Saturday Training - Pastor Danny Bonilla (October 03, 2015) | Life Bible Church

Prophecy is to build the church. And prophecy

really is not a preaching ability that comes

on you. It's not a license to rebuke and correct

others. It's not calling you to find a garbage

in every person's life. And for the longest time,

we thought that prophecy was all about finding

the hidden sins of people's lives. So you announced

that prophets were coming to the church, people

stayed home. Because they were afraid of confrontation

or the prophets revealing something. The reality

is none of us are perfect. We all have shortcomings.

You don't have to be a prophet to see the garbage

in somebody's life. But you've got to be a prophet

to see the treasure underneath the garbage. To

see the gifts that call. To see the hope of their

calling. To see what God has put in their lives.

Amen? And I believe that God wants to train everybody

here to be a treasure hunter. I believe as you

get ready and want to be trained in prophetic

ministries, I want to tell you that you're going

to have to become a treasure hunter. You're going

to have to see what others cannot see. Anybody

can see the messes. Anybody can see the shortcomings.

We can look at somebody and judge them by their

cover, just like we judge a book. But when you

look inside, there are treasures. that are hidden,

hidden treasures of God. Some of those treasures,

they might not even know they have. Can I remind

you of Saul's story? When he went up looking

for his... Donkeys, lost donkeys, shows up at

the city. God had already told the prophet Samuel

to wait for him at the door, that at that next

day a man would come looking for him, and that

he was the choice that God had for Israel. Israel

was asking for a king. Saul was a young man,

didn't even think about his future in that category.

He never even thought that he would be capable

of it. But Samuel waited for him and said, I've

been waiting for you. Come up and have dinner

with me. I've prepared a dinner for you. And

tomorrow I'll reveal the thoughts that are in

your heart. What he was talking about, tomorrow

I'll reveal the secrets that are in your heart.

The secrets. What secrets? The secret of God's

purpose for your life. You're the king of Israel.

The desire of Israel is for you and your household.

You don't know it. No, but how can you talk like

that to me? That's what Saul's response was.

If I'm of the least, the least of my families

and we're the least, the tribe that's the least

above us and you're talking to me about these

great things, why do you talk to me in this manner?

Saul had no clue about what was in him already.

But there was a king inside of him. Hello, are

you with me? And there are people. In your church,

people in your community, people who sit next

to you on Sunday, people who work with you, people

who have a secret of God inside of them, a purpose

of God, a call of God on their life. Somebody's

got to dare to open it up. Somebody's got to

dare to bring them a revelation of the plan of

God for their life. And I believe you're it.

Look at somebody and say, you're it. It's your

time. Amen. God wants to use you. Let me talk

to you a few things about prophecy and we'll

move along here. We'll take a little break in

just a few minutes and then we'll come to the

second session. All right, a few more minutes,

five more minutes and we'll take a little break.

The gift of prophecy. So it's not a preaching

ability, though preaching can have prophecy in

it. It's not this all of a sudden rhema ability

that comes on you. It is a word from God, a specific

word of God. And it has... It has, it should

be limited. Prophecy has limitations put on it

by the protocol of the New Testament. 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 14:3

14 verse 3 says, but he who prophesies speaks

edification, exhortation, and comfort to them,

to men. Amen? Somebody say edification, exhortation,

and comfort. And I believe that is a good limitation

put on the prophetic ministry so that people

don't go off prophesying people out of the church

and into these destinies that are disconnected

from the very thing that God is building. And

let me say to you, whether you're a prophet or

one who prophesies, who has the gift of prophecy,

and the prophet is a call, but the gift of prophecy

is an ability. It's different than a call. It's

an ability to prophesy. Just because you prophesy

doesn't make you a prophet. Some of the greatest

mistakes in the church is calling everybody who

prophesies a prophet. And we expect them to act

with a certain measure of grace, but they don't

have it because they haven't been called to be

a prophet. They have a gift of prophecy. It's

a whole different measure. Amen? And it's limited

to... Edification, exhortation, and comfort.

That's where you're at. Are you going to build

a church? Are you going to exhort the church?

And some people have thought exhortation is about

rebuking the church. Well, exhortation can actually

bring adjustment to the church, but it's done

with great poise and with great respect for authority

in the church and with great love for the bride.

Be careful how you speak to the bride. It's the

thing he most loves. Amen. Treat her right, the

church. and comfort the church. Well, those are

good limitations that the New Testament sets

into place. 1 Corinthians 14, verse 22, it says,

1 Corinthians 14:22

Therefore tongues are for a side, not to those

who believe, but to unbelievers. But prophecy

is not for unbelievers, but for those who believe.

For those who believe. So it's really something

that it should be practiced in the church. Now

you'll find, Believers out there who believe,

you know, when you read of the Old Testament,

how many know that Rahab was a believer? Before

the spies ever talked to her, she already had

a consciousness that your God is an awesome God.

And because she heard the news, she had believed.

Well, there are people all over our world that

have a consciousness of God, and somebody's got

to get out and give them a word of the Lord.

And maybe I'll get to a part of speaking to you

about taking it to the streets. Prophets of the

streets. Taking it to where you live. Prophesying

in the atmosphere of where you spend your life.

Well, let's go back to this. Listen to the protocol.

So, prophecy is for the corporate gathering.

And I like 1 Corinthians 14, verse 23 to 24.

1 Corinthians 14:23–24

1 Corinthians 14, verse 23 to 24 says, Therefore,

1 Corinthians 14:23–24

if the whole church comes together. In one place,

that's the corporate gathering. And all speak

with tongues and there come in those who are

uninformed or unbelievers. Will they not say

that you are out of your mind? But if all prophesy.

But if all prophesy. Somebody say that word,

but if all prophesy. And an unbeliever or an

uninformed person comes in. He is convinced by

all and convicted by all. And the Bible goes

on to say that he'll fall on his knees and recognize

that God is in your midst. It's the revelation

of God. Well, we have people walking into churches

in America and all around the world and walking

out the same way they walked in. And I believe

it's because we have extracted some of the elements

of the corporate gathering. We're too busy for

prophecy in the local church. And no, maybe we

don't need to, and I'm not suggesting that we

have four and five hour services. We're in a

fast paced generation, but we need to be able

to bring the prophetic into that atmosphere and

train people to be so cunning and so sharp that

they can get in in a few seconds, in a few minutes,

bring the word of the Lord and get out and get

on with the service. Amen. Not run off with the

service. Have you ever seen somebody run off

with the service, with the prophetic? Well, I

don't. that that's part of the protocol. I believe

it's a get in there, get the word of the Lord,

maybe a prophetic moment, maybe a prayer time

where you have a word or maybe a whisper to somebody's

ear, the word of the Lord coming to somebody

while they're at the altar giving their lives

to God. There are all kinds of places where to

minister the prophetic ministry, but it should

be done in an accountable setting in a corporate

gathering. And it should start with the platform.

Platform ministries, worship ministries, singers

and worshipers should be prophetic people because

you set the prophetic atmosphere. You've got

to engage. You've got to jump in the pool first.

