 The prophetic ministry is a beautiful expression of the Holy Spirit's power and nature and you and I must learn to embrace the prophetic, to celebrate the prophetic, to operate in the prophetic. The prophetic is for today. That's absolutely biblical. There's nothing in all of Scripture that says that the prophetic has ceased. It's still in operation today. God did not go mute. And so, having said that, I want to take you through the Scripture to talk to you about some of the dangers concerning prophetic chaos or disorder. It's time that order come back to the house of God. It's time that we begin to seek biblical order in the realms of supernatural expression. If you follow this ministry, then you know we believe in healing. We believe in speaking in tongues. We believe in the spiritual gifts. We believe in deliverance. We believe in the prophetic. But one of my passions is to speak truth that helps to bring balance and that helps to bring a foundation, a place of certainty, a grounding, if you will. And so, as I said, we're going to go through the Scripture and I want to accomplish two things with this dream. Again, the truth is going to be very direct, but I want to accomplish two things. I want to see that you're helped in being able to spot disorder and deception in the prophetic. All too often, people message me, what do you think of this person? What do you think of what this person said? What do you think of this ministry? What do you think of that expression? So, instead of dealing with all of the superficial details concerning the expressions of other ministries and people and so forth, what I would rather do is show you the biblical truth and give you the tools and the truth that you need to be able to discern and navigate for yourself. The second thing I want to accomplish here is I want to help you to, if God uses you in the prophetic, keep the prophetic pure in your life. I want to give you biblical truth that will act as a safety net for your future so that you can remain pure in the expression of the prophetic ministry that the Lord has given to you. And so, I pray that this is received with gladness and we should be lovers of truth. I want you to write that in the comment section. If you'll commit with me as we look to the Scripture, if you'll commit with me to allowing yourself to be corrected, if you'll commit to allowing yourself to be guided, if you'll commit to putting the truth of Scripture above all else, even feelings and emotions and culture and things we've been taught. And I want you to write these simple words in the comment section, whether you're watching live or on the replay. I love truth. Now, these truths will be direct and this is not an attack on the body of Christ, nor is this an attack on the prophetic. I love the prophetic. I think we should see more expression in the prophetic. But I've also seen, as I said, some troubling things. And no, this is not aimed at any one ministry or movement or church or expression in particular. This is just, in general, I see certain mistakes being repeated again and again and again. And I myself at times have made these mistakes. Some of them. And so I want to show you from Scripture just some truths that will help to really guide you and ground you. And that's my goal. So let's humble ourselves before the Word. Let's approach with reverence as we read what the Scripture has to say. Let me first establish this truth using Scripture. False prophets exist. That's a reality that we have to live with. First John chapter four verses one through three say this. Beloved, do not believe every spirit but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God. And every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the Antichrist which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. Now here the Scripture tells us to test the prophetic. But it does not tell us to be cynical toward the prophetic. It does not tell us to be completely and always skeptical toward the prophetic. We are to have vigilance when it comes to discerning prophetic ministry but not paranoia. And there is a very big difference. You see vigilance is simply watching for dangers, watching for things out of order. Paranoia leads to cynicism and hypercriticism and paranoia dismisses anything and everything even with the slightest hint of something that they don't understand. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verses one through three. Now dear brothers and sisters regarding your question about the special abilities the spirit gives us I don't want you to misunderstand this. You know that when you were still pagans you were led astray and swept along in worshiping speechless idols. So I want you to know that no one speaking by the spirit of God will curse Jesus. And no one can say Jesus except by the Holy Spirit. Now these particular verses have led to the superstitious belief that anyone that doesn't have the Holy Spirit or that anyone that is filled with the demonic spirit can't say the words Jesus is Lord. So it's kind of become like a test. Say Jesus is Lord. They say Jesus is Lord. They say okay they're good. They're clean. But actually Paul is not referring to the phonetic pronunciation or just simply uttering the words Jesus is Lord. Rather Paul is talking about the center of the message. The purpose of what they're saying. Does their teaching and their lives and their standards ultimately point to Jesus? Or does all of that point to self? Does all of that point to some new age teaching? Does all of that point to some secular philosophy? And so if what they're teaching and preaching and if their lives ultimately point to the Lordship of Jesus then they're of the Holy Spirit. And again that's what 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verses 1 through 3 is telling us. So Paul wants us to be able to discern based on a standard. See so often we try to discern based on emotions. We try to discern based on preferences. We try to discern based upon church culture. And we say things like well that's not the way I was taught to do it or I don't know something doesn't sit right about this or I'm a little bothered with the way they said that. And because we're so vague we're demonstrating that we're not using true spiritual discernment for true spiritual discernment is not vague it's specific. And Paul gives us the specific standard against which we are to measure all prophetic expression or all ministry really as in the context of 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verses 1 through 3. But still we're given a very clear standard here. So it's not just some moving goalposts that we lay out for them. It's not just you know liking the person's personality or the way they're dressed or the way they talk or where they're from or what they look like or how they carry out the methodology of their ministry. No we're given a very clear standard of judgment and this has everything to do with the overall message that they're declaring specifically are they declaring a message that is Christ-centered or self-centered? Are they declaring a message that's of the world or of the Holy Spirit? That's of the kingdom of God or of the kingdom of darkness? Is this the kingdom of man or the kingdom of heaven? Now Matthew chapter 7 verses 21 through 23 I did a very short teaching on this that we released about a week back and this is probably one of the most frightening portions of Scripture in all of the Bible. Not everyone who calls out to me Lord Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. On judgment day many will say to me Lord Lord we prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and perform many miracles in your name. But I will reply I never knew you. Get away from me you who break God's laws. Now the original language here is describing to us something that is as I said frightening it's disturbing. The people who walked up to the Lord on judgment day did so with confidence. They strutted up to him and fully expected to be embraced by the Lord. They fully expected him to extend his hands and say well done good and faithful servant. They did not anticipate that he would reject them by telling them that he never knew them. So who are these people? These people are the ones who trusted in their own good