Ephesians 4-Who has Jesus given Prophets

We thank you Phil. We are going to get to Acts 21 eventually. It's really where we will be ending on. We are going to turn to Ephesians 4 first of all. We are going to be in a few different places, but let me while you're turning to Ephesians 4 verses 11 and 12, just say a couple of things before we read those two verses. We are in a series in Ephesians, but we have slowed down quite significantly in Ephesians focusing in on the ministry gifts that appear in Ephesians 4 verse 11. Now let me begin with a confession next week. I'm going to begin this sermon with a clarification. This morning I want to begin with a confession. The confession, or I know it's like dead, I'm about garden or anything, it's not about type of confession. It's not one of those confessions where the pastor says, you know, I'm not no longer, it can be a pastor, it's not about type of confession. The confession is that as we have slowed down in Ephesians, and as we have focused in on these ministry gifts, technically speaking, we are no longer in a series in Ephesians over these next few weeks. The confession is that as we slow down and look at these ministries, we are actually moving outside of the purposes that Paul has written Ephesians 4. To state it another way, the purpose of Ephesians 4 is not to unpack apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. That's clear from the text because all Paul does is mention them and move on. So the purpose of Ephesians 4 is not to unpack them. The purpose of Ephesians 4 is to highlight the unity and the maturity of the church that Jesus intends for her as the head connected to the body. And yet, in talking about the unity and the maturity of the church, Paul does mention these ministry gifts and it seems clear to me that Paul at least assumes that his readers are aware of how these people are operating in the churches in order to see the maturity, the equipping, and the unity tech placed in the church, which is why we're slowing down and looking at them. And so we will be in Acts 21 eventually, we'll be in a few different places. Let me read Ephesians 4, 11 to 12, and then we'll jump in. And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ. No, on the screen behind me is a picture, hopefully, of a rainbow. And as you are aware, a rainbow has seven distinct colors, and yet, when you look carefully at the colors in a rainbow, they actually blend into one another. They are distinct, and yet at the same time in a very real way, they're kind of almost intermingling and overlapping. And that's actually one helpful way that you can understand the ministry functions in Ephesians 4, 4, 11. They are, depending how you count them, four or five distinct ministry gifts. And yet, although they are distinct, there is an inherent overlap between them. So a couple of weeks ago I said that most likely, the reason why Paul mentions these is because Jesus is described in all of these terms. Jesus is the Apostle, who gives apostles. Jesus is the prophet. He gives prophets. Jesus is the evangelist. He gives evangelists, et cetera, et cetera. There's another way we can understand their interrelationship. And it is to do with the distinction and yet at the same time overlap. Commentators note, and this is regardless if the commentators believe in all of their ongoing function or not, commentators note that every single one of these functions are linked in another way. And that is that they are linked by the very fact that they are, if you like, word-based ministries. All of them in one way or another have some sort of responsibility of unpacking and applying the very word of God to the people of God. And yet, as we consider apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers, the grace of God that is in those rules will result in them handling and applying and ministering the word of God and a different kind of emphasis. And that's why all of them are needed in order for the church to be built up and brought on the maturity. So if you like, you can word it this way. Apostles, as we saw, are the builders. They're the architects. They led the foundation at local churches. They build up the local church. They see elder shipteams appointed. Often apostles are places for three to five years. They plant, they build up, they see appointment, they move on, et cetera, et cetera. So that's where the apostles are builders. Evangelists are gatherers. They are connecting the local church to the mission field that is on their own doors that more often than not. They're connecting the gospel to the unbelieving world, either gathering unbelievers in to hear the gospel or laying the gospel to bear upon the unbelieving world. So the evangelists are the gatherers. Apostles are builders. Pastor teachers are nurturers. They're seeing the people open up their understanding, their mind, their heart to the truth that is revealed in the very scriptures themselves. And what that means are souls and to our lives as