Translating God || State Road Church Of The Nazarene

going to be a little bit different in that I'm

not really going to preach at all today. I'm

saying it's going to be kind of more of a teaching

kind of time along the lines of the prophetic

and we're going to end by giving you the opportunity

to kind of practice that and kind of the goal

in all of that is to help you identify if maybe

a prophetic calling is part of what God's up

to in your life. So it'll be more of a teaching

time. I'll kind of interact a lot with the screen

and that's kind of where we're going. So it'll

kind of follow along the lines of what we've

already talked about, invite and exalt and surrender

and embrace. So this is kind of the... We've

spent some time inviting Him, exalting Him, so

this is kind of the part that we'll talk a little

bit about surrender. Is this what God's asking

of us and how can we surrender to that and then

embracing what He's doing in our life. So, a

lot of it will be on the screen. Is it? Did I

do that? Yeah, okay. I think I'm good. Here we

go. So, understanding the prophetic. What is

the prophetic? So basically the prophetic, kind

of the easiest way that I could describe it is

hearing the voice of God and then communicating

what you hear Him say. That's the essence of

the prophetic. It's just hearing Him and saying

exactly what He says. So should we add to what

He says? I don't recommend it. Should we subtract

from what He says? I don't recommend it. Neither

one of those are good, so we just hear what he

says and speak exactly what we hear him saying.

So obviously some biblical basis for the prophetic.

Obviously we would talk about the Old Testament

prophets. There were major prophets and minor

prophets. Somebody give me an example of a major

prophet. Elijah. So Jeremiah, major prophet.

Who'd be a minor prophet? Minor prophets would

be like Joel's a minor prophet, Micah minor prophet,

bunch of prophets in the Old Testament. And obviously

we can see that that moves into the New Testament.

So there were still prophets in the New Testament

church. So Paul says things like, I wish that

you would all prophesy, right? So even to the

church today, kind of we have this understanding

that everyone can prophesy. Does that mean that

everyone's a prophet? No. Not everyone's a prophet.

He gave some to be prophets, but everyone can

prophesy. And we also know that Jesus, because

he's perfect theology, Jesus is described as

being prophet, priest, and king. So he serves

in all those capacities. He's prophet. He's the

person who hears the voice of God communicates

that to people. He's priest, he's the one who

ministers to people, and he's king. That just

means that he's in charge, right? It's a fancy

way of saying that he's in charge. He gets to

call the shots. So, we've talked a little bit

the last couple weeks about the fivefold ministry,

apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, teachers,

and there's a difference between the fact that

everyone can prophesy and not everyone is a prophet.

We understand that. So I like to think of it

this way. I'll come back to that in a second.

It's on the next screen, I believe. So we'll

talk about this in a second. And I think there's

a slide for it, if I remember right. So being

able to prophesy is a gift for all. The gift

of being a prophet requires a call. See, I'm

a poet and didn't know it. So to be able to prophesy

is a gift for all. But to be a prophet requires

a call. So here's kind of a the prophetic at

a macro view So if you take the prophetic and

you zoom all the way out, this is kind of what

it boils down to three main components So you

have revelation the part about revelation is

we don't get to determine that right? That's

what God speaks. That's his revelation all revelation

comes from him At least as we're talking about

today So is it possible that we could pick up

something from someplace else that's not from

God? Absolutely. So the very first thing that

we need to discover is, is this really from God?

If it is, then we can say that that's revelation,

that He's revealed this to us. If it's something

like it's a blot of bad mustard, then we need

to chalk it up to that and don't say that that's

revelation. That's a blot of bad mustard. It's

also possible that sometimes we can hear and

figure out what the enemy is saying to us. Right.

And certainly we don't want to say that that's

revelation from God if it's actually coming from

the enemy and we don't want to say that it's

revelation if it's coming from ourself. So you

have revelation you have interpretation. So the

interpretation is where we say what does this

mean. I think that God has spoken this and sometimes

we aren't quite able to figure out whether it's

revelation until we get the interpretation right.

because sometimes in the interpretation we realize

maybe this wasn't the voice of God and that helps

us but okay this is what he said what does this

mean this is the interpretation and then what

do we do with that so let me give you I want

to give lots of examples along the way so while

I was pastoring in cardington I had this crazy

dream One night and in this dream. I was driving

down the road in a van that we didn't own at

the time Eventually we would I'm driving down

the road and in the intersection of this road.

There was a green gravity wagon and so basically

those things that you would put corn in or soybeans.