You've got to set the tone of what's going to

happen in the service, and then it should spread

out to the congregation. But if you've got musicians

who are not prophetic and they're just interested

in getting through their list of songs and not

bringing the presence of God down, nothing is

going to happen. But thank God for a church like

yours that is... I love it. I think you're addicted

to the presence of God. That's what I hear in

your worship, in your intercessory prayer. You're

like David. David was a presence addict. He was,

in other words, if I could use the vocabulary

from which I got saved from, a junkie. He was

a presence junkie. I'm hooked. I was hooked on

alcohol until I met Jesus. Now I'm hooked on

the Holy Spirit. I got to have the Holy Ghost.

I got to have his presence. I got to sense him.

I got to, in my life, when I wake up, I need

the presence of God. When I go to bed, I need

the presence of God. I need the presence of God

in my family. I need it in my house. I need it

in my job. I need it in my business. I need it

in church. We need churches so filled with the

presence of God that an unbeliever would walk

in and fall to his knees hearing the word of

the Lord. God, bring back these days. Days of

great boldness and grace when the prophetic word

and the spirit of prophecy is loosed in the church

in an orderly fashion. I'm not talking about

disorder. I'm talking about it being done the

right way. And the Bible has enough protocol

for us to do it and to do it right. Can you say

amen? We'll take our break now and come back

for some more. God bless you. Amen. We'll take

a quick 10 -minute break, and then we'll come

right back. So give yourself a little relief,

grab a drink of water, and we'll be right back.

That first session helped you a little bit. Amen.

Good. Amen. Let's go back to that scripture in

Psalms 19, verse 7, out of the Message Bible.

Psalms 19:7

Can we get me on, guys? Thank you. Psalm 19,

Psalms 19:7

verse 7. It's a scripture we've adopted in our

prophetic school again. And it just reads so

incredibly in the Message translation. The revelation

of God is whole and pulls our lives together.

Signposts of God are clear and point out the

right road. The life maps of God are right, showing

the way to joy. And the directions of God are

plain and easy on the eyes. Look at somebody

and say, keep prophecy simple. That's right.

It's got to be easy on the eyes, and people have

got to be able to understand and see the directions

of God clearly. Well, that's what we're trying

to do as we go back to the word in 1 Corinthians

14. 1 Corinthians 14, I talked to you about prophecy

in the corporate gathering, and prophecy in the

corporate gathering brings an awareness of God's

presence to people. In 1 Corinthians 14, verse

1 Corinthians 14:25

25, 1 Corinthians 14, verse 25, if all are prophesying,

1 Corinthians 14:25

It says, and thus the secrets of the heart are

revealed, and so falling down on his face, he

will worship God and report that God is truly

among you. I believe that God wants to bring

a revelation of his presence to people through

the prophetic, in the local church, in the corporate

gathering. Nobody should walk out of any one

of our services without experiencing God. Can

you say amen? And it's wonderful when the secrets

of their heart are revealed. Not the sins of

their life, but the secrets of their heart. Things

that only they know. That they know that God

would bring a revelation to them. That only God

could know this in the midst of strangers. An

unbeliever walks in and somebody tells him about

the deepest things of his heart. The things that

move him. The things that actually... Give him

a sense of destiny. I am a firm believer, having

pastored a church in Harlem, New York City, where

we raised a church out of people from the streets

in our beginning. Most people wouldn't want to

come to Harlem to do a church plant with us because

it was in the middle of crime, in the middle

of all kinds of community that in those days

was highly overwhelmed with AIDS victims because

of drug use and drug trafficking. We were on

111th Street. 110th Street moved more money than

Wall Street at times through the trafficking

of drugs. So you could think about how many drugs

and crimes and people being killed at our doorsteps.

It was not an easy place to get people to come

and say, I want to be part of this. Because they

put their families at risk. Their cars were at

risk. No parking. You parked on the streets.

And we didn't have the facilities. You have.

But we preach the word. One thing we did have

was the presence of God, and you have that. Amen?

So you're way ahead of the game. You've got a

great place that God has given you, and now with

the presence of God, everybody who walks in here

is going to experience God. We watch countless

lives being changed, and I became aware that

a prostitute is only a prostitute because she

doesn't know what God has planned for her. She

doesn't know the plan of God for her life, but

if there's somebody that can reveal to her what

God has planned for her life, she'd turn around

and give her life back to God. Amen? I stopped

at a gas station to put some air in a tire. I

had my family. It was after church service, a

glorious time. And I walked out, and here by

the air pump was sitting a man who's bleeding

profusely out of his head. He had just been beaten,

and they had opened his head, opened with some

kind of instrument. And he's sitting there in

his blood. Well, the moment I walk out, the Lord

speaks to me. And as I'm concerned and start

looking for a handkerchief, the word of the Lord's

coming to me. And God's saying, tell him. that

he's sitting in his blood because he's rejected

my blood. Well, that's a pretty hard word for

somebody who's already bleeding. But I walked

up to him. First I put my handkerchief and I

showed him that I really cared because I did.

I was afraid he was going to bleed to death and

really lose his life. He was just gushing out

of him. So I put pressure on his wound in his

head and began to talk to him. He looked at me,

tears in his eyes. It was actually a man who

was weeping because he had been beaten so badly.

And I said, I'm a minister. And the Lord just

said something to me. He said that you're sitting

in your blood because you rejected his blood.

He also told me that you used to be a deacon

in the church and you've backslidden and gone

to the world. And I'm here to tell you, God's

calling you back home. He sent me to tell you

that you don't need to sit. His blood still counts.

His blood is still enough. for you and the rest

of your family. That man now begins to really

cry out to God. He forgot about his wounds, got

on his knees, and began to cry out to God, asking

him for forgiveness, and he was restored back

to the Lord. One word from God. One moment in

God, and you can change a life forever. Well,

prophecy is to make others aware of God's presence.

And thus the secrets of their heart, verse 25,

are revealed. And so falling down on his face,

he will worship God and report that God is truly

among you. God is truly among you. That's the

experience of the impact of the word of the Lord.

Prophecy can equip people to fight a good fight

too. When you prophesy to somebody, the words

you give them, give them courage to take a stand

for their future and their destiny and to fight.

That's why Paul encouraged Timothy in 1 Timothy

1 Timothy 1:18

1, verse 18. This charge I commit to you, son

Timothy, according to the prophecies previously

made concerning you. What Paul was saying is,

listen, I'm aware of all the prophecies that

were given to you. You've received words from

the Lord. I know them well. I'm your spiritual

father. And this concerning, according to the

prophecies previously made concerning you, that

by them you may wage. The good warfare. By them

you may wage the good warfare. Prophetic word

empowers people to fight for their destiny. You

can give somebody a word. And if it's a word

from God coming out of your mouth. It will encourage

them to go after their destiny. Come hell or

high water. They are going to fulfill what God

said about them. And believe in the promise of

God. We need that. Fighting edge to be given

to the church, back to the house of God through

the prophetic ministry that will give people

the word of the Lord and affirm them and confirm

the call of God on them, their house, their children.

So that when their children, maybe the professors

in universities start challenging them, we can

go back and encourage them. A parent can say,

remember what God said about you. And remind

them of the word of the Lord to trigger their

minds back to God. Well, I believe that we can

put that fight back. the church when we bring

prophecy back into the house of God. Can you

say amen? Fight in a good fight with the word

that has been given to you. How many of you are

fighting with a word that you've got? A word

that maybe Circumstances have come against you,

have risen against you, but every time you recall

that word, it puts courage back in you. It gets

you out of bed, out of your most depressed state.

