 Hey everybody if I might have your attention I'm really glad that you're here whether you know it or not I believe with all of my heart that this is a divine intersection for every single one of you and I believe that the Lord specifically has designed and purposed that you would be here and my hope is as we progress you're going to see that more and more. I want to compliment the spirit of God. I want to compliment God in his faithfulness and I want to remind you of course we have just come through Easter and we were reminded in the resurrection of Jesus that it was the Holy Spirit who rose him from the dead the scripture says so the same spirit who hovered over the chaos before creation who hovering is a maternal expression and brought order and brought light and brought life that same spirit then who spoke to the prophets throughout the Old Testament and spoke through kings that same spirit who was foretold in the description of David's branch or chute that came up that same spirit who came upon Jesus at his baptism that same spirit who led Jesus into the wilderness where he defeated the lives of the enemy that same spirit that brought Jesus then to the synagogue and he read in the synagogue the spirit of the Lord is upon me the same spirit who Jesus breathed on his disciples and said receive the Holy Spirit the same spirit who came upon the disciples at Pentecost filled them so that now that spirit would change the chaos and the darkness and the confusion in the hearts of people that same spirit who rose Jesus from the dead is in this room with us today. This is important for you to understand as we progress into a grasping of a potential new way of doing things that invites the spirit of the living God into your life and into the life of your church your fellowship your family who is this guy up here yelling at you my name is Les Beacham I am the lead pastor at Lifegate Church in Omaha Nebraska our website is lifegate.church if you want to creep us okay lifegate.church the church is 47 years old we are a life-giving spirit filled and we are a presence drawn church which is very similar as we're in association with radiant church I've been there 35 years I've been the pastor the lead pastor for 26 of those years and we have gone through everything you can imagine with regard to the expressions of the Holy Spirit we've had the wonderful we've had the powerful we've had the creepy we've had the weird we've had the balanced we've had the controlling and as you might guess none of those really had to do with the Holy Spirit but they had to do with the human spirit and so we have had expressions of the Spirit's ministry and welcomed them all 47 of those years and so it's important for you to understand that probably you have some of these expressions as well when I first came to Lifegate Church it wasn't Lifegate it was Trinity Church interdenominational interdenominational we were birthed in the charismatic movement and we are a church split to encourage you we've reconciled since then and we're closest friends with our mother church that we split from years before but that only after great great up evil and great pain to many many people and so in the midst of that we've always welcomed the Holy Spirit and hopefully you're at this conference because at least you're curious about him you may be welcoming him you may be cautious about him and I began by emphasizing that same Spirit that's made the difference from creation until now and I emphasized is one who hovers and this is important hover is found three times in the Bible once in Genesis chapter one verse one and the other two times it has to do with protection and especially the care of an eagle caring for its fledgling as it learns how to fly that's why I said it's nurturing it's even motherlike this expression of the Spirit of the living God and that's important as we see the expressions of this beautiful person the third person of the Godhead expressing himself in the local church and understanding how to do that when I first came to Trinity the primary expression was every Sunday someone interrupted worship during worship and spoke in a tongue then someone interrupted worship as the worship tried to reboot and catch a lift again and then they'd have a prophecy and then someone else would have a word and then someone would sing a song and it was usually off key and not enhancing to the worship but God spoke at those times and I would say this I want to be very careful and honoring I would say 20 percent of those times there was movement there and about 80 percent there was confusion and it was difficult and you couldn't hear the person and it went on and on and on that was challenging for me my wife as a discerner of spirits was very confused by this and very concerned about the genuineness of what was happening in the services now one of the best expressions of the prophetic was when we dedicated babies every baby at lifegate church we seek the Lord for a prophetic word a word of destiny for them we write it down and that is on their certificate and when we dedicate them we pray anything that's true of that word would be fulfilled my children have received that we've prayed for thousands of children and we've seen over and over again how God uses this in the parents life and in the child's life as well of course you always have the prophetic at retreats it's welcome there at prayer meeting someone would have a word and we would have the setting that's the best setting for the prophetic and that's in a group where if it's a newer believer and they have a prophetic word you're able to say to them I think that that's not quite right but your heart is really good let's keep seeking the Lord and so those were expressions in our fellowship now every single one of you has a story everyone has a