Lightly edited for readability while preserving the speaker’s meaning and substantive statements.
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
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
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
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
demon spirit to you that can bring destruction into your life this is why it's so important god talked about prophets defiling people all right so i want i want you to see some of this but let's look i've got a few verses we're going to turn to um let's go back let's go to jeremiah jeremiah chapter 5. and for those of the uh that might listen to this podcast or this cd who think we shouldn't preach out of the old testament i'm just going to remind you all scripture is given by inspiration of god and is profitable for doctrine for instruction for reproof for correction it is for today amen paul said in first corinthians 10 that everything that happened to them were examples to us and whom the ends of the world are come so everything that happened in the old testament is an example to us jeremiah though we're going to jeremiah 5 and well i'll tell you what if you haven't read the book of jeremiah you need to read it because i believe that the book of jeremiah is a picture a shadow of where we are today because it is where jerusalem and judah and the children of israel got to a point where god's judgment was coming it was inevitable it could not be stopped jeremiah ministered to them god called him as a young man to be a prophet he gave them the word of the lord for years they wouldn't listen to him the priest the leaders and the other prophets who prophesied amazingly things opposite of jeremiah they hated him wanted to kill him i'll show you that in a minute but jeremiah is is a powerful story because and it tells so many powerful truths but truly he shows the difference between the true and the false but something he said here and this is where we are because see i believe the whole church now is polluted by it's polluted by false prophets and polluted by deceived and misguided people who think that they're prophets okay some people you know and let me say this too before we dig into jeremiah here just because someone can prophesy or does prophesy on occasion does not make them a prophet we're going to look at that too but but we got a lot of people anybody you know paul said i would that you all prophesied but what then he says and but in first corinthians 12 he says are all prophets no just because you prophesied and make you a prophet just because you have a dream that make you a prophet just because you have a vision it doesn't make you a prophet there's difference between prophesying and standing in the office of a prophet we'll talk about that in a second but here's something that jeremiah said that i believe applies to us today in jeremiah 5 and verse 30 and 31. he says here a wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land
the prophets prophesy falsely and the priests bear rule by their own means or by means of the prophets if you look up the hebrew but basically saying the priests do things their own way and here's the worst part my people love to have it so what will you do in the end thereof a wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land the prophets prophesy falsely and the priests bear rule by their means and my people love to have it so what will you do in the end thereof jeremiah was prophesying he was preaching repentance turn from your sin amen your ways get rid of your idols get rid of your pollution get out of the adultery get out of the lust turn to god maybe god will repent and turn from his the evil that he is determined upon you jeremiah was a true man of god a true prophet but you know what the false prophets of his day were saying babylon's not coming in here to destroy us what was the word from jeremiah babylon is coming from the north they're going to decimate this place only the remnant only the people who turn from their sins and cry out for mercy and humility and get real with god will be spared the rest of you will be taken by the sword by famine or into captivity to be made a slave it was not a good word but it was the word if those who heard it would believe it it would literally save their lives but the false prophets came along right behind jeremiah right around jeremiah in the temple and jeremiah would prophesy these things and the false prophets would come along and say oh no no no you will have peace babylon will not come in here you will be blessed you will have wealth and peace and joy and jeremiah goes hmm one time jeremiah said the lord do so perform your words he said but i tell you what if i'm a true prophet and you're a false prophet you will die within the next two years confrontations take place between prophets some is sold out let's look at chapter six just look over jeremiah says this about the prophets of his people now do you all understand that these guys were saying these are prophets of jehovah that jeremiah's talking about prophets of the true god claiming to speak for god not talking about buddha not talking about allah not talking about any other god they were saying thus saith jehovah i have a word from the lord brother you shall have peace you shall have prosperity and wealth
