every one of us have had the experience where oh we just randomly called a friend and come to find out it was the exact moment of Crisis and they needed help and we didn't know I it wasn't this thundering voice it's the subtle leaning into a lifestyle of the presence of God the spirit of God where you think his thoughts you declare his words it's not the strain and the effort of oh trying to hear from God I don't hear well when I try thanks thanks thanks nice to see you good morning still morning I have some very important things love you to read when everybody on Earth everyone on Earth was dead and waiting to enter Heaven God appeared and Saidi want the men to make two lines one line for the men who were true heads of their household and the other line for the men who were dominated by their women I want all the women to report to St Peter soon the women were gone and there were two lines of men the line of the men who were dominated by their wives was 100 miles long and in the line of men who were truly heads of their household there was only one man God said to the long line you men should be ashamed of your El I created you to be the head of your household you've been disobedient have not fulfilled your purpose of all of you there's only one who obeyed learn from him God turned to the one man how did you manage to be the only one in this line the man replied my wife told me to stand here [Applause] [Laughter] I have another one a boss was complaining in a staff meeting the other day he wasn't getting any respect later that morning he went out and got a small sign that read I'm the boss he taped it to his office door later that day when he returned from lunch he found that someone had taped a note to the sign that said your wife called she wants you to bring her sign [Applause] [Laughter] back one [Applause] more a man is talking to his wife he says I'm the man of this house starting tomorrow I want you to have a hot delicious meal ready for me the second I walk through the door afterwards while watching ESPN relaxing in my chair bring my slippers and then run my bath she sat patiently listening and he went on he says and when I'm done with my bath guess who's going to dress me and comb my hair she responded the funeral director [Applause] [Laughter] that's that's funny that's funny why don't uh grab your Bibles open to the Book of Numbers we have uh several portions of scripture we're going to read today I want to talk to you about the prophetic and which I I don't do hardly ever anymore I don't need to Chris covers it so well but I just uh I was thinking about it uh Chris has his prophetic school school this week and and uh he's just the best equipper in the prophetic of anybody I've ever met and uh so how many of you are here for the prophetic school put your hands up oh super welcome welcome welcome I met I met some of you at the airport yesterday I flew in from Orlando and and always if I fly home on a Friday or Saturday uh flying into uh into reading uh from San Francisco I always meet a number of people on the plane that are coming here for something especially if we have a school or a conference and so it's always was fun fun to fun to see you at the at the airport have people stare at you it's always [Laughter] beautiful so anyway uh this is going to be an incredible week uh prophetic training but I want to talk to you um and here's here's the thing that I want to address and we'll look at the scripture to to establish this uh this theme but every believer has actually been called called by the Lord to live in and function in the prophetic it is the call of every believer um there is a difference between the prophetic anointing operating in the Pro prophetic and being a prophet a prophet is an office I'm not talking about that at all uh if if you happen to be one just don't print out a business card or when you hand me one I will laugh at you I I don't mind people knowing their titles and and stuff but you know please I you know here's a great example John the Baptist John the Baptist Jesus called him the greatest of all Old Testament prophets and somebody came to John and asked him are you the coming prophet because the Bible talks about a major prophetic Ministry that would exist in the last days and they asked John are You The Coming Prophet John said nope it's not me so they went to Jesus and asked Jesus and Jesus said yep that's him that's fascinating that you could have the most significant prophetic role in history not know your title but know your function function is more important than how people recognize you he was able to say I am a voice in the wilderness this is who I am and uh so don't I'm okay with I'm okay with the title but just don't make that don't make that your deal otherwise I will quietly laugh and you don't want that I know so all right numbers 11 let's let's get into the word here uh verse 24 we're going to read a number of verses here verse 24 Moses went out told the people the words of the Lord he gathered 70 men of the Elders of the people placed them around the Tabernacle the Tabernacle is where the presence of God was was manifest so they surrounded the presence the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him and took the spirit that was upon him and placed the same upon the 70 uh the 70 elders and it happened when the spirit rested upon them they prophesied although they never did so again verse 26 six two men had remained in the camp the name of one was lad the name of the other was mad which I don't know I I always stop at this point just to consider what it would be like to have be two brothers with those names L