When you feel like you can't anymore, the word

of the Lord will refresh you, strengthen you,

get you back on your feet. Can you give the Lord

a big hand for the words that you have received?

The word from God. But also we need to recognize

that prophecy is always in limited revelation.

There is no full revelation that comes with prophecy.

Nobody can tell you everything about your life.

It's limited. 1 Corinthians 13 verse 9, Paul

1 Corinthians 13:9

establishes, for we know in part and we prophesy

in part. All of us can see a part. And that's

why team ministry is very important in the prophetic.

In the mouth of two or three witnesses, let every

word be established. And also because we are

limited. We have limited revelation. We see only

part. And somebody else sees the other part.

I'm reminded of a team of prophetic people that

were prophesying over somebody. And everybody

had a word. And the last prophet was really digging

in. But he didn't have any real deep words. All

he had, and God kept telling him, say yellow

to her. And he wrestled with that while everybody

else prophesied in the team. Yellow, yellow doesn't

make, what's that? I gotta have something else.

They're gonna think I'm shallow. What kind of

a word is that? And so finally he got up there,

this woman, after she had received all these

prophetic words, and said, you know, I feel silly

saying this, but this is what God wants me to

do, and I'm gonna obey. He said to say to you,

yellow. When he said yellow, she burst out crying

and laughing. got up and started cheering. And

everybody looked at her, the little one's mad.

But what she had actually said to God before

she left the house, Lord, if you're gonna heal

my son, I want you to give me a confirmation

that sounds so absurd that I'll know it's you

and that you're gonna work a miracle. I want

you to tell the prophet to say yellow. That's

it, nothing else. Just say yellow. So he gets

up and says, I don't know if this means anything,

but yellow. It was God's promise. She received

it and her son was healed. Well, some prophetic

words don't make sense to the instrument or the

person who's prophesying, though we try to be

sensible. And it's your responsibility to make

sure to bring a clear word and not some words

so disguised and signs and symbols that people

have to take two months to interpret it. But

prophecy, sometimes you won't understand what

you're prophesying, but you need to be obedient

to speak that word. It happened to us in, I think

it was South Wales. We were ministering, and

my grandson for the first time, both of our grandsons

were with us for the first time, 17 -year -old,

and there was their debut in the prophetic. We

were breaking them into prophetic ministry. So

in presbyteries, our two grandsons, Bob's grandson,

and by the way, I am privileged, I don't think

I said that at the beginning, to be here with

such a man of faith and a father in the house

of God, Bob Isabel. Can you give the Lord a big

hand for Bob? We've been good friends for many

years. So this past summer we went out to Scotland

and we went to South Wales and in South Wales

we were prophesying and each one of the kids

had just a particular anointing about receiving

the word of the Lord. And my grandson is just...

this is new for him, the presbytery setting,

and we had coached him, you say only what God

tells you to say, say no more. And so he got

up and said to this one person, everybody prophesied,

he gets up and he says, the only thing I have

to say to you is that God told me that he's going

to heal you. He wants you to know that he will

heal you. Well, we thought, you know, Bob and

I looked at each other, we're trying to mentor

our kids, you know, we could have dug a little

deeper, you know. But at the end, that gentleman

got up and testified and said, you know, the

words were all great. They all ministered to

me. But what I was asking was if God was going

to heal me. Because the doctor just told me I

have cancer. And I wanted to know whether God

is going to heal me. Well, that's the word of

the Lord. Sometimes you just got to say what

God tells you to say. And don't say anything

else. Amen. Sometimes we try to add to things.

And we need to be very careful that we don't

change the meaning of prophetic revelation or

that which God is bringing. to your heart so

prophecy is limited somebody say limited see

in part and prophesy in part we also prophesy

according to the level of our faith the Bible

says in Romans chapter 12 verse 6 Romans chapter

Romans 12:6 Romans 12:6

12 verse 6 says having then gifts deferring according

to the grace that is given to us let us use them

if prophecy let us prophesy in proportion to

our faith So you have a gift of faith. You have

a prophetic ministry. You want to grow it? Grow

your faith. You grow your faith and your prophetic

ministry will grow because you will only prophesy

to the measure of your faith, to the proportion

of your faith. When you've seen miracles and

walked through life and been through some things

and God has caused your faith to grow through

the deposit of the word of God because faith

comes by hearing and hearing of the word of the

Lord, you raise your level of faith and your

prophecy level will be raised. You will prophesy.

That's why you see people who prophesy simple

words right to the point. and get in and speak

about the future and prophesy like if they were

there. Because they have a faith level. They've

seen God work. They can believe God. They've

seen the miraculous operating in prophetic ministry.

So their level of faith is higher. Come on, look

at somebody and say, raise the level of your

faith. That's right. And you can do that as you

spend time in the presence of God and in the

word of God. Prophecy should always be judged.

And this is where people have a problem with

it because if it's the word of the Lord, why

should they judge me if I am hearing from God?

Well, prophecy has to go through your ear or

channel. That word is going to come through you,

flow through you, and you will speak what you

are. Not only the level of your faith, but your

character and who you are will come through in

that prophetic word. Your belief system will

come through. that prophetic word. That's why

everyone who seeks to prophesy must be grounded

in truth so that what you speak is biblical and

has a biblical foundation. So you're not prophesying

some space cadet prophecy. People are in space

and doing all the crazy things that are totally

untied to what God is building. He said, I'm

going to build my church and the gates of hell

will not prevail against it. So everybody who

prophesies should be talking about building the

church. It's what God builds up. Amen? So prophesy

needs to be judged and that's why in 1 Corinthians

14 again, let two or three, verse 29, let two

or three prophets speak and let the others judge.

And prophecy should also be done in an orderly

fashion. 1 Corinthians 14, verse 32 -33, but

1 Corinthians 14:32–33

if anything is revealed to another who sits by,

let the first keep silent. Now this is something

that I'm still trying to get back into the church.

Because we don't practice this protocol. But

if anything is revealed to another who sits by,

let the first keep silent. For you can all prophesy

one by one, that all may learn and all may be

encouraged. And the spirit of the prophets are

subject to the prophets. For God is not the author

of confusion, but of peace. as in all the churches

of the saints. He's not the author of confusion.

The spirit of the prophet is subject to the prophet.

That means we have dominion. We have control

over the prophetic. You can't just get up and

prophesy and say, I don't know, the Holy Spirit

just made me do that. Don't blame the Holy Ghost,

amen? You stepped out of line. You actually violated

the protocol. But this protocol of courtesy,

that if one is prophesying, and this says a few

things to me. If one is prophesying and another

one who sits by stands up, that means when you're

prophesying, you can't have your eyes closed.

Hello? Because how are you going to know he stood

up if you can't see him because you're in La

La Land somewhere? prophesying and you're deep

lost in God, you might very well be connected

to the presence of God. I'm not trying to make

fun of that. But you need to be aware of your

surroundings because we are not a one band band.

prophetic ministry here. We are part of a team.

It's the church. If one or two or three can prophesy

at a time, you know, in order, but if one is

prophesying, let the first one keep signing.

Usually, we actually are so courteous that we

let them finish, and that person can go on and

on, and then sometimes that second person doesn't

even get to say what God gave them because we

ran out of time. I think the protocol should

be followed because they had the same problems

we had. It was a constraint of time. prophesying

and somebody else gets up prefer them bring it

to a halt you see somebody get up you know he's

got a word from God you know that you're limited

you only see him part let the other person bring

the part And we can all flow together, prefer

each other in love, and build the house of God.

