tongues, or different kinds of tongues.
Of the three vocal gifts, or as they are sometimes called, gift of utterance or inspiration - the gift of prophecy, divers kinds of tongues and interpretation of tongues - the gift of tongues is the most prominent. This doesn't necessarily mean it is the best. It is the most prominent for several reasons.
A question often asked by some of our denominational friends is, "Why do you apostolic or full Gospel people give such prominence to tongues?" The answer is "We do not." There are a number of reason why it seems that we do.
(1) We are often asked about tongues and are therefore compelled to discuss the subject.
(2) Speaking in tongues is always manifested when people are baptized in the Holy Ghost.
(3) Utterance in tongues is always in public assembly is the least of the gifts and therefore the most widely distributed and most frequently used.
(4) Tongues and interpretation are distinctive of this dispensation. We see all the other gifts of the Spirit in operation in the Old Testament - the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, discerning of spirits, special faith, working of miracles, gifts of healings and prophecy.
In the ministry of Jesus we see all the gifts of the Spirit in operation except for tongues and interpretation. Although a brother of mine in the Lord doesn't feel that Jesus spoke in tongues, I find that Jesus did speak in tongues as he was on the cross the Bible said, "And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, E-lo'l, E-lo'l, la'ma sa-bach'tha-ni, which is being interpreted, My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me? And some of them that stood by, when they heard it said, behold, he calleth E-li'as." But a Brother of mine in the Lord said, "We do not see tongues and interpretation in operation in the ministry of Jesus." Now I could be wrong but even those that stood by didn't know what he was saying so it sounds like tongues to me. The gifts of speaking in tongues and interpretation are distrinctive to this dispensation in which we live. Therefore, they would be more in use.
(5) Paul gave prominence to tongues. The reason he did so was that then, as now speaking with tongues was widely misunderstood.
TONGUES, A SUPERNATURAL SIGN
Jesus said in Mark 16:17, "And these signs shall follow them that believe. . .they shall speak with new tongues. . ." One preacher, endeavoring to explain that said, "This just means that a fellow who used to curse, tell lies and vulgar jokes doesn't do that anymore; he speaks with a new tongue." This argument, however, is a little thin, for reading the entire context we see that every one of the signs mentioned by Jesus here is a supernatural sign. (Mark 16:15-18).
XXXXVI.) INTERPRETATION OF TONGUES: (I Cor. 14:13-15, 27-28, 40)
Our study of the gifts of the Spirit has now brought us to the end of the list - the gift of interpretation of tongues. We covered first of all the three gifts of revelation, or the three gifts which reveal something:
(1) THE WORD OF WISDOM,
(2) THE WORD OF KNOWLEDGE,
(3) THE DISCERNING OF SPIRITS.
Then we studied the three gifts that do something, or as they are often called, the three power gifts:
(1) THE GIFT OF FAITH,
(2) THE WORKING OF MIRACLES,
(3) THE GIFTS OF HEALINGS.
Then we studied the three vocal gifts, or the three inspirational gifts - the three gifts which say something:
(1) PROPHECY,
(2) DIVERS KINDS OF TONGUES,
(3) INTERPRETATION OF TONGUES.
As we have said, prophecy is supernatural utterance in a known tongue. Divers kinds of tongues is supernatural utterance in an unknown tongue. The interpretation of tongues is the supernatural showing forth by the Spirit the meaning of an utterance in other tongues. It is not translation of tongues, it is the interpretation of tongues.
A mental representation of the meaning or significance of something.
But can't God speak to us in some other way? Yes, He can and does. We have messages which are not an interpretation of tongues; they are a manifestation of the gift of prophecy. All these gifts operate by faith, but it takes more faith to operate prophecy than tongues or interpretation of tongues, because the person who have these gifts have another to lean on.
The person with the gift of tongues can lean on the one with the gift of interpretation of tongues, and vice versa. However, the one who has the gift of prophecy has to have enough faith to just to start giving what he has received.
INTERPRETATION NOT TRANSLATION
As we have mentioned, the interpretation of tongues is not translation. I am sometimes asked why it is that when someone speaks at length in tongues, an interpreter will occasionally give only a short message. Interpretation is simply showing forth supernaturally by the Spirit of God the meaning of what was said in tongues, and it may not take as many words to declare what was said.
INTERPRETATION IN PRIVATE PRAYER LIFE
According to I Cor. 14:13, those who speak in other tongues are instructed to pray for the gift of interpretation. What Paul was saying here was that the reason he is to seek for this is not necessarily that he may interpret publicly, but so that he could interpret his prayer if God so willed. That would mean a great deal to his spiritual edification. Then if God did will to use him publicly, that would be all right too.
USE OF GIFTS SHOULD BE DONE
"DECENTLY AND IN ORDER"
Paul devotes this entire chapter to the gifts of prophecy, tongues and interpretation of tongues. Then he goes on to say that "God is not the author of confusion. . ." (verse 33). He is saying that in the use - or misuse - of prophecy, and tongues and interpretation of tongues there is sometimes confusion. I have in some services where I have seen the misuse of these gifts and I have gone home confused. This doesn't mean that the devil was working. It just means that people can get things mixed up. If we will learn to stay in the Spirit and walk according to the word, if we will follow Paul's admonition and "Let all things be done decently and in order," we will not have confusion in our service.
A final point I want to stress about tongues and interpretation of tongues is found in verse 26 of the same chapter: ". . .Let all thing be done unto edifying." When it is in the Spirit - and this is one way to judge if it is in the Spirit - it will be edifying, inspiring, and blessed. Of course, if we ourselves are out of tune with the Spirit, we are not in a position to judge.
Things do need to be judged though. And after all, we do judge them whether we do it publicly or not because either we accept them or we reject them. We can't always accept just any man's judgment, however; only those who are sensitive to the moving of the Spirit. In conclusion let me say that all of these gifts operate by faith. They do not operate by the gift of faith, but they do operate by common or general faith. And remember it is written that all things are possible to him that believeth, and if you believe then all things are possible unto you.
There shall come manifestations, even more and greater, and in greater frequency than in the past, and there shall not only be a demonstration of God's power but there shall also be a manifestation of His power.
MEMORY TEXT:
"Wherefore let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret" (I Cor. 14:13).
THE PROMISE IS FOR THE BELIEVER. . .