believers. So you get builders, you get gatherers, you get nurturers. The prophets are more the exorters. Now we can't talk about prophets without talking about the spiritual gift of prophecy. Just see them as two synonyms for an eye, okay? The problem is when it comes to prophetic, when it comes to prophets, the way they bring the Word of God is more of an exorter and as well as that, it is much more spontaneous and nature. So let me give definitions, so you can say that's from, I'll not cause PTSD in some of you for a couple of weeks ago, but there's the definition of apostles I gave. Apostles are those given by the risen Christ who are sent to establish and pioneer in new gospel work, most often associated with church planting and the subsequent strengthening and ongoing partnership of those churches. Apostles tend to let the foundational work for new churches serve them by eating and the appointment of elders. Now what are prophets? Prophets are those given by the risen Christ who through revelatory words help to bring specific direction to churches and believers to build them up, strengthen them and see the spread of gospel impact. So what I would like to do this morning as we unpack this definition is look at two large points, the second point will have some some points. The first thing that I want to consider is high God communicates with prophets, the second thing is high God uses prophets, so high God communicates and high God uses. So we're going to be in a number of different Bible passages, turn first of all to the Old Testament to the book of Numbers, we're going to turn to Numbers 12. We first of all want to consider something namely high God communicates with prophets. I'll give you a little time to turn to it. We'll read Numbers 12 verses 1 to 9 and then I want to draw your attention to something quite remarkable that the Lord says in this passage and the reason why I'm reading it out first is that you see that it is there in black and white. Numbers 12 verse 1, Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married, four, he had married a Cushite woman. And this said, has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses as he not spoken through us also and the Lord heard it. No, the man Moses was very make more than all people who were on the face of the earth. And suddenly the Lord said to Moses and to Aaron and Miriam, come out you three, I just hear that in Northern Ars accent, I know the Lord does not speak in Northern Ars accent, but come out if siblings are fighting and mummy and I have to take over the scenario, come out you three to the tent of meeting. On the three of them came out. On the Lord came dying in a pillar of Clyde and stood at the entrance of the tent and called Aaron and Miriam and they both came forward. On he said, hear my words, if there is a prophet among you, I the Lord make myself known to him. In a vision, I speak with him in a dream, not so with my servant Moses. He is fearful in all my house. With him I speak mouth to mouth clearly and not in riddles and he beholds the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses and the anger of the Lord was kindled against them and he departed. Few things notice about this, what on earth is going on here? Miriam and Aaron have a real problem that Moses has married someone who is not of the same ethnicity as them. I mean, there's no way around this. There's a form of racism in the camp and numbers chapter 12. But I I wanted to notice as well, not only are they annoyed that he is married a Christite woman, but part of their argumentation is to do with who gets to hear the voice of God. And their argument goes like this, Moses isn't the only one he hears from God. And the Lord hears this conversation and he calls them to book, but what I really want you to see is the Lord's explanation to Miriam and Aaron, something quite remarkable. And that's what the Lord does. When I speak to prophets, I speak to them in dreams and in visions, and then he uses another word, and in riddles. But when I speak to Moses, I speak to him clearly. Now, I need you to hear that this is quite a remarkable admission from the Lord's own mouth. The Lord has just said this, because Moses is leading the nation, there is absolutely no ifs and buts and confusion about what I said to him. But if I want to speak to a prophet, I'll speak to the prophet, but it just won't be as clear as the way that when I speak to Moses. Now, that's a pretty incredible admission, because for those who would argue that the gift of prophecy does not operate today, their argument goes like this. In the Bible, prophets heard from God very clearly, there was no confusion about what he said, and nights in the Bible we don't need to worry about it. When Numbers chapter 12, out of the Lord's own admission, he says, "I deliberately speak in ways that aren't as clear." Now, you need to hit, that's what the Lord admits. In fact, the word for riddle is the word that choose elsewhere in the Old Testament