well we heard that friday night didn't we it's making me sick to my stomach i see that the nation is our nation is about to financially collapse we're about to enter the great tribulation we're about to enter the judgments of god like we have never seen before we are about to enter a time of great difficulty and we got these people standing up saying i see wealth coming to god's people false prophet you lying deceiving god's people don't need to be puffed up they need to be broken down and repenting and crying out for mercy because wrath is coming judgment is coming and we have all contributed to the sins that are weighing down this nation that god's going to have to judge and he's only going to have mercy on the true humble contrite repentant ones which know it i can't imagine standing in a pulpit and saying god's going to give you wealth at this hour in time in history god have mercy on us it's pathetic look what he says in verse 13 6 chapter 6 13 i'm sorry i just had to go off there i hope my loudness didn't hurt your ears he said from the least of them listen to this and this is where we are it's the whole church world is polluted there are very few any there's very few of anyone or anything that's pure anymore sad he says for from the least of them even unto the greatest of them everyone is given to covetousness and from the prophet even unto the priest everyone deals falsely they have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly saying peace peace when there is no peace were they ashamed when they had committed abomination nay they were not at all ashamed neither could they blush therefore they shall fall among them that fall at the time that i visit them they shall be cast down saith the lord and then the lord says thus saith the lord stand you in the ways and see and ask for the old paths where is the good way and walk therein and you shall find rest for your souls but they said we will not walk therein god's saying get back to me get back to the old ways what's written what's proven what's right what's true but you see what he says there in his time every one of them from the priests to the prophets you know what the priests represent now the pastors see in the old testament you had three ministries you had the prophets the priests and the
kings okay the priests were concerned considered the pastors the shepherds they were to watch over the people to watch over the law to teach the law the word of god to the people the kings were to govern the nation to make sure that the nation itself stayed on the right spiritual course and the prophets the true prophets were to make sure the priest and the kings didn't get out of line but there's false prophets you know what makes a man a false prophet you want to know and i'm assuming of course i'm not saying i'm not talking about one that started out false from his beginning but maybe started out right and became one you know what made them that way at some point wanting to be accepted liked have a position have power have money be favored have the people like him at some point his heart turned a little bit and was given over to that and then guess what his gift of prophecy his gift from god became mixed with his covetousness and one moment he could operate in the gift of prophecy and the next moment he was operating in divination the spirit of divination and polluting the people it's a scary thing that a true prophet can become a false one isn't it quite scary but it happened to balaam we'll look at that in a minute i want to show you some signs of of a true prophet though let's look at jeremiah again for a minute y'all don't mind studying this a little bit do you go to jeremiah chapter 26. this is just too good to not get into and this is for the pastors who will listen to this message out there let me say this to you pastors if you've got prophets around you that only tell you what you want to hear and tell you good things you got some false prophets around you if a prophet's never rebuked you or corrected you or dealt with a problem in your life you don't have a true prophet you got a yes man amen boy i got some words for some pastors around here and in other places they wouldn't like at all some of you would be glad that the lord didn't let me stand up friday night and
say something because i felt like i should this close not about john kilpatrick he's a true man of god but the other stuff going on there around in that church and going on in that situation grieves me to no end and as a matter of fact i think god's going to have me give the second prophetic word that i've had for that pastor i think i have another one for him he liked the first one but it's been four years and he can correct the problem so now it's going to be more severe i think but jeremiah here let's look at a true prophet true prophets hate it usually that's why when a true prophet is a pastor his congregation is small all right it's just the way it is you guys let's read chapter 26 jeremiah now let's look at this i just want you to see jeremiah is a true prophet in the midst of all these false prophets and and compromised priests and let's read in the beginning of the reign of jehoiakim the son of josiah king of judah came this word from the lord saying thus saith the lord stand in the court of the lord's house and speak unto all the cities of judah which come to worship in the lord's house all the words that i command thee to speak unto them and diminish not a word so the lord tells jeremiah you go stand in the temple of god and when the people come to worship because it was probably a feast day one of the feasts like passover pentecost or tabernacles where they all had to come and he said when they all come there you stand there and i'm going to tell you what to say and don't you dare edit me because god knew they're not going to like it and you're not even going to give it but here we go he says verse 3 if so be they will hearken and turn every man from his evil way that i may repent me of the evil which i purpose to do unto them because of the evil of their doings and you shall say unto them thus saith the lord if you will not hearken unto me to walk in my law which i have set before you to hearken to the words of my servants the prophets whom i sent unto you both rising up early and sending them but you have not hearkened then i will make this house like shiloh which is where eli and his sons were and god let it be destroyed and i will make this city a curse to all nations of the earth now listen to what happened so jeremiah stands up and prophesies nothing different than all the true prophets before him in scripture and what do the think about this is god's people about to respond to it what do they say so the priest and the prophets and all the people heard jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the lord now it came to pass when jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the lord had commanded
