Span-04 Apostolic & Prophetic Foundations 1 of 8 — Art Katz

The Prophetic Calling and the Church’s Foundation

I hope you'll approve, because it's absolutely essential for the Church and for the servants of the Church in the last days. The prophetic calling. What is a prophet? How essential are they? Are they merely an historic relic?

Or a present phenomenon?

Is the Church still built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets? Or are the Old Testament prophets finished?

We cannot expect their kind again. Many segments of the Church feel that. That was a phenomenon for its time. And now we have the canon of Scripture and the prophetic books. But we must not expect to experience the prophetic man.

But Jesus seemed to indicate that Elijah must come.

That there's a prophetic forerunner for the coming of the Lord.

Both for his first advent and his second advent. And the last statement of the last book of the Old Testament, the book of Malachi, says in verse 5, And behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the world.

And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers.

What a statement. It seems very clear. It seems very clear that Elijah must come. And if he does not come and perform his distinctive function, that has to do somehow with reconciliation, fathers and sons, whatever that means, there will be a judgment.

So there's some speculation about what does that mean, fathers and sons. I don't know if it's true in Latin America, but certainly in North America,.

We have what we call the generational gap.

We have what we call the generational gap, as it has never been known before. There's a friction between fathers and sons. Lack of understanding.

Lack of sympathy. A real race of disjunction.

There's a separation, disconjunction, that causes too much friction. Maybe it's the spirit of the age. And we'll have a world experience.

I think it's true already in all the Western world.

I think it's true already in all the Western world. A clear friction between fathers and sons. And it's something that I experience myself, with my own sons, who are affected by the spirit of the age.

We are another generation. And change has taken place so radically and so rapidly, that they have another mentality, another perceiving, another value system, that puts us into a necessary conflict. That may be one of the meanings, but not the whole meaning.

We may need to be reconciled with the fathers of an earlier time. We may need to be reconciled with the fathers of an earlier time. That the Church itself is out of sync with its historic antecedents.

That we have not understood the unbroken continuum of the faith. That the function of the prophet is to bring us into a living connection with that which has preceded us. Because a prophet has this kind of consciousness.

He's not just the man of the moment. He's the man of all moments. The historic past is alive in him. The patriarchs and the fathers of the faith. He is their product. He is the man who profoundly foresees the future.

He exhorts the Church toward that end. He stands between the past and the future. And he can reconcile us. To both ends.

Elijah, Moses, and the Prophetic Witness

So I wanted today to begin with Elijah.

Of all the prophets, it was Elijah who was found with Moses, with Jesus on the mouth of Christ. It was Elijah who was found with Moses and Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. Not Isaiah. Even though he was the great prince of the prophets.

More than 60 chapters of the Old Testament. Full of the splendor of his poetic writings. They were literary men. They had an uncommon facility with words.

A few words were required to stand for much.

And in that I have given you a definition of poetry. Of course you are too spiritual to consider poetry. That is mundane. But remember what Paul said when he arrived in Athens to the Areopagus? He said, as even your own poets have said.

He had a familiarity with Greek poetry. He was not a narrow-minded man who walked on spiritual rags. Walking like he was walking on eggshells, lifting his pants. He was a man with a total order. And it is an inspiration for us.

We should be familiar with the breadth of the culture in which God has placed us. We don't have to subscribe to it. But certainly we should be familiar with it. Because we have to address our own generation with words that would be appropriate for their understanding.

We are in the world, but we are not of the world. So Elijah is the thing in itself. The ultimate prophet. And the prophet of the wilderness. In the tradition of John the Baptist. And God says that Elijah must return.

Elijah must come. And what is the rest of that statement? You tell me. He must come and do what? Are you ready for this great word? I'm drooling just thinking about it. He must come to restore all things.

Look, you better get used to me. Because I drool a lot. I wheeze a lot. I run out of air very soon. I have to be cleaning the saliva from my chin. Because we are not handling something antiseptic here.

Clinically correct. This is life. And it came out of the blood.

Elijah as a Man of Flesh and Blood

What does the book of James tell us about Elijah?

A man of flesh and blood like all of us.

Would you rather see them in some saintly and idealistic mode?

Men who don't sweat. Suffer any of the other infirmities of humanity. A man of flesh and blood like all of us. But Elijah prayed earnestly and it did not rain for three and a half years. His prayers and his words were the ones that brought judgment on Israel.

And he was a man like us. If the Lord gives us the time, or if we have extra sessions, up to the late hours of the night. We could also talk about Ezekiel. And the phrase that God uses with him continuously.

