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

Christ's Continuing Voice in the Church

The Resident Group in Antioch (13:1-4)

"There were ...in the church ...prophets and teachers....And while they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, 'Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them."' The prophets mentioned in the previous section were "temporary vis itors, while these in this verse belonged to the Antiochene church." 16 This is apparently a case of resident prophets who worked closely with resi dent teachers-an ideal combination for producing a strong local church. Five men are listed, but no attempt was made to specify who had what ministry. Apparently such identification of ministry in Bible days was very acceptable. This was an ideal setting for prophecy: a group of people gathered for worship, fasting and prayer.Then the Holy Spirit spoke. But how would He have spoken? Out of the air? From some inanimate object? This surely must have been prophecy-the Spirit communicating through a human spokesperson, one of the prophets. The message was direct, concise and emphatic.The "setting apart " indicates that the time had come for Paul's missionary ministry to begin. The content of the prophecy was nothing new or startling; rather it confirmed Paul's origi nal call and represented an urgent summons for its immediate fulfillment. One of the great benefits of prophecy in the Church is this time and placement factor.It reminds me of a humorous anecdote told by C.Peter Wagner at one of his church growth seminars. Wagner had taught on demographic analysis but was also stressing the importance of Spirit guidance.He had talked with his friend Pastor Jack Hayford while they were driving together one day in southern Califor nia.Peter mentioned casually that his home church in Pasadena would be starting a congregation in an area they were just passing.Several thou sand dollars had been spent in extensive evaluation of selecting this area. Jack smiled, saying their church had also decided to plant a church in that area.Then he added, "The Lord just spoke to me one day while driving through the area." Peter chuckled as he concluded, "Perhaps we could save ourselves a lot of money if we could just learn to listen to the Spirit."

Paul Blinds a Magician (13:8-12)

"...Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, fixed his gaze upon him, and said, '...Behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and not see the sun for a time."' This bold action by Paul was certainly in the best prophetic tradition! An astounding word of God thundered through the apostle.As we say, ■ 202