dad and me dead I have nothing to say the spirit rested upon them and now uh they were among those listed but who had not gone out to the tab Tabernacle yet they prophesied let me read that again I it was too spotty the two men remained in the camp one elad the other mad the spirit rested upon them now they were among those listed but who had not gone to the Tabernacle yet they prophesied in the camp let me stop there just for a moment I love this part of the story um because it shows it shows what happens when you are Covenant related and connected to other people is you actually receive re what they receive there's an inheritance that is actually not just given to individuals but is actually given to families we've got 70 guys surrounding the Tabernacle there's two that for some reason didn't get the memo they didn't show up the spirit of God falls upon the 70 they begin to prophesy and yet back at Camp simultaneously these two guys began to prophesy under the same anointing why I don't understand how this work works but I love that it does the fact that you can be in relationship with people and when they get a breakthrough their breakthrough is yours it's you can you can live you can live in drought conditions and think it's normal you can move to reading when if we have 10 inches of rain a year and when it's raining you think this isn't a drop it's raining but we actually need 35 to 40 Ines a year to keep all of our vegetation our trees everything alive and healthy so if you live here during if you come here when we at 10 inches a year because it's drought you may think that that's normal but what you don't know is that when you're in Covenant normal is 35 to 40 inches of rain a year the point is there are things that you get in Covenant with people that you can't ever access when you're independent and on your own and even though you think it's full it's not full it's not near what it could be there's something about connecting with people in accountability in relationship in pursuit of the same things something happens uh Tom Jones uh Randy Clark's right-hand guy had a a real stunning and bizarre encounter with the Lord in Brazil a number of years ago if I remember right it lasted all night long it certainly lasted a very very long time and it was one of those kinds that are written about in scripture I mean it was it was extreme forever changed his life unknown to him at the exact same time while he's in Brazil having this encounter with the Lord his wife is driving down the freeway I believe in Florida and she has to pull off to the side of the road because she simultaneously is having the same encounter with the Lord she has to pull off of the road because of this encounter what's happening that's that's the benefit and the purpose of relationship it doesn't give us the liberty to withdraw and to be careless and not associating but it does mean that for the spouse of the student in school of ministry that isn't able to attend the meetings something happening in your life that is equal to the one who sits in the class every day receiving the impartation prayer there's something about the relationship that makes you qualifies you to receive the same thing even though you're not in the room verse 29 and Moses said to them are you zealous for my sake I'm sorry verse 28 Joshua the son of nun Moses assistant one of the choice men answered and said Moses my Lord forbid them make them stop prophesying Moses said to him are you zealous for my sake it's another way of saying it's not about me well they're crowding in on my gift it's not about you is that the Lord is represented well in powerfully anointed people and whether it's your time to stand on the stage or it's somebody else's or it's your moment to lay hands on the person or you're the support person for somebody else it doesn't matter as long as the function gets done as long as the miracle takes place as long as the Breakthrough comes as long as God is exalted the tools that he uses will always vary and we celebrate that God is being exalted through his means not that we got to be at the center of the story Moses says are you zealous for my sake oh that the Lord's people oh that all the Lord's people were prophets and the Lord would put his Spirit upon them here's something to recognize in the Old Testament whenever you see somebody where the spirit of God comes upon them it is almost always if not always evident in them speaking the word of the Lord the prophetic comes through them in other words the sign of the fullness of the spirit of God on a person's life in Old Testament context was prophecy I think it's for that reason Paul when he talks about the gifts of the Spirit he says lustfully pursue all the gifts but especially that you may prophesy if you were raised in church you probably have a picture of the prophetic as that which happens during a meeting but I don't think that that's any any more than 5% of the prophetic and I think it's actually less than that the prophetic is a way that we function it's a way that we think it's a way that we see it's the way that we communicate to people it doesn't need to proceed or end with thus sayith the Lord it is speaking a timely word in a given situation and if the word is from him it will bear fruit in their life and they in turn will give God the glory it it doesn't have to come with religious trappings it just needs to be released when we release the word of the Lord it alters and changes environments and we are in a a a season where we need desperately prophetic people to bring Clarity to what's happening in the world we we need it desperately because both the