Gods Work: by Watchman Nee & Stephen Kaung

Author:Watchman Nee & Stephen Kaung
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Religion, Christian Life, General
ISBN: 9780935008203
Publisher: Christian Fellowship Pub.
Published: 1974-04-30T22:00:00+00:00

6

6 Prophetic Ministry

But we will continue stedfastly in prayer, and in the

ministry of the word. (Acts 6.4)

And God hath set some in the church, first apostles,

secondly prophets, thirdly teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diverse kinds of tongues. (1 Cor. 12.28)

Now there were at Antioch, in the church that was there, prophets and teachers. (Acts 13.1)

Follow after love; yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy. For he that speaketh in a tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God; for no man understandeth; but in the spirit he speaketh mysteries. But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men edification, and exhortation, and consolation.

He that speaketh in a tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church. (1 Cor. 14.1-4)

And he gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets, and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers. (Eph. 4.11)

In relation to the gifts, God puts heavier emphasis on the gifts of utterance such as prophecy, teaching, and so forth than upon those gifts of acts like healings and miracles. But the apostles say here through the Spirit, “We will continue stedfastly in prayer and in the ministry of the word.”

There are two kinds of gifts to the church: one is the gifts of things—like miracles, healings, tongues, etc.; the other is the gifts of people to minister—such as prophets, teachers, pastors, and evangelists. These latter gifts—of people—have all to do with the ministry of God’s word. The gifts of healings and of miracles do not give us more of the life of Christ within. They do substantiate God’s word, but that is all; they are an outward matter, not an inward one.

However, the ministry of God’s word by these gifts of prophets, teachers, and so on, build up the inner spiritual life of the church.

28 God’s

Work

Prophets and Teachers

I believe the Lord would have us look particularly at the ministries of prophets and of teachers. In the Old Testament we see two varieties of prophets: (1) those who foretold future events, such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel; and (2) those, like Elijah and Elisha, whose work for the most part was not to disclose future events but to explain present ones. They were to set forth what God’s thought was in His present acts—why He was doing what He was doing. They were to explain God’s actions, as it were, and, in view of what God was doing and what was in His mind, to exhort the people.

John the Baptist was the most prominent of these prophets in the New Testament. Like the others before him, John set forth the present mind of God. Thus the prophets held a distinctive place; no others could come up to them in importance.

The teachers, on the other hand, took God’s word and set it forth before the people, explaining it. Teachers are never mentioned alone, being always accompanied, when mentioned, by prophets or pastors and so on. God has not appointed men just to be teachers. God does not want any teaching of doctrine which has only academic but no spiritual value.

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