Are you with me? Does that make sense? I see

it clearly in the word. And I think we need to

do that so we don't create confusion in the body

of Christ. And everybody can flow with the prophetic

ministry. Not all services are going to turn

into one big prophetic services. But there should

be order, two or three at the most, and let their

others judge. There should be prophetic utterance

that comes from the platform all the way through

the church. And it should be in an orderly fashion,

never creating confusion. Well, how does prophecy

come? How do we get it? How do we get into this

flow of hearing God? Well, let me take you to

a scripture that has helped me a great deal.

It's found in the book of Isaiah. Isaiah chapter

Isaiah 50 · chapter mention

50, verse... 4 through 6. Isaiah chapter 15,

Isaiah 15:4–6

verse 4 through 6. Isaiah 15 says, The Lord God

has given me the tongue of a learned that I should

know how to speak. Somebody say the tongue of

a learned. That's somebody who knows how to speak.

You're learning how to talk for God. The tongue

of a learned that I should know how to speak.

A word in season to him who is weary. A rhema

word. A word that's on time. A word in season.

Somebody say in season. A word in season to him

who is weary, he awakens me morning by morning.

He awakens my ear to hear as the learned. The

Lord God has opened my ear and I was not rebellious,

nor did I turn away. I gave my back to those

who struck me and my cheeks to those who plucked

out my beard. And I did not hide my face from

shame and spitting. Who do you think is speaking?

It's the Lord. And he's talking about the training

of prophetic people. He did not turn back from

what was ahead of him. The persecution, the rejection

did not stop him from giving a word in season

to somebody. He kept his anointing, and our anointing

is not so fragile that it can be persecuted out

of us. Our anointing resides. Amen? There's a

Holy Ghost anointing on the church, and where

the tribulation comes, you still have got to

be the voice of God in your generation. But I

like what it says. The Lord God has given me

the tongue of a learned that I should know how

to speak a word in season to him who is weary.

And then the next part is telling you how it

happens. He awakens me morning by morning. Somebody

say morning by morning. He awakens my ear to

hear as the learned. Before you have the tongue

of a learned, you must develop the ear of a learned.

You've got to be able to develop the ability

to hear what God is saying and capture the word

of the Lord. You've got to develop a relationship

that just doesn't come through a little conference

or a little mini conference on a Saturday morning.

It comes from an impartation of the Holy Ghost,

and it comes from a relationship that's built

morning to morning. Every day of your life, you're

spending time in the presence of God, and God

has your attention, and he is causing, he is

opening up your ear morning by morning. morning,

he awakens me. He awakens my ear as the learned.

God is training us and he wants to train your

ear to hear. Matter of fact, it'll involve hearing

and it'll involve seeing because you've got to

be able to visualize what you hear. You know,

when God put a word in Jeremiah's mouth, he spoke

to him. He says, Jeremiah, what do you see? That

was God was concerned after he had talked to

him, what is it that you're seeing? You've received

my word. Now, what do you see? And Jeremiah answered

at the beginning, says, I see the branch of an

almond tree. And the Lord says, you've seen well.

And he was teaching him how to cause that word

that he hears to be visualized. Your word has

now something you hear, and you've got to allow

for the Holy Spirit to open up your eyes to see.

Paul prayed, I pray. that the eyes of your understanding.

Ephesians chapter 1, verse 17 and on. Praying

Ephesians 1:17

for the church of Ephesus, Paul says, I pray

the eyes of your understanding would be enlightened.

But before that, he says, I pray that God gives

you the spirit of revelation and of wisdom so

that the eyes of your understanding would be

enlightened, that you might know what is the

hope of your calling, the riches of your inheritance

in the saints. And the exceeding greatness of

his power that is at work in those who believe.

Three things. You need to know the hope of your

calling. You need to know your inheritance in

God. And you need to know the exceeding greatness

of his power that works on behalf of those who

believe. Can you say amen? But it comes through

the spirit of wisdom and revelation. And this

is what this... Actually, it says he comes, the

spirit of wisdom not only opens your eyes so

that you can see it illuminates, the eyes of

your understanding being illuminated, the eyes

so that you might be able to know. Well, the

Lord wants to open up your ears, and he wants

you to see what he's saying, wants you to visualize

it. So the word of God can come as a vision.

Many of you will have visions and dreams because

that's part of the package of the Holy Spirit.

Amen? They'll have visions and the old men shall

dream dreams. Visions and dreams are still the

language of the Holy Spirit and they shall prophesy.

What are they going to prophesy about? What they

see and what they dream about. The prophetic

word brings us revelation. The Holy Spirit speaks

to us and expects you to have an ear that is

open. The problem is that we have ears that don't

hear. They're not open. They're closed to the

Lord. People are not spending the time they used

to spend in prayer. And I think we need to go

back to that intimacy with God where we spend

time from him. And that's what Isaiah is saying.

Listen, morning by morning, this takes a relationship.

It'll start here, but you're going to have to

foster it by spending time in the presence of

God, making time. I don't care how busy you are.

You want prophetic ministry? You've got to spend

time in the presence of God. It's the only way

that I know how to prepare myself is spending

time. God, waiting on the Lord, saying, God,

what is it that you want? What is it that you

want to speak to the church? What am I going

to do when I get to Brad's church? It's been

my prayer with my wife. Even my children have

joined us interceding for you while I was preparing

to come out here. Because God has a word for

this house. God has something he wants to do.

Well, it's the same way in personal prophecy

or prophecy to build a church. Every Sunday you

come, it's not where you start praying on Sunday

morning. Oh, God, what are you going to do with

the church? Start praying in your house. Make

it a lifestyle of spending time with the Lord

morning after morning. Come on, can you say amen?

You're going to spend time with the Lord. He's

going to open your ears. That word open, I think

Ernest Gentile did a great thing with his book

when he talked about these verses. He talked

about the plowing of your ears, plowing your

ears open. I believe the Holy Spirit will plow

your ears open. so that he can sow the word of

the Lord, so the word of the Lord can come to

you. And so that you might have the tongue of

a learned, you need first the hearing of a learned.

You need to be able to hear well, clearly, identify

the word of the Lord, so then you can speak a

word in season to those that hear you. Can you

say amen? So prophetic ministry comes by hearing.

And when you say what you hear, you will see

what you say. God will cause those things to

take place. Isaiah 59. Isaiah 59. Again, listen

to Isaiah 59. This is Isaiah speaking about a

great heritage that God asked for me, says the

Lord. This is my covenant with them. My spirit

who is upon you and my words which I have put

in your mouth. shall not depart from your mouth,

nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from

the mouth of your descendants' descendants, says

the Lord, from this time and forevermore. Come

on. Are you ready for this morning to affect

generations to come? It's not just about you

this morning taking time and sacrificing your

Saturday morning to learn about the prophetic.

The more you learn about the prophetic, the more

the heritage will be laid up for your children.

I thank God that I could travel with my 17 -year

-old for the first time, bringing him into presbytery.

