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

A Profile of the Ancient Hebrew Prophet

• Both had disciples. • Both were accepted by the whole nation. • Both were noncanonical prophets, although their histories and words are given in Scripture.

Hereare some lessons we can learn from Samuel andJohn about prophets:

• Dedicated parents play an important part in developing a spiritual ministry. • A youth as well as an adult is capable of hearing the voice of God. • Prophets should be as free as possible from worldly entanglements (both were Nazirites). • Dedication and faithfulness, even unto death (as with John), are essential. • A prophet should have the willingness to hear and faithfulness to deliver, regardless of surrounding circumstances. • Length of ministry time may vary. John's ministry was short-lived and Samuel's lasted forty years, yet each man was true to the assign ment given him. • Both were considered by all to be prophets, yet their ministries were different: Samuel was a father to the nation, visiting towns and cities; John was the voice of a herald crying in the wilderness and beside the Jordan River. The books included in our Bibles are "canonical" because they quali fied to be included in the canon of Scripture. Canon comes from the Greek kanon, which refers to a reed used as a measuring rod or standard. Applied to Scripture, canon refers to the 66 books officially accepted into our Bible. 19 Canonical prophets are those who wrote (or had written for them) the prophetic books worthy to be included in the Bible. These prophets did not simply rely on natural literary skills; they were inspired by the Holy Spirit to write these books or sections of the Bible. The Word of God that came to them was then both spoken to the people and transcribed for future generations. The chart on page 89 lists the prophets named in Scripture. In the first column are the sixteen men (the major and minor prophets) who wrote the biblical books bearing their names. The second column lists seventeen other ■ 88 Canonical and Noncanonical Prophets