that refers to a parable that needs interpretation to be understood. So the Lord comes to Miriam and Aaron and says, "I speak to Moses very clearly, but see the rest here hearing God's word in the community. I speak to them in dreams, in visions, in riddles. I'm speaking, it's not always as clear as you would like it to be, but I'm still speaking." That's a remarkable admission. In fact, at Job chapter 33 says something very, very similarly, for God speaks in one way and in two, though man does not perceive it in a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls in man, while they're slumber on their beds. But I want to go further than this, friends. In the Greek translation of the old Testament, and let me just pause and explain why I'm saying this. See, anytime you ever hear me say, "Oh, the Greek translation of the Old Testament," that's not me trying to impress you, or always being all fancy. This is the reason why I'm doing this. You see when the New Testament writers are quoting the Old Testament, the vast majority of the times are quoting from the Greek translation of the Old Testament and not the Hebrew, the original languages of the Old Testament. And that's important 'cause it helps draw connections between the two. Paul's writing in Greek, and therefore he's more often than not quoting in Greek from the Old Testament. This Greek word for riddle is a word where we get our English word enigma from. And it appears only once in the entire New Testament. So this particular word for riddle in Numbers 12, the way that God speaks to prophets, it appears only once in the New Testament. You will never guess where it appears. Sorry, I'm gonna tell you. But you never guess where it appears. It appears in 1 Corinthians 13, when Paul and the context of speaking about New Testament prophecy, when he says we know in part, we prophesy in part, and then he goes on to say this, "For now we see an a mirror dimly." It's the same word. But then when prophecy and tongues all cease, when Jesus comes back again, then we will see face to face. In other words, the Apostle Paul confirms that under the New Covenant, this type of prophetic activity that's find in Numbers 12 continues. There's a continuation of that. The way that God sometimes speaks in dreams, in visions, and in riddles, in enigmatic ways that we don't always perceive first time-rind. Now, back in Numbers 12, before we make a jump into the Book of Acts, immediately prior to this moment, in Numbers 11, the Lord asked Moses to come and to gather 70 elders from Israel, and God took the spurt that was in Moses and put it on the rest of them, the 70. And when they started prophesying, Moses was so blown away, and he comes out with this declaration, I wish all of God's people were prophets. That's what Moses declared. And Moses' desire was met one day, because the very one to whom Moses pointed the word, the only the Lord Jesus Christ who threw him, gives all of God's people the spurt, turned to Acts chapter two. In Acts chapter two, the spurt of God is poured out in the dead of Pentecost. And Peter believes that this is in fulfillment of an old testament expectation, turned to Acts chapter two, and we're turning to verse 17. And in the last days, it shall be declared to the Lord. So the last days began at the death of Pentecost. The last days are so far lasted for over 2,000 years, because there's like 1,000 years to the Lord. So is it 2,000 plus years since the crucifixion or is it 2 days since the crucifixion? You tell me, I don't know. But we're in the last days, we've been in the last days, people from the seven, or we're definitely in the last days now, they're making microchips, 2,000 years later the game. Last days began at the death of Pentecost. And it shall be, go to clairs, that I will pour out my spurt on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. And your young man shall see visions, your old man shall dream dreams, even on my meal servants and female servants. In those days, I will pour out my spurt and they shall prophesy. So notice what is happening now under the new covenant age, God's people in totality are now a prophetic community. And the spurt of God, the spurt of prophecy is that it's being given, goes across all the barriers. It does not matter whether you're a man or a woman, does not matter whether you're old or whether you're young, does not matter if you're your socio-economic skill. It, God's spirit has been poured out on all flesh. And so what that means, just try to be as clear as I can, the new covenant age has brought a reality to prophetic ministry unknown in the Old Testament. And I would argue there's layers to this. And as I explained some examples, hopefully, some things are gonna click in your mind. Here's the three levels, on the one hand, by virtue of the fact that you are a born again follower of the Lord Jesus Christ with the spurt of God, any believer at any given moment could be used to prophetically encourage another. Have you ever felt stirred to send a verse to someone, you sent them a verse and they've replied to you, that's exactly what I needed. Congratulations, you just prophesied. 