him to speak to all the people that the priest and the prophets and all the people took him saying thou shalt surely die i don't think they liked it let's keep reading why have you prophesied in the name of the lord saying this house shall be like shiloh and this city shall be desolate without an inhabitant and all the people were gathered against jeremiah in the house of the lord boy we could go on and read this whole chapter now couldn't we but i wanted you to see the attitude who did look at look back at verse look back at verse 7 who came against him the priest and the prophets the ministers of god hated his guts for just saying turn from your evil ways judgment is coming god's about to destroy this place but he does want to forgive you he does want to protect you he does want to spare some of you just change your ways just return to god what do they say you're gonna die we can't even bear these words folks this is where the church world is right now you let a pastor of a big church talk like i talk and you watch how they fall out the door and i'm not talking about one sunday morning he'd have to get on it several weeks and you watch what happened they'd go find another seeker sensitive seeker friendly mega church that would just give them coffee and tell them how to deal with stress at work that's their message let me encourage you brother god did you know what i i know that there are times that god's called me to comfort people and encourage people and y'all know i do that y'all know i'm not a meanie all the time right but that's not my only job as a as a man of god as a minister as a prophet is to provoke you to push you to make you uncomfortable if i didn't do that i wouldn't be a man of god i'd be a little sniveling little weasel and i am not afraid to tell that most of these pastors out here are just sniveling little brown-nosing little weasels who fear their people fear not having a big crowd fear not having a paycheck and so they won't tell you what the word of god says they won't warn you they don't know what god is saying right now see it's not enough just to know the
scripture you should know the scriptures the best you possibly can but you also have to hear from the holy ghost and know the time and season you're living in see i know like brother hagin god used brother hagin brother hagin was preaching back in the late 30s and 40s and 50s and he preached truths about prosperity and about sowing and giving and let me tell you that's not wrong it's in the bible but that was for the season god knew missionaries and pastors and leaders needed the people to understand about tithing and giving offerings and sowing and reaping and that god does want to bless his people so the work can go forward that is true all of that's true but then we started talking about sowing to get a hundredfold sowing to get your your your house sowing to get your cadillac giving money so god will move all this foolishness that we've moved into and now we've moved into a different season we are on the brink of judgment and the end of days that is not the message that god is emphasizing now and yet they're on tv one after the other after the other god wants to make you rich here's one for your best life now you know osteen with his all your dreams are going to be fulfilled yet does he talk about sin does he talk about repentance does he no those are conditions and guess what it's not my dreams that are supposed to be fulfilled anyway those should be nailed to the cross it's the dreams that god gives me that should be fulfilled not my dreams amen lord have mercy we are forgotten to take up our cross what it means to take up our cross you know for some people i mean for for moses moses was in the house of pharaoh raised in wealth and education and in lying to the throne but what does it say when it came time for god's call on his life it said he left the wealth of egypt he let go of that understanding that we don't it's not we're not going to you know have the pleasures of the world we sometimes we got to endure the suffering and the lack and the poverty let me tell you something i didn't i didn't give my life to god to get rich and let me say this the only way you get rich as a minister of god is you compromise somewhere i don't think there's a church in the country that could that would hire that that could hire me and not fire me within three months because i don't care about your paycheck god your paycheck's not my idol see you know what if all y'all stopped coming and nobody gave a dime you know what i still do what god told me to do
yeah god takes care i mean hey we struggle sometimes but you know what i'd rather be struggling and living in the truth and have a pure conscience than i would have a bunch of people and manipulating money out of them oh god or talking nice all the two all the time to them you know there's more ways than one to manipulate people can't believe that y'all just don't know i'm just a man on fire about that 15-minute offering we heard friday night from that prophetess from arkansas anyway it shouldn't take more than 30 seconds to take up an offering if you feel god led to give something give it if it's your church family you know you're supposed to tithe and give so either you do what you don't do that's between you and god you know i'm saying that's an all that's how you take up an offering not i know somebody out there can write a check for ten thousand dollars no if you want this anointing you better sow into this anointing you can't buy the gift of god this is simon the sorcerer mentality we got in the church world let's look over at jeremiah 28 i just want to show you this little confrontation this is beautiful a few pastors in the world say this little story is beautiful but i love seeing a man of god stand up against everybody and everything if he has to chapter 28 verse one it says just