SPEAKER_00: It's good to be with you.
SPEAKER_00: And uh, Pastor Robert asked me to speak on the gift of prophecy because this is one of the best weekends, in my opinion, in Gateway's calendar.
SPEAKER_00: It's Presbytery weekend.
SPEAKER_00: And it's a weekend that changed my life when I was a part of Gateway Church.
SPEAKER_00: This is a weekend that can change your life.
SPEAKER_00: And I want you to be a part of one of those four services.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to turn in your Bible to 1 Corinthians 14.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to be in a lot of scriptures, but I want to show you another spiritual gift in the Bible that's not just in the New Testament.
SPEAKER_00: This spiritual gift of prophecy is found throughout the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: And I believe the gift of healing that Pastor Robert talked about last weekend and this gift of prophecy are two gifts that should mark us as New Testament believers in Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: I think these are the two powerful gifts that should be evident in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: These are gifts that when they when people get around us, they should feel the power of the Holy Spirit working through us to bring healing and prophecy, encouragement, strength, and comfort to people all around us.
SPEAKER_00: And I want you to turn with me to 1 Corinthians 14, but I want to show you this one passage in Numbers, the book of Numbers, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Numbers chapter 11, verse 29 is a, I think, a fascinating.
SPEAKER_00: It's often overlooked.
SPEAKER_00: And this is a story of Moses.
SPEAKER_00: Moses was frustrated with the people that were around him, and he walks back into the camp where there's a couple of million Jewish people that are on their way from Egypt to the promised land, and he's frustrated, he's aggravated, and his people run up to him and say, Moses, there's a couple of men in the camp, in the city, and they're prophesying, they're doing the work of God, and they were frustrated with Moses.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to hear the word of Moses from thousands of years ago, as if he were speaking to us today.
SPEAKER_00: Look at Numbers chapter 11, verse 29.
SPEAKER_00: He says, I wish that all the Lord's people, all of them were prophets.
SPEAKER_00: I wish they were all prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them all.
SPEAKER_00: So I want us to pray.
SPEAKER_00: I want you all over the room at every campus, every congregation.
SPEAKER_00: I want you right now to ask the Holy Spirit to come.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you've never asked for the Holy Spirit to be powerfully present in your life, but I'm believing in the next 25 minutes, I'm going to show you the powerful presence of the Holy Spirit that's available to everyone that will ask.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, the Holy Spirit will not come to any of us who do not ask for him to come.
SPEAKER_00: And so I'm going to participate with this.
SPEAKER_00: I'm asking for the Holy Spirit to come today, this weekend, and be powerfully present with every one of us.
SPEAKER_00: Would you just open up your hearts today to hear the word of the Lord?
SPEAKER_00: Father in heaven, we're so grateful and we're so thankful that the Word of God is powerful and living and active, that the words that we're about to study, that the words we're about to read are live.
SPEAKER_00: They are living, they are powerful, they're able to change us from the inside out.
SPEAKER_00: They're able to speak to us.
SPEAKER_00: We're able to hear your voice because of these sacred texts.
SPEAKER_00: So come, Holy Spirit, into every campus, every congregation, all of those watching online, we just invite the powerful work of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And everyone said, Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: In Acts chapter 2, the church is birthed.
SPEAKER_00: Powerful, miraculous act of God.
SPEAKER_00: And the church is literally, by the power of the Spirit, it comes bursting onto the scene.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to read this to you in Acts chapter 2, verse 16.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to get to 1 Corinthians in just a moment.
SPEAKER_00: Stay there with me.
SPEAKER_00: Acts chapter 2 is the church is being birthed.
SPEAKER_00: It says, No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel.
SPEAKER_00: This is Peter.
SPEAKER_00: Peter is moved by the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And Peter steps out and says, Listen, let me tell you what's happening in the church.
SPEAKER_00: This is what was spoken by the prophet Joel.
SPEAKER_00: In the last days, God says, I will pour out my spirit.
SPEAKER_00: I will pour it out on all people.
SPEAKER_00: Your sons and daughters will prophesy.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, I have a promise for everyone in the room and all of you watching.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit is poured out for us, poured out on us, and one of the first evidences that the Holy Spirit is powerfully present with a group of people is that they're going to prophesy.
SPEAKER_00: Now he's quoting from the book of Joel.