'Cause you're given the spurt of God, may seep hear my voice, I knew at any given moment can encourage another believer with words that you say in the moment, right? That's one level, that's for everyone. On the next level, there are those that actually have the gift of prophecy. And they do that more regularly. And you can begin to identify that gift. But then under that, there's those that do it with a heightened increased regularity and with heightened accuracy. And they're in the New Testament sensor, known therefore as prophets. Now, there are words you're not having to add to the full revelation, as scripture's not, there's nothing to do with redemption, there's nothing to do with doctrine. This is to do, as we're gonna see how the prophet is used. But I want you, I wanna be really clear, 'cause sometimes I just don't want this moment to be all ethereal and theoretical. Let me just, very, very clearly, say what this looks like in a local church. What does it mean to be prophetic people? So let me just be really, really clear. Every single Lord's day without feel from the day that we started to see a church planted here. There have been, there's always three prophetic moments in this church. When I say prophetic, God's word going on. Let me tell you the three prophetic moments that happen in these services. Number one, the clearest, most obvious, most authoritative prophetic moment in any local church is the public reading of the Holy Scriptures. Do not, there's a reason why Paul commanded Timothy devote yourself to the public reading of scripture. It is the very word of God being readied over the people of God. That is a prophetic moment. The second prophetic moment in this service is that when God's word dead is opened up until the extent that it is rightly divided and rightly applied under the function and liberty of the Spirit, this is a prophetic moment opening the eyes and hearts of the people of God to the preaching. Here's a third prophetic moment. When we cue up and take communion, but what does Paul say you're doing in communion? When you take the bread and take the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until it's a prophetic activity. We are proclaiming Jesus's death for you. He's got you. He shed his blood for it's a prophetic moment. But what I've covered so far, number 12, falls into none of those three categories because there's another prophetic category and let me explain what that looks like in the context of local church. Let me give you two stories that have happened here. Some of you might be aware of other times not. And what you're going to see is that it's neither the reading of the scriptures, the explanation of the scriptures the taking of the sacraments. It is still a prophetic activity, but it's not falling within those categories. Here's the first story. Some of you, the majority of you will be aware of this, but let me explain. We were a year into the church plant. And I was at an event where it was a night that was teaching and training in prophetic ministry. And on the very last night, it was a free week course, and this was the last night. And this individual from Newton Ard's came up. There was a group of guys and girls from a church in Newton Ard's that came up to me and said, "I think I've got a word for you for your church." Okay, helping to ask how much? No, I'm gonna check it out. She was a very wise woman, actually, 'cause she says, "I think." And she says, "It'll all depend upon how you answer this next question." She says, "If you answer no, I'm not gonna say anything more. If you answer yes, I'll give you more." I says, "Right." She says, "Let me answer this," she says. "See where you guys meet as a church," she says. See, you're building that you meet in as it's central. And Bali Claire is a central at all. I says, "Well, the whole traffic literally goes round the square. It's literally in the center of the town." You can't get any more central. She says, "That's good. This is what I want you to hear." So I really felt that the Lord gave me a picture of a treasure chest for you. And in this treasure chest was all those jewels and gold and riches, but what was coming out was light. And there was darkness all around the community. And what's gonna happen is, people are gonna be coming in and encountering the light out of your church's witness. So thank you very much. I'll take that. There was nothing weird about that. Double gold themes all coming together. It passes the theological test. EBC, Happy Days. We decide to share it with the church on Sunday. Sunday morning. So the ending of my sermon, I am this story about the treasure chest. So the last thing everyone hears and the sermon was about the treasure chest. Unbeknown to me, that morning in Sunday school, in the Sunday school used to meet down in the room where we pray before