Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Welcome to the Chroma Church podcast.
[00:00:07] So why don't you stand? We're going to read. This is Acts, chapter 21, and let's pick it up from verse 8.
[00:00:16] On the next day, we who were Paul's companions departed and came to Caesarea and entered the house of Philip the Evangelist, who was one of the seven and stayed with him. Now, this man had four virgin daughters who prophesied. And as we stayed many days, a certain prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. When he had come to us, he took Paul's belt, bound his own hands and feet, and said, thus says the Holy Spirit, so shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.
[00:00:50] Now, when we heard these things, both we and those from that place pleaded with him not to go to Jerusalem.
[00:00:57] Then Paul answered, what do you mean by weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but also die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.
[00:01:07] So when he would not be persuaded, we ceased saying, the Lord will. Sorry, the will of the Lord be done.
[00:01:17] Grab a seat.
[00:01:19] Okay, so we're picking off just two weeks ago. So Paul now is back in Caesarea. He's by the seaside. He's with Philip. Philip was one of the seven who were chosen, if you remember, right at the beginning of Acts, you know, all those years ago when we started going through Acts, the Greek speak in widows were not getting fed, and seven men were chosen to make sure they get the food. Stephen is one of them. He ends up getting stoned, and Philip is another one, and he ends up being an evangelist in Caesarea.
[00:01:58] I don't know when he picked up the four virgin prophetesses as daughters, but he now has four daughters that prophesy. Paul and his companions are staying in his house, and a new character comes in called Agabus. He's a prophet from Judea. And so he comes into the house and he takes Paul's belt.
[00:02:23] So that as we read it, we don't know if he's been there for long or, you know, whether they. He'd had a cup of tea first. But the reading is he walks in and he sees Paul and he takes his belt from him. It's probably the belt around a tunic. And he binds his hands and he says. And he says, the.
[00:02:45] The one who owns this belt, this is what's going to happen.
[00:02:49] Let me say something about prophets. Prophets are odd.
[00:02:55] They just are odd. That's why Paul tells us, don't despise prophecy.
[00:03:00] Don't let the package deter from the message.
[00:03:04] One of the biggest problems the church always has is they see the package and they can't hear the message.
[00:03:11] And what do I mean by that? Well, you see, most of us, and I include me and you in this, would not let many of the Old Testament prophets in this church. This church, okay, have you read the Bible and the stories of them?
[00:03:31] You know, would you let Ezekiel in church?
[00:03:36] And you're going, of course I would. Really?
[00:03:38] He has crazy visions that no one can understand.
[00:03:43] His message is, you are a rebellious nation, impotent, stubborn children.
[00:03:52] You know, and we tend to get a bit offended when people say that, even if it's true, because often that's how we are before the Lord. And the Lord says to Ezekiel, I'm going to give you a scroll of lamentation.
[00:04:06] And then I want you to eat it.
[00:04:10] And then he says.
[00:04:12] He says, what I want you to do is go into the city center outside High Cross will do, and lie on your side for 390 days for the sins of Israel.
[00:04:28] 390 days.
[00:04:31] And then when the 390 days is up, just cross the road, go to St. George's lie on your other side. You can do 40 days there for Judah.
[00:04:43] And I almost forgot to mention, cook your food on human excrement.
[00:04:52] Oh, okay.
[00:04:54] Use cow dung instead.
[00:04:58] That's the story of Ezekiel. I hear he's free to preach next weekend.
[00:05:05] Do you want him?
[00:05:06] Would we want him?
[00:05:11] You see, God uses the strangest packages, people like you and I, to deliver his message.
[00:05:21] And so when Agabus takes Paul's belt, it's a completely normal thing for a prophet to do. Many of the prophets act out their prophetic words.
[00:05:32] And he says, the Holy Spirit says, in this way, the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.
[00:05:43] Now, it's important that you see this and understand this, okay? Because this is very important if we're going to understand New Testament prophecy.
[00:05:52] Because it doesn't quite happen as Agabus says, it's going to happen, but he's still correct.
[00:06:02] You see, we see in the next chapter how it unfolds. And what actually happens is the Jews stir up the crowd, but the Romans bind him, and then the commander hands him to the Jews. And it will be Paul who appeals to Caesar.
[00:06:18] So you might ask, well, is this false prophecy? No, not at all. Why?
[00:06:24] Well, Paul answers the question, you know, before the letters were written, you know it all happened in Acts.