SPEAKER_00: So I read Numbers chapter 11.
SPEAKER_00: Peter is quoting Joel chapter 2.
SPEAKER_00: This is Acts chapter 2.
SPEAKER_00: So literally, the entire narrative of the Bible talks about this powerful spiritual gift.
SPEAKER_00: He said, I'm going to pour out my spirit on all people.
SPEAKER_00: Your sons and daughters will prophesy.
SPEAKER_00: Your young men will see visions.
SPEAKER_00: Your old men will take naps.
SPEAKER_00: Come on, all the old guys in the room say that's a spiritual gift.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: I'm becoming an old guy and I think it's a spiritual gift of napping.
SPEAKER_00: And I got it too.
SPEAKER_00: I am operating completely in that gift a lot.
SPEAKER_00: All right.
SPEAKER_00: So the old men will dream dreams.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 18, even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And listen, he repeats himself here.
SPEAKER_00: I've told I teach my church back home in Colorado that when the Bible repeats itself, it's like God is yelling at us.
SPEAKER_00: So he's already said to us, I'm going to pour out my spirit, and one of the first evidences of this pouring out of the spirit will be prophecy.
SPEAKER_00: And then he repeats himself.
SPEAKER_00: He says, I will pour out my spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.
SPEAKER_00: Later on, Paul, that this is Peter talking.
SPEAKER_00: Now, Paul writes a letter to the church in Thessalonica and he says, 1 Thessalonians 5.19, listen to this do not put out the spirit fire.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you may have grown up in a church tradition, a spiritual tradition that taught you that God is silent, that God doesn't speak, and that we can't hear him, and we cannot communicate what God says to us.
SPEAKER_00: But Paul said to the church that was living in a very dark land, he said, do not put out the spirit's fire.
SPEAKER_00: And this is what he said, do not treat prophecies with contempt.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, when you hear about spiritual gifts, when you hear that God's pouring out his spirit on a group of people, instead of criticizing it, instead of being contemptuous toward it, he says, no, invite it, don't put it out.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, add fuel to the fire.
SPEAKER_00: Stir it up inside you.
SPEAKER_00: Call for it.
SPEAKER_00: Ask for it.
SPEAKER_00: Long for the presence of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: He says, test everything, though.
SPEAKER_00: Don't believe everything you hear.
SPEAKER_00: Test everything.
SPEAKER_00: Test it all.
SPEAKER_00: Put it to the test of the scriptures.
SPEAKER_00: Put the things of the Spirit to the test of the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Test everything.
SPEAKER_00: Hold on, though, to the good.
SPEAKER_00: Hold on to the good.
SPEAKER_00: Now I know some of you have probably seen people misuse prophecy because it can be misused like every other spiritual gift.
SPEAKER_00: Every other manifestation of God can be used for the glorification of man and not of God.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe some of you have had a really bad experience watching people use the gift of prophecy to manipulate or control or to be abusive.
SPEAKER_00: But listen, this is what Paul is saying.
SPEAKER_00: Paul's saying, listen, don't let a few bad people misusing the Holy Spirit keep you yourself from experiencing the good things that the Holy Spirit wants to do in your life.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, God is good.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit is good.
SPEAKER_00: And what the Holy Spirit gives to us are good gifts for our benefit and for our good and not our harm.
SPEAKER_00: Can you say that?
SPEAKER_00: You agree with that so far?
SPEAKER_00: Say it really loud if you agree with that, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: God is good, the Holy Spirit is good, the gifts of the Holy Spirit are good, and everything God gives us through the Holy Spirit is for our good.
SPEAKER_00: And if you if you really believe that, say it really loud with me so I know I'm on the right page.
SPEAKER_00: Amen?
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: All right, all right.
SPEAKER_00: Now go with me to 1 Corinthians 14.
SPEAKER_00: Because I'm going to show you this weekend three things about the gift of prophecy.
SPEAKER_00: And here's my desire.
SPEAKER_00: I am praying that the Holy Spirit begin to stir you, that you begin to feel the presence of the Holy Spirit, that you begin to use this gift to change the world where you live.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not overstating this.
SPEAKER_00: The gift of prophecy has saved my life.
SPEAKER_00: The gift of prophecy has saved my marriage.