It doesn't really matter, but then they would

come out to shoot on the bottom and that way

you could take the stuff from the field and you

could put it wherever you needed to be. Usually

like on a conveyor and it would put it up in

a silo or something like that. So there's this

green gravity wagon in the middle of the road

and I hit the thing and I got hurt. My dad was

with me at the time. My family was all with me

and I wanted to make sure that everyone was okay

and we get to this place that um was a place

of healing right after that so i'm like lord

that's crazy i think that that's you i think

that the entire dream was from you so what i'm

asking is about revelation right where is this

coming from should i not eat bratwurst before

bed or is god saying something here so but what

i'm what i'm wrestling with is revelation where

is this coming from bad bratwurst or from a good

god and So I said to the Lord and this is what

I would encourage you to do. So if you're not

certain Okay, is this from God? I would just

ask him. What does that mean? Because if it's

from him then guess what he's going to do He's

gonna tell you what it means So I said, okay

Lord, I believe this is from you. I'm trying

to just say is this revelation? that's what I'm

getting at and if it's from you, I have no idea

what that means and if it's from you I need some

help to know what that means I need interpretation

I need to know what this means and there was

I'm going to be honest with you and sometimes

it works like this the Lord did not immediately

speak about it but after a few hours he started

to speak to me about it and he said Phil where

are you serving and I said in cardington And

he said, what's Cardington known for? And I thought

I'd be clever. And I said, well, in 1974, they

were the state champions in baseball. And the

Lord said, hey, that's cute. But you know, that's

not what I'm talking about. So I said, well,

Cardington actually gets its name from the fact

that it was a carding town. that people, there

used to be a grain mill in Cardington. It's long

gone, but there used to be a grain mill in Cardington

and people from all around would bring their

grain to Cardington and they would have their

grain milled up and then they would be able to

sell it in different things. So he said, so you

mean to tell me that you're in a town that's

known for being a carding town that people would

cart their grain in to this place that you're

at. Is that what you're telling me? Yes, that's

what I'm telling you. So he said, does the gravity

wagon make any more sense? So there's this wagon

that's a grain wagon that's being, does that

part make sense to you? And I'm like, yes, it

does. So he said, so you're in this place where

the gravity wagon now makes sense, right? And

I won't go into all the details about it, but

that was a painful, difficult time for me, for

Danita, for our entire family. So he said, so

like the bump in the road that you experienced

with the gravity wagon, that makes sense, right?

You're following that. Yes, that makes sense.

And in this, all of your family was okay, right?

I mean, we're all good, we make it through this,

but there was this time of healing that took

place after that, right? And I'm like, yes, that

all makes sense. So he's like, do you understand

how in this dream I'm talking about you? I'm

talking about what's happening in your life.

And I'm like, yes, now that I think about that,

what am I working through? Interpretation, what

does this mean? And then the application is,

what do I do with this? So now that I understand

that, well, in that scenario, what do I do with

that? What I did with that was I'm just like,

OK, the Lord sees me. And even though this is

a difficult place and this is a difficult time,

and yes, there are some bumps and some bruises

along the way, God's going to be faithful to

get us through this time and he's going to take

us to a place that will be about healing and

recovery and restoration. Does that all make

sense? So you have revelation, interpretation,

application. So sometimes the Bible talks about

the same principle. but it talks about it in

some different terms. So it talks about word

of knowledge. How many of you have ever heard

somebody talk about word of knowledge? Me. Word

of knowledge is basically the revelation. We'll

talk a little bit more about this, but it's when

you have information that you could not have

gotten on your own. And I want to be careful

here because in really all of the fivefold, apostles,

prophets, evangelists, shepherds, teachers, there's

plenty of opportunity for abuse. this is one

of the places that the prophetic can be it can

be abused because sometimes people will know

things but they know them through a conversation

that they've had with somebody else and then

they'll try to say that it's prophetic that God

spoke that to them well obviously that's a no

-no so if you've gotten the information from

somebody else and then you try to pass it off

as being prophetic that God spoke to you about

this First of all, it's immoral because you just

lied and you also lied about what God revealed

to you. So, I mean, you see how that becomes

a big deal. And all I'm saying is this, if you

got it from a conversation with somebody else,

that's fine, but call it like it is. Don't say

that you got that from God when God had nothing

to do with it, right? Does that make sense? So

we'll talk a little bit more about word of knowledge

but it's when God gives us heavenly downloads

of information that we have no other way of knowing.

Have you ever just known something like you know

that you know it but you don't know how you know

it? Now I'll tell you who is better at this and

obviously there are exceptions to this but in

general terms do you think men or women are better

at this? In general terms, who do you think is

better? I would say women. And do you know why?

How many of you have ever heard somebody talk

about a woman's intuition? Like sometimes, Danina

just knows things. And she's just like, well,

how do you know that? I don't know. Well, did

you talk to somebody about that? No, I didn't

need to. Well, how do you know that? I just know.

And what I think often happens is I think what

we pass off as a woman's intuition is actually

the prophetic. Does that make sense? So like

sometimes guys, and I am one so I can say this,

but sometimes we're just dense and we just don't

get stuff. And there have been times, and we

don't need to go down that path, but there have

been times that Danita will say, Hey, I want

you to be careful with the interactions that

you have with this particular person. And I'm

like, I don't know what you're talking about.

It seems completely fine to me. And she's like,

no, I'm telling you it's not. And come to find

out she's right. Now, I don't think that that

is, I mean, Danita's amazing. But I don't think

that that's just unique to her. And I don't think

that that's just something that is something

special about her. I think that. We often have

those kind of leadings and promptings and we

just don't know what to do with them or we don't

know what they are. I would suggest to you that

they're actually part of the prophetic. Does

that make sense? So revelation, it's when you

know something but you don't know it through

normal human means and God gave you that information

about people, places, things, whatever. Interpretation

is what you do with it. We would call that word

of wisdom. So word of knowledge and word of wisdom

always have to go together. So when God gives

you information, don't just go and immediately

act on it, because you're probably going to get

it wrong. So when God gives us information, we

need to then say, okay, what's the wisdom that

goes with this? What am I supposed to do with

this? And sometimes God will say to you, well,

I want you to have a conversation with so -and

-so. Or sometimes God will say to you, I want

you to shut your mouth. I don't want you to say

anything about it. And you aren't going to know

that unless you ask him. So you ask him for the

wisdom that goes with that. And then, what do

I do with that? How does that play itself out?

Just one quick example. It was about one month

to the day before 9 -11. Had another crazy dream.