just to get the picture of what jeremiah was having to deal with even further not only did all the people want to kill him but he gets through that situation the elders finally speak up and he gets delivered from them actually stoning him to death or whatever they were going to do and a little while later it says it came to pass in the same year in the beginning of the reign of zedekiah king of judah in the fourth year and in the fifth month that hananiah the son of azor the prophet which was of gibeon spake unto me in the house of the lord in the presence of the priest and of all the people so here jeremiah you got to get the picture he's sitting in the temple the priests are all there the people are all there the king may even be there and he's sitting there and so here comes hananiah the prophet okay and start speaking at jeremiah i love this and he says let's speak at the lord of hosts the god of israel saying i have broken the yoke of the king of babylon within two full years will i bring again into this place all the vessels of the lord's house that nebuchadnezzar king of babylon took away from this place and
carried them to babylon and i will bring again to this place jeconiah the son of jehoiakim king of judah with all the captives of judah that went into babylon saith the lord for i will break the yoke of the king of babylon now let me stop right there at this point the king of babylon jeremiah's word was all was fulfilled that he had been prophesying for decades nebuchadnezzar came in he took the the the vessels of the house of the lord he took a whole bunch of people captive he killed a bunch of people that's why it said in a minute ago we read about jehoiakim was king well jehoiakim tried to rebel and nebuchadnezzar blinded him and took him to babylon and then he appointed this guy king so that's why it was a quick change of kings all right so anyway he does this and this guy stands up now jeremiah's word has been fulfilled he's been proven to be so here comes hananiah the prophet and says oh god's going to deliver you from the yoke of the king of babylon what was jeremiah's word from the lord you're going to be in captivity for 70 years just humble yourself and this little group this little remnant might make it through this that's left in jerusalem and if my people will humble themselves and repent in babylon they'll survive right that's why god raised up ezekiel in babylon okay to be the prophet there what happened here look what jeremiah said let's keep going so this prophet stands up and says oh within two full years everything's coming back all the captives are coming back and then the prophet jeremiah said unto the prophet had an eye in the presence of the priest and in the presence of all the people that stood in the house of the lord even the prophet jeremiah said amen the lord do so the lord perform your words which you have prophesied to bring again the vessels of the lord's house and all that is carried away captive from babylon into the into this place nevertheless here thou now the word that i speak in nine years and in the ears of all the people the prophets that have been before me and before thee of old prophesied both against many countries and against great kingdoms of war and of evil and of pestilence the prophet which prophesies of peace when the word of that prophet comes to pass then you then that prophet shall be known that the lord has truly sent him then hannah and i the prophet took the yoke from off of the prophet jeremiah's neck and broke it and how did i spake in the presence of all the people saying thus saith the lord even so will i break the yoke of nebuchadnezzar king of babylon from the neck of all nations within the space of two years and the prophet jeremiah went his way then i love this jeremiah just walked out right
then the word of the lord came to jeremiah the prophet after that hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke from off the neck of the prophet and he was he was jeremiah was sitting in there with a with an oxen yoke on him as an illustration of his message that the yoke of the king of babylon will be on you for 70 years it's just an illustrated message so hannah and i breaks it off of him and says no it's going to be broken oh what does the bible say touch not my anointed and do my prophets no harm he shouldn't put his hands on him he shouldn't mess with what god told him to do something about once you get on a real man of god or woman of god you bring swift judgment to yourself you know what he said then the prophet jeremiah said unto the prophet oh wait i i jump backwards here we go verse 12. then the word of the lord came unto jeremiah the prophet after he'd broken this and he's verse 13 go and tell hannah and i saying thus saith the lord you have broken the yokes of wood but thou shalt make them yokes of iron you just made matters worse for thus saith the lord of hosts the god of israel i have put a yoke of iron upon the neck of all these nations that they may serve nebuchadnezzar king of babylon and they shall serve him and i have given him the beast of the field also then the prophet jeremiah said to hannah and i the prophet here now hananiah the lord has not sent thee but you make this people to trust in a lie therefore thus saith the lord behold i will cast thee from the face of the earth this year you will die because you have taught rebellion against the lord so hananiah the prophet died the same year in the seventh month now if you think this is just an old testament thing let's just remember acts 5 and ananias and sapphira all right i believe that people have even died in our day and time i could name some names of some well-known ministers that i think they turned they got off and god brought judgment into their lives i wanted you to see that but now let's just back up for a second now let's go to this book of ephesians but what did jeremiah say there as you turn to that he said the prophet that tells you this that prophesies of peace and prosperity and that all this good stuff's gonna happen and never anything corrective or or anything bad or anything he said you know what the only time you can believe that that person is a prophet is when it comes to pass exactly okay now this is not to mean that sometimes god doesn't have a good word for you he does sometimes a good word even about