SPEAKER_00: The gift of prophecy has changed the way I parent my two teenagers.
SPEAKER_00: The gift of prophecy has caused me to become friends with people that I would have never met unless the Holy Spirit used me to meet these people.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just telling you, the gift of prophecy in my life, I could not imagine living life without the person and the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: I cannot imagine living life without God speaking to me.
SPEAKER_00: I could not imagine living life without speaking for God to people.
SPEAKER_00: 1 Corinthians 14, are you there yet?
SPEAKER_00: All right, 1 Corinthians 14.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the first thing I want you to remember about this gift of prophecy is that prophecy is inspiring.
SPEAKER_00: It is the inspiration of God, it is the breath of God, it is the speaking of God.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to think about how powerful it is to imagine God speaking to people and what it would do.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, if every person in this room could hear God's voice, it would change this city.
SPEAKER_00: It would change our world if every person listening really believed that they had the ability to hear God.
SPEAKER_00: It's inspiring.
SPEAKER_00: Look at 1 Corinthians 14, verse 1.
SPEAKER_00: It says, follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, this is what you know what that language means is that we're supposed to have an appetite for spiritual gifts.
SPEAKER_00: We're supposed to get hungry for it.
SPEAKER_00: All right, so I'm walking by a restaurant today and I live in Colorado.
SPEAKER_00: We're not known for our food there.
SPEAKER_00: All right, we have beautiful mountains.
SPEAKER_00: We just don't have a lot of good food.
SPEAKER_00: And so I was actually walking by a place today, and on the front sign it said, uh crawfish etuffe.
SPEAKER_00: Now I'm from Louisiana.
SPEAKER_00: If you don't know what that is, because you don't know what good food is, all right?
SPEAKER_00: So I'm walking by there today, and my kids and I are walking, and I we said, I wonder what we could eat for lunch.
SPEAKER_00: I walk by and see the sign.
SPEAKER_00: I said, I already made up my mind what we're gonna have for lunch, because it said crawfish etuffe.
SPEAKER_00: You can't even spell that.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just telling you, it's God's gift to humanity.
SPEAKER_00: You know why I like crawfish etuffe?
SPEAKER_00: Because I grew up eating crawfish.
SPEAKER_00: You can tell I like food, all right?
SPEAKER_00: I have the gift of food, I have the gift of eating, I have great discernment about food, all right?
SPEAKER_00: You understand this?
SPEAKER_00: This is a spiritual gift I have.
SPEAKER_00: I eat and I nap.
SPEAKER_00: I nap and I eat, okay?
SPEAKER_00: So listen, I walked by there today and I saw the sign, crawfish atufe.
SPEAKER_00: And you know why I like it?
SPEAKER_00: It's because I have an appetite for it.
SPEAKER_00: So when I hear people talk about the Holy Spirit and his gifts, I have grown up seeing the fruit and the joy of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: I have an appetite for the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you have never gotten your first taste of the Holy Spirit, and you've never developed an appetite for the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: I'm telling you, follow the way of love and eagerly have an appetite.
SPEAKER_00: When you hear about presbytery services, you should clear your calendar.
SPEAKER_00: You should at there is nothing more important unless you're birthing a child, getting married, or going to your kid's baptism.
SPEAKER_00: This is the only thing that should stand in your way of coming to these meetings.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because this is the this is where the Holy Spirit's going to be present this week.
SPEAKER_00: The power of the Spirit's going to come in these meetings.
SPEAKER_00: And if you have an appetite for the things of the Spirit, then you go to places and and and gatherings where you know the Holy Spirit's going to be present.
SPEAKER_00: Now look at verse 3.
SPEAKER_00: It says, but everyone who prophesies speaks.
SPEAKER_00: Stop just for a moment.
SPEAKER_00: This requires our participation.
SPEAKER_00: Everyone who prophesies has to open their mouth and talk.
SPEAKER_00: You have to have some boldness and courage.
SPEAKER_00: You have to trust that you're hearing God.
SPEAKER_00: Everyone who prophesies speaks.
SPEAKER_00: God using people to have a conversation on his behalf.
SPEAKER_00: Are you catching this?
SPEAKER_00: God, this is the easy definition to remember.
SPEAKER_00: God using ordinary people like you and me to speak to other people on his behalf.