background my wife's background was really believing all the gifts had ended now that we have the bible according to this theology a sensational style theology in 1st Corinthians chapter 13 the perfect has come and we don't need that which is not perfect prophecy tongues etc and the perfect is the word of God if you've not heard that theological position that is a very widespread position so you have that side once you have the bible just do what it says except those things where it's prophecy because this is on the only prophecy now and I'm not I'm not against those individuals but I find that that is not very biblical on the other side everything is prophecy and you know these individuals that eventuates to a place where you don't get married unless I seek God and I tell you that this is the one and that was a very popular expression and it still exists if you're in that church please run from that church because I don't believe that that is what God's design is and what is really pleasing to him so I want to introduce to you in addition to baby dedications in addition to those ministering at the front who in our church must be trained to hear the voice of God must be trained to lead people into the kingdom must be trained to help individuals receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit must be trained to listen to God and to discern whether or not what God is saying is for them to intercede about for them to share with the individual or not to and in our church when you've been trained in all those ways you get a name tag and so we urge people if someone wants to lay hands on you and prophesy over you in the entryway and they don't have a name tag we give you permission to say I don't know you I don't know some of you are wrestling with this right now and it's okay in a room this size you're saying well listen if God says to give a word you need to give a word and I want to say in response to that if God has set elders and a pastor and a fellowship and they say don't give a word in the entryway don't give a word because it has to do with unity and authority that God wants to express now I said earlier there is a new possibility for your churches to contemplate now we had this whole potpourri and then when I became senior pastor 26 years ago and I said if you're going to prophesy in this this sounds kind of negative it's it really this is going to get really really positive okay so it sounds kind of negative it does to me at least I'm not liking this right now and I haven't spoken it yet so hang on with me all right would you do that okay wow and so when I became senior pastor and I said if you're going to prophesy we welcome it but you have to go to a mic the prophet said then you ruin our inspiration now we're a 1400 seat sanctuary and someone's prophesy and people can't say amen because they're way back in the corner but they refuse to use a mic now this is just some individuals and then we said you need to clear it with an elder we don't we don't want to do that so you've had those any of you had those battles okay are you that person okay all right so in 2009 after we've gone through great upheaval great challenges as a church we were introduced to a model of prophetic expression from pastor tom lane of gateway church now how many of you know tom lane okay tom lane met the lord in our church before I was a pastor and then he moved to Texas and so we've had this relationship with tom a very close relationship for years and he introduced us to prophetic presbytery would you say that prophetic presbytery how many of you really don't have much of an idea of what that really is may I see your hands I'm so glad you're here that's why you're here all right everybody prophetic presbytery all right first of all you need to know prophetic presbytery is a model of prophetic expression to the local church which I believe is expanding and is something that radiant embraces fully as a matter of fact as we define what a presbyter is you need to know pastor lee is one of the most sought after presbyters in churches doing prophetic presbytery now I'm going to try to teach it may not be too cool but it will be informative but before I do that I want to share a word as I asked God yesterday do you have a word for this group and he said I do now I'm going to share a word that I believe God has given me you need to discern and test the word don't just receive it but when God impresses us with something and I'm under the authority of this house I want to be faithful to share it with you here's what I heard you've been asking and wondering and seeking God inspired curiosity wondering is there another way is there a better way is there a fresh way for God's people to hear the voice of God receive encouragement comfort strengthening of God without confusion without theatrics or hurtful baggage exposure or control do I have to give up on hearing a current word for fear of old scars wounds and abuses I've sustained God ordained curiosity God orchestrated this appointment for this season for you and for God's people God says I'm doing a new thing in my house that my people might be healed empowered and commissioned and that many on the way to God may experience God's voice and be astonished by love arrested by hope drawn to the sun to his life and to his freedom scheduled for you prepared for you a new wine skin for a new wine don't be afraid God is still speaking come receive and become his carriers his mouthpieces his counselors of the testimony of Jesus okay let that just settle in God ordained curiosity he's giving to you he gave it to you before we walked in can any of you receive that Lord confirm the impression of your word we've just said there's a wide span radiant is not becoming presbyterian you need to know that we're going to start by answering