provision coming okay sometimes a good word about being healed or sometimes a good word about god restoring something that was taken from you or bringing healing or bringing deliverance i'm not saying that but i'll tell you this the man or the woman of god the pastor the prophet whatever that does not ever warn that doesn't ever correct that doesn't ever rebuke that doesn't ever deal with sin and make you uncomfortable that only prophesies good things i would be aware of that person amen pastors ought to be very aware of anybody that's always prophesying good things over we saw that where'd i tell you ephesians let's look at this ephesians chapter four y'all with me all right let's look at this the ministry the of the prophet real quick that after jesus died rose again that he descends he that ascended speaking of jesus descended this is verse nine into lower parts of the earth and he that descended the same is also that ascended and look at verse 11 and he gave some apostles some prophets and some evangelists some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of christ till we all come into the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the son of god into a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of christ that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive so god has called a fivefold ministry he says apostles prophets evangelists pastors teachers those are five offices that god has called to equip the body of christ to edify the body to build up the body of christ so that we won't be children to bring the body into maturity so we we won't be tossed to and fro with every doctrine that blows in and blows out and we won't be deceived by men who are very cunning okay so i want you to see that and notice it says apostles prophets evangelists pastors and teachers until we all come to the unity of the faith has that happened let me give you a little clue will it ever happen before jesus comes no so guess what these denominations and people that only recognize pastors evangelists and teachers have missed so much the ministry gift of apostles and prophets are with us till the end okay how do we know that they could they continued believing in that let's go over to revelation chapter 2 real quick i don't know if i'll be able to get to all this today
revelation 2. jesus talks to the seven churches through the apostle john and everybody should remember this but in ephesians chapter 2 to the verse 1 to the church of ephesus he says this in a commendation he says you do this good church of ephesus look what he said unto the angel of the church of ephesus right these things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand who walks in the midst of the seven golden candles i know your works and your labor and your patience and how you cannot bear them which are evil and how you have tried or tested them which say they are apostles that are not and has found them liars so he tells them right there is a good thing you've done you've tested those who say they're apostles and have found them liars but the church of pergamos didn't get that commendation let's look at what he said to them verse 12. and to the angel of the church in pergamus right these things saith he that has the sharp sword with the two edges i know your works and where you dwell and where satan's seat is and that you hold fast my name and you have not denied my faith even in those days where antipas was a faith my faithful martyr who was slain among you where satan dwells but i have a few things against you because you have them there that hold the doctrine of balaam who taught balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of israel to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit fornication so you also have them that hold the doctrine of the nicolasians which thing i hate repent or else i will come quickly and fight against you with the sword of my mouth so jesus speaks to this church pergamus he says ephesus you've done good you test people who say they are sent from god an apostle is just someone sent from god little notice that that you can't ever be an apostle unless you're first a prophet so he says you've tested them you've tried them how did they test them by the word of god and by the spirit okay they tested them so a hundred years i mean we're at a.d 96 here right we're at a.d 96 when when jesus spoke this to john and gave this word to this church ephesus was started about 40 years before right maybe 35 or so whatever so many years had passed now if someone came up saying they were an apostle and the apostles had been done away with that ministry gift was done away with they wouldn't have to test or try anything oh you're a nut so obviously they continue to accept the ministry of an apostle and prophet but they had to what test it those two ministries have to be seriously tested okay so then he says though to the church at pergamus you have there that hold the doctrine of balaam anybody does anybody know who balaam is no baal was a god a demon god