SPEAKER_00: Everyone who prophesies has to participate.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, this has always been God's plan for you and me.
SPEAKER_00: We're not supposed to be sitting on the sidelines watching God do his work on the earth.
SPEAKER_00: God's kingdom comes through God's people.
SPEAKER_00: God's kingdom comes through the people of God doing the work of God on the earth with the help of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: This has been his plan from the very beginning is that you and I get the joy and the privilege of participating with God for God on the earth.
SPEAKER_00: But everyone who prophesies speaks to men, listen to these three things for their strengthening, their encouragement, and their comfort.
SPEAKER_00: Alright, let me ask you a question.
SPEAKER_00: What would change in your life?
SPEAKER_00: This is a great question, all right?
SPEAKER_00: Listen to this very carefully.
SPEAKER_00: What would change in your life if you brought the Holy Spirit into every conversation?
SPEAKER_00: Let me just ask the question again.
SPEAKER_00: What would change in your life?
SPEAKER_00: If for every conversation, I'm talking about every random, every planned conversation that you have this week, let's just talk about this week.
SPEAKER_00: If for the next seven days you brought the power of the Holy Spirit into every conversation, what would change in your world?
SPEAKER_00: What would change in our politics if every conversation was birthed and nurtured by the Holy Spirit?
SPEAKER_00: What would change in our schools and in our families and in our homes and in our workplaces if every conversation was birthed and nurtured by the Holy Spirit?
SPEAKER_00: Alright, so I'm gonna give you some questions if you're open to this, and I suspect there are some of you that need some changes in your life.
SPEAKER_00: I suspect that some of you need the help of God in your life like I do.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna give you three questions to ask.
SPEAKER_00: And this is how this is so simple, okay?
SPEAKER_00: So practical.
SPEAKER_00: Every conversation, if you'll think about these three questions before you have any conversation this week, ask three questions.
SPEAKER_00: Are you ready for these?
SPEAKER_00: All right, here's the first question.
SPEAKER_00: What can I say to help them keep going?
SPEAKER_00: In other words, how can I strengthen them?
SPEAKER_00: Listen, you know how many people are ready to quit?
SPEAKER_00: You know how many people are ready to give up?
SPEAKER_00: You know how many people are depressed and not telling anyone?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, just this week we saw two very famous people take their own lives.
SPEAKER_00: They had money, they had fame, they had fortune, and they took their lives.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because there are people living all around you right now that look like they had got it all together.
SPEAKER_00: They look like they've got everything figured out, but something is going on inside their heart that you cannot see, but the Holy Spirit can see it.
SPEAKER_00: What would happen?
SPEAKER_00: Listen, what would happen if in every conversation you asked this question before you had any kind of dialogue, Father in heaven, are they ready to quit?
SPEAKER_00: There's something going on in their heart?
SPEAKER_00: Is there something that I can say today that will give them hope for another day?
SPEAKER_00: Is there anything I can say?
SPEAKER_00: It's just a simple question.
SPEAKER_00: You may get nothing.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord may say nothing to you, but let me tell you this: there may be a moment this week, if you will ask the Holy Spirit, you and it could be something so simple.
SPEAKER_00: There have been times I have uh I've had conversations with people, and the Lord says to me, just tell them I love them.
SPEAKER_00: Well, come on, God loves you.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody knows that, right?
SPEAKER_00: No, they don't.
SPEAKER_00: And I can tell you a hundred stories of times where I've been in front of complete strangers, and I say, you know, I just I know this is gonna sound strange, and you may already know this.
SPEAKER_00: Like I qualify it all, you know, to apologize in case God is wrong.
SPEAKER_00: Because I'm always trying to qualify it.
SPEAKER_00: So I say to them, hey, I know you may already know this.
SPEAKER_00: This may sound really strange to you, you know, but I just want to say something to you.
SPEAKER_00: God really loves you.
SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you, there's been so many times where people have melted down in front of me.
SPEAKER_00: I'm talking about in the store, in a drive-thru, people just sob, like, oh.
SPEAKER_00: Because we assume that everyone's encountered the love of God the way we have, and they haven't.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you're just talking about simple stuff.
SPEAKER_00: All right, here's the second question.
SPEAKER_00: What has God spoken to them that I can confirm?