[00:06:31] So when Paul writes the letters, what he's doing is he's looking back at what happened in Acts and interpreting what he learned along the journey. Because when you're in it, things don't quite work how you think, you can't plan it out first, you're in what God is doing.
[00:06:51] Okay, so then when Paul looks back and he writes to the churches, he writes this. 1 Corinthians 13:12. For we now see only a reflection, as in a mirror. Then we shall see face to face. I know now in part. I then shall know fully, even as I'm fully known.
[00:07:08] What's he saying? In the Old Testament, few prophesy, but we see clearly.
[00:07:14] In the New Testament, all can prophesy because we talked last few weeks. The Spirit dwells, but we see in part.
[00:07:22] In the Old Testament, the prophets are stoned if they're wrong.
[00:07:26] In the New Testament, prophecy is weighed because we can all hear. But we see in part and in fact, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14, eagerly desire to prophesy.
[00:07:38] And so part of a Christian journey is learning to hear from the Holy Spirit. And then we learn to prophesy. So hearing from the Spirit, okay, and learning to hear his voice isn't prophecy. It's prophecy when we start to speak it.
[00:07:56] And so we are on a journey to learn and see more clearly.
[00:08:04] And I want you to understand, I don't believe that God gives one church all of the truth.
[00:08:11] So we cry, the church don't have all the truth. He has given us a part of his truth, and he gives another part of the church another part, and another part and another part. And then we step back and we look at the church, the bride of Christ, and we see the truth of God. And he does this on purpose.
[00:08:29] So we see in part.
[00:08:33] We see dimly. The second thing I want to say is prophecy is weighed, and prophecy is always weighed in the community of the church.
[00:08:45] In Acts 21, we see Paul acknowledging that the Word is the Lord. But what he does is he gives an alternative application.
[00:08:54] So the community weigh it together. And we read, they pleaded, they wept, and they broke his heart.
[00:09:02] This is the community of the church taking God's word really seriously. It isn't a two minute chat with friends. Oh, well, that sounds like a good word from God. Yeah, off you go.
[00:09:14] They are pleading, they're weeping and they're heartbroken because of this word. That's how you weigh prophecy. You know, I've been in so many meetings where prophetic Words are given, but no one knows anything about it. You know, we're going to take this city for Christ. The Lord's going to give us this city and revival is going to come. Well, what are you going to do?
[00:09:37] Why has God just given the Word?
[00:09:42] Because there is an action for us to participate. There's no need for him to tell us something if we don't have to do anything in it.
[00:09:52] So when the Holy Spirit speaks, we take it very seriously. I remember many years ago when we were in a church at Southend and the Holy Spirit started speaking first to Juliet that we were to leave and to plant a new church and come here.
[00:10:08] And at first I didn't want to leave.
[00:10:12] I love Southend. But the Holy Spirit started speaking to her, and for well over a year, he was speaking to her and not me. Now, it might have been we just got a good bank balance in the church and I wanted to look after it, okay?
[00:10:26] But as she kept saying, the Holy Spirit started speaking to me. And so what we did, we started to take counsel with some people we trust. And we were starting to say, it feels like the Lord might be moving us on. But something very interesting happened.
[00:10:46] People in the church the Holy Spirit started speaking to. We hadn't said a word.
[00:10:51] And I remember people coming. Some people would come up and say, are you leaving?
[00:10:56] We want to go. No, no, no. But the trouble is the Spirit started speaking. I remember a girl banging on that door. And she said, if you go, whoever takes over, will they love me like you do? Will they love people like me?
[00:11:09] And people were sad. I know it's hard to believe they were sad. We were going, but it was.
[00:11:14] But there was a sad sadness on them. But, but the Holy Spirit was, was speaking.
[00:11:21] And, and so the, the community was weighing what the Spirit was saying.
[00:11:28] And, you know, one of the things I've noticed over the. The years is the bigger the decision, the clearer the word.
[00:11:35] Okay, if. If he wants you to go and pray for somebody, you don't need much unction for that. You know, it's pretty obvious, you know, you feel, oh, I think I should go and pray for that person. Yes, sir, do it. You don't. You don't need a prophet to tell you to do that. But what if he calls you to move your job?
[00:11:54] You know, that's a bigger deal.
[00:11:58] And so the bigger the deal, I would expect the Holy Spirit to speak several times.
