Prophetic Evangelism

This teaching series is entitled "Prophetic Evangelism," yet we have already completed two lessons without mentioning either the word "prophecy" or the word "evangelism." All we have done so far is to talk about intimacy with God. Has that has left you scratching your head and wondering if we got confused and misnamed this teaching series? Well, we have not. This series is very much about prophetic evangelism.

We have to build some foundations before we can dive into the evangelism part. Intimacy with God is foundational to the prophetic -- to hearing God's voice clearly so that we can speak His words, follow His directions and do the things that He is doing. And those things are foundational to being effective in evangelism. It is sort of like building blocks, one builds on top of the other. We have to build a solid base (intimacy with God) before we can start building the middle layer of hearing Him clearly and getting our direction from God. That middle layer needs to be securely in place before we can start putting the top layer of evangelism down. If the base is not stable and we try to build on it, then whatever we build will topple over the first time the wind of adversity or challenge blows.

If you don't have a solid foundation in your personal relationship with God, if you don't have intimacy with Him, then you are going to have trouble hearing His voice clearly. If you can't hear His voice clearly, You won't be able to tell what the Father is saying to you or see what He is doing. In other words, you won't be able to follow God's leading. And if you try to evangelize the lost without the Spirit's leading, you are not going to be very effective, because you will be doing in your own strength instead of in God's. You will be doing your own thing instead of doing what the Father is doing.

That is not the way that Jesus evangelized. Jesus said, in John 5:19, "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner." There are times that Jesus did prophetic evangelism, because that was what the Father was doing.

John 5 records one time that Jesus talked to the Samaritan woman at the well, and He used prophetic evangelism there. Jesus had a supernatural revelation about her marital situation (divorced five times and currently living with someone she was not married to). The woman knew that there is no way He could have known that in the natural, so that prophetic word of knowledge was a sign to her to cause her to believe. Jesus' word of knowledge not only caused the Samaritan woman to believe, it caused everyone who she told about it to believe as well.

We will look at this in much more detail in a future lesson.

The point I am trying to make now is that Jesus did prophetic evangelism when the Father was leading Him to do it. He was not in His own strength or at His own whim, but in response to the Father's leading. Look at the comment Jesus made about this in verse 34. He had sent His disciples away to go buy food because He was hungry. The Father led Him to have this prophetic evangelism encounter with the lady by the well while he waited for His disciples to get back with the food. But when they got back, He wasn't hungry any more, which the disciples found very confusing. Jesus explained it to them this way: "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me."

Jesus, who walked in intimacy with the Father, got His directions from God for evangelism. He did not do His own thing at His own whim, He did what the Father was doing. And in John 5, the father was releasing prophetic revelation to win a whole Samaritan village to Himself.

Jesus is our role model, we need to look at how He did things and do them the same way. That means that we need to develop deep personal intimacy with God and learn to hear Him clearly and obey His direction. Then we need to get a foundation of understanding and moving in the prophetic, of learning to do what the Father is doing and learning to say what the Father is saying. Then we can begin doing and saying things to the lost that will show God's love and demonstrate God's glory, His reality and His power so that they can believe.

So we build the foundation of intimacy with God in our first two lessons. Now we are going to build the middle layer, the prophetic this lesson and the next one. This middle layer is prophecy. So let's begin to look at it.

What Is Prophecy?

"But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men" (I Corinthians 14:3).

True prophecy will bring edification, which, according to Webster's New World Dictionary, is "moral spiritual instruction or improvement." It is "architecture, building, confirmation to edify." It is also to build a house in edification spiritual profit or advancement. The Greek word is "oikodome" pronounced "oy-kod-om-ay'." It is defined in Strong's Greek Dictionary of the New Testament, reference number 3619, as "(the act of) building, building up; edifying, edification such as the act of one who promotes another's growth in Christian wisdom, piety, happiness, holiness; or a building (i.e. the thing built, edifice)."

True prophesy will bring exhortation, which according to Webster's New World Dictionary, means "to urge earnestly by advice, warning, to do what is proper or required; admonish strongly. The act of calling toward or hither to help, begging, encouragement toward virtue. An exhortation or admonition or encouragement for the purpose of strengthening and establishing the believers possession of redemption, to strengthen faith."

The Greek word "Paraklesis" {pronounced par-ak'-lay-sis}. It is reference number 3874 in Strong's Greek Dictionary of the New Testament. Strong's defines the Greek word as, "1) a calling near, summons, (esp. for help), 2) importation, supplication, entreaty, 3) exhortation, admonition, encouragement, 4) consolation, comfort, solace; that which affords comfort or refreshment a) thus of the Messianic salvation (so the Rabbis call the Messiah the consoler, the comforter), 5) persuasive discourse, stirring address a) instructive, admonitory, conciliatory, powerful hortatory discourse."

True prophesy will also bring comfort. That means to strengthen much, to sooth in distress or sorrow; ease the misery or grief of. It also means to bring consolation or hope to someone, to free them from worry or pain. (Those definitions are from Webster's New World Dictionary). The Greek word is "Paramuthia" {pronounced par-am-oo-thee'-ah}. It is reference number 3889 in Strong's Greek Dictionary of the New Testament. "any address, whether made for the purpose of persuading, or of arousing and stimulating, or of calming and consoling; e.g., consolation, comfort."

Are these definitions giving you a feel for what prophecy is? When we prophesy, the Holy Spirit is breathing life into us with words that create, and establish. When we receive His words they will "build, strengthen, comfort, encourage, us in the faith .... Also God is building His building in us. Only His words can create and establish His kingdom in us. God wants to grow us up; to mature us; so we will walk in the light as Jesus is in the light, full of confidence in Our Lord. He wants us know who we are in Him, "having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit" (Ephesians 2:20-22).

The Spirit (Rhema spoken word or prophesying) will build the temple of God and bring us to maturity. I like to put it this way: God's word is the seed, prophesying is the rain. When we read God's word (seed) God will come along and confirm by the mouth of His prophets (Rain) and as we receive His Words we will get a harvest (spiritual growth).