SPEAKER_00: You know how many people not only believe that God doesn't love them, but how many people doubt that they know how to hear God's voice?
SPEAKER_00: Most people are longing to hear the voice of God, but they need another human being to confirm it to them.
SPEAKER_00: That's why the community of the church was formed, by the way, so that we could be constant encouragement and constant confirmation to the people around us.
SPEAKER_00: That's why we don't forsake the assembly of ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: This is why we're together all the time.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, in my home, God's voice almost always sounds like Pam's voice.
SPEAKER_00: Always.
SPEAKER_00: When I get to heaven, God's going to speak to me in Pam's voice because it's the voice I've been hearing all these years.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, there are so many times when I think I've heard the voice of the Lord, and I say, Pam, could you just pray with me?
SPEAKER_00: Is it am I hearing God or is I just eating more etuffet than I should be eating?
SPEAKER_00: All right.
SPEAKER_00: So she speaks back to me.
SPEAKER_00: So this is the way prophecy works.
SPEAKER_00: See, we've made this so complex when it's not complex.
SPEAKER_00: What can I say to someone that's in front of me right now that will confirm something to them?
SPEAKER_00: It's amazing how many times I'll just say to someone, hey, go do what's in your heart.
SPEAKER_00: You're hearing God.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what they've heard God say, but God quickens me so many times to say to people, you can do it.
SPEAKER_00: You can do this.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, don't doubt yourself.
SPEAKER_00: Go be bold, be courageous, be strong.
SPEAKER_00: And that's all they needed to hear.
SPEAKER_00: They just needed someone to give them a little nudge, right?
SPEAKER_00: Someone just to say, yes, go do it.
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: This is how prophecy works.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the third question.
SPEAKER_00: This is a big one.
SPEAKER_00: What pain have they experienced that God wants to comfort?
SPEAKER_00: Listen, this is huge.
SPEAKER_00: This is massive.
SPEAKER_00: This is a big, big, if you want to participate in the work of God on the earth, you ask this question before you get in front of someone.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm telling you, it will keep you busier than you've ever been in your life.
SPEAKER_00: It'll be the most fun thing you've ever done.
SPEAKER_00: What pain have they experienced that God wants to heal?
SPEAKER_00: God wants to comfort them.
SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you this story.
SPEAKER_00: A few years ago, we had a guy in our church that he was maybe the meanest person I've met, a church person I've ever met.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, there are no mean people in church, but this guy was.
SPEAKER_00: He was mean, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Now you know that.
SPEAKER_00: All church people are perfect.
SPEAKER_00: We know that.
SPEAKER_00: But this guy was mean.
SPEAKER_00: And I was about to have a, and I'm gonna tell you exactly what I was feeling.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not exaggerating this.
SPEAKER_00: I was having a meeting to encourage him to worship at another church.
SPEAKER_00: I was going to bless him to another pastor.
SPEAKER_00: I was just, I was at my wit's end of how to help this guy because he was mean and he was divisive.
SPEAKER_00: And it says to warn a divisive person once, but then have nothing else to do with him.
SPEAKER_00: Well, I was way past having nothing else to do with this guy, all right?
SPEAKER_00: So I called him into the office to have this pastoral, godly conversation about him leaving.
SPEAKER_00: And that wasn't it, it wasn't a suggestion, okay?
SPEAKER_00: And I remember I asked this question right before the meeting.
SPEAKER_00: I just took my own medicine.
SPEAKER_00: I said, okay, Lord, I know there's nothing good about this guy, and you have nothing good to say about him.
SPEAKER_00: But just for, you know, just because I want to be obedient, is there anything here in this guy's life that I can help?
SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you what happened.
SPEAKER_00: The guy walks in mad, angry, ready to correct me, and I've just had enough of it, all right?
SPEAKER_00: And I said, can we just pray together before we have this conversation?
SPEAKER_00: And he knew what the conversation was, and he was prepared like I was.
SPEAKER_00: And I prayed like this Father in heaven, help me.
SPEAKER_00: Help me not to go to prison.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to be on the front page of the paper tomorrow for an assault.
SPEAKER_00: That's truer than you think.
SPEAKER_00: All right.
SPEAKER_00: And the Lord said, Ask him about being a nine-year-old boy hiding under his bed from a dad who beat him up.
SPEAKER_00: Just like that.