[00:12:04] You see, what is prophesied to Paul has already been prophesied in the previous chapter. This is not news for The Apostle Paul, it is being prophesied again and again, and he is processing it and weighing it.
[00:12:19] This is a much bigger deal. So the Holy Spirit is repeating himself.
[00:12:26] And I would encourage you, when you, you get a prophetic word or you feel the Spirit is. The Holy Spirit is speaking to you, that you weigh it with mature Christian leaders and fathers who will pray with you and give counsel.
[00:12:41] There is no other model in the New Testament Church except weighing prophecy within the community.
[00:12:50] And the third thing I want to say to you is there are three aspects, I think, of hearing from God. The first one is revelation, what you see or hear. So God speaks to you. When Jeremiah was a young prophet, he was probably 17 years old. The Lord said, what do you see?
[00:13:09] And so that he starts to take him into the classroom of the Holy Spirit.
[00:13:15] So I would suggest you keep a journal of what God is saying to you. So if you feel that the Lord is speaking to you, write it down. Because if you're anything like me, I just forget.
[00:13:25] And we want to treasure His Word. So every time he speaks, just make a note. You put it in your notes on your phone and if it isn't clear, ask him to clarify.
[00:13:37] So that's the revelation. That's what you hear or see. The next thing is the interpretation.
[00:13:43] What does it mean?
[00:13:47] And so what is he saying? And we can go back to the Lord and again ask for more. We can search the Bible and see often there is symbolism. We might have a dream.
[00:13:57] So we see something and we can search in the Scriptures to, to see if it's there and see what it meant in the Scriptures, because God is very consistent.
[00:14:07] Okay, so that's one of the reasons we have the Bible to help us weigh what we hear from the Spirit.
[00:14:13] But this is. But as we start to interpret, that's where the weighing starts.
[00:14:19] So it's a process. And then the final is the application. What action am I meant to do? What is God saying that I should actually do? And what is the timing? Timing. Prophets often struggle with timing because when they receive revelation, it always feels now because they're in the presence of the Lord. And the Lord is outside of time.
[00:14:39] So it always feels now.
[00:14:45] And that's why it's so important that we weigh it and we go through the process of weighing so that the application can, can be revealed and put in place.
[00:15:00] Am I making sense?
[00:15:03] Seven of you, well done. Okay, let me.
[00:15:06] What I want to do is just give some examples of hearing from God. And these are all things that probably people have asked Me in the last six weeks. They're not old ones. These are all things that people have. People have said, okay, the first one is, I think there might be sin in the camp.
[00:15:27] You know, I'm seeing dark shadows or I'm seeing, you know, sin or mold or things like that in the church. What do you think?
[00:15:38] I think. Tell me something I don't know.
[00:15:41] You know, I mean, is there sin in the church? Of course there is. You're standing in front of me. Because we've all sinned, right?
[00:15:48] So firstly, prophets and people hear from God if they're going to be in the church, must get used to being around sin. Because sinners come to church to get free.
[00:16:01] This is where people gather to experience the forgiveness and the freedom of the Lord. You know, we may lead some people to Jesus in a moment. They're going to get free from their sin. You've got to get used. If there's no sin in the camp, how is anyone getting free? So churches must be full of sinners.
[00:16:19] Their interpretation is, what they want me to do is to preach at them and tell them to stop sinning and beat them up.
[00:16:28] You know, you wicked people, stop doing what you're doing. Otherwise I'm going to call fire down from heaven.
[00:16:36] Now, a better application would be, if you see sin in someone's life, why don't you go to them and speak the kind words of God that call out the gold?
[00:16:54] Because most people know about their sin, but they don't know about the goodness and the forgiveness of God.
[00:17:02] And so you can go and do that. And that might be why the Lord is speaking to you.
[00:17:07] I was with a prophet this week.
[00:17:10] I love her. And she, a while back, I don't know how long ago, got a word about a man who was in adultery. He was having an affair, okay? And the Lord said, go and reveal his sin.
[00:17:29] So she went to him and she said, I have a word from the Lord for you.
[00:17:35] You're having an adulterous affair.
[00:17:38] It is destroying your life. It is destroying your marriage. And the Lord says, if you don't repent, his hand will come against you.
[00:17:46] What she didn't know was that morning he had prayed, God, would you send someone to tell me how sinful I am so that I know that you are real?