what does presbytery mean now many of you know this but we read in 1st Timothy chapter 4 verse 14 neglect not the gift that is in thee which was given thee by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery and so he's talking to Timothy he says you've received a gift don't neglect it remember spiritual gifts and spiritual experiences can atrophy if they are neglected and not cultivated if they're not fanned if they're not fed so he says don't neglect this one that you received through the laying on of the hands the impartation through the presbytery we read in the niv presbytery is the body of elders and so we realize this presbytery comes from the greek word presbyterian which is translated elders that's very simple a presbyter is an elder somewhere in a local church so presbytery is a council of elders with emphasis upon maturity of judgment more than mere age there are many churches that have been birthed especially when when the when russia opened up decades ago and these pastors and elders were late teenagers early 20s but it has to do with god's anointing and the wisdom now i'm going to define prophetic presbytery and then i hope to unpack it this is a high holy weekend in the life of lifegate it is coming in june here at radiant and it is a high holy weekend several days that spill into the new week where the emphasis is god come and speak to us as a people and as individuals so watch the definition here it's thick it's meaty but i'm going to unpack it prophetic presbytery is a time set apart in the life of the local church where a team of seasoned elders who are gifted prophetically seek god for his heart and prophetic message for three different groups selected individuals or candidates couples or individuals those he impresses upon their hearts out in the congregation and the church as a whole for the strengthening encouragement and comfort now let me unpack this briefly i first want to start with you've already seen it how many of you saw pastor wane drain give a word to this church and this conference how many saw that what you just saw was an elder wane who is a seasoned veteran having planted and led a church in russellville arkansas for many years who god has given gifted prophetically to the point where he is a mouthpiece in the nations a prophet so to speak and he sought the lord and the lord impressed him to stand up in front of everybody and proclaim a word that he believes is from god's heart to encourage strengthen and comfort this conference were any of you encouraged by his word any of you strengthened in the weariness of what you do that god was giving you hope so you see that is the purpose you just saw the third aspect of the prophetic presbytery which is a word for the church as a whole for the strengthening encouragement and comfort of that church now when we have prophetic presbytery i'm going to break this down that's one of the high points if god gives a word to the presbyter about your church and what's happening in your church it's a great great encouragement so we set apart this weekend we ask for those we know who are gifted prophetically one of our presbyters is tom lane another of our presbyters is wane drain another of our presbyters is lee comings why do you have three because you have three separate individuals who you give to them candidates and what we'd say is this is couple one all the way up to couple 24 or individual 24 would you seek god and ask him what he wants to say to comfort strengthen and encourage this couple so lee seeks god for each couple and tom and wane and then when we have presbytery in a service we'll have one to three couples come and one couple at a time or individual don't please don't hear couples it's individuals are couples and they will sit on the platform lee will sit here tom will sit here and wane will sit here and one at a time they'll go up they'll smile at the couple usually the couple's nervous out of their brain and they will share just like i did with this room what they believe god is saying to encourage them then lee will get up and the people in the room will be shocked because they will say surely they read one another's notes no the author is the same and that's the reality and what happens is they share this word it's recorded those in the congregation have a good idea who these people are they're shouting they're excited and then the couple barely remembers one thing that was said it's kind of like if you're married the message at your wedding is the most wasted message in the world it's the most wasted for you except your funeral you don't even hear that one and so but that's why we say go back and watch it because it was really good and so what we do is we record that we transcribe it and then a mature leader sits down with this couple and walks through the entire word because the words that are shared they have a timing to them number one number two the word that is shared you know when god prophesies over you god doesn't look on the outside he looks on the inside he judges no one according to the flesh he sees your spirit so those of us who are pastors and the candidates are up there and we know the one candidate he's not really that good of a person and the presbyter is saying and god loves you and he has this destiny and you're like oh shoot and i'm not really frustrated me until i sat down with the presbyters and they said no no we're not we're not describing what they are in this moment we're describing the destiny of god in them and that which is dormant that which has been tamped down that which has been harmed or whatever else we're describing that so that it might ignite their hearts and god would release power through his holy spirit so a prophetic presbytery is in our case we have a saturday night service we have sunday morning all services the