the prayer meeting. And usually the music after the sermon was the cue for them to come up. Unbeknown to me the night before, some of the Sunday school teachers, it was actually Olivia and Regina actually thought, we'll try to get a little craft for the boys and girls. And not morning they were looking at the parable of the head and treasure. And that night on the Saturday night, there was fun on the internet, a little craft for the boys and girls to make little treasure chests. So immediately after sharing this treasure chest prophecy, as the music is playing and we're responding to communion, all the boys and girls start running into the town hall with little treasure chests. Little treasure chests. We can't orchestrate that. That's not the reading of the Bible. That's not the preaching of the Word. And that's not taking in the sacraments, but that was a word from the God's call prophecy. I was going confirming in the moment, here's another one. An individual came into church one Sunday morning, a family that go to the church, going through a really difficult time, the family's going through a really difficult time, and very upset before the service and some of us, and Sounder and I got the prang with them before the service in the store. And as this individual was sharing just what kind of week they've had and what kind of season they've had, they used the freeways, and the freeways was, I'm barely keeping my head above water. Proud with them, got into the service, service went. It came to the scripture reading and James was on the scripture reading. Don't know if James remembers us, I'm sure he does. The day before James attacked me to say a lesson to see through the scripture reading, I feel I just got something for someone, I just want to kind of share it, crack on, share it. James goes and he reads the scripture reading and then he goes to pray, but as he prays, he starts to share what he felt the Lord had for someone. And this is what he said. I was given a picture yesterday of someone in the sea and you're just about keeping your head above water. He quoted the individual verbatim what was shared to us in the store before the service. And however the word went, the Lord's will ensure that you're not going to go under whatever it is. Folks, what do you do with that? Now I know people, right, you know what they say? I have no problem with that, that was providence. Call it with the Bible, call it to forget the sick. It's called prophecy. It's called the father heart of God for a child who's broken coming into the service during the heart of another child who's got the Holy Spirit giving them an eyeword of biblical truth to apply to their situation. Why, and if you're still fighting back against this, it's stubbornness and not theological problem. It's just stubbornness. This is what God does, folks. There's the printing of the word. There's the reading of the word. There's the sacraments, but there's the sprung, the spirit prompted activity in order to encourage the saints. And so now what I like to do as quick as I can is to now look at, well, how God uses prophets. What does this look like in the New Testament? And the fact of the matter is the word prophet does not appear an awful lot in the New Testament in this way, and that isn't of itself is quite interesting, but there's still enough to go by. So let me make you aware of a few things. Here's the first thing we see God using the spirit of prophecy and prophets, et cetera. That provides specific direction for churches and/or individuals. So let's move to Acts 11 very briefly, and then we'll move into Acts 13. Acts 11, it's an Antioch. This is the only time something like this happens in the Book of Acts, where there's some sort of national prediction. I often see the main thrust of new covenant prophecy in the context of local church and mission, but what we say is that in one of those days, one of them, this is prophets who come down from Jerusalem to Antioch, verse 27, one of them named Agabas stood up and foretold by the spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world. This took place during the days of Claudia. So the disciples determined every one, according to his ability to send relief to the brothers and sisters living in Judea, and they did so, sanding it to the elders by the hand of Bartabas and Saul. Here, now, a prophet is used to stir the church and mobilize the church into action to meet a very specific need. Now, in fact, that's really the only clear foretelling. I would argue the majority of new covenant prophecy is foretelling, speaking in the moment, not primarily productive in nature, although you can't read that out altogether. Acts 13, verses 1 to 3. Now, there were the church and Antioch, prophets and teachers. Bartabas, Simeon, who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manin, a lifelong friend of her, the tetraarch and Saul. So this prophet's in this meeting, what's going to happen? And they were worshiping the Lord and fasting. The