[00:17:58] So he repented, turned from his sin, put his marriage in order.
[00:18:05] But he happened to be a wealthy man.
[00:18:09] So in gratitude for saving his marriage and saving his life from his sin, he bought her a sports car.
[00:18:20] Now I know some of you, some of you are going, oh, shouldn't have taken that rubbish. It's a profit's reward. You want to buy me a sports car? Buy me a sports car.
[00:18:30] But only if I get the prophetic word right. Okay.
[00:18:36] I love it.
[00:18:40] Okay, another one.
[00:18:45] God has told me not to be in the community. I need some me and him time.
[00:18:52] The problem is with the. When you hear words like that is Hebrews 10:25 says, don't neglect to meet together.
[00:18:59] So which one is right? Well, the Bible, of course.
[00:19:02] Why?
[00:19:03] Because you see and hear in part. And the Bible always trumps what you feel.
[00:19:09] This is the word of God. You're feeling disconnected. It might be your sin. It could be that it's a big church, it could be the stage of life. But if it's weighed in the community, they'll start to pull you back home and you'll start to feel part of the body of Christ.
[00:19:22] God has told me who I'm going to marry.
[00:19:26] I love this one. Well, that's really good. The problem, of course, is he's got to tell the other person as well.
[00:19:32] Okay? Otherwise it doesn't work.
[00:19:36] And that doesn't negate the other conditions necessary for marriage.
[00:19:41] Like he's a believer or she's a believer. They have a job, they're not lazy and they love the Lord and they worship, they tithe, they give their money to Jesus. They're not angry or addicted. You see, prophecy never negates wisdom, but it does light a path.
[00:20:04] How about this one?
[00:20:07] God has told me to leave my job.
[00:20:11] Great.
[00:20:13] You know, two Thessalonians, three, ten. If you don't work, you don't eat.
[00:20:18] Think about that one. Yes, but I'm called to ministry. Good, good. You still need to work, so you share it with the community. Remember Antioch and what happened there.
[00:20:33] Let's get you ready. Remember, Paul has eight years tent making in Tarsus.
[00:20:40] So he gets saved, he goes to Jerusalem, cause a stir in Jerusalem, everyone wants to kill, kill him. They lower him out of Jerusalem. He runs, has to hide. And he spends eight years in Tarsus working with Priscilla and Aquila to prepare for ministry. You know, some of you are medics, right?
[00:20:59] And looking for Beth, because I know she's. Oh, there you are. How many years to do, to do, to be a doctor?
[00:21:11] 5.
[00:21:12] And then you can just do what you like as a doctor. I didn't think so.
[00:21:18] And then how many more?
[00:21:22] Two training years. And then depending what you're going to do, you see 10 to 15.
[00:21:29] You see, some of you medics. If you've done two weeks in medical school, I do not want you operating on me, all right?
[00:21:39] I want someone that's been doing for 15 years cutting me open, and then I prefer they didn't.
[00:21:45] Okay? Why? Because they're trained.
[00:21:47] God trains us.
[00:21:50] He may anoint us, and Paul was anointed, but he needs training. So it had to be weighed in the community.
[00:22:00] You know, I'm called to be a prophet. Wonderful. Well, the training comes. Let's get you trained and tested. You know, back at leaders Gathering, we had a. A prophet called Chris Valatin here. And he stood Juliet up, he got her up, and he prayed over her and said, you're. You're a prophet. In the house, off the house. I think. Actually he said. And. And it wasn't news. I mean, I. I tell you, the Lord speaks to her all the time.
[00:22:25] So. So was he waving a magic wand? No, no, she just. So it was a recognition of what's already.
[00:22:33] But then she signs on to his prophetic mentoring. Why? Because she wants to be trained more.
[00:22:41] I want to learn how to be a great prophet. I want to learn how to hear clearly.
[00:22:47] I don't believe this is it.
[00:22:50] If God is calling me into this, I want to get prepared and trained.
[00:22:58] Look, what I'm trying to say is there's nowhere in the New Testament where prophecy functions outside of the local church, just not there.
[00:23:08] You might hear from God, but it is always tested in the local community.
[00:23:14] The community may not agree, but we plead, we weep, and we break our hearts.
[00:23:23] But through that process, the Holy Spirit confirms his will.
[00:23:30] Too many Christians make life changing decisions without proper counsel from the community they're part of.
