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Discussion Forum : Scriptures and Doctrine : Decline of public prayer and prophesy in church meetings

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brothagary
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Joined: 2011/10/23
Posts: 2556


 Re:

Sree how does the function of the prophert and and pasters and teachers differ in your your church .......

 2015/7/27 6:27Profile
Sree
Member



Joined: 2011/8/20
Posts: 1953


 Re:

We do not have Pastors only Prophets and Teachers. We do not assign any title to anyone. But we just identify the gift that they have. New Covenant Prophesy is for the encouragement of the Church. It warns the Church against the schemes of devil. It is specific to a Church. They have a burden for the Church and word comes in accordance to the current need of the Church.

Teachers differ from Prophets in the way that their messages are for broader audience than to the Church alone. They speak with more authority.

Elders lead the Church. They are always more than one in number. Either 2 or 3, depending on the size of Church. They are good in administration which is also a gift of the Spirit. At least one of them will be a gifted speaker who can share the Word.

It is not always one person who shares the word, normally all known prophets in the Church will get their turns to share. There will also be an open call for others to share as well. This is the time we find whether God is backing someone with gifts.


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Sreeram

 2015/7/27 7:32Profile
AbideinHim
Member



Joined: 2006/11/26
Posts: 5185
Louisiana

 Re:

Travis,

I appreciate and agree with your comments.
Even in most Churches where the gifts of
the Spirit are acknowledged, there is not
liberty for believers to flow in these gifts.
Many pastors are in such tight control of
their churches that a prophesy would need
to be filtered through him before it is given
to the church.

There are very few organized churches
where you could say that the Holy Spirit is
in control.

Every believer has been given at least one
gift for the building up of the Body of Christ.
House churches are being used by the
Lord for Body ministry. Jesus is the Head of
the Church, and every member of His Body
should be functional.


_________________
Mike

 2015/7/27 9:27Profile









 Re:

If a member of the Body is not allowed to function within the Body it will atrophy and that part of the Body will be crippled (not healthy). But, this only signifies that there is a deeper problem which is the quenching of the Holy Spirit, by those who "control" the gathering. The danger here, is that the Holy Spirit quietly moves on from the corporate gathering, but still responds to individual hearts that are receptive.

 2015/7/27 9:39
onemite
Member



Joined: 2011/9/19
Posts: 168


 Re:

This is a good topic, I've thought about this as well.
The churches that I've visited that seem the most orderly and grounded in the Word, seemed to be the biggest culprits of stifling anyone with a gift in the church, while the churches that allow for time to operate in the gifts seem to exercise no discernment whatsoever, accepting all words as from the Lord.
It's encouraging to me to read here that others have made similar observations. Sree, you said, "So I see both, I see the decline of God's word in mega Churches, I also see the increase in prophets in the Church that Jesus himself builds." I find this very encouraging! I pray that God bring to nothing all that is not of Him.

Sincerely,
Penny

 2015/7/27 13:15Profile
AbideinHim
Member



Joined: 2006/11/26
Posts: 5185
Louisiana

 Re:

I agree that we have seen the extremes
on the use of the gifts. Some believe that
the gifts were only for the early church.
Others would love to see certain gifts in
operation but are opposed to speaking
in tongues. Then you have the extreme
Charismatic groups where anything goes,
and the wilder and stranger we can get,
the better.

This is why we need mature leaders in
the Church that don't feel the need to
control everything, and do not want to
quench the Spirit. They would encourage
the Body to exercise the gifts, and to
discern if the utterance is of the Lord or not.
They would also give loving correction.
There have been many times that the Holy
Spirit has given me a word
to share with the Body, and I have
struggled with it, not wanting it to be out
of self, only to have it confirmed by
another that the word was from God.


_________________
Mike

 2015/7/27 13:58Profile
twayneb
Member



Joined: 2009/4/5
Posts: 2256
Joplin, Missouri

 Re:

Sree: I guess I overlooked the fact that you are in India. I realize that India is a very large place, but do you ever contact any of the Abraham's and IGO? The church I grew up in has had contact with Bro. Abraham's work for many years.