There's really three parts to this dream. In

the dream, I'll only talk about two because it

really You only need to know about two parts

of it, but in the dream, one of them, there was

this lady who was a part of the ministry we were

at at that time. It doesn't really matter where

it was, but she was, she was cantankerous and

she was difficult to get along with, but. So

in this the first part of the dream the Lord

had showed me an interaction with her and So

she came in through this one particular door

and had this look on her face and I'm like, oh

boy This is gonna be fun. And she said blah blah

blah to me and I didn't really like what she

had to say But then I responded in a certain

way in this dream and it was not how I normally

would respond especially to her saying that I

normally would have not responded that way but

then her response was it was absolutely beautiful

so I'm thinking okay I'm gonna remember this

because this there's got to be something to this

in the second part of it was about a lady by

the name of Jane she was a part of our ministry

there And in the thing she came in and she said,

hey, this is what's going on in my life. She

was in my office. She describes this entire thing.

And I'm like, OK, that's awesome. We won't talk

about the third part. Those two parts I want

to talk about just for a second. So I think that's

from the Lord, right? I think that that's revelation.

So what do I do with it? I said, I need to understand

what this means. Tell me what I'm supposed to

do with it, when I'm supposed to do that. So

the Lord said to me, he said, OK, here's what

I want you to do. The first part of it is going

to happen very soon. And what you need to know

about it is, I want you to respond the way that

you did in that dream, because the outcome will

be what I've showed you if you'll respond the

way that you did. So I'm like, OK, I got it.

I said, the second part, what am I supposed to

do with that? And he said to me, he's like, Phil,

I want you to shut your mouth about it. I'll

tell you when the time is right. So I asked,

I said, can I tell Danita about that? And he

said, you may tell Danita about that. Awesome.

I said, can I write the details down in my journal?

And he said, yes, you may write them down in

your journal. But beyond those two places, you

don't talk about it with anyone until I tell

you to. Got it. So you see how this all fits

to that. Revelation. interpretation, application.

So I'm like, got it, third part we're not going

to talk about. So about two weeks later, that

lady who I had this dream about, she walks in

through that door with that look on her face.

And I'm like, oh boy, this is going to be fun.

And she said exactly what she said in my dream,

word for word, with the same look on her face.

It felt the way that it did in my dream and I'm

like, okay, but I also remembered what the Lord

said So I knew how I was supposed to respond

And I did I said exactly what I said in the dream

Same inflection same pauses. I said it the exact

same way I did in the dream and you'll never

believe what happened She responded exactly like

I saw her respond in the dream. And I'm like,

huh, that's crazy. What is that? That's the prophetic.

Revelation, interpretation, application. So the

second part, it's two years after this dream.

And that lady in the dream, she called me one

day and she said, hey, I'm driving around in

the county. and I need to come talk to you, which

was not normal for her. In fact, I don't think

she had ever had anything like that ever with

us. She just was a very sweet lady, very kind,

but never really needed anything from me. She

just kind of did her thing. So she called and

she was obviously upset. She said, I need to

come in and see you. And I said, hey, that's

not a problem. When do you want to come in? She

said, I'll come in in about 15 minutes. I said,

hey, that's awesome. I'll look forward to seeing

you. So she comes in. She sits down in my office.

And she just loses it. She's sobbing. She said,

I don't even know where to begin. And I said,

how about you not? How about I tell you why you're

here? And continuing to sob, she said, you never

guessed this about me. I said, I understand that.

But I said, hey, on this particular date, the

Lord spoke to me in a dream and he told me that

you're going to come and see me someday. And

he told me what it was going to be about. So

I grabbed my journal still in my office, by the

way. So if you ever want to see it, don't bother

asking. You can't. It's none of your business.

But I grabbed it off the shelf and I took my

journal. I opened it up to that day because I

know what it is, right? I know what the date

is because of 9 -11. I opened up my journal and

I slid it across the desk to her and I said,

that's what you're here to tell me. And she said,

that's word for word what I'm here to tell you.

Well, what is that? That's revelation, interpretation,

application. So then she said the craziest thing

to me ever. So like I've had this for two years

and she reads it and she said, are you going

to treat me differently now? And I laughed. And

I said, have I treated you poorly in two years?

No, you've not treated me poorly once. So let

me get this straight. I've known this for two

years. I've not treated you poorly in two years.

Why would I treat you poorly now? She said, I

suppose you wouldn't. And the fact that somebody

knew and still loved her and extended grace to

her was all that she needed to then close that

chapter of her life and begin a new one, which

was much better. So that's this revelation application,

revelation interpretation application. Does that

all make sense? So here we go. the office of

prophet and the gift of prophecy. The gift of

prophecy is a supernatural ability given by the

Holy Spirit to speak a timely word from God that

encourages, strengthens, and comforts others.

Those last three words are the most important.

That encourages, strengthens, and comforts others.

So like sometimes people will say this is another

place that we get into abuse of the prophetic.

Sometimes people will say hey I have this word

from the Lord for you. And basically the word

from the Lord for you you're a scumbag and God's

really mad at you well that's not prophetic that

automatically just categorically can't be prophetic

because that's not what the prophetic does God

doesn't speak to somebody else and say okay by

the way I want you I want you to go tell mark

that he's a scumbag God is never going to tell

you that it's not ever gonna tell you that right

If that makes sense, go like this. God is not

ever going to do that. So like if you have this

message that you hear and you think is from God

and that that message is, I want you to go tell

Mark that he's a scumbag. I'm telling you right

now, that's the enemy. That's not bad mustard.

That's not God. That's the enemy. So please don't

ever say, hey, God gave me this word and I need

to tell you this. And God's really ticked at

you and you're a scumbag. Don't ever do that.

