THE MINISTRY OF THE PROPHETS

Hosea 1:1-3
The Lord gave this message to Hosea son of Beeri during the years when Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah were kings of Judah, and Jeroboam son of Jehoash was king of Israel.
When the Lord first began speaking to Israel through Hosea, he said to him, “Go and marry a prostitute, so that some of her children will be conceived in prostitution. This will illustrate how Israel has acted like a prostitute by turning against the Lord and worshiping other gods.”
So Hosea married Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she became pregnant and gave Hosea a son.

The whole essence of ministry(s) is doing the work of the Heavenly Father here on earth. In the old testament this service was restricted to special people occupying the office of kings, prophets, judges, elders, teachers and priests/Levites.

In Exodus 7:1 and Exodus 15:2, Mariam, Moses's sister and Aaron Moses's brother were called prophets.

God said He spoke to prophets through dreams and visions:

Numbers 12:6
And the Lord said to them, “Now listen to what I say:
“If there were prophets among you, I, the Lord, would reveal myself in visions. I would speak to them in dreams.

Moses was considered the greatest prophet because God said He spoke to him face to face, no other prophet matches that category:

Numbers 12:7-8
My servant Moses [is] not so, who [is] faithful in all mine house.
With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the LORD shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?

It was thus a mistake for Mariam at that time to challenge Moses's authority, she was punished for it:

Numbers 12:9-13
The Lord was very angry with them, and he departed.
As the cloud moved from above the Tabernacle, there stood Miriam, her skin as white as snow from leprosy. When Aaron saw what had happened to her,
he cried out to Moses, “Oh, my master! Please don’t punish us for this sin we have so foolishly committed.
Don’t let her be like a stillborn baby, already decayed at birth.”
So Moses cried out to the Lord, “O God, I beg you, please heal her!”

Today many claim the position or title "prophet of God". You wonder do they know what that means?

What is the position or role of the prophet in the church? The reveal the mind of God to the church. How did this ministry function at the beginning of the church (after the resurrection of Christ), the were part of the church. One do not arise and say "I am a prophet", then begins a ministry of her/his own, NO! They, including others with different callings form the church.

Now get this, even from the old testament, it was not only those called Prophets that prophesied:

Now read carefully:

Numbers 11:16-17,25
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Gather before me seventy men who are recognized as elders and leaders of Israel. Bring them to the Tabernacle to stand there with you.
I will come down and talk to you there. I will take some of the Spirit that is upon you, and I will put the Spirit upon them also. They will bear the burden of the people along with you, so you will not have to carry it alone.
And the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to Moses. Then he gave the seventy elders the same Spirit that was upon Moses. And when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But this never happened again.

Now elders(70)were being chosen to help Moses with leading the people, God said He will give them  a measure of His Spirit like Moses received, what happened immediately this happened, they prophesied. They did not again after that. Now I love the next verse:

Numbers 11:26-30
Two men, Eldad and Medad, had stayed behind in the camp. They were listed among the elders, but they had not gone out to the Tabernacle. Yet the Spirit rested upon them as well, so they prophesied there in the camp.
A young man ran and reported to Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp!”
Joshua son of Nun, who had been Moses’ assistant since his youth, protested, “Moses, my master, make them stop!”
But Moses replied, “Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the Lord's people were prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit upon them all!”
Then Moses returned to the camp with the elders of Israel.

Look at verse 29, Moses had an understanding of ministry gifts, he told Joshua, "are you jealous on my behalf?" that these people display the gifts that I have, he said he desired that all the people in Israel were prophets and that the Lord will put His Spirit on all of them!!!

This is when you know a true spiritual leader: he does not place himself as God, but desires everyone of the family to display and enjoy God's power, for:

1 Corinthians 14:4-5,24-25,39
A person who speaks in tongues is strengthened personally, but one who speaks a word of prophecy strengthens the entire church.
I wish you could all speak in tongues, but even more I wish you could all prophesy. For prophecy is greater than speaking in tongues, unless someone interprets what you are saying so that the whole church will be strengthened.
But if all of you are prophesying, and unbelievers or people who don’t understand these things come into your meeting, they will be convicted of sin and judged by what you say.
As they listen, their secret thoughts will be exposed, and they will fall to their knees and worship God, declaring, “God is truly here among you.”
So, my dear brothers and sisters, be eager to prophesy, and don’t forbid speaking in tongues.

This is rare in gatherings, especially today when the gospel is exchanged for something else, a distraction, some have termed it "the prosperity gospel" others say it is "the gospel without the cross" and generally "the secular church".

Gone are the days you enter into fellowship and you cannot hide with your sinful nature for the light will expose your darkness, however today, even from the pulpit SIN reigneth!

Why? We do not have prophets!

Prophet is not just a title, it is a call of life dedicated entirely to God. See the opening verses from Hosea:

Hosea had to marry prostitutes to send out the message to Israel, some had to cut themselves, one wore animal skin and lived on locusts and honey. They sacrificed their lives, for it was no longer theirs. Today we see "acclaimed prophets" wanting same privileges but have sacrificed nothing, the galavant about in earthly wealth, living like kings and speaking what the Lord never spoke to them, they are afraid to speak to the government in power, they display no power but are mostly wolfs that do not even bother to hide in sheep clothing! They thrive in deceiving those who fall prey to them.

See what they role of prophets ought to be:

Ephesians 4:11-14
Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers.
Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.
This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.
Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth.

Deuteronomy 13:1-3
“Suppose there are prophets among you or those who dream dreams about the future, and they promise you signs or miracles,
and the predicted signs or miracles occur. If they then say, ‘Come, let us worship other gods’—gods you have not known before—do not listen to them. The lord your God is testing you to see if you truly love him with all your heart and soul.

For after "John the baptist", the only testifier of prophesy must be of Jesus the Christ, that is the revelation of the Son, any one who prophesies away from Christ Jesus cannot be from God.

1 John 4:1-3
Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world.
This is how we know if they have the Spirit of God: If a person claiming to be a prophet acknowledges that Jesus Christ came in a real body, that person has the Spirit of God.
But if someone claims to be a prophet and does not acknowledge the truth about Jesus, that person is not from God. Such a person has the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard is coming into the world and indeed is already here.

John 15:26
“But I will send you the Advocate—the Spirit of truth. He will come to you from the Father and will testify all about me. (Jesus the Christ)

Glory to God, every believer can prophesy, however the general prophesy is the revelation of Christ Jesus. Halleluyah.

Do we still have prophets today? Help us good Lord. Do you prophesy in your gatherings or assembly?

May we always be guided aright.

He calls us blessed.

Love
@the watcher.

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