Bob took Luca, his grandson, to presbytery. But

all my kids, from the moment they've been born

in our house, in our church, we were a prophetic

church. So when we dedicated babies, we called

the prophets. We believe in prophetic, let's

call the prophets. and see what they have to

say about our children. Let's not wait for them

to be 19, 20 years old. Send them over to university

so that the professor who first was an amoeba

and now is a monkey on a tree, now he's a professor

in a university, can try to tell them what their

destiny is. Are you with me? We've got a bunch

of unbelieving educators who are trying to dictate

the destiny of our children. Why not bring it

back to the founder, the Lord, who weaved them

in their mother's womb when they're born and

dedicated. Let the prophets speak the word of

the Lord. Let them say, let's let faith arise

in the house of God. Well, even Mary received

the word. Remember when Simeon spoke to her,

a sword is going to pierce your heart. This child

has been born to reveal the secrets of men's

hearts. What was that all about? Not the sin,

but the destinies of people. Jesus died so that

people could receive the purpose by which they

were created for. Powerful. Well, I believe that

we need to let our children hear the word of

the Lord. I have eight grandkids, every one of

them knowing what God wants from them. in the

future. My grandson just entered law school because

the word of the Lord has come that he is going

to be a governmental figure and influence the

government. He's believing God that maybe 15,

20 years from now, he'll be the governor of Florida.

Hello. Well, I'm thrilled about that. Let's go

for it. Well, I have a little granddaughter who's

nine years old now, but she's always grown up

with the fact that the prophets, when they dedicate

her, and she's heard the prophecy over and over

again. throughout her life, that she'll be a

judge. So she's going to study the Lord and become

a judge, an actual judge on a bench and be a

judge in the land. That's what she feels that

she is called to do. So her mother spanked her

when she was about six years old. She said, Mom,

that really hurt. And she said, It's supposed

to hurt. She looked at her mom and said to her,

But don't forget, someday I'll be judge. Don't

use it. But they have. They have a sense of destiny

that puts a fight in them to believe God for

impossible things until they fulfill what God

said about them. And they live with that kind

of purpose. So I believe that this is not just

for us. This is for our children's children.

This is for as long as the Lord would tarry,

our kids are going to be prophetic. When Jesus

comes back again, he's not coming for a scared

church. hiding in some corner. He's coming for

a prophetic church full of authority, full of

wisdom, speaking the word of the Lord to a dying

world. Can you say amen? So I believe in that

kind of victorious church, and it starts with

people like you who say, I'm going to spend Saturday

morning. I want training. I want everything God

has. I want to be a voice of God in my generation.

You're going to bring that influence, that anointing

into your family. The word of the Lord that's

in your mouth shall be upon the mouth of your

children. Amen? He's a covenant -keeping God.

He said, I'll keep covenant for a thousand generations

with those who love me. Think about it. I believe

that the word of the Lord wants to come, and

God wants to put a word in the generations to

come. Listen, go with me to Jeremiah 23. Here's

another scripture, Jeremiah 23. Verse 18 and

verse 22. We'll use those two verses to save

time. Jeremiah says, for who has stood in the

council? And the word council there is the word

sod. In the Hebrew, the word, it's secret. Who

has stood in the council of the Lord and has

perceived? And who has perceived? And that is

not what you see, but how you see it. Perception.

It's how you see things. It's not just what you

see, but how you're seeing it. You're defining

something by what you see. For who has stood

in the counsel of the Lord and has perceived

and heard his word? Who has marked his word and

heard it? That word marked means hearkened to

it, paid attention to it. People come into the

house of the Lord and we can all sense a prophetic

moment. God's ready to speak. God's ready to

move. But very few people can mark that prophetic

word. Very few people can grab a hold of it and

say, that's what God is saying. That's the theme

of this service. That's what God is going to

say. They have hearkened, they have paid attention

to the Holy Spirit and what he's doing and have

heard his word. Well, I believe that God wants

to do that. Listen to verse 22. Speaks about

the purpose of the prophetic. Verse 22. in my

counsel, in my secret, and had caused my people

to hear, and had caused my people to hear my

words, then they would have turned them from

their evil way and from the evil of their doing.

Turned them from the evil way and from the evil

of their doing. Two different things there. The

evil way and the evil of their doing. People

get touched by an evil way, but then they have

to Follow it through with evil doing. Well, if

they could be intercepted by somebody who has

stood in the secret of God and given them the

word of the Lord, turned their hearts back to

God. That's what prophets did from the beginning,

was turn the hearts of the people back to God.

Not to them, not to anybody else, but to God.

He's the God who forgives, the God who restores,

the God who lifts up, the God who can cause people

to walk away from their evil ways and from practicing

evil. Are you with me? But you've got to be able

to stand. Who has stood in the council? The secret

of the Lord. Well, Daniel knew the God who reveals

secrets. Remember when Nebuchadnezzar had a dream?

None of his wise men could find out or divine

what the dream was all about. And he purposely

didn't give anybody a dream. And he was about

to kill them all. And Daniel said, give me a

chance. I'm going to go to prayer. And he went

and prayed with his Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego

at a vigil that night. And the Holy Spirit came

and revealed the secret of the heart. And Daniel

knows and proclaims the God who reveals secrets.

And I believe we need to see the church rise

up. As a church that knows a God who reveals

secret things. There's nothing hidden from the

eyes of God. We can reveal the real motivation

behind the actions of man. We can reveal the

offense that is covered up with all kind of circumstance

and all kinds of attitudes. But if we could just

go to the root of the problem, we're able possibly

to pluck that problem out of their hearts. caused

healing to come to them and turned them from

their evil way. How many would love to turn people

away from sin and turn them back to God? Well,

I believe the prophetic ministry is key in that

so that we can be able to speak the secrets of

the heart of God. Who has stood in my counsel?

Who has stood in my sword, my secrets? I believe

God wants to raise a generation of people in

the church today, a church that would be able

to know the God who reveals secrets, a church.

that is able to prophesy. Now let me give you

a two -sided of prophecies. Prophecy is both

foretelling, to know the future before it happens.

So there's a revelation of the future before

it happens. It's that ability to foretell the

future. It's foretelling and it's forth telling.

F -O -R -T -H, forth telling. And forth telling

is not just to tell the future, it's to cause

the future. Are you with me? Because the prophetic,

sometimes we've shied away from the truth of

the word of God, and we now are trying to minimize,

because of our lack of faith, the prophetic ministry.

So, okay, we'll accept that it can foretell the

future. But what about the other part? Prophecy

is about foretelling. There's something that

happens when the word of the Lord comes that

changes things. And that you are a church that

right now is living. The theme of this week is

change. And I'll tell you, prophecy precedes

change. There is a prophetic word that's ready

you for great change. You're not just coming

to enjoy a beautiful building. The greatest days

of this church are ahead of you. There's great

change coming to this house. And some people

not understanding change will become the victims

of change. I'll speak to you more about that

on Sunday. But you are called as prophetic people

to be able to understand and to actually maneuver

through change and be able to navigate through

the changes that God brings. Change is meant

to make you better. Change is meant to increase

you. Change is never meant by God to destroy

you or hurt you or take something from you. It's

called to add something to you. Are you ready

for what God wants to do? There's a whole new

dimension you're moving into. There's a whole

new day in God for this church, for your children.

Don't you miss out on what God's doing. Fourth

telling is to cause the future to happen. It's

to cause things to take place. It's Ezekiel in

the Valley of Dry Bones. How many remember Ezekiel?