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Travis

 2015/7/27 15:19Profile
narrowpath
Member



Joined: 2005/1/9
Posts: 1522
Germany NRW

 Re:

Very true, AbideinHim

Satan has been successful with a twofold strategy. Firstly, to mock the gifts of the Spirits by counterfeit excesses of some Charismatics.

This lead to other side of the extreme. There are those churches that are motivated rather by fear than discernment that attribute all expression of the gifts as being counterfeit and a curiosity of the first century that has to be contained in history books instead in the Body of Christ.
They idolize bible knowledge at the expense of the living word. This inevitably leads to overt control of men, even if they are godly.
When the Spirit moves in a church, man has to step back and allow God to do his work. Once that happens, elders, teachers and leaders are needed to ensure order, propriety and decency. This calls for a deep reformation of church structures after the pattern of the New Testament.

I believe that remnant believers will in the end come to terms with that and persecution may be the agent to bring us into the realization of of the gift out of sheer necessity. We will need to pray for miracles to provide food.
Words of knowledge will give us protection from detection and traitors.
Corporate prayer in the night will again fling prison doors open.
We will pray for healing when the health system breaks down or we will be excluded from it.
We will need to share our possessions because Christians are forbidden to buy.
We will need to provide shelter for Christians from denominations that we always avoided.
We will sing spontaneous new songs during nightly prayer meetings.
We will learn to fast because food is scarce anyway.

Are we ready for that? Will we see that day?

 2015/7/27 17:42Profile
Theophila
Member



Joined: 2007/1/15
Posts: 365


 Re: Decline of public prayer and prophesy in church meetings

Way back when, there used to be prayer in the sanctuary before the service. Now even in churches where there is prayer before the service, its in some other room in the building. When I asked a church leader why, she said, 'so we don't scare away first-timers'.

Dumbfounding.

Also, when I was growing up, the preacher would lead us in prayer immediately after his sermon. As in, he would mention topics related to the sermon and the entire congregation would pray out loud. And there would be at least 2 or 3 things to pray about.
Now even when there is prayer after the sermon, its the preacher praying and then everyone is supposed to 'amen' afterwards.

I was fortunate to visit a Brooklyn Tabernacle prayer meeting. It was an actual prayer meeting! After the music, prayer requests and testimonies were raised till the end of the meeting. Probably an hour or so. It was wonderful.

I still believe folks don't pray corporately mainly because they don't pray privately. How many 'Christian' homes have regular family prayer, however short it may be? How many husbands/fathers are actively praying with their wives?? How many mothers are actively teaching their wee little ones how to pray?? Praying on rising and retiring are good places to start with children [and adults unfamiliar with prayer]. Mysteriously, we have more than enough time to watch TV and movies, to discuss politics and politicians, to even argue doctrine, but not enough time to sit down and pray for ourselves, let alone our churches and the Body of Christ worldwide. Even personal bible study avails us naught if we will not pray! Bible study without the purifying illumination that comes through communing with the Author of the Book is how false cults/heresies arise.

We have time to pursue every other thing but the one thing that practically ensures we become whole-hearted disciples of Jesus Christ.

Those who pray know their bibles and those who truly know their bibles, pray. Biblical illiteracy is at an all time high, in spite of numerous free bible websites/apps.

Prayer is the oil that kept the menorah alight in the old tabernacle. Prayer [private and public] is still the oil that keeps our congregations alight in the new tabernacle. Isn't it a wonder how we happily carry on in church without the light of heaven?

Have mercy on us, Lord.
Have mercy on me, Lord.


_________________
Tolu

 2015/7/29 9:50Profile
dolfan
Member



Joined: 2011/8/23
Posts: 1727
Tennessee, but my home's in Alabama

 Re:

Many good and worthy matters on this thread to do.

Listening to Paul Washer's sermon this AM on the way to work about useless prayer meetings. I shut the sermon off and started praying. His sermon worked! It became useless to hear it anymore!!! :)


_________________
Tim

 2015/7/29 9:56Profile





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