Holy Spirit said, presumably through one of the prophets, set apart for me, Bartabas and Saul, for the work to which I've called them, then, after fasting and praying, they led their hands on them and sent them off. This is what is remarkable about a passage like Acts 13 and even Acts 16, where there's a specific word to go into a region. See when Jesus told the disciples to go into all world and preach the gospel? Like, there's nothing unclear about that command as there. That's a clear, sufficient word to go into all the world. And yet, the C.M. Jesus that gave general commands as the C.M. Jesus by the Spirit of prophecy who gives specific leading within the parameter of those general commands. So, I mean, in the strictest sense of the term, a moment like this isn't really needed. If Jesus told you to go into all the world, what do you do, you go into all the world? That's pretty clear. But there's the specific leading of the Spirit, which is what the prophetic Spirit does in equipping the church. Here's something else that they do. They speak the right words in season for strength and encouragement. Acts 15, there's a council that is gathered to talk about. What is the purpose of the council? Well, now the Gentiles are receiving the gospel. The question that needs to be asked is, do we need to force the Gentiles to get circumcised, to be saved? You would notice if you read Acts 15, prophecy is not used to determine doctrine. What they do is they talk about what they saw in the mission field. James quotes the scriptures and says, no, this is not to be the keyest. And a decision was made after the council, not to force the Gentile brothers to be circumcised. And all the Gentile brothers said, hallelujah, praise the Lord. That's not what was there, but I'm sure that's exactly what happened. After the council met and the decision was made, a letter was written. And there's a couple of individuals that are sent with this letter, and there are prophets that are sent, so Acts 15 verse 32. And Judas and Silas, who were themselves prophets, encouraged and strengthened the brothers with many words. What they did is they took the contents of this letter and they traveled to Antioch and the other regional churches to let them know that this was the decision. The gospel really is that Jesus is enough to see of you. Jesus alone, not Jesus plus circumcision, not Jesus plus whatever anything else. Jesus really is enough, but it was prophets, but they're not only brought But the latter, they brought words with many words they encouraged and strengthened, and the fact that it was prophets giving words for strength and encouragement seems to indicate it was some sort of prophetic ministry that blessed that particular church in light of the latter. Finally, on number three, they can also bring confirmation to situations. Now, we're going to end in Acts 21, we'll spend a few moments in this before we wrap up. So, turn to Acts 21, the passage that Phil had read, "I wonder how many of you remember doing arithmetic in schools?" You know the fancy questions of school teachers, they basically wanted to beat to like Mars and then to put them into these little stories, you know. So let me give you an example of arithmetic, you know, Tony's mother gives him five pounds to go to the shop for sweets. Known his way, Tony finds another £1.37 and his coat. In the shop, Tony buys a hundred Cola bottles for two pH, a pocket of dipped up for 75p, on three Fredo bars that used to be 10p but have gone up by 62% recently. What does Tony know I have? On the answer, of course, is dangerously high blood sugar levels, but that's the kind of arithmetic, let the quiz in using numbers. Well, there's an arithmetic in Acts 21 and the arithmetic goes like this. On Acts 21, in Acts 21, the Apostle Paul is given three separate prophetic words telling him not to go to Jerusalem and he avoids every single one of them and goes to Jerusalem. That's a theological issue. Acts 21, we actually see this as profits and prophecy in action but we see something and what I want to argue that in Acts 21, these prophetic words were confirmation of something that Paul was already aware of. In Acts 20, so if you just go back to Acts 20 very briefly, in Acts 20 verses 22 to 24, the Apostle Paul informs the Ephesian elders that he knows that he has to go to Jerusalem, the Spirits told him he has to go to Jerusalem and he also knows that he is going to get persecuted no matter where he goes, but he is willing to do it. And then he moves, you move into Acts 21 and something happens in verse 4, ordinary disciples through the Spirits telling him, don't go to Jerusalem. In fact, the verb indicates that they were doing this consistently, this happened in a number of occasions. Paul moves on and he stays with Philip and Philip were told had four daughters who prophesied, okay, because on my meal and female servants, men and women are going to all prophesy. So now I must have been fun around the dinner table in Philip's