political spirit and religious spirit are vying for your affections and whenever whenever there's influence from either of those two Realms there there is a um the word of the Lord becomes diluted and distorted and the Lord is wanting a clear word a precise word an empowering word to come to the cities and to the nations of the world we are being lied to every day of our life every day of our life if you have anything to do in media you're being fed a bill of goods every day of your life but very little of it is intentional deception most of it is agenda driven and when you're driven by an agenda that's wrong you reinterpret circumstance ances incorrectly I I've got to be careful here but just a little bit years ago a Satanist was converted and a pastor was giving him fair amount of money every month and uh a news organization found out did some research found out he was giving him money so they did a big expose to show that the pastor was funding this guy to keep his story alive that he was an ex Satanist that was converted and then they reported that he lived in a condo old overlooking a golf course drove Lincoln Continental all those things were true but they aren't true at all they were true in that the pastor was giving him a large amount of money but it was to pay for the counseling that he needed because of the abusive environment that he grew up in he was paying for his counseling the condo overlooking the golf course was actually an apartment the golf course was a miniature golf course and the Lincoln Continental was an old Lincoln covered with bumper stickers it was true but it wasn't and here's what happens is the both a religious spirit and political Spirit want to impart the gift of Suspicion because that reinterprets circum cumstances and it causes a spirit of offense to rise up that mirrors the prophetic anointing it's a counterfeit prophetic anointing when you arise in a spirit of offense it counterfeits prophetic anointing you have the same you have the burning conviction you have the sense that something needs to be done something needs to be said but not recognizing that the origin of the information is actually the spirit of deception [Applause] the gift of Suspicion gets imparted you can hear information and be righteously stirred up not realizing you were given wrong information even though your conviction is correct and whatever you what do they say whatever you misdiagnose you will mistreat I have people I I have experiences now and then that uh I don't never bring to you but I get off the airport off off the airplane here in reading and somebody's just standing there just cursing me Christian curses of course cursing me why well probably they believed something they saw on YouTube or they believed a bad report from somebody there's never been dialogue is their conviction correct it probably is it's just their information is wrong does that make sense I I I I look at them and I see they have a conviction for the Lord they are making what they think is a righteous stand but somebody fed them a lie that they believed wow or they just don't like me could be that too I don't [Applause] know can't be that never mind yeah impossible impossible so you get the point the the point is is that to be a prophetically Discerning people we have to be able to recognize the difference between the true prophetic anointing and the counterfeit which is suspicious it's agender driven and it moves in the spirit of offense is one of the biggest challenges in life is to not pick up the offenses of the people you love and serve it's really hard it's really hard if you give yourself to the poor it's very hard to not be offended at the rich if you have been called to serve the wealthy it's very hard to serve them well without being offended at those who don't work if you minister to college students it's very difficult for you to minister to them without being offended at conservative political group if you minister to the old very hard for you to do that well without being offended at the Young the list goes on and on and on if you minister to the Native Americans First Nations people it's very hard to do that well without picking up an offense towards those who have obviously mistreated them the point is is your Effectiveness and my Effectiveness is in some way restrained and restricted by how well can we serve people and love them well and bring the word of the Lord for this moment for their benefit not ours not for our agenda not for our identity for their benefit entirely without picking up any offense that they may have and the depth at which we get to go in the anointing to impact the course of history and affect culture is in many ways determined by how well we can navigate this thing without being offended that's the truth Isaiah 59 we got three more verses so hold tight here Isaiah 59 we'll do the next two real quick so get your gospel track shoes on and let's let's fly Isaiah 59 Isaiah 60 is is many of if you've been here a while you know that it's one of my most favorite chapters because it changed my life uh arise Shine Your Light has come that whole passage I believe with all of my heart is a prophetic word for the church right now um but preceding that the last verse of chapter 59 sets the stage look at why verse 21 of Isaiah 59 as for me says the Lord this is my Covenant with them my spirit who is upon you and my words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth nor from the mouth of your descendants nor from the mouth of your descendants descendants says the Lord from this time and forever please notice again the correlation between the spirit of God