Paul says in 1st Corinthians 14 how is it when you come together everyone has a word.  He also said let one or two prophesy and let another discern what is said there.  

The body of Christ is a lot like the Corinthian church right now.  It seems like everyone has a word or a prophecy about what is happening in the world.    Everyone has a word, or a dream, or a vision about the current state of affairs.  

Certainly its good to prophesy to one a another, especially in difficult times.  With that being said we want to be able to discern what we are hearing and whether it be from the Spirit of God or the spirit of a man.  

So the question is what did the apostle Paul have in mind when he talked about the gift of prophecy and prophesying to one another in 1st Corinthians? 

1Co 14:1  Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy.

1Co 14:2  For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries. 

1Co 14:3  But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort. 

Christ is prophecy.  Prophecy is all about Christ.  All the treasures of prophecy and the Spirit of prophecy are contained in Christ.  Revelation 19 says the testimony God has given in Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy.  

Prophecy existed before man was even created.  Prophecy is the picture of Gods eternal purpose in Christ.  It is the unveiling of what is in Gods heart for mankind and His life with mankind.  The revealing of prophecy is the manner in which God brings about what is in His heart.  

Prophesying looks like speaking the wisdom that is come from Christ to one another.  We prophesy when we teach one another and discern one anothers lives according to the wisdom that was revealed in Christ. 

Prophesying to one another isnt sorcery.  Its not about telling each other about some ministry we will have.  Its not about predicting future events in one another’s lives.  It isnt like palm reading where we tell people about the new car or house or job they will get.  Its not about us telling people about their future spouse.  Its not about someone telling you something about your life that only you can know.  Its not about us speaking words to the carnal mind.  

I’m not saying we can not give a word like that.  The Holy Spirit moves as the Holy Spirit wills.  What I’m saying is the prophesying Paul had in mind is primarily about discerning one another’s lives in the face of Jesus.  When Paul spoke of prophesying he was talking about calling one another out of the darkness into the light.  He was talking about helping one another to know ourselves the way we’ve always been known by God.

The primary role of prophesying is to show people their lives in the face of Jesus as if they are looking in a mirror so they can be filled with the love of God.  Paul talked about seeing through a glass darkly lit when he was a child, and he followed that up by saying when he became a man he no longer saw through a glass darkly lit but he knew himself as he was always known by God, and that filled him with all the fulness of God’s love.  

Prophecy is about being exhorted, edified, and encouraged in the faith that is Jesus.  

1Co 14:29  Let the prophets speak two or three, and let another judge.
1Co 14:30  If any thing be revealed to another that sitteth by, let the first hold his peace.
1Co 14:31  For ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted.
1Co 14:32  And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.
1Co 14:33  For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.

A prophet is someone who comes with a word or a teaching.  Yes they can point to future events but that is not what a prophet is primarily about.  They are someone who comes with a word or a teaching from God.  

Jesus called the pharisees false prophets in the gospels.  He didnt say that because their predictions didnt come true.  He called them false prophets because the poison of asps was under their tongue.  He called them false prophets because the word they were teaching about God and the way to inherit the kingdom of God was false. 

Paul says the spirit of the prophets are subject to the prophets

What was happening in the Corinthian church is that everyone was showing up with a word to teach.  They all had something to say, and they would talk over one another and blurt out what they had to say in the middle of the gathering.  

Paul says listen man should a person have a word from God they aren’t under some strange influence where they must blurt it out immediately.  They are in control of their faculties and can wait till the other person is finished speaking.

The things a prophet shares and the manner in which they share is subject to themselves and what is in their spirit.  

The word of a prophet will be subject to whatever their imagaination is filled with.  If their minds eye is filled with politics, and geo political events.  If their minds eye is filled with the government and the different nations and governments in the world.  All their prophesying will pertain to those things. 

I mean if your imagination is captivated by what is happening in America and the political spectrum then all your words and dreams and visions will be pertaining to those things.   You will all the time be prophesying about America, and politics, and presidents, and political parties, and economics, and things like socialism and communism and capitalism.  

Beckie and I were listening to this guy who was prophesying on a video, talking about dreams he had.  Everything this guy said was pertaining to politics and elections and America.  Well, in the video the guy says how much he follows world events and all the news going on in the world.  He said he reads like 40 something different newspapers from around the world.  This guys dreams and the word he shared and his interpretation of things are subject to what his minds eye is filled with.  

We can use me as an example.  I am coming with a word so I can be a prophet in this instance.  I am subject to my spirit.  I prophesy about the things that have captivated my imagination.  It took awhile for me to catch up to where God was leading me but my imagination has been captivated by the word of life, so all my prophesying is subject to what has caught the attention of my minds eye.  

I’m not saying there can’t be a prophecy about worldly events but if that’s what all our prophesying is about then we aren’t prophets.  I’m also not saying we can’t talk about those things or have opinions about those things.  But, we ought not confuse that with prophecy or prophesying.  

We’ve also been taught a prophet is someone who pronounces judgment against people because of sin.  

The idea is that if there be some calamity or destruction that manifests it must be on account of God condemning the world for sin.  We say some people or some nation has been committing a lot of the works of the flesh and a prophet is someone who will come and say God has condemned you for your bad behavior and He is punishing you with tribulation. 

Thats why everytime we see some sort of calamity or tribulation in the earth everyone has a word about God judging America or the world for their sin.

But, if you look in the letter of James, he writes to a people who think the tribulation they are experiencing is the result of God condemning them for their sin.  James says let no one say it is God sending hard times to people when they experience tribulation.  Only good and perfect gifts come from the Father of lights in heaven and there is no shadow of turning in Him.  

If we look at what happened with pharoah and egypt.  