Because that's the abuse of the prophetic now

if the word is hey mark. I just want to encourage

you I know it's tough right now But God sent

me here to tell you you're gonna get through

this and I just want to encourage you I want

to build you up. I want to comfort you God's

up to something. I don't understand all that's

going on, but God's gonna be faithful You're

gonna see another day now that very well could

be God, right? But categorically if it's not

one of those three things, it's not God Right.

I mean, yeah. Right. No, don't do that. And stop

eating the bad bratwurst before bed. I mean,

please stop doing that. So a prophet is a person

called by Jesus to a leadership office within

the fivefold ministry. This is not merely the

ability to prophesy, but a recognized governmental

role in the body of Christ. So really, I like

the thing up at the top. The gift is available

to all. The office is a calling. So the gift

is for all. The office requires a call, right?

Easy enough. So prophetic identity and character

rooted in love. So here's another place. Unfortunately,

the prophets are kind of, they all have some

pitfalls, and I talked about some of those with

the apostles, but here's another one with the

prophets. So especially with the prophetic, and

you probably have run into somebody like this.

So they will go around and they kind of wear

that as their identification. That's their ID.

That's what they identify as. So they'll come

in and say, well, I am a prophet. Well, okay.

Be very careful with that. Because we should

not ever be identified by the gift that we've

been given. We should always be identified as

we're a son or a daughter of God. That's our

identity and we have to keep that straight. We

can't ever say our identity is I'm a prophet

our identity is I'm an apostle No, it's not you're

a child of God and he's given you a gift. Let

me give you an example of that. So when I was

eight years old I had been riding around a Dukes

of Hazzard bike that I could tell you all about.

It was pretty amazing. I shouldn't really spend

a whole lot of time, especially on camera, talking

about the Dukes of Hazzard bike, but everything

that you would think it looked like it was. the

seat was a Confederate flag, I mean the entire

deal. And it was the same colors that General

Lee and when I got it, it had training wheels

on it. It was those kind of bikes that you could

eventually take the training wheels off and then

you could ride the bike and I did. And that's

what I learned to ride a bike on, is this Dukes

of Hazzard bike. But it was a little, little,

little, little bike. And for Christmas that year,

I asked for one thing. I wanted a red BMX bike.

Those were really the only criteria that I wanted

had to be read and it had to be a BMX bike So

for Christmas that year to my sheer delight.

I got lots of great stuff, but I got a red BMX

bike and I could tell you all about it. I mean

there was there were boot prints in the snow,

and I don't know how they got there, and it just

really did look like it was a magical thing.

But I ended up with a red BMX bike for Christmas

when I was eight years old. But I didn't then

identify as being a red BMX bike. It was probably

one of the greatest Christmas gifts I've ever

received, but I didn't go around saying, I'm

a red BMX bike. Because that's foolish. I'm still

a son. And that's my identity. Just because I

was given a gift doesn't change my identity from

something other than being a son. Does that make

sense? So if God has called you to be a prophet,

that's awesome. The church embraces that. We

celebrate that. We want to release you to do

that. The church needs you to do that. But you

don't go around saying that I am a prophet. No,

it's just the gift that you've been given. And

you've been given that gift for the General good

of the body of Christ, but just like I wouldn't

go around saying I am a red BMX bike Don't go

around saying you are a prophet Does that make

sense your identity is the fact that you're a

child of God Prophetic purity that it means that

there's no mixture of personal agendas So when

we're in this role, we just have to hear what

God says and speak that to other people. We shouldn't

have an agenda. Like if I've had a dream that

Mark's a scumbag, I haven't by the way. I probably

need to move on to a different example because

Mark's gonna start to wonder here. But if I had

this dream, but then God speaks to me about Mark,

I can't mix those two together. I have to keep

my personal stuff out of it. I have no business

reflecting in any way what I think. Are you following

me? So in that role, the only thing that matters

is this is what God said, and I want you to know

what God thinks about you and how God feels about

you. And it's always going to be to encourage,

to build up, to comfort. Always. If I feel like

I'm supposed to say anything else, I can automatically,

categorically say, that is not God. I'm preaching

a whole lot better than you're responding. No

mixture of personal agendas, culture of honor,

operating with humility and submission to leadership.

An example of that is David and Nathan. Nathan

obviously was the prophet. God has a message

from, Nathan receives a message from God to give

to David. And this is a great example because,

here's what I want you to see now. So how are

we talking about culture of honor? We've always

said that it's always positive. It's never negative.

God always is encouraging. He's comforting. He's

supporting you. So David and Nathan, how in the

world is that the case? Like how many of you

look at that and be like, I'm not sure we're

talking the same thing because that seems like

God's upset with David and Nathan's the one who's

supposed to come and drop this bombshell for

David? A couple things. First of all, Want you

to notice that when Nathan the prophet comes

to David he does so one -on -one He doesn't get

up in front of the entire body of Christ and

be like, you know what? I'm just gonna tell all

the social media I'm gonna tell all the social

media what a bum this person is and I'm not gonna

get on social media and say I know that David's

our King I know that he's a man after God's own

heart not that I said that God said that but

I'm telling you right now Everybody needs to

know this dude the bum because that's not a culture

of honor, right? It's not a culture of honor.

And as you read through that passage, one of

the things that's incredibly clear is that God

was a, he was, he wanted restoration. He wanted

to bring David back to himself. He wanted him

to repent so there could be a turning. All of

that is for David's good. None of that's to do

David harm. All of that is because God loves

David, he values him, he wants a relationship

with him, and he wants to bring him back to himself.