presbyters are prophesying we have sunday night we have monday morning to lunchtime and tuesday morning to lunchtime or in the evening so that gives you a picture of the weekend it is one of the most sought after most exciting most desired things we do because after we have the candidates then what we will do is we will turn to the congregation and we will give them words of knowledge so during presbytery the presbyters during worship are watching you and they are looking in the spirit to see if god wants to say something and so as they do that then we'll spend 15 to 30 minutes and we'll say would you stand what's your name and then we will say i believe the lord is saying this to you it's recorded because you've just gone deaf and uh sort of and you go back and listen and you're encouraged and so we do that and the congregation is greatly encouraged and then by the end of the time usually there's a word for the church now i want to unpack a few other thoughts and then we'll get to a place where we can ask questions the first thing is we just saw what prophetic presbytery is how many would say um i still can't see this meeting thing it doesn't make any sense would you say that it doesn't make any sense to me okay i'm good are you ashamed to raise your hand okay how many of you say i think this makes sense i think it makes sense okay all right it's starting to make sense so you're having services where you've had people that they're praying and they're fasting or whatever saying god i look forward to hearing what you're saying and we're praying for the presbyter and uh then they get up and and they share these things and then they share words and season or words of knowledge and i'll unpack words and season what that means okay next why prophetic presbytery here's the first reason god wants to speak to you and he wants to speak through you now listen yes he's spoken through his word but his word is not a manual that you're trying to follow everything so you can have a good life you just heard that that's not what it's about it's about his glory it's about his tabernacle on earth expressed through you and so the reason we have a prophetic presbytery is because god has spoken in the bible and he's continuing to speak through the prophetic gift now this is important so he wants to speak to you remember moses when the elders the 70 received the prophetic gift remember in the old testament jesus expressed the spirit by coming upon you but he didn't dwell in you yet okay and two were out in the camp and they were prophesying josh who says they're out there prophesying you want me to correct them moses said and i love this this is the image that you and i get to live right now but moses replied are you jealous for my sake i wish that all of the lord's people were prophets and that the lord would put his spirit on them now listen everybody that was the intention of god that is your experience and prophetic presbytery is an example for you to watch that this can really happen in you and through you that's a big deal without having the name badge of prophet or presbyter in the same way jesus modeled these things and in john chapter 14 what did he say these things will you do also and greater things will you do because i go to my father and if i go to my father who will he send the holy spirit and so god's design is to speak to you but then he wants to speak through you and so we see this at pentecost when it says that god will speak through his sons and daughters his male servants and female servants he is speaking right now god wants to speak to this world and give it life and hope i was at a restaurant last night my waiter's name is nick i said nick before you leave and get my order would is we love god and we always pray for our meal is there anything that we could pray for you because our god answers prayer he said let me think yes my girlfriend and i my girlfriend and i were moving to ithica and in new york i think that's it and this is scary for me and so he became vulnerable at that moment because of god speaking through me if you haven't ever done that do that don't dare do that unless you tip them 20 plus percent and and i mean that seriously don't don't give god a bad reputation so he wants to speak through you win all the time he wants to express it we read in first crethage chapter 14 it says this follow the way of love in other words don't you dare to do anything unless the love of god is compelling you and then it says this zealously desire the spiritual gifts now here's here's what he's saying be filled with the love of god and then be filled with the power and the tools of god he says zealously zealotase zealous earnestly passionately we just heard it desire the spiritual gifts but especially that you might prophesy so what we're saying in prophetic presbytery we're holding up this gift is very significant and god wants it widespread in his body why it is the breath of god through the people of god prophecy is the breath of god through you as you're compelled by love so why prophetic presbytery god still wants to speak he is speaking he speaks predominantly through his word and through then his words spoken through you and spoken through me and god is faithful if we would be zealous for him i'm so dependent upon god speaking and yet there's a continuum there are some who predominantly say god told me rather than it is written you know when you tell the devil god told me he's not really impressed as much as he is written when you say it's written it's settled when god told me it it's mixed with me and but this isn't mixed with me does that make sense to you and so but i'm saying this because of the um imbalance of some once this reality that you can hear from god in the word beyond the word never in opposition to the word they become people who tell