coming upon people and the word of the Lord being in their mouth the evidence that the spirit of God is resting upon us as a people as a tribe as a family must be you know how much I love the healing the Miracles the Deliverance all those things it must be that from our mouth comes the word of the Lord Jesus set a standard when he said I only say What I Hear My Father say think about this if there's anybody that ever walked the Earth that probably would have some pretty good ideas on his own it would probably be Jesus but he was unwilling to come up with anything of his own the Gospel of John says he who speaks from himself seeks his own Glory he who speaks from himself in other words it all originates with me seeks his own glory in other words us un unwilling to tap into what the father is saying is a subtle way to move into self-promotion Acts chapter 3 another real quick one you guys all right I hope so Acts chapter 3 this a great uh great prophetic Passage after the outpouring of the spirit in chapter 2 verse 24 says yes all the prophets from Samuel and those who follow as many as have spoken have also foretold these days you are the sons of the prophets of the Covenant which God made with our fathers saying to Abraham and in your seed all the families of the Earth shall be blessed verse 25 again you are the sons of the prophets and of the Covenant which God made with our father saying to Abraham in your seed all the families of the Earth shall be blessed this passage Isaiah 59 was a passage given to the nation of Israel but prophetically foretold the nation of the redeemed which is the church all right but this one is clearly to the body of Christ if you miss 59 this one for certain is to the body of Christ in which he says you are the sons of the prophets you are the daughters of the prophets why is that important because of the Covenant established that I will put my word in your mouth in your descendants mouth and in your descendants descendants mouth the whole point is is that a distinguishing feature of being in the tribe of God who is carrying his heartbeat into the Earth as it he has put his Spirit Upon Us manifested by every generation being able to carry and declare the word of the Lord Acts chapter 3 says you you're the sons you're the daughters of the prophet in other words you have an inheritance it's important for us to know what inheritance is it's important for us to discover what God says about us because you're not going to write a check if you don't think you have the money in the bank you're not going to withdraw from Identity if you don't realize it exists you're not going to live from something that is far above everything you could imagine unless he reveals that's who you are once you realize who you are your posture changes it's not arrogant it's not self-centered it's not not even self-confidence it's a confidence in who God has pronounced you to be and God says you are the sons the daughters of the prophets because of that you're in line for an inheritance to carry the spirit of God and the word of the Lord they are one and the same Jesus is the word made flesh so the presence of God is the same as the voice of God whenever you sense the presence the voice is in in the presence whenever you hear the voice The Voice represents the face now we'll leave that there all right now let's get back to the verse I really want Isaiah 51 go to Isaiah 51 and we'll spend our remaining time in this uh kind of an abstract uh portion of scripture there's a little bit of difference uh again between I have new King James and New American Standard and I I've tried to to study both to make sure that that what I'm going to emphasize is accurate and uh and I do believe with all of my heart that it is all right so I'm going to read out of the new King James and then I'll I'll make reference to a couple words all right Isaiah 51 verse 12 I even I am he who comforts you who are you that you should be afraid perhaps you didn't catch that the Lord shows up and says I even I am the Lord who comforts you who do you think you are being afraid now when I'm fearful I want Papa God to come and cuddle me massage my shoulders soothe me tell me it's going to be okay I'm going to go before you I'm going to drive out the enemy forces I'm going to protect you but in this particular case he chose not to do that he said I even I am the one who comforts you who do you think you are being afraid what right do you have to be afraid that may not be the way you want to hear it but sometimes it's the way he delivers it yeah yeah this is a this is a perhaps an offensive thought but I want you to think it through if I become inward if I become internal all wrapped up and oh no this is going on this is going on my life this is happening that's I am going to end up in fear fear sometimes is the expression of selfishness because it has lost a glimpse of the one who spread out the heavens the one who spread out the heavens he reveals himself in this passage as the one who gives comfort in other words I have to lose sight of him to become fearful here let's read it again verse 12 I even I am he who comforts you who are you you that you should be afraid of a man who will die of the son of men who will be made like grass what is he dealing with here he's confronting the fear of man I have people come to me if I ever talk about this subject people will line up and ask me to pray for them to be freed from the fear of men which I I do but there is one basic cure for the fear of man it's called the fear of God yeah you can't fear both and forgive me for repeat but people will say well there's no fear in love