Son of man. Son of man. Son of man. Son of man. Son of man. Son of man. Son of man. Son of man. Who me? You mean me? I'm just a son of man. But you're a prophet. And this is the genius of what it means to be a prophet.

Flesh and blood like us. But they speak for God. As God. They're not giving an opinion. Or a teaching. They are speaking for God. As God.

It shall not rain nor dew. But according to my word. Let that sink deeply into your ears. This is the genius of the faith itself. For if our faith is not a prophetic faith. Neither is it a biblical faith.

Are you ready for this one? If our church itself is not prophetic.

Neither is it a church. Neither is it a church. Oh brother. This is more than a service schedule. As good as they may be. God intends the church to be a prophetic entity. In all the earth. And in every location.

And the church is. God's prophetic witness. God's prophetic statement. God's prophetic presence. By being the church itself. In its own character.

As a body. Do you see how important our time together is?

This is not just an interesting excursion into the past.

It's the most vital examination of the church of the last days. Which must come into all the fullness of God's image.

And of which God says that its foundation is the apostles and the prophets. Do you know that scripture? I think it's in Ephesians. The church is built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets.

Get the copies of the messages that were just given in these last few days at the conference. Each one was a statement on the apostolic foundation. And now in these days. We shall discuss the prophetic foundation.

Or the church is not the church.

Don't have some shallow and inadequate view of the church.

But to Him be glory in the church. By Christ Jesus. World without end. The church is the eternal masterpiece of God. No, it's for Him. For glory. World without end. To be a worship leader. Or a youth pastor.

One day to become a senior. Or an evangelist. Alone. To destroy the church. To destroy the church. To destroy the church. To destroy the church. To destroy the church. Because of our shallow ambition.

For not having understood. That for Him be glory. And there will be no glory. If it has not these foundations. Apostolic and prophetic. Brother, could you define that? No, not in four days. Maybe not in 40 days.

Maybe not ever. We're talking about great concepts that do not lend themselves to facile definitions.

These are not meanings that we can define.

They are meanings that need to be apprehended.

This will call for the best of what you are able to do,.

An apprehension of these great truths.

And you'll know that you have it not when you pass the test,.

But when the saliva runs in your mouth.

Guarding the Meaning of Prophetic and Apostolic

Prophetic. Apostolic. Two great words. You know one of the functions of the prophet? It's to guard language itself. And the primacy of words. And the sacrament of speaking. The prophet is the man of the word.

And he's jealous for words.

And their meaning, which has been reduced in modern times.

Bless you brother. Bless, bless, bless, bless, bless.

We've lost the value of what blessing means. That's a tragedy.

That we cannot bless one another. Because the word has lost its currency.

And its meaning. By too frequent usage. Without comprehension. Without reverence. Because there were no prophets in our midst. To cry out against the abuse.

Of that shallow use of words.

The prophet is the guardian of the faith. And of truth. And of the words of truth. And I'll tell you this, children. If we lose the meaning of these two words, prophetic, apostolic, we've lost the game.

We've been condemned to see a church as merely an institution.

A form of religious culture. That might bring some benefit to some. But cannot be a glory unto him. Hey, there's another great word. Glory. Unto him be glory in the church? How shall we jealously stand for the church?

And its ultimate purpose for him?

If we don't know what glory is. If we don't know what glory is. Where do we go for the definition?

The same place that we go for the definition of apostle and prophet.

It's a word that needs to be apprehended.

May it apprehend us. And in the day that it will,.

We will be ruined. Totally ruined. For anything less or other than the glory of God, it will make you insane.

And a fool for Christ's sake. You'll hear yourself saying and doing things that will offend many.

That's not polite. That scandalizes the congregation.

Because of your insane jealousy for the glory of God. I think we saw a little of that yesterday. Are you following me? Not bad so far. And I don't even have a note. Where's this coming from? It's sort of divinely ordered.

It's like something being unfolded. Indeed it is. We're not only talking about the prophetic phenomenon. We are experiencing it. It's being demonstrated right before our faces.

You're privileged.

Personal Prophecy and the True Prophet

And yet you know what the remarkable thing is? There's no word more presently being cheapened than prophetic. In my part of the world,.

Everyone's running after the prophets. Nothing more popular, more instant, than today's prophets. Overnight successes. People travel great distances. If only they could hear a word from the prophet.

What kind of a word? A personal word. The Lord has a destiny for you. You're going to become this or that or the other. It knows about your health. Personal prophecy. That people will run all lengths to hear.

About themselves. How gratifying. That God really knows me. Has a purpose for me. Knows where I live. And He knows that my Aunt Susie has a certain sickness. But of course she will be healed. Because all these prophecies are always consistently positive.