If you understand that, go like this. But one

of the main things is it's done one -on -one,

not in a way that's gonna make him look bad in

front of everybody else. Everyone doesn't need

to know that David's a bum, right? But he does

need to hear this because... God wants to bring

him back into relationship with him because he

values David. David has significance to him.

Does that make sense? Culture of honor. So how

does God speak? Visions, dreams, scripture, inner

impressions. How many of you have had at least

one of those? God's spoken to you in some way

through one of those. So what do I mean by that?

How many of you have had a vision? Two different

kinds of visions. Open vision. So sometimes we

would call that daydreaming. Not all daydreaming

is a prophetic word amen Just so that we're clear

but sometimes God is speaking to you in a daydream

so like you're you're awake But you you see something

there's something and all sudden something makes

sense and you have no other reason to To understand

that other than God spoke to you and you're like,

huh? That's what that is. That's an open vision

closed vision is just another word for a dream

So open vision, you're awake, closed vision,

you're in a dream. So scripture, how many people

have ever had God speak to you through scripture?

You're reading along and you're like, holy smokes!

That's me! Holy smokes! Well, that's the prophetic

because God's speaking to you. Now one of the

nice things about scripture is how many of you

know that it's not very hard to interpret that

point? Because the but it's not that you've read

the Bible the Bible just read you and you're

like, yeah, that's me Bless you Whether you like

it or not. God just I mean the Bible read you

also inner impressions So word of knowledge a

great book if you want to know more about this

specifically Randy Clark has a book called word

of knowledge If you are interested in more of

that and get Randy Clark's book, I highly recommend

it because it goes through all of them. So just

a few of them are seeing, hearing, feeling. I've

experienced all of those. One that I've not experienced,

a friend of mine actually reads stuff on people,

and it would freak me out. I think I'd wet my

pants if God ever did that. I mean, I'm open

to it. If that's what the Lord wants, I'm fine

with it, but it would probably freak me out.

And here's what I mean specifically. So like

if, if he, If the Lord's speaking to him that

so -and -so has lung cancer in their left lung,

part of the way that the Lord speaks to him is

he'll actually see the word cancer written on

their left lung. Like I've never experienced

that, but some people do. Now, does he have any

way of coming up with that on his own other than

God speaking to him that way? No. So then, okay,

is this revelation? Well, if this is revelation,

what am I supposed to do with it? What does this

mean? Am I supposed to say something to somebody

or am I supposed to just pray for them? Because

sometimes that's the answer and you just have

to follow all of that stuff. Seer, knower, or

a feeler. So some people see things. They see

them in visions. They see things. How many of

you would say that you're a seer in that sense?

that God gives you open visions, closed visions,

those kind of things. You see it in some sense,

whether you're physical eyes or you're spiritual

eyes, seers. How many of you are more along the

lines of knowers? So like we talked about this

a little bit ago, you just know things. And if

I ask you, how do you know that? I don't know.

I just know. How many of you are more knowers?

Any knowers? How many of you are feelers? You

know that something's wrong. How do I know that

something's wrong? I just feel it. Something's

just not right. Well, how do you know that? I

don't know. An example of that. Danita and I

started a heaven -trained ministry when we were

in Lorain County. So we took Phil Batten's stuff,

and you all know Phil Batten. Most of you know

Phil Batten. If you don't, we've talked about

him in this series. But Phil was like a father

to me. I loved Phil. Phil loved me. We would

have a lot of fun together. I would teach on

Heaven Train a lot, especially in the later part

of Phil's life because he wasn't up to it. And

I had so much fun getting up there saying, I

am Pastor Phil. And they would say, no, you're

not. He's Pastor Phil. And I'm like, no, I'm

Pastor Phil. And just so much fun with all of

that because I'm like, no, seriously, here's

my driver's license. I am Pastor Phil. He's also

Pastor Phil. It was just weird. But anyways,

so we started a heaven train in Lorain County

and we took basically the same stuff that he

was doing. We even used his bus for a couple

years until we built our own. But we used a lot

of that stuff. And a lot of the principles that

we used were exactly what Phil did. And one of

those principles was this. So when I was with

Phil in Cleveland, if Phil felt something was

off, that it didn't matter. He didn't owe me

an explanation. I didn't want him to explain

things, because if he's just like, something's

off, and he said, this is what we need to do,

then we just did it. We didn't want to waste

time and say, explain to me, what are you talking

about? Because we just, okay, whatever that means,

we'll figure that out later. We're gonna do what

we need to do right now. So that was one of the

principles that we borrowed from Cleveland Heaven

Train. And one of our stops, was in Illyria,

and I pulled in with the bus, and I'm like, something's

just off. It's just off. I can't look at anything

and say, okay, it's this particular thing. They

aren't selling drugs on that particular day.

They're not selling drugs over here. I don't

see anything that's, but something's off. So

I make one trip around and I caught our team

and I said, hey listen I'm gonna make one more

trip around Just to let people know we're here

and then we're gonna park and I want to be in

and gone in five minutes So they're like, okay,

we're in and gone in five minutes They didn't

ask me for an explanation. They just knew that

I knew something felt wrong and we were gonna

be there and gone in five minutes, which meant

we had to get people on the bus, we had to do

a short lesson, we needed to pray for them, and

we needed to give them food, because those are

the bottom line requirements of Heaven Train.

You get them on the bus, you teach them something,

you pray for them, and you feed them, every time.