Ezekiel prophesied and caused things to happen.

It's Deborah prophesying to Barak, go out to

where the River of Gishon is, and I'm going to

send Cesar there. It was an ambush by God. Well,

she prophesied something. Then in chapter 5 of

Judges, it says that all heaven went to war with

her. All of heaven backed her up, and a great

flood. The river of Gishon actually flooded,

and all the 900 chariots of Caesarea, which was

their greatest threat, became useless in the

mud. They could not move, and God gave the victory

to Barak. But it didn't happen until a mother

rose in Israel, until a prophetic mother dared

to prophesy. It's time. I can see the time. God's

going to send an ambush. Barak, go. Well, Barak

didn't even see it. Well, if you, I'm not going

alone. If you come, I'll, you know, I'll go.

Well, there are people that are going to see

things before it happens, and they're not only

going to prophesy the future, they're going to

cause it to happen. The word of the Lord will

go out of your mouth and things will begin to

take place all around you. Ezekiel prophesied.

And let me read it to you from Ezekiel. Ezekiel

37. I'll go there. I'll jump through. Ezekiel

37. Ezekiel 37, verse 4 through 10. And again

Ezekiel 37:4–10

he said to me, Ezekiel 37, verse 4 through 10.

Ezekiel 37:4–10

And again he said to me, prophesy to these bones

and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of

the Lord. Thus says the Lord to these bones,

surely I will cause breath to enter into it to

you. You shall live and I will put sinews on

you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with

skin and put breath in you and you shall live.

Then you shall know that I am the Lord. So I

prophesied as I was commended. Commanded as I

was commanded. And as I prophesied. Somebody

say, as I prophesied. As I prophesied, there

was a noise, a suddenly rattling, and bones came

together bone to bone. And indeed, as I looked,

the sinews and the flesh came upon them. And

the same thing with the breath. After the bodies

were put together, the Lord said, prophesy breath.

Well. He prophesied breath and all the winds

from the four winds came. Because prophesying

or prophecy does not only foretell the future,

it causes the future to happen. The moment you

step out and you speak a word. Listen, you saw

me in the video. I want to use it as an example

to you today. I walked up to a 15 -year -old

girl. Very precious. And as a father and grandfather,

I'm very careful that I won't cause a wrong impression

or build a wrong kind of thing into somebody.

So I walk very carefully. Even though I've been

prophesying for 43 years, I still walk very carefully.

And I think Bob and I both are like that. We're

cautious. We don't want to hurt people. We want

to make sure we're building people. So to my

thing, I'm going to prophesy her healing. Lord,

you're going to do it. I really. I knew God was

there. There was the presence of God. I had the

word of the Lord. But the rest, the work was

of God. It wasn't my job to heal her. But the

moment I saw her little feet moving, I knew it

wasn't just going to happen in a little day.

I knew it was going to be right then and there.

She had no sense in her feet. All of a sudden,

the first thing I saw when I was praying, looking

down, was her feet began to move. And I knew,

it's time. Now a boldness came on me, and I began

to move in that which I saw. Something was happening

as I was. speaking the word of the Lord. There

was an anointing being released upon that young

lady's life and she jumped her feet and you saw

her. She began to jump. At the end of that service,

she ended that service dancing in front of the

whole church. We danced for about an hour and

a half just celebrating her healing. When you

saw her run, she ran. I had to let go of her

lest I would have ended up in a wheelchair. She

ran so fast, she ran out of the service. After

she hugged her father, she ran out of the service

into the children's church that was taking place

in another building. When all the kids saw her,

they all fell to the ground, got filled with

the Holy Ghost, began to prophesy because there

was an anointing on her life when they saw the

miracle of God in her life. Things change and

something is about to happen. I believe that

as you get caught up in the prophetic, you need

to believe God's not just called you to foretell

the future, but to foretell, to cause things

to happen. Come on, look at somebody and say,

come on, get your faith up and believe God can

do it. I was trained in this prophetic realm

from the very inception of my walk in Christ.

Months into my prophetic ministry, and that's

months into being saved, I prophesied things

that I saw with my very own eyes. And I would

hear the Holy Spirit train me and say, open up

your eyes. I want you to see what you're going

to speak. And I would speak these declarations

and see them come to place right before my eyes.

So 43 years of that, my faith is at a whole different

level. Because I just obeyed God. And that doesn't

mean that I haven't had my share of failures.

I remember the first kid I pulled out of a wheelchair

as a young man preaching the gospel in a community.

Whole community came out to hear it. People were

getting saved. And I pulled this kid out of a

wheelchair. Dragged him half a block. The whole

community was right behind me. Never got healed.

Had to put him back in his chair. The only thing

I can think of telling the parents is thank you

for letting me practice on your son. But I was

new at ministry. And when I asked God, God, you

didn't heal him. He said, did I tell you to pull

him out of the chair? Did I tell you to do that?

I said, no, I just assumed. So I've learned how

to not assume. And there is a thin line between

assumption and a prophetic word from God. And

you need to be able to discern that so that you

can step into sure ground and not blame God for

some of your own mishaps. Are you with me? All

right. Is it okay if I share my heart like that?

Because all of us need to learn from one another.

But we need to be bold to be able to declare

the future. I believe God wants to reveal the

future. I believe the future of this house is

great. I don't believe God brought you here to

give you a building so you could sing Kumbaya

and hang out for the rest of your days. I think

this church is at the verge of the greatest miracles

yet to be performed. I believe that there's going

to be an outpouring and a growth that's going

to come to this house. I believe that there is

going to be such a dimension that your children,

what is extraordinary to you, will become ordinary.

to them. They'll learn how to live in the extraordinary

because they've seen the miraculous. This is

what we did. Our church believed and we saw this

happen. We had nothing when we started but now

God has given us they're living in the extraordinary

of God and for them it's going to become hey

this is the way we've always lived. So I believe

that you're at the brink of something great.

A great change is coming to this house. This

is your time to believe God for the future. And

I believe that God wants to show you the future.

He wants you to get a good look at what he wants

to do. He wants you there to prophesy the future

into existence. It's called, in the Hebrew, it's

the word dabar in the Hebrew. And the word dabar

in the Hebrew means it comes with everything

it needs to fulfill itself. All you got to do

is speak it. So Jeremiah 1 verse 9 says, The

Jeremiah 1:9

Lord said to Jeremiah, And the Lord said unto

me, Behold, I have put my words, my debar, in

thy mouth. God will put a debar in your mouth.

It has the power to push people into their destiny.

A debar. It comes with a Holy Ghost strength

to push people into their destiny. Isaiah. 55,

Isaiah 55:11

verse 11. Listen to the same word as used. Isaiah

55, 11. So shall my word, my debar, be that goes

out from my mouth. It shall not return to me

void, but it shall accomplish what I please.

And it shall prosper in the thing for which I

sent it. And if you need to learn anything, it's

that every word... That God gives you every,

the bar word comes attached to a thing. There's

a purpose. There's a thing that God's out to

perform and do. It might not do all the other

things you want it to do, but the thing that

God wants it to do is going to happen. It's going

to take place. It will not return that void to

God. It comes out with power. It comes out to

do something. And maybe that's why Amos in chapter

3, verse 8, Amos says, About God. Says God does

nothing unless he reveals his secrets to the

prophets. And he goes on to say, if a lion roars,

who shall not fear? If the Lord speaks, who shall

not prophesy? Come on. Somebody say who. Look

at your neighbor and say, who shall not prophesy?