works and this is evidenced in the fact that they say Lord we prophesied in your name. So notice that when the Lord rejects them their defense isn't Lord but we believe the gospel or Lord but we trusted in you for our salvation or Lord but what about what Jesus accomplished on the cross? Notice that the first thing they use to or what they raise in their defense was their good works was the demonstration of power was what they thought was the criteria by which they entered heaven and so they put forth their good works and saying Lord they say Lord don't our good works get us in didn't we prophesy in your name? So Matthew 7 21-23 is not talking about genuinely born again believers. Matthew 7 21-23 is talking about those who have a works-based mentality and who think that the supernatural demonstration on their life is the means by which they enter heaven. This is a very very important thing to understand here. The scripture here is not talking about genuine born again believers. How do I know that? Because these people didn't trust in Jesus they didn't trust in the cross they trusted in their demonstrations of power and this right here is one of the standards of the false prophets they trust in their power they trust in their gift they trust in the demonstration of the anointing upon them but they never trust the work of the Holy Spirit within them. Now who are these people who demonstrate this falseness? I'm going to give you some signs and then I want to show you from scripture some key points that will help to ground you again this grounding will help you to discern whether or not you're under the influence of a false prophetic ministry or it will also help you to stay pure in your own prophetic expressions which is very important also. So some of the signs here first and foremost one of the signs that a ministry is false or that a prophetic expression is false is that it's not ultimately Christ centered in its messaging messages that have to do with self messages that have only to do with the success of an individual or the success of a ministry these are the messages that ultimately become a red flag that demonstrate to us that it's possible that that ministry is not of the Lord. Now having said that sometimes God does give us specific instructions through his prophets that don't necessarily use the name Jesus or use the Lord's identity in what they're saying by that I mean this let's say somebody prophesies to you about your ministry and they say the Lord is showing me that the ministry is going to flourish in the next year okay well there's a prophetic word ultimately about the ministry that God has entrusted to you Jesus was mentioned but the prophecy was not necessarily specifically about Jesus that still is a genuine prophecy because ultimately it was the Lord speaking regarding a ministry that worked wonders or worked power or worked demonstrations for the sake of his name so this is not an ultra specific hyper religious approach to the prophetic ministry I'm not saying well you have to use the words Jesus Christ in every prophecy or you have to specifically bring it back to and this is what I'm going to describe of the Lord his traits his personality who he is no sometimes prophecy is about the things that affect us in everyday life sometimes it is about your relationship sometimes it is about your job sometimes it is about your ministry but ultimately the overall theme will be something that either benefits the kingdom or ultimately within the higher theme that glorifies Jesus so that is one of the first red flags is that a ministry is not Christ center you know I've actually sat in on some services that really disturbed me and I'll be honest I would often watch and this isn't anyone you know by the way if I'm following someone or I have someone on my program I'm not talking about them okay I wouldn't have people on my program and I wouldn't be following people that I don't believe in you know and promoting them so so don't worry about that so sometimes people think like you know people always look for division people love drama so they're looking okay well who's David talking I'm not talking about anyone specific I'm just speaking in general but I do have a memory of years ago I was sitting in the service of someone who you don't know who you wouldn't know and I was watching as they were prophesying and I think it was a little bit uncomfortable because number one I I just wasn't familiar with the surroundings but I'm also very aware of the fact that I sense the disturbance that came by the Holy Spirit so I'm sitting in this service and I'm watching this person prophesy and this person is just giving prophetic words and all it was was stuff like this is your bank account number this is your address things like this is the car you drive and well that was really scarily specific and accurate there was ultimately no prophetic message behind that it was all about just wow how do you know that wow what a cool thing that you did wow look how accurate of a prophet you are there was no messages it was just like your bank account is this your address is this and the person would say oh my goodness that's right he would say see I'm a prophet called out the next person this is the kind of car you drive this is the name of your children these are the names of your children oh my goodness that's super accurate okay that proved I'm accurate on to the next person but there was no message there was no instruction there was no revelation there was no guidance there was no edification there was no exhortation for those individuals who are receiving those specific prophetic words and so I'm asking myself what is the point of what this person is saying to all these people other than to demonstrate that they're a very accurate prophet and the Lord showed me that throughout the entire service not a single mention was made of Jesus not a single scripture was read not a single reference was made about anything that would help in spiritual growth or in drawing as closer to the Lord or in glorifying God it was all just about the wow factor of how accurate this person was and so the Holy Spirit revealed to me that this was borderline witchcraft why because it lacked the grounding of the person of Jesus it lacked the message the power is always given to back or to demonstrate some kind of message that comes to us from the Father or from the scripture it's a validation that's the point of demonstration now you can have truth spoken to you without demonstration of something supernatural like the prophetic or deliverance or healing of course I mean and to say that you absolutely need a demonstration of power in every instance where someone believes the gospel is to forget the fact that believing the gospel in and of itself is a demonstration of power for salvation is a miracle but having said that I'm sitting there in the service I'm watching this not one mention about Jesus not one mention of scripture not one thing that could be pointed out that could that could lead us to to Jesus or to glorifying God or to anything that would bring us closer to God it was all just about the person and their gift and how powerful they were and how special they were and how accurate they were and then we were told to so to that individual specifically to unlock the blessings because of the favor that's on their life and I'm thinking well my goodness what happened to giving for souls what happened to giving for the gospel what happened to giving to expand the kingdom no it was all about the favor on that person and if you give then you yourself will have that same favor well I saw that that was manipulation and it wasn't Christ centered it was a man centered and when something loses that foundation when something loses the focus on the Savior then that very thing becomes a danger please hear me now the moment you shift your focus from who Jesus is to what Jesus does and that becomes the primary thing you're in danger I'm not saying we shouldn't preach about or ask for miracles and some people will accuse you if you believe in miracles if you believe in healing and deliverance and prophecy some people will accuse you of focusing on that alone but that's not always the case but if it does become the case that the miracles themselves