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      For Jesus, My Prophet, and My Savior

      Foreword

      Prophecy...

      Dear pastor, co-laborer, friend,

      Where would you be personally in the continuum between “eagerly desiring” prophecy and being “open but cautious?” I can understand any hesitation you may have, even angst, when it comes to discerning how the more public or vocal gifts of the Spirit “fit in” to the “normal” day-to-day life of the local church.

      Honestly, it‘s messy.

      We see evidence of that in the church at Corinth and we’ve seen it in our own church for the last thirty years!

      When we began in 1984, our idealistic and passionate pursuit of all God had for us in the church today drove us to ask of the Lord a daring question: What would be His pleasure regarding prophecy for our mission as a church? We were asking the same thing for every other aspect of our life together so we couldn’t, in good conscience, ignore this one part of what we see so clearly in Scripture.

      Not to say that the other areas of our mission were easy, but this one seemed to stir up a wide variety of problems that, at times, seemed insurmountable.

      It was certainly frustrating for me as a senior pastor, but I can only imagine how difficult it was for those in the church gifted in prophecy! We would challenge our church members to serve with the gifts God had given them, but when our folks who had the gift of prophecy tried to serve, it proved...troublesome.

      As a pastor, trying to lead well, many times I felt like I was “in the way” much more than I was a part of the answer.

      All that is in hindsight now, and for that I am thankful! After three decades, and the patience that only the Holy Spirit can provide, we have come to a place in our church where these gifts are flourishing like never before. We haven’t arrived and figured it all out by any means. Over these years together, there have been many wonderful seasons of blessing, and much fruit has been born as a result. But the love, faithfulness, endurance, long-suffering, and passion for all God has for us has sustained the pastoral leadership of the church, as well as those who have been given this wonderful gift.

      What Darin has prepared for you here is a feast! It’s all your favorite foods, even things you wouldn’t have thought to ask for. He is sharing honestly our successes and failures. He is taking you down the path we traveled.

      And why? Oh how we would have loved to have had a resource like this on our journey! At least we could have gleaned from others and learned from their experience. During our quest, we found very little that was published to help us. Darin earnestly desires to change that and make available to you all that we’ve learned so that you can get from where you are now to where you want to be.

      This book is an answer to innumerable prayers. It is a dream come true for me and for Darin. It is our sincere prayer that you will benefit and grow in this spiritual gift and the wonderful expression of the Holy Spirit’s activity it is in the life of the local church.

      Danny Jones

      Pastor, Metro Life Church

      Orlando, Florida

      March 11, 2015

      Preface

      Wherever you declare yourself along the spectrum of belief about prophetic ministry, I believe your curiosity in this title is not by chance.

      And I realize the difficulty for leaders to corral such a powerful—and potentially scary—gift, but I also believe God still redeems what has been lost.

      This book exists because many Christian leaders are discarding a critical grace gift to the church—prophecy. The volatile, divisive, and noxious fumes of past abuse and misuse still linger in the atmosphere of many churches. This has left many leaders with no choice but to deny or marginalize the gift.

      Have you ever considered the possibility that the enemy has sought to minimize, abuse, and counterfeit this gift of prophecy above all the others because the Apostle Paul, writing by the Holy Spirit, singled it out for its potential to strengthen and edify the Church more than all the others?

      When I shared this burden and early manuscript with my pastors, they encouraged me to move forward because while they had read books on prophecy, they had never read one like mine. In essence they said, “This book hasn’t been written, not in this way and not to us—to leaders.”

      This is not about promoting an experience or “building brands.” It’s about understanding and embracing the inestimable value of having “ears to hear” what the Spirit is saying to the Church through the grace of a much maligned and misunderstood gift.

      I’m not going to make a defense of the gift; that’s a well-traveled road by many excellent scholars. Nor am I going to sit in judgment on ministries claiming prophetic anointing. Instead, I’d like to offer a perspective. More specifically, a process.

      With thirty years of submitted local church prophetic ministry and insight into the missteps and successes, I’ve distilled into five steps the milestones of the Holy Spirit’s faithful work in maturing this gift in me and in my local church. I will walk you through DIRECTION, DISTINCTION, DISCERNMENT, DISCIPLESHIP, and DEVELOPMENT to train those gifted in prophecy in your churches to serve the Body of Christ.

      I hope to re-envision the hearts of leaders and laity alike for a gift that Paul declared should be foremost in our desires for the Holy Spirit’s manifestations.

      Following the Apostle Paul’s Corinthian example of not calling for the eradication of prophecy because of error, abuse, and failure, I want to encourage, as he did, the priority of prophecy while offering a biblically sound, administratively practical point of view on its managed integration, operation, and growth in the local church.

      It’s my prayer that this gospel-centered, God-focused content will be a catalyst to reclaim the gift of prophecy and the Holy Spirit’s purpose for it in your life and local church.

      May it inspire a fresh discussion and demonstration of the unchanged command of the Holy Spirit in 1 Corinthians 14:1 (emphasis added): “Pursue love, and earnestly desire spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.”

      It’s my passion to see the glorious Church of Jesus Christ equipped and matured in this gift ministry and God’s immutable grace.

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