If the Lord speaks, if you can hear the voice

of God, he can train you to speak the word of

the Lord, prophesy with great boldness. If a

lion roars, who shall not fear? There's something

about the roar of the Lion of Judah that's being

heard in a spiritual realm. And listen, I'm not

talking about you getting out and services starting

to roar. I'm talking about prophesying. I'm talking

about coming with such boldness because you know

that you know that you're heard from God and

you dare to speak that part, that revelation,

that illumination that God gave you. And as you

speak it, the whole place gets filled with that

presence of God. I can tell you story after story.

Probably one of my greatest times of learning

how to speak the debar word of the Lord was as

a young boy, 17 years old, in a campfire where

we sought to have a prayer vigil in a mountain

with all the disciples that we had in Christ.

We created this fire. The daughter of a marksman

from the Olympics, he owned a big property, big

farm. So he, in a little mountain hill, about

something like 500, meters from his house. We

were there praying all night. He was a man who

gave himself to drinking in this season of his

life. He drove up to the house and came in early

and locked in. We were praying until 2 or 3 in

the morning. Somewhere around 2 in the morning,

I heard the Lord speak to me. As we began to

intercede, I could hear the intercession of his

daughter. And I could understand what she was

praying. She was praying in the spirit. And the

Lord let me understand. She was at one side of

the fire bomb, the fire that we had built. I'm

on this side. And I could hear the Holy Spirit

say, this is what she's praying. She's praying

for her dad right now. Tell her I'm going to

answer tonight. Tell her that tonight I'm sending

my angels to the house and he's going to give

his life to the Lord. Well, I looked at her across

the fire, started prophesying to her. And as

I prophesied, then the Lord said, okay, now I

want you to turn around and point to the house,

open your eyes, because I want you to see the

word of the Lord come to pass. So I prophesied

to the house what I had prophesied to her. The

lights went on, the doors flinged open, and a

man came out screaming. Ran up this hill. I didn't

know if he was going to beat me or not. My flesh

was saying, he's going to come beat you. He heard

you, he's going to come beat you. He was a big

man. I'm standing there prophesying, and as he

got close to the fire, I could see the tears

gushing out of his eyes. He fell on his knees

in front of me and gave his life to Christ and

has served the Lord for over 30 years in the

kingdom. Amazing. God, his whole family has been

saved and radically transformed by the power

of God. It's the Dabar word of the Lord. it will

not return back empty. And some of you will be

called to prophesy some things, not just foretell

the future. There'll be times when you'll just

foretell it. But there are other times when you

will speak and things will begin to happen. Are

you with me? The word of the Lord is powerful.

Let me close with a little illustration of David.

David was probably the greatest. prophetic person

in the New Testament being mentored by Samuel

himself who started the school of the prophets.

It was Samuel who went to his house when nobody

recognized him, not even his father Jesse, enough

to invite him to the greatest moment in his own

house. Samuel visits the house, asks for another

son. He says, yeah, there's another one. He's

out with the sheep. They bring him out. He anoints

him with a full horn of oil, prophesies over

him his destiny. Mark's life and an impartation

was left on David. The Bible says that from that

day on, the presence of the Lord was with David.

And you can read all about it. Samuel is his

mentor. When Saul is persecuting him, he runs

to Samuel to tell him everything that Samuel

did. 1 Samuel chapter 19 tells a story. Samuel

1 Samuel 19 · chapter mention

takes him to the school of the prophets. Come

on, I'm gonna get you refreshed. He was a fugitive

running from Saul who was throwing spears at

him. Samuel says, let's go to service. Let's

go to that prophetic atmosphere. And he takes

him to a prophetic service where they're prophesying.

They hear about it in Saul's house and he sends

messengers to go arrest David. You know the story.

They come and the moment they arrive close to

where the meeting is at, they all fall down.

The presence of God is so strong that they start

prophesying. Saul himself goes later after two

messengers and he starts prophesying as well.

The presence of God is so strong. I can tell

you about stories in Harlem where we were prophesying

in the service. One man, I was preaching one

day and this prophetic thought came to me in

the middle of my preaching, my sermon, and the

Lord said, I want you to illustrate it because

I'm going to do it. So I said, okay, God, what

is it? So he said, I want you to illustrate a

man running into the building through the doors.

And so in the middle of my message, I have to

stop, call one of my crazy young disciples and

tell them, this is what I want you to do. In

the midst of my message, I want you to break

through the doors because we're going to do a

prophetic act. And you're going to act like a

man who's ready to commit suicide, ready to jump

off a building, and you're going to run in here

asking to be, prayed for and give your life to

Christ. Well, nobody heard it. He went to the

back. I kept preaching. And then when I cued

him, the doors flung open. He ran through the

aisle screaming. He did it so well, everybody

started crying. They knew who he was, but it

impacted everybody. And as I'm preaching about

it, now I start prophesying about how God's going

to do this thing, and he falls down and gives

his life to the Lord. Of course, he's saved,

but he's acting this part out. The moment he

does that, now everybody claps. Yeah, we're believing

God. We're a prophetic church. We're going to

change people's lives. We all sit down. Service

goes on. I'm finishing the last few points of

my message. The doors fling open. And a man runs

down just like he had just acted. Almost the

exact word for word. Screaming. Yelling. He says,

I was in the building in front of your church

building. I was on the seventh floor ready to

jump. And I heard God say, go to those doors.

Walk through those doors. And I will use you.

Turn your life around. Run. And he ran down the

building. Ran through my doors. And got saved.

It was a prophetic act. That was a Debar word

of the Lord being fulfilled. Come on, can you

believe God for that? When you get a hold of

this, you'll prophesy people out of darkness

into light. You'll change the course of people's

lives. You'll transform them forever. You'll

ruin the plans of the enemy for people's lives.

You'll kick down tombstones in the name of the

Lord as you speak life into those that the enemy

has spoken death to. This is not for cowards.

This is for those that would dare to believe

God. And it's not by our merits, it's by the

grace of God. It's by the love of God that compels

you to step out and share the heart of God. Well,

David foretold the future. He did. Listen, Psalm

22, how many remember Psalm 22 is all about Calvary.

In Psalm 22, David, who's been mentored by Samuel,

in the midst of worship, in the midst of the

presence of God, He actually brings the prophetic

ministry into play in the midst of worship. This

is one of the Psalms, and your Psalms are filled

with Messianic prophecies. Listen to it. Psalm

Psalms 22:16–18

22, verse 16 through 18. I'm just extracting

one little part of it. For dogs have surrounded

me, and the congregation of the wicked has enclosed

me. They pierce my hands and my feet. I can count

all my bones. And they look and stare at me.

They divide my garments among them, and for my

clothing they cast lots. That was a prophecy

about Calvary. It's like having a videotape of

Calvary hundreds of years before it ever happened.

Because prophecy is about the past, the present,

and the future. And the book of Revelation, God

says to John, write the things that were, the

things that are, and the things to come. Past,

present, and future. There's only time under

heaven. In heaven, there is no time. The past,

the present, and the future come all together.

And here's David prophesying about the future.