SPEAKER_00: And I opened my eyes and I said, Tell me about nine-year-old.
SPEAKER_00: Tell me about your life as a nine-year-old.
SPEAKER_00: He was stunned.
SPEAKER_00: He goes, What?
SPEAKER_00: He said, You're not, I just, when I was praying for you, I saw a nine-year-old boy hiding under a bed, thinking that his dad was gonna beat him up.
SPEAKER_00: This grown man who was in his 50s almost fell out of his chair, sobbing.
SPEAKER_00: Sobbing, ugly crying.
SPEAKER_00: You know why?
SPEAKER_00: Because he had made up his mind, his dad beat him all the time.
SPEAKER_00: And when he became an adult, he made up his mind that he was never gonna let another man in authority hurt him.
SPEAKER_00: And I said some things out of the pulpit that he thought was hurtful.
SPEAKER_00: And all of that anger and all of that nastiness that he had projected toward men in authority was now being projected toward me as the pastor.
SPEAKER_00: And every time he got around me and I confronted him or tried to help him or tried to correct him, all of that anger that he had built up over the years toward his dad came back at me.
SPEAKER_00: And when I said to him, I said, Listen, I am, and here's what I said, after he got through crying, I said, I am not here to hurt you.
SPEAKER_00: I am your pastor.
SPEAKER_00: I I love you.
SPEAKER_00: I want to help you.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm just telling you, the whole I I see this guy all the time now.
SPEAKER_00: He he his whole life has changed.
SPEAKER_00: Because instead of adding on to the problem in that meeting that day, because I could have added on to that problem, I could have continued to hurt him.
SPEAKER_00: Another man in authority could have hurt him that day, but instead I asked the question.
SPEAKER_00: Tell me about a nine-year-old boy under the bed hiding from an abusive dad, and just like that, a miracle happened, which brings me to the second thing I want you to hear about prophecy.
SPEAKER_00: Prophecy is miraculous.
SPEAKER_00: And I want you to show you this.
SPEAKER_00: Keep reading now in 1 Corinthians 14, go to verse 24.
SPEAKER_00: He says, But if an unbeliever or someone who does not understand comes in while everyone is prophesying, he will be convinced by all that he is a sinner.
SPEAKER_00: And, listen to this, and and will be judged by all, and the secrets of his heart will be laid bare.
SPEAKER_00: That was a secret.
SPEAKER_00: This man walked into my office with a secret that was killing him.
SPEAKER_00: It was sending him to a dark place in his life.
SPEAKER_00: And by the power of the Holy Spirit, by the gift of prophecy, suddenly the secret that had been hidden in his heart came out into the light.
SPEAKER_00: And listen to this, look what happens.
SPEAKER_00: So that he will fall down and worship God.
SPEAKER_00: And exclaiming, God is really among you.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't this what we want in our homes?
SPEAKER_00: Isn't this what we want in our own lives?
SPEAKER_00: Isn't this what we so desperately need in our country right now?
SPEAKER_00: It's for the people of God to be doing the work of God so that the truth of God can set people free.
SPEAKER_00: And listen, this is why every one of us needs the gift of prophecy.
SPEAKER_00: We're the people of God doing the work of God, speaking the truth of God in love so that people can be set free.
SPEAKER_00: It's a miracle.
SPEAKER_00: You've been praying for miracles, but I think what we figured, what we've we missed in the equation.
SPEAKER_00: God, you go do it.
SPEAKER_00: When we pray for miracles, oftentimes we get one piece of the formula out of balance.
SPEAKER_00: We say, God, I want you to go do a miracle in someone's life.
SPEAKER_00: When God says, okay, you are going to be full of my spirit, you go on my behalf with my spirit, and I will do a miracle in someone's life.
SPEAKER_00: But we want the easy way, right?
SPEAKER_00: God, you go and do a miracle in my marriage.
SPEAKER_00: You go, God, and do a miracle in my teenager.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you have prodigals, and you're looking for a miracle right now in a prodigal son and a daughter.
SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you something.
SPEAKER_00: Prophecy, prophecy, a word of God spoken at the right time, in the right setting, will change your kids' lives.