that the manifestations themselves replace the Lord then you're in danger when it becomes about prophecy and not Jesus you're in danger when it becomes about deliverance and not Jesus you're in danger when it becomes all about healing and not Jesus you're in danger when it becomes all about speaking in tongues and not Jesus you're in danger and again I preach and teach and practice all of the things that I mentioned so someone can't accuse me of being a cessationist not even close if anything I'm accused of being hyper charismatic but I'm saying this to you as someone who walks in these demonstrations of power by the Holy Spirit not through my own ability that we must remain focused on Jesus people can spot the difference that's why people tell me all the time David I can see something different on this ministry and by the way I can say this because this is not my ministry this is the Lord's ministry and I'm just a steward who takes care of this I'm your servant as well as God's servant and I serve you in giving you the word so look at me like a waiter and you're sitting down at a nice restaurant so we're serving you okay that's what we're here for but people can people tell me all the time David we see the difference on your ministry there's something very grounded about it I'm telling you what that is it's Jesus it's the person of Christ it's all about him everything ultimately comes back to him it's our ministry is not about healing though we pray for the sick it is a healing ministry in the sense that we pray for the sick in every single one of our meetings but healing is not the focus of course we operate in the words of knowledge as led by the Holy Spirit not something that's under our control but it's all about Jesus of course we cast out devils but it's not all about deliverance and spiritual warfare of course we believe in the gifts of the spirit speaking in tongues and so forth but it's not all about the gifts it must be grounded on the person of Jesus and if it's not you have borderline witchcraft another sign to look out for is manipulation this one is so big you will see people using their prophetic gift to manipulate people into being under their control so let me just come right out and say it if anybody ever tells you that you're cursed or that you'll never fulfill God's will if you reject them or go out from under their authority run far away from that person because that person is using spiritual manipulation which is the very definition of witchcraft to try to gain control over you and to manipulate you and your emotions and your thoughts and your beliefs and your backgrounds and your mistakes they try to use all of that to keep you under control and I've come to shine a light on this because people need to see it for what it is that's manipulation if it's all about do you serve the man of God do you serve the woman of God do you bless the man and woman of God do you give to the man and the woman of God do you do you do you honor the man and woman of God do you do you talk good about the man and the woman of God behind their back now there's nothing wrong with honoring spiritual leaders but if that's always the emphasis watch out it's manipulation so people will use their prophetic gift and and they'll use it and say well look how accurate I am God surely is with me and here's the thing they can be misusing a prophetic gift maybe God did give them that maybe they do see clearly into the spiritual realm but seeing clearly in the spiritual realm does not give you the authority to create doctrines that are not founded in scripture seeing clearly in the spiritual realm does not give you authority to interpret scripture in a way that it was never meant to be interpreted seeing clearly in the spiritual realm does not give you authority to have control over people's lives because the people of God can hear from God themselves too through the word through the Holy Spirit and yes through the prophetic also but we have to watch for this because this is becoming more common than we'd like to admit I think and so this is why I want you to be on look there's one thing about the spirit family for those of you who are first-timers here or maybe you're just watching this one video we haven't seen any of our other content the spirit family is the collective community that we have who regularly watches this content they gather on the livestreams they come to the events and so forth I believe that the spirit family you're well equipped one of the things I love about the spirit family is is you are you are grounded in the word but you're also filled with faith for the supernatural and we don't get stuck in either extreme and for that we're often criticized I mean people criticize us all the time because some people who are you know way too focused on the supernatural say we're too religious and then the people who are too religious they say you know well we're focused way too much on the supernatural and so it just it's it doesn't it doesn't work either way on either extreme and we try to avoid those extremes by being grounded in the word and this is one thing I want to commend you those of you in this community I commend you for weighing all things by the written word of God in the voice of the Holy Spirit the word and the spirit so once you start to see this manipulation go the other way once you start to see this manipulation that should cause disillusionment the illusion of that person's power should be broken over you don't don't listen to doctrines that are not founded in Scripture don't listen to and I'm when I say doctrines that are not founded in Scripture I'm not talking about methodologies and practices I'm talking specifically about entire beliefs made from made made to seem like they're foundational to your faith that you have to be careful of another thing I see as a red flag and I didn't think I'd take this long on red flags by the way let me know chat if you're receiving these I thought honestly I thought I was going to spend maybe a minute or two and then I was going to get into the meat of the message which is talking about the the keys to spotting you know impurities and disorder and also maintaining purity and disorder in your own prophetic ministry but I'm seeing now that this is something I should probably expand on I really sense an anointing on this and people are being set free the enemy is being exposed right now another red flag I've seen in prophetic ministries and again I'm not talking about anyone ministry in particular we're talking in general and you use these truths okay to measure against all ministries even mine is greed watch for the greed I've seen to where people who are very gifted in the prophetic they they start well they start with good motives and then what do they begin doing they begin to charge for prophetic words I'm telling you I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna come for the enemy on this one they charge for prophetic words look if anyone ever charges you for healing for deliverance for prophetic word run the other way that my friend is sorcery that is the definition of sorcery that exchange of the monetary and the material for the supernatural Jesus will heal you Jesus will deliver you Jesus will speak to you with no cost to you it does not cost money to receive those things we give as believers because we believe in the message of the gospel we believe it should be spread far and wide but the moment people begin to sell that gift hear me now the moment people begin to sell those gifts now they've gone from being a prophet to being a psychic that's not the prophetic that's psychic power the moment they go into selling the gift and then you'll even watch they they're drawn to the most wealthy people they look for the people with the nice name brands on their clothing I don't even know which one's the name here they look for the people the women with the nice purses and then and the nice clothes and the people who are well dressed and they gravitate toward them and prophesy why because they're trying to connect with that person not to bless them not to help them not to walk them through some things spiritual but to connect with them and press them with the gift and get more money out of them I'm exposing the behind the