household. Did you do your homework today at Delilah? Actually, my mate, she didn't and I can tell you, how do you know? Well, because God told me you didn't do your homework. I don't know how, I know a family dinner look like having four women prophesied in the Heights. We're not told the content of the prophecy but the context seems to indicate that their prophesy and a Paul don't go. So he's told, don't go. He's told, don't go. To top it all off, a guy called Agapas makes another appearance. You know the guy that predicted the famine? He comes down and he re-enacts something and he says, this is what's going to happen. He's going to be bind and he's going to hand it over to the Romans and therefore, verse 12, please don't go Paul. Please don't go Paul. Now the key to understand this passage is Agapas. As I want you to notice something else about Agapas. And verses 10 and 11, Agapas argues, I think I've got another screen here, right? And verse, and see the left hand column. What Agapas predicted is that the Jews would bind Paul and hand him over to the Romans. What actually really happens in the incident is that the Jews try to kill Paul on the Romans rescue him from their hands. In other words, there was elements of this prophetic word that were not entirely accurate. In other words, we prophesy in part. We see through a glass dimly the Lord speaks and dreams and visions and riddles. No, I want you to remember three words. We're almost done. Thank you for your patience, but we're almost done. I want you to remember three words, revelation, interpretation, application. Revelation, interpretation, application, revelation. Agapas receives a prophetic revelation at some sort of dream or picture. And he sees Paul and his picture bind. He sees Romans. He sees Jews. That's the revelation from God. That revelation is 100% because God does not make any mistakes. It's a clear revelation. But Agapas puts an interpretation in that and he interprets it to mean that the Jews bind Paul and hand him over. Well, it's kind of true because he was with the Jews and he is handed over, but that's not fully high at play at itself out. But then there's the application of the prophetic word and the application is don't go to Jerusalem. But do you see Paul's response in verse 13? Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? You see, what they've told Paul is not new to him. It was prophetic confirmation. What's he been saying up until 9? The Lord's told me they need a good to Jerusalem and the Lord's told me that I'm going to suffer. And they're not saying, Paul, you're going to go to Jerusalem, you're going to suffer. Therefore, don't go. They're not hearing a different revelation, they're coming to a different conclusion about the revelation. And Paul's conclusion is, no, no, no. Even if I have to die for this gospel, even if I have to die, I will do that, why? Because it's for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And verse 14, conclusion is, all right, let the well of the Lord be done, whatever he wants. Friends, if you were to read at the very end of the bigger revelation, you know, we would be told, remember, the very last thing we're told about prophecy is this. The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. And this is why we believe these things are biblical. These things must be sought and be practiced and encouraged. Why? Because the living head of the church has desired to glorify his own name through these gifts and this principle of leaning God's people in a whole plethora of ways. The word of God is the written word of God is the supreme ultimate authorities by which every other aspect is judged. For brothers and sisters, I hope you've seen that this very word itself tells us that God speaks in dreams and visions and riddles, that they are to be read and tested. But God loves to lead his people specifically, to the extent that Paul can even tell the church in Corinth and 1 Corinthians 14, earnestly desire these things, earnestly desire these things. And so what's the right response from us, then, friends? The right response from us should be faith, Lord, we believe these things are so. We ask that you would increase them and allow me as an individual to be sensitive to your spirit to encourage others, allow me to be sensitive to even something that you would want to give and receive from you as the Lord Jesus, who is head of the church, equips the sins and aligns them up for works of ministry. And so maybe the best thing we can do now as you respond in prayer is to cry out for more of these things. This is a manifestation of the glory of Jesus in the church, the spirit of prophecy, for the good of the church, for the direction of the church, for mobilizing and cutlerizing greater gospel ministry. And so let's respond now and do this in his presence. And then we will come and take communion as we have another prophetic moment and take communion together and proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.