Your Sons & Daughters Shall Prophesy - Prophetic Gifts Today In The New Testament Church

Christ's Continuing Voice in the Church

In both cases ...the place of origin is specified: in the first case, Jerusalem, and in the second case, Judaea....That Agabus is later noted as still being based in Judaea years later is also important.For while it is quite clear that he and his fellows at Antioch did have a ministry which extended beyond their church of origin, it is not proven that their normal ministry was "wan dering".Twice Agabus is noted as having made a specific journey.That does not in any way demonstrate that he was an itinerant prophet, let alone one who wandered "at random" from place to place. 31 Also, the two prophets chosen by the elders at Jerusalem to accompany Paul and Barnabas were carefully selected and commissioned to accom pany the apostles as they brought the report of the Jerusalem council (Acts 15:22-23). There is no evidence of wandering or aimless itinerancy.Admit tedly the Christians of Bible days seem to have been a very mobile group, but for a prophet to operate without a ministerial covering or apostolic oversight is inconsistent with Pauline instruction. (These prophets, by the way, did more than prophesy. They exhorted and preached as well, adding their unique flavor and confirmation to the ministry.) There is also the question of whether there were settled prophets who ministered regularly in a given community (Acts 10:23; 13:1; 21:4, 9). Although the references only state this, rather than imply it, common sense and practice suggest that they did minister regularly. Prophets who travel on assignment do find themselves in their home churches on occa sion, thus fitting this description. Other prophets, probably in secular employment, function as local church prophets. Every prophet, like any other ministry, is only part of the whole. "There are different calls and combinations of gifting among the prophets. No two are exactly the same. " 32 God gives different measures of His giftings and ministries, and some function best in a resident ministry working with local leadership. One godly prophet my wife and I knew for more than forty years was Tom Edmonson. After pastoring a few small churches without great suc cess, he finally settled in Anchorage, Alaska, found his niche and began to function well. He was put on staff of the Abbott Loop Chapel, where he was considered a resident prophet. When he was not teaching or func tioning prophetically, he did various odd jobs around the church campus, praying a great deal as he puttered around. Brother Tom impressed me as a very spiritual yet practical prophet. We need more like him. A team of prophets was sometimes used as a prophetic presbytery. Dur ing times when the local church was seriously seeking God, the prophets would lay hands on local church members and bring prophetic confir mation, impartation and blessing.ToTimothy, for example: "Do not neg lect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed upon you through ■ 190