scenes here guys that is what happens and I've seen it happen and it's very sad it's heartbreaking so the moment people begin to charge for these things you got to watch out that's another red flag now also pointing to self oh my goodness this is a big one me me me me me look at me look how gifted I am look how accurate I am and if it's all about listen if the entire thing is constantly all about how accurate they are how gifted they are how they're just so called and so special well now you're on dangerous ground too puffed up they can't take correction it's all about self every and and and here's here's another way that manifests is to the martyr mentality everybody's attacking us everybody's coming against me the enemy's attacking me people are attacking why because I'm the only one speaking truth that martyr mentality I'm telling you this is how manipulative it gets that martyr mentality is a very big sign that the person you are following is operating under something that is of the flesh or much worse something that maybe eventually can become demonic and we have to be careful of this because that martyr mentality is it's it's a manifestation of ego I'm the only one preaching what I preach I'm the only one who talks about these things I'm the only one who goes there I'm the only one being attacked in this way I'm the only one who everyone's coming against that right there is not just immaturity that's pride and that shows that the person is being puffed up maybe you've seen this so so it's never just correction it's always they're attacking like honestly even the people who come against me I recognize they're probably just coming against me not because of me but because of what I teach and they don't agree some people don't agree that healing's for today some people don't agree in the slaying power of the holy ghost that's the manifestation where you see the people falling over okay granted that's fair game but you know even even I realized that in that instance they're probably just attacking the doctrine I don't even think I'm that important that they're attacking me I don't even believe that we as preachers have haters you know people that are so obsessed with us personally it's what we're teaching that they likely disagree with but with this martyr mentality it's not hey they disagree with our doctrines but let's love them anyway hey they disagree with what we're teaching but let's love them anyway no no no no that's fuel for the fire it's look at they're attacking me and persecuting me that shows you I'm the chosen one martyr mentality watch for that it's very subtle and it's a form of pride immaturity they're very puffed up okay then we see prophesying out of imagination and this is just kind of saying whatever just comes to their head I just had this thought and I thought I'd say that that's prophesying out of imagination then we see as I mentioned this already before the psychic power and this is prophesying unto no purpose this is just again demonstrating the gift for the gift itself and not really speaking to an end there's no means there's no means to an end it's just means to the means it's just something that they want to demonstrate that's a dangerous place for sure now here's the final sign and then we'll get in of course as I said to talking about keys to recognizing whether someone is pure and also things that can help keep your ministry pure and these are very important guys because because we need to see order come to this beautiful ministry it's because I love the prophetic so much that I'm sharing this with you it's because I love you that I'm sharing this with you I know what I'm teaching isn't popular I know what I'm teaching isn't going to score me a lot of points with most people but you have to know this because it's for the sake of your soul it's for the sake of of truth I'm very passionate about the truth of the word of God here we see 1st Corinthians chapter 13 verse 9 the bible says and here by the way is a very often abused scripture in the prophetic this is one of the most abused scriptures I think I've ever seen the bible says now our knowledge is partial and incomplete our knowledge is partial and incomplete I slurred my word there and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture so here we see the bible telling us that when you give a prophetic word that it's like giving a piece to a puzzle now some will take that verse say some really weird off the wall inaccurate outright inaccurate things and then say well you know we prophesy in part prophesy in part doesn't mean that we can be apathetic towards speaking on God's behalf prophesy in part doesn't mean that we could just say a bunch of weird things hope something sticks and then maybe it counts for something prophesy in part simply means that you're bringing a piece of the puzzle and that piece itself though has to be clear that piece itself has to be distinct that piece itself has to be something that can be understood not necessarily giving us the whole picture but the message itself has to at least be coherent so true prophets bring clarity not confusion this is the very nature of the prophetic ministry I mean think about why God will send a prophet think about what God why God will send prophetic ministry look at the world we're living in today it'll tell you everything you need to know so many opinions coming at us from so many different directions culture speaks to us people speak to us our emotions speak to us our thoughts lie to us even sometimes and then you have the sin nature and then you have the demons of hell everyone speaks they speak through conversations they speak through the spiritual realm they speak through movies and through music and through television broadcast they speak through emotions they speak through situations all of these voices are speaking all of the time and this is why God will send forth a prophetic voice someone who comes in the midst of that chaos a voice that can be heard amidst the noise something that will pierce the chaos of the chatter of this world and of the supernatural cut right to the heart and bring forth a clear coherent compelling and transforming message it pierces right to the heart that's the nature of the prophetic the prophetic is not some vague thing oh let me just kind of hope I get this right just kind of throwing this out here today no the prophetic will be coherent the prophetic will be clear the prophetic will cut right through to the heart now again this doesn't mean that we're always going to prophesy something that's complete this doesn't mean that everything will say we'll give the full picture but what this does mean is that at least the piece that we do give will have some coherency to it's not going to be just some weird mystical gibberish it's going to be something that we can at least say okay I can weigh that I can test that and that's something that at least if it comes up later I'll recognize something that could match with that as opposed to being incoherent guessing the scripture should not be used to justify unclear words prophecy is not esoteric prophecy is not for private interpretation prophecy is not cryptic well in some sense it is I shouldn't have said that it can be cryptic but it will always be coherent now prophecy is not new age guessing yes sometimes what prophets will say will be bizarre like I have friends who prophesy some of the weirdest things like they'll say something but it at least creates a clear image in my head at least it gives me something that can be weighed later I have some very gifted friends who will say something just off the wall strange like I'm like that's just really weird and sure enough like in a week or two with them speaking it it just falls into place and it clicks why because it was coherent enough to be judged and so even though prophets sometimes speak some strange things strange visions strange images and scenarios that's biblical I mean look at what some of the prophets in the Old Testament saw they saw some strange things and the supernatural is by its very nature strange to us if it wasn't strange it would be the natural not the supernatural so so so prophetic words strangeness doesn't disqualify it either and a prophetic words in completeness doesn't disqualify it