HOME MEETINGS
Read and pray: “But Moses said to him, Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them!” (Num. 11:29)
In the previous message we saw that, in order to practice the home meetings, much emphasis must be placed on mutuality and on speaking. In this message we will see how to speak in the home meetings. The matter of speaking is wonderful.
Suppose that among human beings, in human society, there were no speaking. What would that be like? According to history, human culture depends essentially on speaking. Without language and speaking there would be no culture. Without language there is no possibility of any kind of communication.
Recently, I discovered that not only in the New Testament, but also in the Old Testament, God expressed His desire regarding His people. In Numbers 11, Moses received the charge to care for the people of Israel, which numbered almost two million. God told Moses to call seventy elders of their camp and gather them in His tabernacle.
When the elders arrived, the Spirit of God came down upon them, and they all began to prophesy. They began to be prophets who spoke for God (Num. 11:25). Two of them were not among those around the tent. Even they began to speak because the Spirit of the Lord was also upon them.
When Joshua heard this, he was displeased and said, “Moses, my lord, forbid them” (Num. 11:28). Moses answered, “...Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them!” (Num. 11:29). This verse corresponds exactly with Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 14:31: “For you can all prophesy...”.
Obviously, when we say the word prophesy, we understand it to mean to predict, to foretell, to say something before it happens. It is true that prophesy means that. However, in the two biblical languages, Hebrew and Greek, the word prophesy does not specifically mean to predict, but to speak for God.
If someone speaks for himself, this is not prophesying. However, if someone speaks for God, this is prophesying. Not only this, it also means to speak forth God; that is, to speak God from within to without. In this speaking, not only does someone speak for God, but in this kind of divine speaking someone speaks God into others. Someone speaks God to others.
Therefore, prophesying also means foretelling in both Hebrew and Greek, but in the writings of the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, there is very little prediction. In Isaiah, a book of sixty-six chapters, all the predictions and forecasts together amount to the equivalent of one chapter. However, the other sixty-five chapters refer to speaking for God and speaking God.
The same happens in Jeremiah. In the fifty-two chapters of the book of Jeremiah, there is little prediction or forecast. It is the same in Ezekiel and also with the minor prophets. The greatest prophet of the Old Testament was Moses. Moses spoke very much in his five books of the Old Testament, the Pentateuch. In them there are not many predictions. However, most of what Moses spoke or wrote is a speaking for God and speaking God.
If you want to know God, you need to read these five books from Genesis to Deuteronomy. When you read the five books of Moses, you will have the perception that these books speak God into you. In present terms, these books dispense the very God whom they reveal into our inner being. This is not only the speaking for God, but also the speaking God.
In pentecostalism I heard many pentecostal predictions, but I never saw any fulfillment. The so-called forecasts or prognostications in today’s pentecostalism are, for the most part, false. In China, since 1932, I began to study the pentecostal movement. I heard the prophecies and saw what followed them, but I did not see any fulfillment.
Then, twenty-four years ago, I came to this country and was invited to speak in some pentecostal meetings. I saw how they predicted and how nothing happened. They always began their prophecies with “My people, the time is short,” and always ended with “thus says the Lord.”
In their prophecies they never quoted anything from the New Testament. They always quoted some phrases or verses from the Old Testament, mainly from Isaiah. However, in the New Testament, when the Lord Jesus spoke in the four gospels, He never ended His speaking with “thus says the Lord.”
Besides that, in none of Paul’s fourteen epistles did he say, “Thus says the Lord.” Rather, he said: “...I have no commandment of the Lord; but I give my opinion” (1 Cor. 7:25). He did not say “Thus says the Lord,” but wrote “...I give my opinion, as one who has received mercy from the Lord to be faithful.”
Then at the end of 1 Corinthians 7 he said: “...and I think that I also have the Spirit of God.” This means: “even though I told you my opinion, yet I think that I have the Spirit of God.” He did not say “Thus says the Holy Spirit.” In this we see that this type of pentecostal prophecy takes us back to the Old Testament, forgetting what is revealed in the New Testament.
In the New Testament, especially in Paul’s writings in 1 Corinthians 12 and 14, the word prophesy is not used with the intention of predicting. It is used with the intention of speaking for Christ and speaking Christ. In 1 Corinthians 12:3 Paul said: “...no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, Jesus is accursed; and no one can say, Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit.”
To say “Lord Jesus” is to prophesy. It is necessary to join verse 3 of chapter 12 with verse 1 of chapter 14. In 14:1 Paul said: “Pursue love, and desire earnestly the spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.” To prophesy is simply to speak the Lord Jesus, to speak for Jesus, or Christ. This is speaking in the New Testament sense.
Not only in our meetings, but also in our daily living, we must be people who at all times speak Christ, who at all times speak for Christ, and who at all times speak of Christ. If I meet you and I do not speak of Christ, but instead speak about schools, world situations, Taiwan, Hong Kong, your city, and this and that, I am doing what worldly people do.
Wherever we go and whenever we open our mouths, let us speak Christ, speak for Christ, and speak of Christ. In Acts 1:8 the Lord Jesus tells us clearly that we are all His witnesses. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be My witnesses.”
A witness is someone who speaks, and speaks only things concerning the person of whom he is bearing witness. We are His witnesses and we must speak Christ, speak for Him, and speak of Him at every opportunity. When young people visit their grandparents, they should not talk so much about other things. They should speak Christ, speak for Christ, and speak of Christ. This is to prophesy.
I do not believe that we can all prophesy in the sense of foreseeing; I cannot and I do not intend to. But we all can speak; we all can prophesy in the sense of speaking Christ or speaking for Christ. For more than fifty years, I have spoken for Him and spoken of Him directly to others. You also can do this.
Paul said: “You can all prophesy” (1 Cor. 14:31). All of you can speak for Christ, speak of Christ, and speak Christ. Speak Christ every day. Certainly, if you love the Lord, have daily good fellowship with Him, for then you will spontaneously be anointed and filled inwardly. You will be anointed outwardly and filled inwardly. Spontaneously you will have much to say, you will have much to speak.
🌿 Enjoy more:
Hymn: Anelos – “Through Fellowship with Christ”
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