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

Who Judges the Prophecies?

• "The opportunity must be made, the explanation of what it is all about must be given and any limitation felt necessary must be imposed. " 28

9. Abbott Loop Chapel (Anchorage, Alaska)

I first visited this efficient, spiritual congregation a number of years ago at the invitation of my friend Pastor Dick Benjamin. I was pleasantly surprised at the large size of this church in a comparatively small city. The worship was lively and spiritual. Those who felt they had spiritual gifts waited until the main worship was concluded, at which point the oppor tunity was given for those who had something to share to come forward. The people were well trained and their presentation of prophetic gifts orderly and impressive. Coming to the microphone one at a time, at the invitation of the leader, each person prophesied, shared an appropriate insight, gave a word of knowledge (perhaps about the sickness of some one present), prayed for certain people. If any comment or summary was appropriate, the leader also shared. Mike Bickle pastors this well-known prophetic church. As a young pas tor not inclined personally toward prophecy, he was taken by surprise at the upsurge of the gift in his own church. His book Growing in the Prophetic, written originally to instruct his own people, is an excellent resource book. That congregation's approach to supervising the prophetic word in public worship is given: We have a microphone down on the front row near one of our pastors who has the oversight of prophetic ministry for that meeting. We invite and encourage people to come to the front at any time during the service to speak with the pastor. If the pastor knows the person is credible, he simply hands the micro phone to them. If he doesn't know the person, he quietly helps them discern if the prophetic word is for the whole church or just for them personally. Also, he seeks to understand if this is the right time to share it. People can have a legitimate prophetic word but the wrong timing. Maybe it should be shared after the preaching and just before the ministry prayer time instead of during the worship time. If several people approach the pastor at once, he will usually determine in which order the words should be given. Many times several people come with the same word. In this case, the pastor sums them all up and shares it with the church instead of having each person give his word individually. At the proper time, he will get the attention of the worship leader who will make a place in the service for the prophetic word. 347. 10. Metro Christian Fellowship (Kansas City, Missouri)