Prophets, Kings & Priests

Lightly edited for readability while preserving the speaker’s meaning and substantive statements.

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   thank you father we just worship you lord we thank you god that we can worship you in spirited in truth lord you want people that are people who worship in spirit and truth you want people who pray you want your people to hear your voice and obey you and follow you lord i just think about those three things you want people who worship you in spirit and in truth you want people who obey you who pray and you want people who are led by the holy spirit god i pray in jesus name that you'll help us to be all of those things those are what we are to do as christians we pray for grace lord to change to not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of our minds that you may reveal your will to us jesus name amen amen you may be seated hallelujah worship time is what you make out of it amen praise god it's good to worship the lord though take some time don't get in a hurry amen praise god we're going to get into something that's been stirring on my heart for a time and friday night just kind of brought it even further to the surface but i want everybody to turn first to malachi the book of malachi chapter three the last book in the old testament the last book in the old testament before there was 400 years of prophetic silence how many of you believe god was a little fed up with the situation it didn't mean he stopped moving and working but you didn't have any more prophets that we know of that were added to the holy scriptures and so many scholars and theologians call this the 400 years of silence but i want you to look with me because today we're going to talk about prophets i don't know what to call this this morning necessarily but maybe prophets pastors kings and the spirit of balaam that might be a good long title i'll give it to you again prophets pastors kings and the spirit of balaam maybe we'll get through it all i don't know but i want to say this before we read this scripture in malachi that god i think one of the most important things for god's people at this time to have

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   is discernment you know solomon prayed he could have prayed for anything the lord said ask whatever you want and what did solomon ask for he said he asked god for a wise and discerning heart right he said a wise and discerning heart that i may judge your people and what he was talking about was at that time the king also had to judge matters between individuals he was like the the he had to handle court cases as well everybody knows the famous story of the two women and the baby um but here we've we've got to understand i think that you know the lord said that that was a wise choice and because solomon asked for that god gave him that and everything else he didn't ask for you know it's something about wanting the right things when you want the right things for the right reason then then your heart's right then god can give you the desires of your heart you know a lot of people quote that scripture that the lord will give you the desires of his heart but they forget the first part of it it says delight yourself in the lord and then he will what give you the desires of your heart actually the word in hebrew there delight means to make yourself pliable or flexible amen we need discernment see there's two things going on right now and i've preached a lot about this subject but i'm gonna go a little deeper this morning but about false prophets and about the the prophetic ministry and about discerning the spirits that are working and you guys know i've talked about that uh a good deal why well because we have two prophecies from god about the end times two very specific blanket prophecies i'm just gonna give you the scriptures real quick you can write them down um we won't turn to them right at this moment but the the prophecy in the book of joel chapter two god promised that in the last days right before the great day of his wrath he said this i will pour out my spirit on all flesh and your sons and your daughters will prophesy and your young men will see visions and your old men will dream dreams and all my servants and hand maidens i will pour out in those days of my spirit and they will prophesy so god says i'm going to pour out my spirit in the last days and there will be a flow or an outpouring of the gifts of the holy spirit and the gift of prophecy in particular but then in matthew chapter 24 concerning the end jesus said take heed that no man deceive you for many will come in my name saying i am and literally i know the king james says i am christ he wasn't talking about claiming to be jesus now we've had some nuts like that but the word christ simply is translated anointed or anointed one so if you took it in the greek you'd literally say many will come in my name saying i am anointed and deceive many

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   okay now no christian's going to be deceived by some nut walking around going i am the messiah right so that's not what jesus was talking about he said many will come in my name and they will deceive many did he say deceive a few right many false prophets will rise you go down a few more verses matter of fact he said it about four times in the same chapter and he even said they will show great signs and wonders as well okay so within the kingdom of god and i'll just say this we are in probably the most perilous times that the church has ever been in trying to navigate yourself through the church world and especially the charismatic and pentecostal world is like trying to walk through a minefield blindfolded okay because there are dangers and deceptions and deceivers and problems and pollution and defilement and demons at every turn and that is why it takes a very disciplined dedicated holy people to stay close up to god so that we can tell because jesus said in matthew 7 verse 15 he said beware beware stay attention stay alert beware of what a false prophets beware of them because they are what wolves and sheep's clothing what does that mean they will look like sheep bad like sheep meaning they'll talk like christians sound like christians look like christian but on the inside they are a wolf ready to devour you and and this is this is what i'm this spirit of of prophecy the spirit of false prophecy is one of the most dangerous things right now in the body of christ and jesus in matthew 24 of course went on to say that this deception in the end would be so strong he said if it were possible it would deceive the very elect and what did he mean very lit you mean the very very precious ones to god the ones closest to him that's how strong it would be okay as a as a minister as a pastor as a prophet myself i i don't i'm not ashamed to say i'm a prophet but i want to say this to you the the false ones the deceived prophets outnumber the true ones hundreds to one you understand that's where we are and you know what that's where it's always been in history go back to the days of elijah what do you see you see elijah and a hundred prophets that obadiah was hiding in caves so you see 101 prophets versus what 800 false ones right that's where we are in another story you see michaela the prophet one guy

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   up against 400 of them false ones the true prophets have always been the minority okay and generally are hated by everybody else all right i'm going to talk a little bit about that but i want you to see this because i want you guys discerning by the word and by the spirit of god who is a true servant of god let's look at malachi 3. of course this is uh malachi starts prophesying about the the coming of jesus him appearing as a refiner's fire he starts talking about uh the end times actually in chapter four about the day of the lord this coming but i want to go over it in chapter three to verse 16. this is what he says then they that feared the lord spake often one to another and the lord hearkened and heard it and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the lord and that thought upon his name and the lord said they shall be mine saith the lord of host in that day when i make up my jewels and i will spare them as a man spares his own son that serves him then shall you return and discern between the righteous and the wicked between him that serves god and him that does not serve him is that in your bibles now of course talking about fearing the god fearing god there means someone who respects god who respects his commandments who believes all of it about heaven and about hell about god's love and about god's wrath these are people that fear god respect god they love him and fear him at the same time amen he said to those who truly fear god and if a man or woman fears god they will depart from evil so he says to those who fear he says there's a book of remembrance for those who fear the lord and speak about the lord to one another often it's being written in a book right now but god said these are the people that are going to be his jewels these are the ones he's going to spare when it gets rough and then he says and then i will give to these i'll give you the ability to discern between those who are truly serving god and those who are not to me this is one of the most paramount issues in the kingdom of god is to discern who is truly serving god and who is a wolf in sheep's clothing why is it important because one of two things if they can get you believing something that they have said or get you believing something that's not biblical or true then they can lead you astray or at or or even worse they can transfer a spirit to you a

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