how can I love God and fear Him you must not be married that's that's all I've got to say about that whoever whoever made up that one is obviously single that's all I got to say and all the married men said amen all right first 12 let's do it again she told me to stand in that [Laughter] line there it is I didn't even realize my jokes were prophetic this morning I didn't even realize but they are see verse 12 I even I am he who comforts you who are you that you should be afraid of a man who will die of the son of man of a man who will be made like grass and you forget the Lord your maker who stretched out the heavens who laid the foundations of the earth you have feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor when he has prepared to destroy and where is the fury of the the oppressor do do you get a feel for what he's saying here you you you're afraid of whoever put someone in the blank you're afraid of them you had to exchange a fear of them you replace the fear of God with fearing a person repent I mean the really is it it's just repent con confess the sin of the fear of man I'm not trying to do shame guilt uh you know I'm not I'm not interested in that but I am interested in people being free from the fear of men yeah and turning from the fear of man to the fear of God is just it's just a short step yeah that's just a short step you turn from one to the other and here's what he says following this is actually where I wanted to go so verse um verse 15 says I am the Lord your God who divided the sea whose waves roared the Lord of hosts is his name verse 16 and I have put my words in your mouth I have covered you with the shadow of my hand that I may plant the heavens and lay the foundation of the earth and say to Zion you and my people listen carefully to this I've I've put my spirit upon you I've put my words in your mouth I've put my spirit upon you I've covered you with my hand yeah this is this is interesting the Lord protects What He blesses do you remember this passage it says and his favor surrounds me like a shield that's because he protects What He blesses he doesn't bless and then leave it to be devoured opposite He blesses and then he surrounds with protection so here we have the Lord saying all right I'm the one who put my word in your mouth and what did he do then I put my hand over you I've covered you with a shadow of my hand that I may plant the heavens lay the foundation of the earth and say to Zion You Are My People New American Standard says to establish the heavens the word establish there I looked it up in the New American Standard Study Bible to establish the heavens actually means to plant so I want you to think with me I put my words in your mouth I've covered you with the shadow of my hand because I want through you to plant the heavens and build solid foundations on the earth this is an Old Testament warmup for yes on Earth as it is in heaven he's he's revealing process he's revealing the tool that he uses to release the reality of one world to rest upon the reality of another he says I'm going to build strong foundations here and then I'm going to plant that world where there's strong foundations how is it done through decree I have put my words in your mouth I've covered you with the shadow of my hand that I may plant the heavens lay the foundations of the earth and say to Zion You Are My People Moses interceded oh that all God's people were Prophets Jesus talked about the prophets and the spiritual fathers of the Old Testament they'll long to see what we see I'd like to suggest to you that out of the ache of his heart Moses was prophesying about the day that you and I live in where all the people of God would be carrying prophetic anointing that is not number one self serving number two it is not to expose and tear down in this hour it is to call out Destiny we've watched this now for years where somebody will be caught up in a lie maybe they believed about their their whole life in fact we see this happen often now to people who don't even know the Lord they don't even know the Lord and one of you will come along and and just call out the gold in their life and it completely changes them it changes their entire life why because they've got this they've got this lie that they bought into for a lifetime and somebody comes with one word of Truth and it completely changes their identity where they start living from a different place they start they move into they repent they turn from this under this embracing what God has said about them every person in this room the Lord has declared strong things powerful things positive things corrective things adjusting words all these things have been declared over every one of us and when we we hear them when we embrace them they Empower us to make changes that are impossible otherwise and the Lord is inviting us into being a people that hear the voice of the Lord if there's anything that has mocked in the Earth right now is that you could actually hear God's voice it's mocked it's mocked openly it's mocked and I believe simply lean leaning in every one of us have had the experience where oh we just randomly called a friend and come to find out it was the exact moment of Crisis and they needed help and we didn't know I it wasn't this thundering voice it wasn't Bill call this number you know it wasn't that thing wasn't a number appears on the wall and you punch that number out and you talk to it's not that it's not that it's the subtle leaning into a lifestyle of the presence of God the spirit of God and you find yourself day after day after day bringing the word of the Lord where till it becomes