it is a prophetic words in coherency that disqualifies it as something that God is speaking because the Holy Spirit will always speak with coherency and clarity Hebrews 4 12 says this for the word of God is alive and powerful one of my favorite verses in the Bible it is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword cutting between soul and spirit between joint and marrow it exposes our innermost thoughts and desires guys what does the word say what does the word say the word says that the truth from God divine truth will always divide soul from spirit what is the soul mind will emotions is this just my thought speaking to me or is it God is this is this just my emotions talking to me or is this God is this just my own will speaking to me or is this God the word of God has the power when God speaks there is power to divide and to distinguish between what is divinely spoken and what is of self the word of God divine truth will always help you I shouldn't even say help you that's too I think that's too that that's too soft of a wording the word of God will always absolutely make it plain the distinguishing marks between self and spirit the word of God will divide it completely separates soul and spirit so that you're not left second guessing is this my emotions is this my thoughts is this my own will no that's all soul it will be able to say that soul this is spirit here's what God is saying and that's the type of clarity that the prophetic should bring so if something's not clear or if people are always giving just weird things and to no purpose and that don't ever eventually fulfill purpose because sometimes you know the scripture tells us not to judge a thing too early because we have to watch it unfold but you know sometimes someone will give a prophetic word and it's not quite clear but it's clear enough in that when it is fulfilled you go ah okay that's what that meant but if you're around a prophetic ministry that all it's ever happening is strange things being spoken nothing ever comes to that nothing ever comes to fruition nothing ever is used of that prophetic word to help draw you closer to the Lord or at least to glorify the Lord or at least to give us some insight into the spiritual realm well then it's very likely that that incoherency should be noted as a red flag that you're probably under something that maybe is not healthy now there are degrees of this guys look there are some that are just outright false okay I don't think that's as common as people think it is I think we have a lot of people uh I call them like the tin foil hat Christians they have their spiritual tin foil hats on you know they're watching people closely oh he missed that one verse he said it just a little bit off I'm done if he was really of God if she was really of God they wouldn't have missed that one thing all of us I believe have some correction that we should be receiving in our doctrinal views at some point but but but I'm not talking about that hyper criticism I don't think that as many people that we think are false are actually false I think most of the people we criticize most of the people who where there's some trouble I think it's unhealthy and immature but I wouldn't go far as saying all the time that it's completely demonic and anti-christ that is the case there are some ministries uh or I should call them works there are some works that are so far gone that they are anti-christ you can see right through it it's very new age it's very um it's very anti-christ lacking the message of the gospel and so forth but then there are some who are just maybe they're starting to wander maybe they're starting to go astray or maybe they have some maturing to do so let's give grace what we also judge we test the words of prophecy but we don't despise the words of prophecy let's make sure to keep that biblical spiritual balance so I want to give you some keys that will help you to avoid being under unhealthy um chaotic deceptive ministries that are prophetic and I also want to give you some keys that will help you and your prophetic ministry now let's just be honest these keys can actually apply to any ministry any expression um of the kingdom of god but I will say the kingdom of god that's that's done through us but I will say that that I'm gonna I'm gonna more focus these points on the prophetic ministry because again this is what we're talking about so remember this I want you to write this in the chat connectivity is the key to prophetic purity connectivity is the key to prophetic purity one more time connectivity is the key to prophetic purity what do I mean by that number one you must stay connected with Christ here is a tragedy that I've seen play out over and over and over again with far too many ministries and I'm just so tired of seeing it I'm tired of seeing it it breaks my heart where a ministry Steve you and I were just having this conversation in the car the other day we were talking about the fact that some people just begin so well like like it starts so great grounded in the word they love the holy spirit the gospel is preached there are always flaws there are flaws in my ministry I guarantee you 10 years from now I'm gonna look back at some of the things I say and do and go oh I could have said that a little better I could have said that with a little more clarity or I could have been a little more mature in my approach with that so we're all growing myself included 10 years from now I'll probably cringe at a good percentage of the things I say and do but we're all growing and at least there's that grounding truth that we have in scripture that again acts as the safety net but we were having this conversation in the car and I was talking about the fact that I just noticed some ministries you know over the years that they start so well like there's purity there's passion for the Lord it's all about helping God's people and little by little I see their hearts begin to turn or their doctrine just gets really really weird like like I'm so frustrated that the enemy can work in this way because some people they veer off and then their pride makes them veer off more like like they start well solid doctrine solid truth yeah we don't agree on all points none of us do okay but there's some there's some there's some good foundation there and then I see ministries just veer off into some wild and wacky and weird things and you're going what are you doing stop it you're you're not doing the good you think you're doing and instead of saying you know what you're right they double down they're attacking us because we're the chosen ones and right the pride gets people to double down on it and then they go so extreme that they shrink the reach that God wanted to give them let me let me say something to to to you if you want to be in ministry the the more grounded you are in truth the more accurate you are biblically the wider your reach becomes the weirder and stranger and the the more erroneous you become on your doctrine you begin to narrow who you can reach and so this isn't to say that we should be ashamed of the work of the Holy Spirit by no means am I ashamed of the work of the Holy you know this if you watch my content I'm all about the Holy Spirit but there is something to be said of of of widening your reach by means of biblical accuracy and so I've seen this happen they start well God gives them a solid message a solid area of grace a solid focus and things just start happening and and pride I don't know what it is pride the love of money the love of fanfare the love of being celebrated the love of popularity just slowly causes them to go down this path that just like I can't follow you there and it breaks my heart how many times I've seen this and I've seen this many many many times more times than I wish I had seen it and not saying I'm the standard by any means I watch very closely lest I too tread down that path and so this is what begins to happen they start right they're connected to the Lord there's purity there's power there's passion there's purpose there's this area of focused grace there's an effectiveness they're like a sharp two-edged sword and then something somewhere along the way captures their minds something somewhere along the way causes them to veer off into unbiblical