everyone god told me this and i'm telling you this rather than god speaking through his word and we want to be cautious of that and so why at our church are we not giving everyone a free-for-all pass go and share with everyone not you don't talk with your family or whatever you know because we we want you to know there are boundaries here have you ever thought about this first Corinthians chapter 12 through 14 is one of the most interesting realities it is all written because of the tendency of the body of christ to be enamored with gifts and misuse them the Corinthian church was a mess they were immoral they were fighting they were disunified and god still gave them gifts you know what i do the same thing with my grandchildren they can be honoree they're never really honoree they can be disunified i'm still giving them gifts and i never take my gifts back from them but first christians 14 is written because they have imbalance in the gifts the first imbalance is not having love in its proper place the second imbalance is raising some impression you have above the word of god the third imbalance is focusing on you rather than on jesus and so those are things not in your notes but they are for free here's the second reason say it again boy i forgot what i said reminding the first imbalance is not emphasizing the word of god but emphasizing my word the second imbalance thank you the first one is love the first imbalance is anything that you do that it's not motivated by love and then the second is when you exalt what you've been impressed over the word of god not even an opposition to the word of god god told you to break up with this person for example and the third imbalance is exalting yourself above god himself by emphasizing you're the carrier the big carrier of the word of god i'll try to remember what i say it just kind of comes out of me if that makes sense okay here's the second reason why prophetic presbytery everyone is in need of strengthening comfort and encouragement from the word of god and we get this from first Corinthians 14 but the one who prophesies speaks to people speaks to people for their strengthening they're encouraging and they're comforting let me ask you a question let's just be real transparent how many of you need strength in an area of your life for your feeling weak right now how many are facing sorrow loss or confusion and you would appreciate the comfort of god directly addressed to you okay so we see that there's a need for strength and comfort how many of you you know you're supposed to be going this way with regard to intercession or whatever else but if god encouraged you directly it wouldn't mean something to you now look at this this is this room filled with spirit filled believers can you imagine the waiters the waitresses the person you work out next to what they need they don't have any identity in christ they don't have the indwelling holy spirit they don't have any of that i was at a table at a fundraiser for teen challenge this dear woman was across the table she was in calving season right now and the weather isn't good and we had tornado warnings that night but she also is an advocate in the courts for young people in desperate straits but she also is a primary reporter for the newspaper but she also loves god you could tell she was working at this thing taking pictures and whatnot she was a grandma's age and the spirit of god said tell her my handprint is on her and i'm using her in every situation it's just a it's just an impression and it's like why me what if i'm wrong and what what if that doesn't incur i don't i don't deal with what ifs anymore i've done this too long and afterwards i said excuse me sometimes god does this and i think this may be him notice that did you catch that don't hesitate to use may i think this may be him i just want you to know his hand is on you everything and her face just melts and and the tears well up in her eyes and she says you don't you don't have any idea how much that that means to me you have no idea don't exalt the prophetic into something super duper spiritual realize where does god want the prophetic everywhere you go so why do we have prophetic presbytery to show you a balanced expression that's not kooky and doesn't focus on flamboyance and so everyone needs these strengthening these encouraging and comforting and so some people are still stuck though in the old testament and prophecy equals conviction confrontation and exposure i mean you've got whole passages of this and so we find ourselves saying i love the prophetic i want to everyone wants to hear from god they they just do but i'm afraid of getting slapped in the process pastor less if you're prophetic and you asked me to stand and you say to me god wants you to know the secret things in your heart he's going to bring out right now in front of all these people to motivate you to change and to repent you know what i think you should do get up and leave as quickly as possible because that i don't believe well that's what happened in the old testament do you realize in the old testament none of them had the spirit of god in them do you realize the spirit of god is hard at work right now to convict the world of sin righteousness and judgment so he's doing that and you're loving them you are not the holy spirit and so get over the habit of having to tell those who've embraced an identity that is not biblical get over the habit of having to tell them every time you're around them show them how much you love them yeah but you know they they may not realize their sin whatever sin it is you know what they know what the bible they do individuals know what the bible saying to a great extent our rule is to love people if jesus didn't come to get him who are you condemning them you know bar now survey shows that