balaam or actually in hebrew i think it's baleem balaam he was a prophet in the old testament i'm just going to give you these scriptures because this is your homework your homework's to go read numbers 22 through 24 5 there about balaam okay numbers 22. i'm just going to give it to you because we can't read the whole story here but balaam is also mentioned guess where in second peter chapter 2 and the book of jude all right let's matter of fact let's read those two let's go to second peter real quick ii peter chapter two he's talking about false teachers and false prophets that's the context in chapter two verse one he's he's talking about all that but going down and talking about them he says this verse 14 he's talking about them he says they have eyes full of adultery they cannot cease from sin isn't it interesting i mean they can't get free from the lust of the eyes they just won't get free from it they have eyes full of adultery they cannot cease from sin they beguile or deceive unstable souls they're leading people astray who are not strong a heart they have exercised with covetous practices they want money position he says they're cursed children which have forsaken the right way and gone astray following the what the way of balaam the son of bosor who loved the wages of unrighteousness but was re rebuked for his iniquity the dumb donkey speaking with a man's voice forbade the madness of the prophet now i won't go into reading this i just want you to see where it's mentioned here but he said they have gone in the way of balaam let me tell you the story of balaam real quick balaam was and if you go even into the midrash into you know the oral teachings of the rabbis and the jewish tradition they talk about balaam recently in 1967 there was a discovery uh an archaeological dis discovery i believe it's called their der allah or adair allah or something like that anyway it was it was discovered in jordan an inscription written probably somewhere around close to 3 000 years ago an inscription written on a wall longs of a prophecy of balaam we know in history that balaam was revered as a prophet um 500 years after his death okay but anyway balaam was known
and he's talked about in the uh by the jewish rabbis and all he's talked about as um a gentile prophet they say they really can't connect him to the jewish people because he was kind of separate from them but what's interesting is that balaam started out as a true prophet everybody listen to me you read numbers 22 you see god did appear to him on several occasions and god spoke to him and god was leading him okay but he had another problem he began to associate with people he shouldn't associate with i'm going to give you a few things here you might want to write these down how did a true prophet end up one of israel's most damaging individuals i mean the story sounds good balak the king of moab comes to balaam and says he knows he respects him as a prophet he said come and curse this people for me because they're going to destroy us they're going to root us out of the land they're you know they're they're they're eating up everything that that's in front of them so he'd seen what they did to the amorites and all that so he saw that so he goes the king of moab goes in which is a wicked man a pagan a worshiper of demon gods and he goes to this prophet and he says i you know with it says in the bible with the rewards of divination he had money to pay him and and balaam says when he first comes balaam the prophet says no i will not god speaks to him and says don't go with these men oh he hears from god elohim even in within the story yahweh jehovah that's the name of the lord and they're talking to him and he says don't go with these men so the men went back and said balaam won't go he won't go curse this people won't take our money sounds like a righteous man doesn't it sounds like a godly man but then it says balak sent more percent more honorable princess and sent more money and promised him wealth and position so instead of telling them when they got there get out of here he says hold on let me go see what the lord's going to say he already knew what the lord was going to say let me tell you something about this when god's already told you something don't be going back get trying to get him change his mind because guess what he'll do he'll let you do it he might even tell you to do it so balaam goes to him it goes back to the lord and it shows his heart beginning to turn well god doesn't understand this god gave me money and position doesn't god want me to be blessed let me go and check with him again no you're starting now to try to manipulate
god guess what happens god starts manipulating you god says okay go with him go with him but on the way what happens lord sends an angel to kill balaam sometimes god will get tell you what you want to hear and give you even give you what you want that's not what he wants did god want to give israel a king he gave him what they wanted didn't he but it wasn't his will wasn't his perfect will at all that's dangerous isn't it matter of fact they wanted they wanted meat in the wilderness didn't they he wanted something to eat he sent him quail and then he started killing them and said while it was in their mouths and coming out of their nostrils got to give you what you want sometimes that's why everything has to be laid at the foot of the cross anything can become an idol all right so balaam anyway goes with them and eventually he goes up takes him to high places which were places for baal he looks over the people he goes to god he said i can't bl i can't curse this people he blesses them three times makes balak furious but we have the story from revelation and from peter that later his heart was so twisted away he taught balak how to make the children of israel stumble and he got him into fornication and compromise so a true prophet becomes the worst enemy he becomes the worst false prophet and if you read the archaeological discovery the inscription he had gone from the one true god to talking about shaddai it even says that el shaddai in his inscription but also some goddess that he was into mixture all right pretty wild they have gone in the way of balaam whenever somebody and this is something jesus said you go to matthew 23 this is what jesus said about the pharisees he said everything they do you know they were right about the law things that they taught they taught what moses taught they taught the torah of course they added their traditions but jesus said about them he said everything they do they do to be seen of men when it became about being seen when it came about people loving and accepting them when it came about you know making them their their garments broad and and praying in the marketplace and when it when it became about wanting people to see me when it became about money and position and power jesus said now everything they do is off that's the leaven of the pharisees that's what jesus was done by don't