extremes John 15 5 says yes I am the vine you are the branches those who remain in me and I and them will produce much fruit for apart from me you can do nothing like nothing there's nothing you and I can accomplish that's spiritual in nature well I shouldn't say it that way because some things are negative in the spiritual aspect but but there's nothing that you and I can accomplish for the sake of God's glory without being grounded in Christ Jesus Himself and so what begins to happen is people in the prophetic ministry they they again this goes for everyone but I'm focusing this on the prophetic tonight they begin to lose the focus and they stop chasing Jesus they start chasing the prophetic they stop chasing Jesus and they start chasing words and messages and revelation and that very subtle seemingly good focus that subtle shift from the Lord's heart to the Lord's hand is ultimately what produces the chaos and disorder that ultimately overthrows ministries or at least causes their their reach to shrink over time more and more rapidly and it breaks my heart don't let that be you don't let that be you again the question is it Christ centered not is Jesus mentioned from time to time but is the totality of the purpose of that message in ministry in existence to ultimately point to Jesus to ultimately refine the church that we might grow and draw closer to Jesus we can't answer this for others we can answer it only for ourselves and there are fruits that can be displayed I understand that through ministries and expressions that we have to watch for and and keep an eye on look for the fruit of the spirit being displayed look for a life of cleanliness of holiness look for a sharpness of the word and stay focused on Jesus and this this this is dangerous because once you begin to lose that focus first your prayer life goes and your love for the word goes and the moment you notice somebody apathetic toward or dismissive of the word of God danger danger danger danger it is so dangerous once you begin to develop an apathy toward the word of God itself once you become dismissive of it and and now I'm not studying the scripture for a word I'm just going into my own mind and looking for something that's interesting and odd that I might wow the people look true ministers are more interested in imparting than they are in impressing when we minister the goal is not to impress wow look at me the goal is to impart what impart the truth impart the power impart the gifts impart the things of the spirit that glorify God and expand his kingdom and edify the church that is the purpose the moment we take our mind off of Jesus then then we start being dismissive of the word it becomes just an afterthought well I read a scripture because I didn't want to be criticized for not reading scripture and I'm not saying that every sentence you speak has to be directly referenced in the scripture but at least the principles that you're talking about have to be founded upon scripture just on a funny side note I remember somebody criticized one of my like 60 second videos you know those little short reels I do somebody said I don't know about this there's no scripture in it and I'm thinking the irony of them watching a 60 second video and then asking for a scripture being bothered that it doesn't have a scripture well not using scripture in the comment itself I don't know if that's I'll say irony because it's kinder than saying hypocrisy but it was interesting to me so I'm not saying that I'm not getting hyper phariseic and religious on you saying everything you say has to be a direct quote from scripture no but at least what you are saying has to be founded upon the scriptural principles that are given to us by the Holy Spirit through the reading of the word but the moment we shift away from Jesus the moment we're no longer connected to Christ well then we start being passive toward his word don't we there's apathy there's a dismissiveness that comes and we're just like okay well the word is an afterthought and instead of again as I said instead of studying the scripture deeply and accurately and completely and truly and and sincerely we start to look to the scripture as more of a springboard to share our opinions and thoughts and revelations rather than sharing the scripture itself so that's number one stay connected to Christ and a ministry that's not connected to Christ you'll see that you will see a dismissiveness toward the word little scripture here little scripture there now let me use that to share what I think and to back my opinion instead of sharing the word they're using the word to back their opinion number two and this one it's probably going to be a little controversial because I know this is an online ministry and I know a good percentage of you have have have some reservations and some hesitation in regards to attending a local church gathering and I understand that I understand where the reservations come from but biblically speaking we are to gather with one another so number two stay connected to the body no spiritual gift was used or no spiritual gift was meant to be used in isolation first grant the ends chapter 12 verse seven very clearly tells us that we're given a spiritual gift to what to what to edify one another so if I'm not present or connected with a local body of believers how can I edify you with my gift if I'm always isolated from the body there is no such thing as a rogue prophet can I tell you something I've observed that's very unhealthy and here's another red flag for you a very specific one when you see someone going from church to church and never being grounded never finding community never getting close enough to anyone to be held accountable that's a dangerous thing there is no such thing as a New Testament rogue prophet now in the Old Testament there were prophets who were for a season isolated from others because of the nature of the ministry that God had given them to carry out but in the New Testament sense when we speak of the prophetic it's never to be used in isolation it's always to be used in a community of believers so these rogue prophets that go from church to church and never are planted anywhere that's none of God they'll go to the church they test the pastor to see if the pastor will give them expression and if the pastor doesn't give them expression they'll look for new converts to try to get around to say well you know I want to teach you I'm going to disciple you I'm going to connect with you I'm going to help you and what they're trying to do is you serp the influence of the spiritual leader in that house the pastor to gather them around themselves to build their own kingdom to build their own dominion instead of working toward building the kingdom of God and they say come with me and in the moment that the people call them on it they say oh see they're controlling that's how manipulative this can get and so they go from church to church oh the pastor didn't give me influence okay let me find a new convert that I can have some influence over let me start to tell them you know your church isn't really flowing like they should you know your pastor doesn't really operate the prophetic you know your pastor doesn't really demonstrate the supernatural and on a side note can I just say that any ministry that's just constantly criticizing your pastor your pastor doesn't do this your pastor's afraid of that your pastor doesn't address that because this that's another danger because what's happening is they're trying to gather people unto themselves and not unto Jesus that's just a side note of a side note here but I'm talking about these rogue prophets who go from church to church do you know why they don't want to ever get connected because they want to demonstrate the power without demonstrating the character because they want to demonstrate the ministry expression without demonstrating their maturity and they want to have authority without process they want to demonstrate the gift without being acknowledged and released by a local church you should some people say well I'm released by the Lord God gave me the gift and that's all that matters well let's look at what the Bible says 1 Timothy chapter 3 verses 1 through 9 says this this is a trustworthy saying if someone