christians are seen as extreme and they are hypocritical and they're not loving they're known for what they're against rather than known for what they're for and prophetic presbytery is here to say god is here to strengthen and to encourage and to comfort and everyone needs this what should people expect the candidates should expect to see how god sees them and what he has for them not just who they are but who they are becoming how he sees i i had a word for a gal in our church one of the pastor's wife she always sits in the back and the word was god is moving you from the back to the front from a place of listening to the place of speaking and she was like i don't i don't know if i want that you know that's not my favorite prophetic word but i said be encouraged it's gonna it's gonna draw up in you a wellspring that has been in you but has been covered up she became our women's pastor now she is our adult ministries pastor over seven campuses and her husband i am succeeding my role to in a year and so that word is a basis for her to say god you were preparing me beforehand so i wouldn't die in the process and you were showing me this so the candidates experience that how do you select the candidates i pray i ask all the departments and the campus pastors who they think but at the end of the day i pray and i say i think this should be it i do it in community i hear god best in community and i think you do also i hear him best in community and so i will select people usually who are serving and people know well that's just kind of the club isn't it no if i put a stranger on the platform and we prophesy and you don't know that person you'll have a hard time saying amen and so we put them there so the whole body can see ago they don't know anything about that person this is incredible one of our presbyters came and our pastor who's succeeding me is from Georgia he's a georgia bulldog fan and all of that and the pastor gets up and says when i look at you i'm reminded of a bulldog and it's like how do you even know these things well they don't the lord knows these things so they should expect that and then everybody should expect god to speak to them either through a word in season a word in season this is rooted in proverbs 15 23 and it says a man hath joy by the answer of his mouth and a word spoken in due season how good it is now are you a king james guy less no but some of these words we want the message says the right word at the right time beautiful and i can't tell you the number of times we give words in season and we say this any word that's shared that leaps in your heart and you're tempted to say oh god would you just say that to me he just has now here's why faith helped me with this faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of see we always get that wrong doesn't say that it says hearing by the word of christ a ramitas christoi why is that important you can read this word and not get a word but when you read this word and it leaps in you that is a word from christ it's a ramitas christoi christ is the word but you can read the word without the word being in liven a rama expression so when someone's hearing a word in season and it leaps in them we tell them we call that a ricochet word i gave it to you but it and if you feel that in your spirit receive it as a ramitas christoi and let that leap inside of you and receive it fully so what's happening is the body of christ now they know a lot of the people out there but a lot of them they don't but when they see their face as a word is given and they melt and they cry and they're moved and all that when they see that they they say god is here and often it's the unbeliever who's there for the very first time who god gives a word to the presbyter to give to them and it is utterly incredible so the people should all expect a word from god so you've got a whole weekend where every session you come with the anticipation god speak to me whether it's directly or not it doesn't matter and god is speaking not in opposition to his word always in conjuncts and all those things and the people are deeply deeply encouraged so through the candidate speaking there through a word in season god speaking to you through that through a presbyter who speaks to you those things are so powerful and then through a prophetic team member well what if i didn't get a ricochet word and what if when they talk to the candidates it didn't relate to me we're concerned about us aren't we we are then we have trained a prophetic team we've walked them through a course of study that helps them learn to listen for the voice of god they practice prophesying over one another kind of Bethelisk if you know what i mean and they learn this and they are prepared so at the end of each of the presbytery sessions they cover the front and they will stay as long as they need so everyone can receive a word from god so you've got candidates you've got words in season you've got ricochet words or ramitas christoi then you have a prophetic team and then you have the same thing happening for the children and they're being prophesied over pastor wane drain it comes out in september god still speaks to children and so he and tom lane have written the book this is the gold standard for me in understanding prophecy god still speaks it's in the bookstore if i'm not mistaken tom lane wane drain and it's emphasizing this reality that god wants our lives to be characterized by first the presence of god second the love of god third the voice of god the people of god stand apart and moses said if you don't go with us how will the nations know that you are god and so god is in manual he's with you you're seeking him his presence which is primarily expressed in love follow the way of love nothing matters if you don't love why don't you just stop and