A Real Prophet

[Catsmeow]

A Real Prophet by Catsmeow

Last Sunday my better half and I attended Sunday services at our local Baptist Church...a cozy lil' country church - stately, white and brick, topped off with a towering steeple...

We made our way to our seats and the service began with traditional hymns, ("How Great Thou Art") followed by a few contemporary ones.

Finally, a white-haired elderly gent approaches the podium. His kindly eyes seem to twinkle as he warns us in advance of the sermon: hell fire and damnation. This is the topic no preacher wants to deliver.

The elderly preacher tells the story about a rich man - name unknown - and a beggar named, "Lazarus". He tells us of the terrible fate of the rich man, who lived a life of luxury while the beggar suffered outside his gates.

Now, at last...the rich man feels "compassion"....compassion for his five brothers who will join him in this dreadful place of torment. He begs to send Lazarus back to warn his brothers - but to no avail.

The preacher straightens up and tells us another story...a story about a board certified attorney who - upon hearing the call of God on his life - gives up his law practice to "go find that man's five brothers" - wherever they may be.

With a wink and a smile he adds, "And I hear rumor that he (the rich man) had some 'sisters' too".

"Maybe we all need to go out and find that rich man's brothers and his sisters...."

I can't begin to do justice to this country preacher's sermon...I can only say that as I sobbed in my seat, I noticed a few tough, godly men borrowing their wives' kleenex and wiping their tears....big ol' tears.

After the service, the tears didn't stop. I saw men - some of the elders and deacons...men everywhere crying and embracing.

Now, that elderly gent never claimed he was a prophet but the Spirit of God was in that church quickening hearts... The Spirit filled that whole building and we felt it.

People can say what they wish...but for me, a prophet is anyone who speaks a Word from God, as this dear gentleman did and move people to tears. Or turn knuckles white with conviction...and mouthes agape....

He did it effortlessly...coming straight from the mouth of God Almighty and felt in the hearts of all who heard. There's a doubtless sense of awe and wonder when God speaks to His children. You know in the depth of your being you've been touched in some special way. You perceive a quickening in your spirit.

The old country preacher's there soon after you're born; he baptises you; he marries you; he buries you. He's there in times of joy and times of trouble...he's always there.

He's a mighty man of God - but he doesn't see it ....This humble country preacher describes himself only as a "dumb sheep". As the congregation roars in laughter, he's quick to remind them that "they're all dumb sheep, too!"

I saw into the eyes of prophet on Sunday...a simple white-haired man with a heart of gold who could move grown men to their knees in a storm of tears.

[Ovedya]

Amen and amen. A genuine prophet indeed, is someone who edifies the Body through his speaking.

[Catsmeow]

It's been a long, long time since a preacher brought me to tears like that...

[rollinTHUNDER]

Cats,

I'll get back to this in a little while. My better half has just called us to supper. Be back shortly.

[Voice Of God]

Cats...From the story and discription you shared. He is a very annointed "Pastor"... Not a Prophet!

BTW.. That was awesome the way God touched people in that service! When the Holy Spirit moves in a meeting it is evident!

[Ovedya]

Cats...From the story and discription you shared. He is a very annointed "Pastor"... Not a Prophet!

L-E-G-A-L

[Catsmeow]

Okay, I'm confused then...isn't prophesy when someone is speaking the words of God? I'm asking because that's what I always thought was prophesy...

Maybe I'm wrong...I didn't think they had to say, "Thus saith the Lord..."

I thought that when Spirit-filled believers are gathered and Christ is among them, and one speaks words from God, words that quicken the heart of believers...that person has prophesied. Some people call it a "word of knowledge" - others call it a word of prophesy...but it's God's heart being revealed.

I didn't know the person had to say, "I'm a prophet and I'm speaking for God"...

I'm saying this very honestly because maybe my understanding of prophesy is wrong or in error.

Is it an official position or title or ? Somebody straighten me out, if I'm off base...

I sure thought that pastor's words were direct from the Lord Himself...the Holy Spirit sure confirmed it.

Cats...From the story and discription you shared. He is a very annointed "Pastor"... Not a Prophet!

I'm not sure I know the difference then. Don't they both speak on behalf of the Lord?

[rollinTHUNDER]

Wow Cats,

This brings back memories for me. I'll try to tell you about it, and I hope I can say it in a way that won't offend anyone.

I got saved in an Assemblies of God Church, but I never joined it. Like you, I joined a small country Baptist Church, but not because I thought it was the best choice. The main reason I joined was because my old high school guidance counselor was a preacher that has started many Baptist churches in our county. He wanted me to join them so they could build up the younger crowd. And since he bailed me out of a few jams that I had gotten myself into while I was in school, I thought I would return a favor and help him the way he helped me years before. My Mom always sent us to a Baptist church anyway, so we were already programmed to believe we were Baptists.

It's been over thirteen years now, and I'm still in that same church, but actually, it's not really the same. Oh we still call it a Baptist Church, but it's not a typical Baptist church. Let me explain the difference.

The church you described sounds like the one ours used to be. It was so predictable. It always started and ended the same way. The choir would sing two or three hymns, the Pastor would deliver his message and then we would always sing one or two hymns as we took the offering and then go home. It seemed as though we could set our watches by the noon time ending, it was so structured. I became very comfortable with this, as it demanded me to do nothing, and helped my lukewarmness. We thought we were doing our duty just by showing up.