become polluted with that that love of money that using religion your skewed view of religion to get wealthy to get money out of widows you know what i'm saying to do things that are unethical so you can promote yourself religion is full of self-promotion all right but he said once once money is the issue once popularity acceptance once the crowd becomes more important you move into divination you become you're going in the way of balaam and it ends in destruction this is what happened to the church of corinth and i don't have time to get into that let me wrap this up in a nutshell here a true prophet will not always tell you what you want to hear amen they will be concerned about your soul but they'll be concerned about your soul being right with god no matter what the cost they will be about god's holiness and god's person money will not determine what they do they will not manipulate you for money they will not tell you peace and prosperity all the time and how great you are you understand and if you give in to them they'll pollute you because they've submitted to demon spirits therefore they can transfer them this is why god said be careful say well how can i have how can i have discernment there's two ways there's only two ways to sharpen your discernment philippians i think it's philippians 1 like six through 9 there but he says this paul said i pray this was a prayer of paul for his church i pray that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and discernment and the word knowledge there means understanding or knowledge gained by systematic study but the other is discernment of spiritual things that comes from fellowshipping with god the holy spirit and you're full of him and when you are full of the holy spirit you will discern when a when a false spirit or a deceiving spirit is in a
place or in a person they may be saying the right words friend it may sound like jesus and they may praise jesus but in your spirit you've got to learn to recognize know something he is not right here and that's why we've got to be we've got to be so so sensitive in these days there are people who are going to pretend to be christians who are really satanists and witches and come in church now listen the true prophet too is at the mercy of god meaning unless god shows me something i don't know it right i know there's been at times satanists that have been sent to infiltrate the ministry i've been working in at different different places and unless god shows me i can't know but usually he shows me but that's up to me too to be a man in prayer a man in fasting a man in the word and to be asking god show me let me discern who the wolves are let me discern who the liars are and i'll tell you something else too i pray that god will let me discern where you are see i know sometimes some of you are doing good and then you get in a bad place and i can sense it when i'm around you when you're in a good place when you're in a bad place you don't even have to say a word and that's not for me to beat up on anybody that's so i know maybe i need to call you or maybe i need to text you or maybe i need to sit down and talk with you maybe i just need to pray for you until that thing gets dealt with or you know what i'm saying but that is supposed to work not just for pastors and leaders that's everybody we start getting sensitive to the holy spirit we get sensitive to what's going on in people's lives and we know when we should maybe just pray for them or maybe go to them and correct them about something and let me say this if i i think you all know this now but you know if i if i have to correct you about something it's because i love you and it's the truth and i go to the word it's the truth if it's my opinion i'll tell you but if it's the word and i got to correct you it's not because i'm beating up on you or i don't like you but that goes that goes for anybody if if i only told you good things i don't love you i mean it's just like the scripture about your child if you don't spank the child you don't love the child that seems opposite doesn't it but yet that's the way it is it is it works that way it's a spiritual principle across the board if i don't correct or bring strong word or deal with problems then it really i
don't care about you right as a minister no matter how big the church is how good the music is you understand and that's why it grieves me i know i get hard on some of these churches out here and these pastors out here but it's because i see what it's doing to the sheep what it's doing to the people you know what it is i was telling kevin this one day he goes you know he goes there people just they bounce they bounce from church to church and they and now it's gotten so so similar out there it's almost like every church is almost the same it's just really weird now and uh we were talking i can't remember what we were talking about and i said yeah i said the problem is is that we he's talking about our church growing or something and i said yeah i said one of the problems is that we can't get the children away from the candy stores get them to sit down and eat some meat and vegetables right see that's what what a lot of churches are this is a picture they're they're carnivals with bright lights and colors and cotton candy and candied apples and and and the the little immature christian children just are drawn to and they sit there and they go man i can eat all the candy i want and all and nobody says nope you're gonna rot your teeth out you're gonna have diabetes you know you're gonna make yourself blind you're gonna die if you if you live in the carnival the church carnival world for too long it'll kill you blind you kill you you know it's okay maybe when you first saved but then if you don't get some some meat and potatoes in you gonna die right all right