No exceptions. So like five minutes, that doesn't

give us a whole lot of time. So we get all the

kids on the bus, we do our thing, we say our

prayer, we get them off the bus, we feed them,

and we're gone in five minutes. And at what would

have been six minutes, there was a police pursuit

through that neighborhood at speeds of 140 miles

an hour. And they ended up, we parked at a T

intersection, the bus was here in this intersection.

dead -ended into where the bus was at. So that

pursuit ended in the house just beyond where

our bus was parked. So if we had not, if we had

been there a minute later, that pursuit would

have ended up hitting the bus and probably killing

the people we were there to serve. How did I

know something was off? I just felt it. I don't

know. Just something's not right. We're gonna

get out of here. We're gonna do what we need

to do, but we're getting out of here. Are you

following me? Does that make sense? So we are

always supposed to weigh prophecy. First Thessalonians

521, test everything, hold fast to that, which

is good. Just because you have a sense of something

doesn't mean that it's prophetic, does not mean

that it's from God. So how do you know if it's

from God? You test everything. And that way you're

gonna know, okay, that's bad brought worst, or

that's the enemy, or that is God. and then you

can do what you need to accordingly. But we test

everything. Don't just go blast somebody because

you think that this is from God. So they really

need to hear this. So I'm just going to go tell

them what a dirty rotten scoundrel they are.

Don't do that. Test it. Make sure that it's from

Him. Practical tips use encouraging language

edify exhort comfort avoid directive prophecy

marriage relocation unless in a mature setting

I almost just want to say just avoid that across

the board For the most part 95 % of the people

just you just need to avoid that altogether You

know like all that makes sense right so those

kind of details don't speak about it It says

in a mature setting. So that means that you're

mature as a prophet in that office and that means

that the person you're talking to is mature.

So the odds of both of those being true aren't

very good. So probably for the most part just

avoid those kind of things. Don't say thus says

the Lord lightly. I want you to notice how that's

put. Obviously the prophetic is one of the things

that the Lord has gifted me with. In the entire

time that the Lord's used me to speak prophetic

words, I think maybe two or three times ever

I've actually used that phrase. The only times

I've used that phrase is when I'm absolutely

110 % certain that this is what God said. I prefer

to say things like, could it be that this is

what God's saying. Well, why do I like that?

Because it still leaves room for the fact that

I could be wrong. I could have gotten this wrong

because we're human, right? I mean, we're not

perfect. So it could be that it could be bad

bratwurst. Like I could do all the stuff and

it still could be that I had bad bratwurst. I

didn't, by the way, in case you're wondering.

So Edify, did you know this? I'm a biblical language

nerd. The word that's used in the Bible for edify,

like we're supposed to edify people, did you

know that the word literally translated means

to put a roof on it? Did you know that? So, like

Mark's not a scumbag. I've picked on him so much.

I love you Mark, right? Like I love you Mark.

Mark's not a scumbag. So instead, if I wanted

to edify Mark, what I do is I find out what God's

doing, what he's speaking into, what God's currently

up to in Mark's life, and I put a roof on that.

I give that space. I make much of that. I say,

hey, let's just take a moment to think about

this. This is what God's up to. That's putting

a roof on it. That protects it. That gives it

space that says this is significant that this

is important That's to edify it could edify it

could encourage encourage is just to strengthen

or Literally the word encourage means to put

in courage So like one of the one of my pet peeves

is when people will say things like I want to

encourage you But but you just kicked me in the

teeth So how in the world am I supposed to be

encouraged by that? I'm not encouraged by that

So if we're going to encourage people that means

that I put in courage That means that hey, I

understand that you're going through something

tough, but I want to put in courage I want you

I want to put into you what it's gonna take for

you to do What needs to be done even the midst

of difficulty that's to put in courage. That's

encouragement So if they don't feel more courageous

after you've given them the encouragement That's

not encouragement So if somebody's been like

if you've encouraged somebody They ought to be

like, you know what? I can leap tall buildings

with a single bound. I can't stop a speeding

bullet because you encouraged them and I want

to challenge you with this So like in all of

our conversations when we're like, I want to

encourage them. Let that be the standard Did

you put in courage? And if you didn't that's

okay, but don't call it encouragement Is that

fair? So that's encouragement. The last one is

to comfort You all know what that means so some

protocols permission based prophecy always ask

first That's simple enough, right? So in the

realm of the prophetic You should just always

ask, would it be okay with you if I fill in the

blank and get their permission? Easy enough,

right? Permission based. Number two, confidentiality

and honor. Avoid public embarrassment. Simple

enough, right? So Nathan and David. Nathan didn't

come to David. He didn't get on social media

and be like, I want you to know that our King

is an absolute loser. This guy is a bum. Thus

says the Lord. Why? Because that brings public

embarrassment. The prophetic should never be

done in a way that embarrasses the people who

you're trying to encourage. Because how do you

put encourage if you've embarrassed them? Right?

So the last part of it is, this is the one thing,

like if you've been in classes with me, Adele

will know this, I make people say this, I don't

know, probably 20 ,000 times, always positive,

never negative, that's what that line means,

always positive, never negative. So we talk about

prophetic, we've done prayer ministry classes

here, how many times did you have to say that?

Always positive, never negative, always positive,

never negative. And anytime I teach on it, I'll

make people say always positive, never negative,

just so I can say that that's always true. Say

that with me. Always positive, never negative,

always positive, never negative. So. Always positive,

never negative. So if you're going to operate

in the prophetic, you're always positive, never

negative. Does that mean that God doesn't show

you negative things? Sure, he does. But what

do you do with that if the Lord shows you negative

things? Well, you can pray about it That's what

I would encourage you to do with it spend lots

of time praying about it and Ask the Lord. How

could I make this redemptive? How can how can

this be a positive in their life and until you

have that? Clarified keep your mouth shut Never

say anything negative How many of you got up

this morning and you're like, you know what I

hope happens today? I hope I go to church and

I hope somebody just like airs all of my laundry

and they tell me every negative aspect of who

I am and my identity and how I'm living. I just

hope that someone will do that for me today.