Yes, we can see God’s judgment in the account of the exodus.  But, we say it as if God is the Father of the plagues that came upon Egypt, or that God was responsible for what happened to Egypt.  We think of God like Popeye and we say God had all He could stands and He couldnt stands no more so this is what He did to Egypt.  

But, is that how it really went down?  Does that match up with what Jesus taught about judgment? 

I say this all the time but Jesus is the express image of the Father and he has come to declare God.  He has come to bring God out of the shadows of the carnal mind.  He has come to interpret the judgment of God for us so we can see it for what it really is.  

Jesus is The Prophet.  What was the judgment he came talking about?  We are meant to discern the exodus through Christ.  

If you notice Exodus 12 says God will execute judgment against the gods of Egypt.  It doesnt say God came to condemn the Egyptians.  It doesnt say God came to punish the Egyptians.  It says God came to judge against the gods that Egypt looked to for life. 

In John 5:22 Jesus says the Father judges no one, and has committed all judgment into his hands.  

Then in John 12 Jesus says if anyone rejects him and doesnt believe his word about the way that is unto life, he doesnt judge them either.  He says neither the father nor i am come to condemn the world for their sin.  The world already stands condemned by their sin.  We are come to save the world from their sin.

So Jesus says whenever you see death and destruction come upon someone it isnt the Father that has condemned them.  And Jesus goes on to say, the Father has given all judgment into my hands, and I am also not the one who condemns people to death and destruction when they sin.

In John 9 Jesus said for judgment he came into the earth, that the blind may see the way unto life, and those who were false prophets, and teaching the way  that was unto destruction, could be revealed to be blind guides.  

The judgment Jesus is talking about there isn’t condemnation.  Chapter 3 of John’s gospel says Jesus didnt come to condemn the world he came to save the world. 

So what is Jesus saying there?

The world was blind.  Our understanding was darkened by the death that entered the earth by Adam.  We saw God as the one punishing us with death on account of our sin so we thought the way unto life was if we can now look to the strength contained in our own hands to cleanse ourselves from sin.  We said if we can cleanse ourselves from sin then we can have blessing and life.  

Jesus came to decide that matter for us.  He came to discern the thoughts and intents of our hearts and issue his decree about the matter.  Jesus came into the earth and judged it isnt God that condemns people to death for their sin.  He judged the gift of God is eternal life.  

For judgment Jesus came into the earth.  He judged the only gift God has to give sinners is eternal life.  

For judgment Jesus entered the earth.  He judged the death that comes upon people is the wage their own works pays them with.  He judged its the thief and his teaching about the way unto life that serves people with death and destruction, not God.  

Jesus came and judged the way unto life is to see God’s eyes are full of goodness towards you and to rest in the strength contained in His hand for life.  And he judged the way unto destruction is to trust in the strength contained in your own hand to try and be exalted unto life and have the fruit of the Spirit.  

Just as exodus 12 says God judged against the gods of egypt.  Jesus judged against the gods of this world.  The gods of this world is that man can serve themselves with life by the works of their own hands.  Jesus came and judged that way is not the way unto life its the way unto death.  

So what did Gods judgment look like in the exodus?

The people in Egypt were blind.  They thought the way unto life was the works of their own hands.  They thought the strength contained in their flesh was the meat that could give them life.  

Remember Jesus said if you’ve seen me then you’ve seen the Father.  Just as John said Jesus didn’t come to condemn the world and those who don’t believe on him are already condemned.  God also didn’t come to condemn pharoah or the Egyptians.  Pharoah and the Egyptians were already standing in the condemnation their sin was serving them with before God even showed up. 

God showed up and revealed the wage their own works were paying them was death.  He told them the gods they made with their own hands, the gods they were looking to for life were paying them with death.  He revealed the destruction their gods were serving them with.  

If you look at the ten plagues that came upon egypt.  Each plague coincided with one of the Egyptian gods.  The reason is because the plagues were the fruit of the life their gods had to give them.  

God showed up to save the Hebrews and the Egyptians.  Behold Moses telling pharoah and the Egyptians to turn away from trusting in the works of their own hands.  But, just as John said some love the darkness more than the light.  Pharoah and the Egyptians loved the darkness more than the light.  

If we look at the works of the flesh manifesting in people that is a form of the judgment of God.  When we see the works of the flesh manifesting in someone we can say that’s the judgment of God.  

Remember God is judge does not mean God condemns.  A judge is someone who issues a decree or decides a matter.  The book of judges is a picture of what it means for God to be judge.  All the judges in the book of judges were there to decree to the children of Israel the way unto life so they could be saved from the way that was serving them with destruction.  

God has judged that man cannot produce the fruit of the Spirit by their own strength.  His word is that in the day someone tries to cloth upon themselves with the fruit of the spirit, the fruit that will come forth in them will not be the fruit of the spirit, it will be the works of the flesh.  

If we see the works of the flesh manifesting in someone we can see what God said about trusting in the strength of the flesh right before our eyes.  We can say that its the judgment of God.   Now does that mean that God’s the one who brought forth the murder and the hatred and the envying and the adultery and the fornication and the drunkenness?  Certainly Not.  

Yes a prophet comes with a word about judgment ......

John the Baptist was a prophet.  What did he prophesy?  Behold God has provided Himself a lamb to take away the death that is reigning over you.  Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand.  Turn away from trusting in the strength contained in your flesh to inherit eternal life, for that way is serving you with destruction.  Turn away from looking to the strength contained in your own hand to be fed with life and feed on the meat that God provides, for it is unto eternal life. 

Johns words were a comfort to those who thought God had abandoned them.  They were a comfort to those who were filled with sorrows on account of the death in the world.  His words exhorted the people unto the faith.  His words edified the people about the way unto life and the way unto death.  His words encouraged them in the truth.  He was prophesying.