aspires to be a church leader a prophet a prophetic gift is a form of leadership Ephesians chapter 4 read it so this is a trustworthy saying if someone aspires to be a church leader he desires an honorable position so a church leader must be a man whose life is above reproach now how are we supposed to know somebody's life is above reproach if there's no connection with them let's continue to read he must be faithful to his wife or faithful in their marriage he must exercise self-control live wisely and have a good reputation wait a minute how is he supposed to have a good reputation if no one knows who he is he must enjoy having guests in his home and he must be able to teach he must not be a heavy drinker or be violent he must be gentle not quarrelsome and not love money he must manage his own family well having children who respect and obey him for if a man cannot manage his own household how can he take care of God's church a church leader must not be a new believer because he might become proud and the devil would cause him to fall that's another trap I've seen a lot of people who began as new converts without giving the season for the word to be in them and then of course they develop a lot of spiritual pride also people outside the church must speak well of him so that he will not be disgraced and fall into the devil's trap watch this in verse 8 in the same way deacons must be well respected and have integrity they must not be heavy drinkers or dishonest with money they must be committed to the mystery of the faith now revealed and must live with a clear conscience before they are appointed as deacons or leaders or people who have influence in the church before they are appointed as deacons let them be closely examined closely examined by who they're closely examined by the leadership of a local body if they pass the test then let them serve as deacons so when people tell you well you know that church was controlling because they didn't let me flow in my prophetic gift well did you did you allow yourself to become accountable did you connect did you serve or did you just want to arrive and immediately be given the platform without the process questions to ask ourselves how were they supposed to be proven if no one can test them and how can anyone test them if they aren't accountable and how can they be accountable if they aren't known in a local body of believers think of the qualifications of those who were just supposed to wait on tables we see that in Acts chapter 6 just waiting on tables you have Stephen the martyr they appointed him they have to be full of the Holy Spirit men of good reputation and so in doing this they were showing that there was a standard for the people who would even just wait on tables how much more so should there be a proven process that you go through in order to use that prophetic gift now again I know people don't like this particular aspect of it but I can only give you the truth guys I love you too much to tell you a lie that will comfort you and get me lots more clicks and views I love you too much to do that so I'm telling you the truth you are not operating in order profit you may be gifted but if you're not tied to a local church you may be anointed but if you're not committed to serving in a local body of believers then you are out of order if you go just from church to church trying to find influence without first establishing relationship you are out of order if you're trying to gather unto yourself disciples of the house stray them from the vision criticizing the pastor for not being as spiritual and supernatural anointed as powerful and insightful as you you are out of order and if anybody is doing these things and you see it I just showed you from the scripture they are absolutely out of order I know I told you I'd give you direct truth but I have to give this to you why because only in truly maturing can you develop a prophetic expression that will flourish only in maturing and being held accountable and developing relationship and being under spiritual covering only in doing this can you fulfill God's plan you may say well God anointed me I don't need a man well okay God anointed you but he also implemented the church that is God's system for processing now I understand some churches are hyper controlling and I don't recommend being under something like that in fact I have a teaching on this channel where I talk about signs that you're in a cult instead of a church so that's the other end of the extreme but the other side of that the other side of the coin is that there are people who are quite rebellious don't want relationship don't want accountability they just want expression and platform and influence and adoration and praise and accolades they want to be looked to as spiritual they want to be looked to for advice they want to be looked to as deep but they don't want to serve they're out of order so stay connected with Christ stay connected to the body number three stay connected to reality please as I said I have a passion for grounded supernatural demonstrations I believe in and practice prophecy I believe in and practice deliverance I believe in and practice healing I believe in and practice to give the speaking in tongues all of that it's all allowed in our services we we love it but to do these things in a way that isn't biblical is to invite the pain that results from disorder from chaos from doing it outside of God's system like for example the car the car you drive what a wonderful tool what a wonderful way to get around how efficient try using that outside of the bounds of how it was meant to be used you can harm someone run a red light don't actually do it hypothetically speaking if you were to run a red light I gotta clarify that hypothetically speaking if you were to run a red light you could hurt someone you could kill someone does that mean you're not supposed to have the car does that mean that that the car is of no use well you know I have a car I should be able to drive it yes but are you driving it appropriately in the same way you may have a gift you may know someone who has a gift but if it's not being used if those supernatural demonstrations are not happening in the context of biblical boundaries you are in danger there's a reason why when people come to the services that we get to host for the Lord there's a reason why people say things like you know I've never quite sensed the glory resting on this meeting like this I've seen the power I've seen the devil but the and we're not the only ones who have this there are many wonderful ministries I could name who have that glory resting on them so I'll just word it this way the ministries that have that heavy weighty glory that presence on their meetings they are the ones who do things biblically they are the ones who are centered around Christ they are the ones who look to the scripture for guidance in acts of the supernatural there's an elegance to it there's a class to it there's a reverence to it there's a power to it real true power you know in our services when I see people being healed I don't have to lay hands on anyone because I'm first of all I'm not the healer I watch as people get out of their seats people sometimes leaving their wheelchairs their crutches their canes behind their their braces and their their their the things they wear to help keep the body in place to avoid pain they leave it all come up in their healed why that happens in mass why because there's a glory on that meeting during the worship you ever come to one of our services you want to hear people getting delivered there's a moment in the service where the people of God begin speaking in tongues and we begin to worship and if you listen carefully we try to drown this out but if you listen carefully you will hear screams all around the room as people lie on the floor shaking people say David do you practice deliverance I don't see the videos of it that's because it happens in a moment in one moment the Holy Spirit does it and people get delivered from all over and it's lasting permanent doesn't come back again and again we're talking drug addicts getting delivered we're talking people who are bound in the mind with mental illness depression anxiety all of that we see the prophetic we've