No one, right? But I bet somebody got up this

morning and said, you know what, I hope that

I have somebody speak something kind into me

today. Always positive, never negative. Always

positive, never negative. Submission to authority

aligned with spiritual leadership. So that's

just simple enough, right? So we all need to

submit to one another. We have mutual submission

to one another. So it's always dangerous, regardless

of the one that we're talking about. Today we're

talking about prophets, but it's always dangerous

when we operate outside of authority, right?

So God has direct authority and he has delegated

authority. Which one's most important to him?

It's a trick question. They're both important

to him. So what do I mean by direct authority?

God has every right to say to you, hey, I want

you to do X, Y, Z. And you know what you should

probably go do? You should probably go do X,

Y, Z. Should you do X, Z, Y? No, I would suggest

you do X, Y, Z. Because there's a reason that

he said I want you to go do XYZ Do you have to

understand why he said I want you to do XYZ Does

he owe you an explanation? No, you just go do

what he said So God has direct authority, but

God also has delegated authority and in delegated

authority God puts people in our life Who have

authority over us? maybe that's a Sponsor maybe

that's a coach maybe that's a pastor, maybe it

doesn't matter who it is, but God puts people

in authority in our life over us. And when he's

put those people in delegated authority over

us, and they say to us, I want you to go do X,

Y, Z, they get, guess what we should do? You

should probably go do X, Y, Z. There are two

exceptions. If the person asks you to do something

that's illegal or immoral, don't do it. But if

it's not illegal or immoral, you probably should

do what they ask you to do. Amen? You should

probably be under authority. Now, if they're

telling you, I want you to go rob a bank, you

don't need to pray about that. You don't need

to delegate authority. Delivery is as important

as the word itself. One of our assignments, not

the one you're thinking of, but a different one,

had this sweet lady who operated in the prophetic,

and she went and... she just Blasted this person.

I mean all the always positive never negative

She just checked it all at the door and she's

like no I'm gonna go in both barrels blazing

and I'm gonna give it to them and What she said?

Was absolutely true She was right how she said

it was immoral So obviously it blew up in her

face and she came to me and she's like, I don't

understand what went wrong here. And I said,

hey, listen, what you said is absolutely true.

I won't dispute that with you and the person

that you spoke that to won't dispute that with

you. That's absolutely true. But how you went

about saying that was harmful. does not reflect

Jesus at all. And she's like, yeah, that's true.

So what do I do? Well, you're gonna need to start

by apologizing. Because not only did you make

yourself look bad, you made God look bad. So

you need to start with that, and she's like,

yeah, you're right. How you say it is just as

important as what you say. So, like, you can

be always positive, never negative, and the delivery

of how you say it is just as important as what

the word is itself. That makes sense, right?

Alright, so some instructions. Keep it short,

sharp, to the point. 30 to 50 seconds. Shiny

and positive. Don't add to or try to interpret

what you see or hear. Stay true to what the Holy

Spirit says or shows. Don't add to it. Don't

take away from it. One example. Not one of mine,

but a friend of mine had a open vision about

an injury that took place They were using in

the context of healing so they're gonna pray

for somebody in the room and he describes what

the Lord showed to him and The long and short

of it was this there was a he showed them this

hose that was drawn across the floor and somebody

caught their foot on it and he described all

of that stuff and fell down they had injury to

their leg into their face and to their their

arm, their right arm. So they're like, OK, the

Lord gave me this picture and they're trying

to describe the entire thing. And he said, and

it was a garden hose. It was an orange garden

hose. Well, the Lord didn't say that it was a

garden hose. He just interpreted it as a garden

hose. So they're like, there's nobody here. They

couldn't find anybody. After everything was done,

somebody came up and said, you know, it's the

craziest thing. because you described the entire

thing of what happened to me to a T except for

you said that they tripped over an orange garden

hose and that was me except for I tripped over

an orange air hose and they missed the opportunity

to to be ministered to because he added that

it was a garden hose because that was the only

hose that he could think of and what he should

have said was you tripped over an orange hose

Because that's all it was. It was just a hose.

He didn't know that it was a garden hose. Are

you following me? So that detail was something

that he added, which threw somebody off. If you

just see a hose, just say that it's a hose. If

you hear that it was just a hose, just say that

it's a hose. Don't add it was a garden hose.

Some pitfalls and maturity common pitfalls are

offense isolation spiritual pride and performance

mentality See how we get there, right? We start

to say things like I am a prophet. No, you're

a child of God And he's just gifted you with

that and it's no different than I'm not a red

BMX bike Just because at some point I was given

a red BMX bike. I'm still a child of God And

he's just gifted me with these things It's not

anyways Let's go on. Mature profits, walking,

humility, accountability, fruits of the spirit,

prophetic communities. Really, it's true of all

the fivefold, but profits especially need to

hear this. So you know what profits really need?

They need other profits. they need to hang around

with other prophets and you'd have enough of

a relationship with other prophets that other

prophets can mentor them and help them and sharpen

them and and say hey what you said that was good

how you said it that was terrible and so I don't

want you what you said was true that's good so

I want to commend you for hearing from God and

then and saying it but would encourage you to

work on how you said it because that was that

was hurtful and harmful and nobody needs that

Future resources here's just some other stuff

if you want to look at the list you're welcome

to afterwards Just remind me I'll show it to

you. So here's we're gonna wrap up very quickly

so we want to identify Our identities in Christ

sensitive to the Holy Spirit and courage to speak

truth One of the things that I think is true

about the prophetic, everyone can prophesy, right?

