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

Channels of Prophetic Expression in the Church

reached a combined total of two hundred thousand people, with many healings recorded. The resistance to the evangelical witness was broken, and the rapid growth of the Pentecostal Church in Argentina was launched. 2. Awareness and insight. Jesus was constantly aware of situations and people because the Holy Spirit revealed things to Him (see illustrations in chapter 8). Later Peter rebuked Ananias and Sapphira for lying to the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:1-11) and challenged Simon for his wicked intentions (Acts 8:18-24). These were more than human perceptions; they were revealed by the Spirit, yielding great spiritual results that would other wise have been lost. 3. Declaration of message. Jesus told His disciples that they would be brought before "the rulers and the authorities, but do not become anx ious about how or what you should speak in your defense, or what you should say; for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say" (Luke 12:11-12). Apparently the first time this happened is recorded in Acts 4:8-12, which states that Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, spoke to the rulers and elders. Another example of prophetic preach ing is given in Acts 7, where Stephen made his defense with such power of the Spirit that the infuriated crowd killed him. Your exper'ience need not be that dramatic, but rest assured that whether you talk to the multitudes or to a single soul, God's Spirit will give you the golden key to unlock the situation. Channels of prophetic expression are now open to you! Take advantage of your opportunities to tune in to the voice of the Holy Spirit. Our next chapter reviews prophets and prophecy in the book of Acts. Thank God for this marvelous historical record of how the early Church functioned! Rich insights are gained about prophecy as a dynamic force in the Church of that time.

REFLECTIONS

The church that is alive and relevant for today's generation must always be a prophetic church. We must therefore listen very carefully in order to discern what God is saying to us TODAY. It will always be in accordance with the teaching of Scripture, and there is no such thing as new revelation or new doctrine-but the Spirit of God will always be wanting to pin-point certain aspects of the total truth of God's word that are espe cially relevant for TODAY-and that will almost certainly be different from what was especially relevant for yesterday. 34 David Watson 193 ■