sit in a chair until the love of god comes on you all right there are too many christians who are claiming to be and the love of god is not compelling them how does the love of god compel you remind yourself deeply of what jesus has done for you don't ever forget what you used to be like and how god has changed you and when you remember that and that you can't do anything without him and his love because jesus said i can't do any are you convinced yet you can't do anything you convince you can't convince anyone you can't change anyone but if god is with you he'll do those things through you and so you have those groups of people who are impacted and then you have another group you have people online you have people who watch this later and they're impacted and so you might say i can see why you do prophetic presbytery i have a list of things then god will speak to the church what to instruct god's people to do prepare for i'm gonna let you read that list pray prepare don't take god's word to be frustrated because it's not happening right now god says there's a time for this vision wait for it god's gonna move on that and i want you to know that this whole process has changed us our people look forward to it we choose new candidates every year the presbyters have no idea who they are until we're in worship and we say that's candidate number one over there that's candidate number two over there and it utterly utterly changes the body of christ and sets a gold standard for the prophetic from which they work from after prophetic presbytery we have classes on prophecy so people can learn how to do this in their family in their life etc we have the book he still speaks and then we carefully help people to not get out of bounds spiritual gifts and people are a notorious combination for going too far in one way or the other if they're not mature in love if they're infatuated with the gifts and here's what we say in our fellowship and then i'm going to shift and then shift again spiritual gifts are like a campfire the word of god are the stones around the campfire to keep the fire in bounds and if you move the stones that campfire burn the forest down but if you keep them there occasionally an ember jumps out the answer to the ember jumping out is not to pour a bucket of water on the fire many churches because of the misuse of gifts say we don't do that around here some of you it's like we don't do any tongues around here because it got out of bounds but what we do is we take the tongs of love we pick that ember up and we put it back in the fire and we say god help that person help us to process this and we're trusting you for this okay stick with me you're gonna have questions but i want to give you a couple words that i sought lord the lord for and uh if you're in here and you have been hurt by the prophetic would you raise your hand you've been hurt by someone who prophesied over you don't be afraid okay i see your hands you know it's even hard to raise your hand do you know that okay this works for you all and there may be more over here the tongue has the power of life and death something spoken to you that claimed to be god's voice wasn't you need to hear that from me right now it's so powerful the greatest abuse is spiritual abuse and when someone says god is saying this to you and he's not it it messes you up and so i'm here to say in looking you in the eyes this was not god and then it killed a dream a vision a destiny and god has sent me to declare to you all lazarus come forth from those things that died and be unwrapped with the hands and hearts of faith be resurrected listen come alive again can you receive that good okay i want to shift here stick with me you in the back row with a little white um yeah you what's your name mason that's a neat name here's what i believe the lord's saying to you if this is really real you're saying lord if it's really real say something to me i'm not sure how much more i can take you're saying how long i can hang on jesus says get ready everything's about to shift in your life does make any sense to you good you can hang on longer okay in this room there are barren wombs barren hearts and barren relationships you thought you would you raise your hand barren wombs barren hearts barren relationships okay ready i'm opening up right now and releasing a miraculous conception in you right now of life receive it in these areas in your womb i speak to your womb and i say conceive now in jesus name in your heart in your relationships receive it for god's conceiving right in this room right now just receive that right now yeah rich would you stand i know rich but i believe this works for you he says you're a guardian of the flock you've guarded them wealth from wolves and after your great losses you've resolved to leave none vulnerable you're a good pastor and a good undershepard of the master's flock it's time to welcome his voice with wisdom and care to forget the past wounds and receive new life and victory from god's own heart the to those that you have charge over to care for he's here to shepherd his flock through you at a whole new level amen amen okay there's someone here saying shoo this is not what i expected this thing to be i want this so bad and some of you are frustrated because you're i'm not the pastor now there's a manual as you leave that will go through all the protocol that radion has laid out for what how do you select a candidate how do you contact them how do you care for your presbyters all those things will answer for you but you're saying here i want this so bad i want it for our church lord how are you going to do this and i want it for me if that's you would you raise your hand okay this is the word for you all if you receive this class is about to begin come find your seat at his feet let's start