[00:23:37] So many people tell me their decisions without even working it through and wonder why nothing ever gets accomplished.
[00:23:45] Remember the Roman centurion who came to Jesus to get his daughter healed? This is what he says. He says, I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, go. And he goes, and this one come. And he comes. I say to my servant, do this. And he does it.
[00:24:01] And when Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, truly, I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.
[00:24:11] I say to you that many will come from the east and the west and will take their places at the feast of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of. Of heaven. You see?
[00:24:22] What's he understanding?
[00:24:24] This centurion is a man under authority. And what I want to ask you is, are you people under authority?
[00:24:31] Paul, was he Always respected the elders of Jerusalem and the Antioch churches.
[00:24:38] We are not free to do whatever we like. We come under the authority of Jesus Christ and his church, and that doesn't always go down well in these days.
[00:24:52] What do you mean?
[00:24:56] What if they tell me to do something I don't want to do?
[00:24:59] Get used to it.
[00:25:03] My kids grew up in our household. We told them loads of times to do things they didn't want to do. Wash their teeth, change their clothes. They don't want to do it.
[00:25:12] You see, as we grow up and become disciples, people can tell you to do stuff you don't want to do. Question is, are you in a family?
[00:25:20] Are you a people under authority?
[00:25:24] I'm going to finish with one more story.
[00:25:26] I mentioned Chris Valatin, and we had him here at Leaders Gathering, and he was just a wonderful blessing.
[00:25:35] But because we had him, a few of our students Googled him and saw on the Internet that he was a false prophet, so left the church.
[00:25:47] Now, let me tell you something about the Internet.
[00:25:50] Anybody that does anything is false.
[00:25:54] There is always someone that's going to criticize someone.
[00:25:57] Okay?
[00:25:59] My encouragement to you is don't listen to somebody who still, you know, some poor guy still living with his mum in a back shed criticizing anybody that does something.
[00:26:15] But five or six years ago, Chris Valatin prophesied that Donald Trump would get back in as president, and he didn't. Joe Biden did.
[00:26:27] And afterwards, if you, you know, he. He stood up and he apologized and he said, I must. I. I must have just got it wrong. And people said, oh, but the story's not finished. He said, no, but I saw it now. I must have got it wrong. So then he was in trouble with the prophetic community. We shouldn't apologize. I said, well, it just didn't happen. I saw him get in.
[00:26:47] All right, now Donald Trump is back in power.
[00:26:50] He looks a bit better now, but it took time. Now, some of you might go, yeah, but I don't want Donald Trump to be in power.
[00:26:58] I don't want Donald Trump to be a president.
[00:27:01] Don't kill the prophet.
[00:27:03] The prophet doesn't install a president. God does.
[00:27:08] And we may not like it. We may not like the people in power. You know, people didn't. I mean, Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego weren't great fans of Nebuchadnezzar, especially Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego when he put them in the furnace.
[00:27:26] God installs. And we don't always understand what God is doing.
[00:27:35] If you never prophesy, you will never be a false prophet.
[00:27:40] But don't judge those who do and sometimes get some of the details wrong, because we're learning and we're now in the New Testament, the New Covenant. And Jesus tells a very clear story about this.
[00:27:55] He says, I give you all talents, one one, to another two and to another five.
[00:28:03] And the one that had one sat on it and did nothing with it, and that was the person that was cast away. And you might be here this morning going, yeah, but you don't understand. I don't have five. No, but you have two.
[00:28:15] You have to do something with them. Be willing to take some risks and make some mistakes.
[00:28:20] And Jesus said, if you invest them, they will multiply and you will get a reward. In fact, he says to you, I will give cities.
[00:28:35] Paul tells the Corinthians, I desire that all prophesy.
[00:28:40] Why?
[00:28:42] Because we are filled with the Holy Spirit who dwells.
[00:28:46] But he also speaks, and he wants to speak to us, and he wants to teach us and lead us into truth. And then he wants to teach us to prophesy, to speak his words so that men and women can get free and know the truth.
[00:29:06] Paul says, I want you all to do it.
[00:29:09] Not everyone will, but everyone can, because you have the dwelling speaking Holy Spirit.
[00:29:16] Thanks for listening to the Coma Charge podcast. If you enjoyed this message, you can like and subscribe. You can also join us in person or online every Sunday at Croma Church. For more information about us, including our ministries, events, worship, and how to donate, visit our website at Cromer Church.