They pierced my hands and my feet. They divided

my garments among them. And for my clothing,

they cast lots. He prophesied Calvary hundreds

of years before it happened. Not only prophesied

Calvary, he prophesied the ascension of Christ

after the resurrection. Psalm 24, let me read

it to you. Psalm 24, verse 7 through 10. Lift

Psalms 24:7–10

up your heads, O you gates, and be lifted up,

you everlasting doors, and the King of glory

shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The

Lord strong and mighty. The Lord mighty in battle.

Lift up your heads, O you gates. Lift up your

everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall

come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord

of hosts. That's David's prophecy of the ascension

of Christ. That's Jesus taking captivity captive.

When he resurrected, when he went down to hell,

took the keys of death and hell from Satan, he

opened every prison door of Abraham's bosom because

no man had ascended into heaven from that point.

Only three that we know of. Enoch, who broke

his appointment with death and God, took him.

He's been the longest in the presence of God.

Elijah, who went on a whirlwind, and Moses, who

somehow was resurrected and shows up with Elijah

on the Mount of Transfiguration. Three men in

the presence of God. But the rest all went to

Abraham's bosom waiting for Messiah, waiting

for the king that would set them free. Well,

David sings about it. And I think when Jesus

was opening the doors and opened the prison cell

of David, David probably popped out and said,

I've been waiting for this day. You know, Jesus,

this calls for a song. And I wrote a song hundreds

of years ago about this moment. Can I lead worship

on the way to heaven? Help me lead worship. And

he got all the voices together and put everybody

in their range and said, all right, guys, here's

the chorus line. Open up your gates. Open up

your everlasting doors and the king of glory

shall come in. That's what we're going to sing,

guys. Abraham and everybody else got tuned in.

Deborah. And they all lined up with a chorus.

And as they ascended to heaven with Christ, it's

the ascension. He took captivity captive. And

they went into the heavens, the heavenly doors

that had not opened ever. All of a sudden, crying

out from behind the door, who is this king of

glory? Who is this king of glory? He's the Lord

mighty in battle. He is the king of glory. And

as they sang back, there's this conversation.

David's thinking about it. Heaven cracks open.

Do I have any doors, ancient doors that have

never, all of a sudden, boom. They open up. And

now heaven's aligned to receive Christ, the Son

of God, like never been seen, glorified Christ,

enters in through this possession line. I can

see David and Abraham walking in together, Father

standing at the throne with his arms stretched

wide to receive his Son. Oh, it's the ascension

of Christ coming into that very presence. I can

see David nudging Abraham, saying, I know what's

going to happen next. You want to know? Because

I saw it. I'm a prophet. I prophesied about this

in another psalm. He said in Psalm 110, and he

quotes Psalm 110, verse 1. The Lord said to my

Psalms 110:1

Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your

enemies your footstool. I was there. Hundreds

of years ago, I lived this moment in the presence

of God. I stood right there. I saw the Father.

The next thing that's going to happen is the

Father's going to say to the Son, sit at my right

hand. Until I make your enemies your footstool.

David had glimpse of the future. And of the purpose

of God. With Christ and his church. Prophesied

about them. More messianic prophecies. More mysteries

revealed in the Psalms. That's why maybe the

Psalmist said. Upon my harp I'll speak enigmas.

I'll speak mysteries with my music. Musicians

haven't tapped into that. the way they need to.

But if musicians caught up about if they could

understand what their places on this platform

is. It's not just to sing pretty songs and entertain

people and guide people to a moment of worship

where they give you goosebumps. It's about opening

heaven. It's about taking the people into the

very presence of God. It's about creating an

atmosphere where you can enter and everybody

ascends and the heaven touches earth and the

word of God is made clear and revelation is clearer

than ever. And the people who have trained their

ears and can see, they'll begin to prophesy.

Things in the theme of God for every service

will be established and God will have his way

and be glorified. I believe in a powerful church.

I believe in the kind of church that you are.

You are a prophetic church. Pastors were prophetic.

Listen, you cannot be anything else. You're never

going to be a quiet, sophisticated church. Forget

about it. You're going to be loud, happy. joyful

church, drunk in the Holy Ghost, but with order.

Can you say amen? And you're going to know the

protocol of prophecy. You've got great teachers

among you. I'm just trying to stir up the fire

in this house because I believe this change calls

for a new anointing, a fresh touch of God. I

believe that God wants to take you deeper than

you've ever been. I believe God wants you to

see things that you've never seen before and

speak things that you've never dared to speak.

Nobody has ever spoken of over this valley and

over this area. But now, in the Lord, it is time.

God's getting ready to release the people who

already have positioned themselves for a great

harvest. You had three meetings before. Get ready

to do it all over again. Get ready to see such

a harvest come in that you can't contain it.

Get ready to release the word of the Lord in

such a way that... will be set free and miracles

and healings will begin to take place all over

this house. In the corridors, in your hallways,

in the children's church, the Spirit of the Lord

will fall. And what happens in the service will

happen simultaneously in different places. Oh,

don't be so surprised when on your floyer and

your coffee shop, the Holy Ghost comes and takes

over. Coffee, tea, and prophecy. People prophesying,

the anointing cut loose in the house of God.

People falling on their knees all over the place.

I believe God has called you into a tremendous

time of transition. Sunday I'll speak to you

about, maybe even tonight, about the difference

between transition and change. They're two different

things. And I believe that I'm here to stir you

up. Tonight we're going to stir you up to prophesy.

This morning, I want you to rise to your feet.

I'm trying to give you in a capsule form 16 hours

of training. There's a lot to dig out. In the

word of God, you can study it. You can find it.

Study the writings of Paul who teaches the church,

especially the Corinthian church, on the prophetic.

Chapter 13, he teaches them about love. Because

he knew that love would be so important to manage

and rule over spiritual gifts. Chapter 14 is

all about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Chapter

12 is about the actual articulation of the manifestation

of the Holy Spirit. Love about what governs and

then the protocol. That order that we need. The

commandments, I call it the commandments of prophetic

ministry are in chapter 14. so that we can adhere.

The spirit of the prophet is subject to the prophet

and prophets are submitted to the local church.

Can you say amen? So whatever it is, whether

you have a call of a prophet, you have the gift

of prophecy, you were called to build a church.

You were called to edify others. You were called

to bring an expression of God to this world that

the world will not be able to ignore. And I understand

that God is the creator of heaven and earth.

And who has the destiny of every man and every

woman in their head. I believe you're the church

that can do it now in this time. I believe God

wants to use you. If you believe that, for a

moment, let's get lost in God. It's the altar.

It's the place where the lost get found and the

found get lost. Get out of your seat. Come up

front. Let's just, let's dig into the Lord because

without His presence, There's nothing more. I

don't have time to prophesy to all of you, but

tonight we're going to prophesy maybe over a

few. Bob's here as well. But if there's something

we want to give you, is that sure word of prophecy

that will ignite you, stir fire of the gift of

God in you. You've received gifts you've prophesied

before. God wants to stir it up inside of you.

If you've never prophesied, this is a good time

where God is going to cause your ear to be open.

Touch your eyes so that you can see what he sees.

Look at the world from his perspective. Help

us, Holy Spirit, we need you. If you are interested

in hearing other podcasts or contacting Life

Bible Church, go to www .lifebiblechurch .org

or call us at 541 -995 -8282.