a lifestyle where you think his thoughts you declare his words and it's not it's not the strain and the effort of oh trying to hear from God I don't hear well when I try I don't I don't hear I don't hear good at all when I try you know what I do it sometimes in healing meetings when I when I'm in other places sometimes we're in a healing meeting during worship I will sneak around and find people that need a miracle and pray for them then because I know that if we wait till the official time to be healed they'll try too hard and faith is not does not become effort evident through effort hearing from God does not come through effort it comes through surrender faith is the product of yielded it's not the product of I'm I'm determined to live for the glory of God yeah sweat all you want soon as you get exhausted you'll hear from God soon as you finally say I'm done then he speaks why because if he speaks when you are striving with effort he will only reaffirm flesh in carnality and not the genuiness of who you are in Christ so let me read this verse again it says I've put my words in your mouth I've covered you with the shadow of my hand that I might plant the heavens and lay found foundations on the earth and say to Zion You Are My People I I didn't prepare ahead of time to find this verse and I apologize for that but there's a great verse in job where job talks about him declar claring a word and it puts a mark on someone for God to strike it's like it's like he throws out the word and the Lord is attracted to that word it's actually the concept that we find in Ephesians 4 where he says let no unh wholesome word proceed from your mouth which is a great standard for all prophetic people let no unh wholesome word proceed from your mouth but only a word that's good for edification according to the need of the moment that it might give Grace to those who hear what is Grace is divine favor think with me only speak edifying words that it might give Grace what is Grace Divine favor you choose who to encourage and your word of encourage is something that God approves of and he pours favor into the person you've chosen to encourage Grace it's the same concept you put the word there you come to somebody you do business with a neighbor you just go over you just encourage them you just give them an encouraging word you just tell them this is what I see God doing in your life it's a beautiful thing or I just want to encourage you you're so gifted in this area what are you doing you're just planting a word and God is going put favor right there put Grace right there pour the grace in right there why because one of my own distributed a word of encouragement there I've got to back it up why don't you stand you know how we started the prophetic in Weaverville years ago there was no zero prophetic zero there wasn't a prophetic Mouse there wasn't a prophetic flea it was Zero when we moved there so I'd get men sit around a table and I'd turn to the one on my right I'd say if Jesus were to walk in the room right now what do you think he'd say and they go I think he'd say I'd go to the next one go all the way around the room and after we got all the way around the room I'd say do you realize that you all just prophesy and they go H is that easy see when you strive is when you miss it it's when you're relaxing who you are abiding in presence abiding in his voice it becomes very natural to speak words that are lifegiving put your hands in front of you let me pray for this prophetic anointing to be released Lord I do pray for that I pray that you would increase the mantle of the prophetic God help us help us help us help us help us help us to keep it pure to keep it real but to serve our city well thank you amen okay if you'd hold your places for just a moment I know in a crowd the size we always have people who who don't know the Lord and if there's anyone here today that would just say Bill I don't want to leave this place until I know that I am right with God until I know that I've been forgiven of sin and brought into his personal family if you if you would be willing to say that that I want you just to put your hand up where you are because we're going to we're just going to pray just put your hand right here we have one anybody else just put your hand up real quick another one back here just say Bill I don't want to leave till I know till I know I'm right with God I know we have yeah we have two overflow rooms as well uh for those in the Overflow rooms um do the same thing um in fact this is what I want to say the two that put your hands if you just come right down over here and if there's any others come quickly over here we have some people that we know and love and trust that are going to pray for you I need our freedom team down here here and if you're in uh one of the other two overflow rooms please just make your way from there to here right now and we've got a a group of people that are going to going to pray for you all right this is the most important thing that's happened all day is right here this is the most times sensitive issue of the day is right here so we're going to pray that the Lord would touch them so deeply and so profoundly I need some more of our uh Freedom team down here also I want to have our ministry team come to the front if everyone else could hold your place for just a moment this does help us out uh we we want to open it up for people to receive the miracle in your body miracle in your life it's just it's just become normal for Jesus to touch and heal people so we encourage you come be a part of that and B why don't you explain what to do and how to do it all right