Then we lost our Pastor as he was on his way to go and start another church in the county. By this time I was a member for about 3 or 4 years, so I wasn't going to move as far as I knew. We had a temporary travelling preacher who helped us out for about six months or so. Then we got a really good Charles Stanley type of Preacher, but the structure still stayed the same. But he left after a couple of years and we had formed a search committee. A team of about 4 or 5 who went travelling around to different churches on Sunday to see if they could lure a good Pastor into our church. Finally, they had all agreed on one that they had found way up in Boone, NC, and it only took them about 8 or 9 months. The only thing that was holding our congregation together all that time was our love for each other. We were blessed with a very loving church.

Anyway, in about a years time, this Pastor had agreed to move south to paradise as he calls it (sarcasm), from the mountains. We were not getting a Baptist Preacher this time, but the man could preach up a storm. He has changed the way we do things in that old Baptist Church. The first thing he insisted on was changing our worship. This was kinda wild stuff he was bringing in at first, I thought. All of a sudden I was not very comfortable with the way things were stating to change. After a couple of weeks, my wife and I were discussing with each other that maybe we should go find another church. There was too much singing and carrying on going on in there. I did not like the change one bit.

But we decided to be patient and give the man a fair chance to see if we might be able to get used to this new stuff, after all, it did seem to honor the Lord more. All of a sudden, we were losing members to other Baptist churches in the area, but as many as we were losing, God was bringing in more people who liked this worship stuff. Before we knew it, people were raising hands and dancing around and praising the Lord. I had a terrible time getting used to it. It took me a few months I guess. Then we noticed that the joy of the Lord was in our church. And the spirit was moving like we had never seen before.

After about a year or so, I still wasn't real sure if I liked it or not, but I could tollerate it. But one week, we went on vacation to visit my mother in the western part of Florida. We went to her Baptist church over there. It was just like our old one. It was then that I had realized that our old Baptist Church felt like it was spiritually dead. You could hear a pin drop it was so dead. The spirit was being hindered because we weren't praising and worshipping God as He so rightfully deserves. I couldn't wait to get back to our new way of praising and worshipping our Lord in spirit and truth. It took some getting used to, but the difference is like night and day. Church used to be boring, but not anymore.

Now back to your question. Was the old man that delivered that message last Sunday to your church a prophet? I would have to say no. He may have given a powerful message, but it sounds like the spirit was moving in your congregation. When you are in a spirit filled church, this will become common. I love it when the spirit starts flowing. Sometimes half of the church will be in tears. Other times we get our cups filled. I really don't know if I can describe it accurately, but I know one thing : When I leave our church now, I expect to have my batteries re-charged if you know what I mean.

I used to not even want to sing at all in church. I would let the choir do that. I thought all I needed was to hear the preachers message, but now I feel the exact opposite. I'm no longer a babe that needs to be hand fed by someone else. A mature christian should be feeding on the word all by themselves. I do like to hear a good message though, but the main thing I need when I go to church is the praise and worship. When we do this in the beginning of the service, it invites the Holy Spirit to come into our midst. It opens the way for God's presense to fill all those who are hungry for more of Him. All I can say is that it's totally awesome!!! Some believers will tell you that you can not feel the presense of the Holy Spirit. That is not right at all. Those people who say such things either don't have His spirit in them, or they are doing something to hinder or quench it. God has never changed.

I would have to agree with VOG on this one.

[Catsmeow]

You know, if you look around the boards, you'll find we're all different...we're all unique...

We're different colors, shapes, sizes, ages...and well...life experiences...

Some of us have been through horrible tragedy while others have lived relatively sheltered lives...some have come from the gutter, while others from mansions....every person has a tale to tell; each person is different.

RT, our church isn't dead. Not even close. In fact, we're very much alive. Not all people want "unpredictable" services...we have quite a few seniors who need to take medication at a certain time and many babies needing to be fed and changed...so having a time frame to work in works for us.

And that's where we need to be careful not to think we all have the same needs or that one church "does it better"...

Just because a church is traditional, doesn't mean it's dead. Not by a long shot.

You know, we don't have to jump up and down & make a loud noise...there's a quiet, gentle worship that produces a sweetness of spirit in a person.

Our church may be "predictable" and it may be "traditional" in many ways...and maybe, by some standards, it's not as lively - but brother, never think we're dead.

Our youth pastor is so on-fire, you can feel flames coming off of him.

The congregation is so in love with Jesus, they'd give the shirt off their back to another in need.

There's big, fancy churches who make lots of noise, but once you get in the parking lot...they're all strangers.

So, on the flip side...while we're not all that fancy, the love and kindness moves like an invisible force among those ever-so-humble country folk...

There's something to be said for the poor, country preacher and his simple but kind-hearted congregation.

I imagine our church is too poor to afford a bigger building or better acoustics or nice instruments or even choir robes...

But we have what God gave us....simple but complete...we love each other deeply and in the ears of God, that all-sustaining love is the sweetest form of worship.

[IslandRose]

Amen, Cats!!

You said so well what I felt when I read RT's post. I have lived all over the world and been in all kinds of churches, been under the ministry of all kinds of pastors. I have been in churches where you could feel the working of the Spirit in the room, and others where you wondered if they forgot to invite the Lord to the service at all.

RT: Think what you are saying, or at least seem to be saying. That the Holy Spirit can only work when you are revved up by a lot of exciting praise and worship going on. Believe me, I have know plenty of people who have left those services all excited one day, and yet are calling me in despair over their problems within a few days. That "battery charge" doesn't always last very long. Yes, there are spiritually dead people in some of the quiet churches. I bet there are in your church too. They just hide it under a lot of shouting. The Holy Spirit will work only where we give him room to. And that is in a broken and contrite heat.

1 Kings 19:11 And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake: 12 And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. 13 And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah?

Psalm 46:10 Be still, and know that I am God:

IR :il: