Prophets that Build the House
By Apostle Aje Pelser,
22 May 2011, Harvester Reformational Church, Cape Town
Read Ezekiel chapter 13 with New Testament insight.
In other words, realize that the negative is changed to a positive through Jesus’ work on the cross. God actually reveals through his prophet Ezekiel, the flaws in the false prophets and raises a standard in prophetic work through the rebuke.
For the New Covenant principle that unlocks Old Covenant promises, and turns curses into blessings:
2 Corinthians 1:18
2Co 1:18 But as God is faithful, our word to you was not Yes and No.
2Co 1:19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us—by me, Silvanus, and Timothy—was not Yes and No, but in Him was Yes.
2Co 1:20 For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.
2Co 1:21 Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God,
2Co 1:22 who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.
Read through Ezekiel 13 and let God’s Spirit reveal characteristics of prophets that build Gods house.
A Prophet should Reveal God’s Mind and Heart
“Prophecy against the prophets who prophesy out of their own mind and heart.”
In the New covenant God writes His laws in our hearts and minds by His Spirit.
So when we prophesy God’s words are echoed.
Godly Prophets “Hear the Word of the Lord”
Many prophets today copy other successful prophets and download messages from the internet and then travel around the world saying thus says the Lord. One prophet with a good gift came to our church and told my parents that the glory has departed from the Church and moved to the marketplace. This was actually because a syndicate of businessmen hired him as their prophet for business and supported him financially. When the recession hit and the syndicate suffered, the prophet suddenly was approaching churches again for support. There are prophets that commune with God and speak His counsel.
True Prophets are led by the Spirit
“Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing” (Amplified.)
We learn in Proverbs that a fool vents all his feelings
Pro 29:11 A fool vents all his feelings, But a wise man holds them back.
1Co 14:32 And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.
In fact, those who are led by the Spirit are Sons of God
Rom 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
True prophets are filled with the Holy Spirit that shows them things to come.:
Joh 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come
True Prophets suffered with the People of God
Moses, Elijah, Jeremiah to mention but a few.
They are not foxes that scavenge among the ruins and waste places of church, but they build the walls, lay foundations of the temples, working with the people of God and prophesying to see the building completed, restoring and reforming “spirit and truth” style worship of God in the nation.
Jesus talked about foxes too:
Mat 8:20 And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head."
Jesus was a great example of a prophet too:
Luk 13:31 On that very day some Pharisees came, saying to Him, "Get out and depart from here, for Herod wants to kill You."
Luk 13:32 And He said to them, "Go, tell that fox, 'Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.'
Luk 13:33 Nevertheless I must journey today, tomorrow, and the day following; for it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem.
Luk 13:34 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!
Luk 13:35 See! Your house is left to you desolate; and assuredly, I say to you, you shall not see Me until the time comes when you say, 'BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!' "
Know them by their Fruit
This introduces the concept of how true prophets should be received. If there is a counterfeit R200 note, then there must first have been a true original R200 notes. After all, you don’t get a counterfeit R175 note do you? The devil always has a counterfeit for the real things God has put in place. Our job is to let the Word of God help us discern daily and to operate as fruit inspectors:
Mat 12:33 "Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit.
Mat 12:34 Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
Mat 12:35 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.
True Prophets stand in the gap for their people, their generation, their country, but most importantly for their local church.
“You have not gone up into the gaps or breeches, nor built up the wall for the house of Israel that it might stand in the battle in the day of the Lord.”
Prophecies in the Old testament call for true disciples of Jesus Christ:
Isa 58:12 And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.
John the Baptists cry was to make straight the way (paths) of the Lord.
In Nehemiah,
Ezr 5:2 Then rose up Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and began to build the house of God which is at Jerusalem: and with them were the prophets of God helping them.
Ezr 6:14 And the elders of the Jews builded, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they builded, and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia.
Ezr 6:15 And this house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king.
True prophets are not scared to get their hands dirty while building the spiritual house of God either.
The Spirit of the Lord is raising a standard of the prophetic office, for the sake of the great work awaiting us in this time, so that we can build accurately and prosper.