with john chapter 10 my sheep hear my voice and follow me i'm going to teach you to hear my voice and then to teach others as well your tuition is already paid on the cross it's time for you to grow risk failing follow and then speak raise your hand if that was you father i pray the full tuition that has been paid for them now lord they'd receive it i pray you'd put a dream in them a desire in them that would be fulfilled this year or next year or the next year whenever that lord they would be a source of encouragement to their pastor or as the pastor and they'd begin a journey now now of the school of jesus and the spirit of god and that lord the prophetic voice of god would rise up in their life their family and in their church lord i pray for that release now in the mighty name of jesus amen amen can you applaud the lord everybody yes yes yes yes yes yes oh god is so faithful we're so dependent upon him okay we're going to take a few questions i know we're right on time and those food lines are huge but there's some food that's worth waiting for and so we'll take a few questions all questions are welcome yes yes they do the candidate as you read the manual they've been pursued several weeks in advance so their friends can know and they're praying for them but we keep the candidates away from the presbyters especially if they're a main pastor and then we just show them there but the candidates have been praying that's real important yes yes yes we do we uh no no i'm sorry we schedule it after it's happened so that it works for everyone that might be a wise thing to schedule it ahead of time uh we do with the candidates they all follow through yep they do mm-hmm yes uh say if the person says something that is abusive and um incorrect uh the political way to answer is i don't receive that i don't believe that's the lord please stop talking to me if they don't stop talking to you then you go to someone in authority in your church and say they continue to come and say my wife is an idiot and that the lord is telling them and you know listen everybody i've been at this too long to put up with kooky people and here's one of the most dysfunctional emotionally unhealthy things christian do i love christians i am one they they use god to avoid god and often they say to you what they're projecting from their own life okay another couple questions yes okay she said how often do you do the presbytery every year we found if we did it every other year it was too long people were hungry and we wanted that model because every church has a churn rate people move and all that so at least once a year okay at a good time when people can be there okay if a person says i believe i have a word for the lord we say well here what we want to ask you to do is write that word down and give it to one of our pastors or elders and they'll evaluate it in other words no one has the authority to turn the service except those who've been recognized by the eldership to lead the service if a person's really spiritual they'll write it down and they'll give it to you and then here's what they'll do if the ups man comes to your house delivers you hand it he hands it to you and they say well i'm coming in and you say well why because i want to see you open the package the prophetic's role is not to open the package it's to deliver the package and so don't listen everybody don't put up with that in john prominsky's seminar he's giving it right now you can get the notes from that he's talking about the prophetic and how do you relate to prophetic people people can be very prophetically gifted but very immature and we don't reject them we help mature them another couple questions when god gives you something to the person it's going to be confirmation to that person i will say in many cases yes in some cases they're shocked and it takes time for that to happen in the case of my daughter who's been sober for two years now after about eight years of terrible addiction suicide she received words from wane drain nine years ago they're being confirmed now so you're right yep mm-hmm yes the best response is you know what i wish i had a word for people all the time the best that i can give you right now without praying about that is that you are loved with an everlasting love that your identity is rooted in the beloved son of jesus and that is an identity proclamation that's rooted in the word of god better to say you know what i don't right now you seek the lord and ask him for a word and here's one of the most important questions god is there one word you want to give to me we do that in our restoration process to teach people how to listen to god most people want you to listen to god for them and god wants all of us to listen why he wants to speak to everybody and so don't explain too much help them in this process okay a couple other questions are these helpful anyone else yes please this is really good to ask the guests when they come again or they're coming in do they do any teaching we usually select one to give the message of the weekend it's always about prophetic presbytery now you could guess there are all kinds of angles to it because we have new people we want to proclaim that we don't always do that but then these guys and gals we have both men and women they're they're on task you could just think you're in a service you're giving words and season you have these candidate words they don't always have all of them they go back to the room they're seeking so that's a long answer we don't give them any other responsibilities and we give them space that's good other couple questions has this been helpful do you understand that the spirit who raised christ from the dead lives in you to love through you to speak through you holy spirit do this in your people in the mighty name of Jesus amen