had prophets come down to our meetings and the prophetic flows why is that why is that it's because God honors those who honor his word you want true power you want true glory to rest on you what good are the gifts without the glory what good is the power without the presence you want that presence that weightiness that peace that joy that sense of goodness to accompany that power and not leave people leaving going that was a little weird something was off but instead to move in the fullness of the demonstration that comes with biblical order that comes with operating in God's authority and operating in God's authority means operating by God's will stay connected to reality stay grounded sometimes people mistake strangeness for depth or detail for depth details that the Bible does not give strangeness that the Bible does not give and we say that's deep we complicate things like prophecy and then refer to our complication as depth you know how simple prophecy is it's as simple as live a clean life know the word walk in the spirit and when God speaks you'll hear him period grounded the simplest the beauty of the simplicity of his word the beauty of the simplicity of obedience let God do the heavy lifting stay grounded in reality look i think sometimes we talk about this reality like it's some evil thing yeah we understand sin enter the world but did not God create this reality listen God the same God who breathed your spirit to life the same God who gave us prophecy and the spiritual gifts the same God who gave us the expressions of the supernatural also gave us brains he also gave us reason and logic we act like reason and logic are the antithesis of everything supernatural reason and logic coincide with the supernatural i don't care what any there's i can do a whole different lesson on that you know why because we misunderstand what logic actually is so we say things like well God does the illogical does he though because it logically follows that if God is loving and kind and powerful that miracles result miracles are not illogical it logically follows that miracles will happen because God is loving and kind and powerful we can go on all day will God bend the laws of physics will God intervene supernaturally in ways that confound our thinking yes but that doesn't mean he violates order that's all logic is it's order and God is a God of order the logos logic he is the foundation of reason so to go veering off into strange things just for the sake of being interesting i i know of people god help us i know of and again nobody you know i would never you know i'm i'm very free of drama and i want to keep it that way but you know there are there's a mentality that says i have to be strange so i can be interesting i have to be bizarre so that i can garner people's interests look we are not here to entertain people we're here to equip them and so as prophets and people who flow in the prophetic we must remain grounded in reality reality of his word the reality of his order the reality of whether the reality of whether or not he's actually speaking to us that comes by again first being connected to Christ so connectivity is the key to prophetic purity number one stay connected to Christ number two stay connected to the body number three stay connected to reality now i want to pray and i want you to begin to pray for god to give you discernment first of all pray that the word that was spoken here would really be planted like a seed that would actually take root in your spirit ask him that you'll do it and then ask him for discernment we're not done here the power of god is flowing even now and i want you to ask him no someone right now was just about to turn this off there was someone watching you were just about to turn this off don't do it god wants to speak to you right now god wants to do something for you allow the holy spirit to take the word and corrects and guide and set you up for a bright future in ministry let's pray right now father we are asking for discernment help us to love reverence and to elevate your word above help us lord to steward well this wonderful beautiful expression that we call prophetic ministry help us to take care of the treasures that you have imparted to us lord we thank you for the gift of prophecy we thank you for the office of the prophets and we acknowledge and we affirm lord that these are for today to help us lord to test the spirits let us not fall to the extremes of cynicism and doubt or lord the other extreme one of disorder chaos let's define that perfect balance give us discernment we want you to say it because i want to talk to you about something important because the reality is our time is running short look around how can we not see the signs nothing that we cling to in this life will matter on the other side of eternity did you hear what i said listen nothing that we cling to in this life will matter on the other side of eternity all that will matter is what we've done for the glory of god and for the sake of souls so i want to invite you to be a part of something that's bigger than all of us i want to invite you to be a part of something that's transforming the world and i don't say that as in a hyperbolic way that that is truth i'm not exaggerating i want to invite you to be a part of something that is changing the world this community of online believers the spirit family there is no community like this online you are the most generous the most active the most responsive community i've ever known and and i thank you for your support but i want to talk to that one who who's not doing their part yet because what we're doing isn't just changing lives it's changing eternities god is looking for a remnant an army of serious of mature of lovers of the word of of deep believers god is looking for that people who are going to get serious about look guys either we believe this or we don't either we're serious about this or we're not and time is running out souls souls hang in the balance so i'm asking you if you're not doing your part do your part there are thousands of believers all around the world many of you watching now who generously support this ministry financially through one time gifts through partnerships and through both but maybe you've been waiting maybe you've been saying i eventually want to start giving but not now no now is the time maybe you're saying well i wanted to give a one time gift but i've been kind of waiting to see look if you're benefiting from this ministry if you're receiving from this ministry if you think this ministry is doing a good work that's transforming lives if you think souls are worthwhile if you think spreading the gospel is worthwhile if you think eternity is worthwhile then do something now demonstrate that faith through action i'm asking everyone watching right now to go right now and give a one time gift or become a monthly supporter supporter or do both by going to david hernan is ministries dot com slash donate give a you can give a one 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centura thank you for becoming a partner francy thank you for becoming a partner eileen thank you for becoming a partner rachel thank you for your gift annette and tanya and anna and verna dino and i see toiski and i also see uh chukwu do obi and also see rosario all of you just became monthly ministry supporters thank you also to do do uh oh i said i said your name tiara for your one time gift and even more it's coming in now as it refreshes i'm clearing all the ones that i saw just now okay here we go some more i also see patricia thank you for becoming a monthly supporter we so appreciate that giving again you can do so right now david hernan is ministries dot com slash donate whether you're watching from youtube or from facebook wherever david hernan is ministries dot com slash donate now if you enjoy this message and i think it was something that's going to help us all to be more discerning when it comes to the prophetic ministry then i know that you will enjoy how to discover and activate the prophetic gift in you it's possible that the prophetic gift is resting dormant and hidden within you so i want to give you simple keys that are applicable that will help you to discover and then activate the prophetic gift in you