Everyone can prophesy, not everyone's a prophet.

So what I mean by that, everyone can hear the

voice of God and then say, this is what I heard

him say. Everyone can. Scripture speaks about

it over and over again. We can all hear the voice

of, Jesus said this, my sheep know my voice.

What does that mean? If you're in relationship

with him today, you know his voice. I didn't

say that, he said that. So we know his voice

we can hear his voice and then we can say to

somebody else This is what I heard him say. We're

all capable of that. That doesn't make us all

prophets So we we're gonna give you the opportunity

to do that in a second But here's the thing that

I want you to think about any time you take the

posture to bless somebody else Any time you take

the posture to bless somebody else, you know,

what's gonna happen? God's gonna use you to bless

them So this week's a prime example. The Big

Sur, if you know what we did? We just took a

posture to bless. And you know what happened?

People were blessed. Because we took a posture

to say, we just want to be an encouragement to

you. We just want to bless you. That's it. We

don't have an agenda. We ask for nothing in exchange.

We just want to bless you. And I think that's

true across the board. When we take that posture,

he always will show up. Encouragement and growth,

join prophetic teams, continue journaling, seek

mentorship. So last two slides, maybe. Did I

turn it off? No. So here's what we're gonna do

in a second. Quiet your heart, ask God for a

word or picture for somebody. Hearing God, encouragement,

prophecy. So if journaling is always a good thing

to do, keep track of what you're hearing God

say, and then practice delivering the word in

humility and love. So we're gonna come back to

that in just a second. This is so small, you're

probably gonna struggle to read it. If you wanna

see a copy of it, or if you want me to email

one to you, I just want you to see how this all

can fit in the bigger picture. So this... I spent

months trying to come up with a systematic plan

of how all this would fit together and then I

ran into a guy by the name of Ken Blue. Ken Blue,

he put this together and he even talks about

the fact that he did it like in an afternoon

and he did it in an afternoon what it took me

like months to figure out a way to do and then

it takes me weeks to communicate it. That's the

Blue Prayer model and I absolutely love it. This

is kind of a systematic approach that you can

use to pray for anybody. It covers just about

everything. What we're talking about is really

step one and two. So come Holy Spirit. I would

suggest that a good way to pray for anybody is

just that simple prayer, right? Come Holy Spirit.

We started the service by talking about invite.

Do you remember these? Exalt. Surrender. Embrace.

So that's invite. come Holy Spirit. The second

one is the power of a blessing, where it's listening

for and speaking a blessing. So that's really

the prophetic in a nutshell. And I think that

every time we have the opportunity to pray with

someone and minister to them, I think that we

always start with an element of the prophetic.

Holy Spirit come because they don't need to hear

what you think. They need to hear what Holy Spirit

thinks. And you're not going to know that. unless

you invite and exalt and surrender. So blessing,

so really that's all we're gonna focus on, but

I want you to see how this fits in the bigger

picture. So diagnosis and strategy, you have

an interview to make a tentative diagnosis and

determine a prayer strategy. The next step is

the empowered prayer. You pray in faith, pray

in the name of Jesus, pray with authority. Pray

with tenderness and compassion. Pray with discernment

and with watchfulness. Some do nots. Do not shout.

Do not be aggressive. Do not give personal prophecies.

The next step, ask for direction. The second

interview, to redirect the prayer, sealing the

works. You're just asking the Holy Spirit to

take what has been done and to seal it. and to

protect it and post -prayer counsel. So it doesn't

really matter what you're praying for. If you're

praying for someone to be healed, that's a great

plan to use. And pray for them, ask them, hey,

what's improved? Can you do anything you couldn't

do before? Pray for them again, ask the Holy

Spirit to seal it, and give them some counsel

after the fact. So we're going to go back to

the last one just for a second. And we're almost,

almost done. Oops, actually I can go forward.

There we go. So here's what we're gonna end with.

And we're gonna sing a song just in a second.

But if you would, I want you to find a partner,

just one partner, groups of two. If you need

to move around, you can. And this is what I want

you to do. I just want you to quiet your heart.

I want you to ask God for a word or a picture

for them. So you can just pray, come Holy Spirit.

And just ask God, what do you want to say to

them? So you're going to be practicing hearing

God. You're going to give them an encouragement

thing that needs to exhort, encourage, or comfort,

right? So if you hear, this guy's a bum. If that's

what you're sensing, that's not God, okay? Just

categorically, it's not God. So come back to

it again, because he's not a bum. That's not

what God says about anybody. So, okay, that's

obviously not God. What is God saying? It's something

that's going to encourage, exhort, or comfort.

And that's what's going to be what you're going

to hear, and then you're just going to practice

delivering that, right? In humility and love,

because God loves them, so we're just going to

lean in to hear his voice about what they want

to say. So I want to give you a moment to do

that, and then just exchange, right? So if you

need to move around, you can do that. Come, Holy

Spirit, what do you want to say to this person?

And then just share that with them. And if that's

something that's encouraging to you, you want

to tell them that it's encouraging, right? Because,

hey, you got this right. So I'll give you a moment

to practice, and then we're going to sing one

more song. But find a partner. Ask the Lord to

invite, exalt, surrender. and share that word

with them and then if it if it encourages you

then make sure you let them know because that

will encourage them.