SPEAKER_00: Prophecy is miraculous.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the third thing.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and I want to I want to uh prophecy is listening.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm gonna tell you this story in just a moment, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Prophecy is listening.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm gonna show this to you in John chapter 10, and I'm gonna tell you a story that's gonna help you tonight, okay?
SPEAKER_00: John chapter 10, verse 27.
SPEAKER_00: This is Jesus talking.
SPEAKER_00: My sheep listen to my voice.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to see the conversation that God said, Jesus said, we should be having.
SPEAKER_00: My sheep listen to my voice.
SPEAKER_00: I know them.
SPEAKER_00: And they follow me.
SPEAKER_00: Listening, by the way, write this down.
SPEAKER_00: This is the one thing I want you to remember out of this whole message.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to this one sentence.
SPEAKER_00: Listening is intimacy.
SPEAKER_00: And God has always wanted intimacy.
SPEAKER_00: Listening, or here's another way of saying it.
SPEAKER_00: Listening is friendship.
SPEAKER_00: Listening is relationship.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what God has always wanted from all of us.
SPEAKER_00: This is why this spiritual gift is so important, because it requires God to speak and for us to listen.
SPEAKER_00: And that's really been the whole point of the entire scriptures.
SPEAKER_00: For God to speak and for his people to listen.
SPEAKER_00: Listening is friendship, listening is intimacy, listening is relationship, and that's what this has always been about.
SPEAKER_00: Now I'm going to tell you this one story.
SPEAKER_00: Uh Abram and Abram, my 19-year-old, gave me permission to tell you this story.
SPEAKER_00: But just a few years ago, I noticed that Abram, he was in high school at the time, he's in college now, but in high school, uh, he was just going through, I could just tell he wasn't himself.
SPEAKER_00: And and every parent of teenagers knows that when you ask a teenager how they're doing, are you doing okay?
SPEAKER_00: What's their answer?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, fine.
SPEAKER_00: How are you doing?
SPEAKER_00: Fine.
SPEAKER_00: That's not true.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not fine every day.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know, they're not fine every day.
SPEAKER_00: I said, Abram, what's really going on with you?
SPEAKER_00: Nothing, fine.
SPEAKER_00: So I took him to lunch.
SPEAKER_00: I was really worried about him, and I took him to lunch and we sat down in a booth.
SPEAKER_00: Now, Pam was with me, so she's a witness to this.
SPEAKER_00: Pam and I are sitting on one side of this booth in a restaurant.
SPEAKER_00: Abram by himself is sitting on the other side.
SPEAKER_00: And I said, now, Abram, I'm gonna give you one more time.
SPEAKER_00: Would you tell me what's going on with you?
SPEAKER_00: He said, Nothing.
SPEAKER_00: I'm fine.
SPEAKER_00: I said, Abram, I'm about to ask the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm giving you one more chance to tell me what's going on.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Dad, I'm fine.
SPEAKER_00: I said, okay.
SPEAKER_00: As we pray for the meal came, I think, about that time, and I said, We're gonna pray for our meal, and I'm gonna ask the Lord to speak to me.
SPEAKER_00: And I just, it was really simple.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing weird about this.
SPEAKER_00: This is normal stuff in my house.
SPEAKER_00: My kids get away with nothing at my house, and neither should your kid.
SPEAKER_00: So we're sitting in this booth, and I said, Father in heaven, I am your sheep, and I know your voice, and I know that you speak.
SPEAKER_00: What's going on with Abram?
SPEAKER_00: Just that simple, and nothing really spiritual about that.
SPEAKER_00: And I just waited for 30 seconds and opened my eyes, and I told him exactly what was going on with him.
SPEAKER_00: And I'll never forget Abram's face.
SPEAKER_00: And it's not the first time this has happened, but it was so, he it was such a personal thing, and I'm not gonna tell you what it was because it's very personal and very, and I would never tell you what it was, but it was exactly what was going on in his life.
SPEAKER_00: And let me tell you why the Lord did that that day.
SPEAKER_00: Because I want Abram to know that he's also the sheep of God's pasture.
SPEAKER_00: And listen, moms and dads, you want to disciple your kids, you have to teach them to hear the voice of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: That's the only way you'll ever disciple your children.
SPEAKER_00: But by the way, the only way you and I are ever going to be discipled is if we hear the voice of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And that's why the gift of prophecy can change your home.
SPEAKER_00: Something broke in Abram's life that day.
SPEAKER_00: Something broke in my relationship with him that day.
SPEAKER_00: Now, uh, dozens of times in the last three years, Abram has come to me and said, Dad, would you pray with me?
SPEAKER_00: I need to hear the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: He trusts me now to hear God's voice.
SPEAKER_00: And I trust him to be hungry for the things of the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And our entire relationship, we've always had a great relationship, but listen, God wants to use the Holy Spirit to shape and to form every relationship in your life.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm gonna give you a very simple prayer to pray if you want to do this, all right?
SPEAKER_00: I want you to look at Proverbs chapter 20, verse 12.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to show you this too.
SPEAKER_00: It's very, very simple.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna give you a prayer to pray.
SPEAKER_00: Very simple prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 20, verse 12 says, ears that hear and eyes that see.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord has made them both.
SPEAKER_00: Now I'm gonna give you four little sentences, okay?
SPEAKER_00: I want you to write these down.
SPEAKER_00: If you want to hear the Lord, every one of you in the room can hear the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody watching online, every campus watching this, you can hear God's voice.
SPEAKER_00: And I have been praying the prayer that I'm about to give you.
SPEAKER_00: I pray, my church will tell you this in Colorado.
SPEAKER_00: I pray this prayer thousands of times in front of my church.
SPEAKER_00: Thousands of times in private, I pray these four little sentences.
SPEAKER_00: All right, you ready for these?
SPEAKER_00: Here's what I say: I go before the Lord and I say, Father, eyes to see.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, give me eyes to see.
SPEAKER_00: Give me ears to hear.
SPEAKER_00: Give me a mind to understand, and give me a heart to believe.
SPEAKER_00: And one more time, I'll say it slowly.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, give me eyes to see.
SPEAKER_00: Give me ears to hear.
SPEAKER_00: Give me a mind to understand.
SPEAKER_00: And give me a heart to believe.
SPEAKER_00: I pray that all the time.
SPEAKER_00: And when you begin to pray that and have that conversation with God, over time you will hear the voice of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: But we have to hunger and thirst and have an appetite for the things of God in order for God to come near to us.
SPEAKER_00: Eyes to see, ears to hear, a mind to understand, and a heart to believe.
SPEAKER_00: Can I pray for you right now?
SPEAKER_00: Would you stand with you?
SPEAKER_00: Let's just stand together right now.
SPEAKER_00: Every congregation, would you just stand with me?
SPEAKER_00: All the campuses stand with me right now.
SPEAKER_00: I want to pray this over you.
SPEAKER_00: I want to pray this prayer over you.
SPEAKER_00: I know I've gone a couple of minutes too long.
SPEAKER_00: But I just feel like the Holy Spirit wants to come right now.
SPEAKER_00: There are some of you that are about to be awakened by the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you have hungry to hear the voice.
SPEAKER_00: I just really sense this.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you are really, really hungry to hear the God.
SPEAKER_00: You're really desperate, actually, to hear God.
SPEAKER_00: And you're hungry.
SPEAKER_00: And I just want to pray, would you just, if that's you, and you don't have to do this, no one's gonna think bad of you if you don't do this.
SPEAKER_00: But if you're hungry to hear God's voice, would you just turn your hands like this?
SPEAKER_00: And the reason I'm doing this is because this is how I come before the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: I come empty-handed before the Lord because I want only God to feel my hands.
SPEAKER_00: I want only God to fill my life.
SPEAKER_00: And therefore I come like a child before the Lord, empty-handed.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm gonna pray this over you, Father in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: We thank you that at every campus, every congregation, Lord, I pray that the people of Gateway Church would be marked as people who have eyes to see, who have ears to hear.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, that they would have a mind to understand and a heart that really believe.
SPEAKER_00: Father, I speak this now by the power of your spirit.
SPEAKER_00: I pray it in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: I pray that the Holy Spirit would come with power and strength in this weekend of Presbytery.
SPEAKER_00: Sunday night and Monday and Tuesday, I pray that the people of God would gather all over every campus.
SPEAKER_00: I pray that the people of God would gather, that the Spirit would be poured out, that prophecy would become normal and natural and powerful in this house.
SPEAKER_00: And I pray this now for your benefit, for your kingdom to come and your will to be done.
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.