Pleasing to hear. Never troubling. Never speak about judgment.

Never speak about judgment as the true prophet.

Invariably. As His very first message. Who was Israel's first prophet? Although Abraham himself was. But for the nation? Samuel. Remember that his mother who had been barren? Gave him over to the priest Eli?

She gave him to the Lord. From his earliest childhood. He lay before the eternal light of God. And one night he heard his name called. Samuel. So he came running to the old man. He was a servant. That's what a prophet is.

Did you call me? No, no, no. It wasn't me. Go back to that. Again the voice came. He came running again to the old man. Did you call me? No, no. But if the voice calls you again.

Let him know that you are hearing. Speak Lord. For your servant is hearing. And the voice came again. It was God.

Speaking to a child. But when the child heard the word of God. And did the word of God. He became a man. He became of age. In the hearing and the speaking. And so also will you. So also will the church itself.

When it hears the word of God. As the word of judgment. And will receive it. And communicate it.

The church will have come of age.

It's the absence of judgment that disfigures the church. It's not a pleasant subject. We don't want to hear it. It's fearful to consider.

We want to believe that this is the best of all possible worlds. And if it's not the best, it can become better. We don't want to think that the world is under judgment. Let alone speak that to men. Who have no such anticipation.

And need to be warned. That is the prophetic function.

Samuel and the Word of Judgment

Do you want to be one? Or do you prefer now to be an evangelist? I think I'll be a teacher.

A worship leader. I don't want to bring the word of God's judgment.

To my nation. Let alone to my church.

Where judgment begins. In the house of God. So calling. So in the morning, Eli said to the young Samuel. Samuel, what did God say? He told him the whole word of God. Withholding nothing. Though it was a word of judgment for Eli himself.

And his sons. And his priesthood. Let it be unto me. According to Eli. Samuel did not withhold God's word. He did not allow a syllable to fall to the ground.

So God honored his words. And the word of the Lord came to this world. Through the prophet Samuel. This was born in obedience. To the hearing and the speaking.

Of the word of God. As judgment. He did not allow a single word to fall.

Nor did he change it. Or improve it. Or doctor it up a little bit.

Take the harshness out of it. Not to change the truth of it.

But to soften it a little bit. Make it more humanly acceptable. No more. The word of God.

As it is given. So must it be spoken. Even if men will put their fingers in their ears. And gnash upon you with their teeth. For they don't want to hear that word. And the way to avoid the word. Is to reject him who brings it.

By stoning him. Or killing him. And every great prophet. Has died in Jerusalem. Violently. You'd be a song reader. Worship leaders. Who has a stomach for this.

You know the way you are now. Somebody looks at you the wrong way.

Says the wrong word. Doesn't give you the acceptance or the esteem that you deserve. You're offended. Wounded. It may take you weeks to recover.

Maybe a lifetime. You're so sensitive. About your self esteem. How you're understood by men. You'll never be a prophet. So. How's that for an introduction?

Fearful subject. And God says no prophet. No church. Not a church of glory. The church is built upon the foundation. Of the apostles and the prophets. Not only what they have said. Not only the breadth of their understanding.

But what they are in themselves. You know what an apostle and prophet is?

It's the thing in itself. It's not some superficial ability. It's not some external facility. The prophet is the thing in himself.

You want to touch him. He's got a history in God.

He's been fashioned by God. From his mother's womb.

In the hidden place. Unseen by men. God has walked with him. And fashioned him. For himself. How do we meet Elijah? Suddenly. He comes on the historic stage. At a certain point in Israel's history. Very comparable to our own.

Elijah in an Age of Apostasy

Israel in a time of apostasy. Ruled by King Ahab. Who has married the gentile princess Jezebel. A vile occultic woman. In an unholy alliance.

Between religion and state. Oppressive.

Deadly. It has killed already all the prophets. And Elijah alone is left. At least that's what he thought. God says, I have reserved 7 ,000.

Who have not bent their knee to Baal. But that's not the point.

This is the point. The prophet felt as if he alone was left. Lord, they have slain all the prophets. And I alone am left. That's how you will feel. Whether it's true or not. The prophet has to live with the sense of the reality.

That he alone is left. He's all alone.

No one stands with him. And everything opposes him. He's all alone. Except for God. So what does Elijah say when he sees Ahab? As the Lord God of Israel lives. What a statement. In an age of apostasy.

When nobody knows there's a living God. The prophet knows. And he begins his first historic statement.

As the Lord God of Israel lives. He may not live for anyone else. But he lives for the prophet. Who else is all alone. It's a lonely calling.

Not many people can take that. We need human encouragement.

A sense of sympathetic support. It's hard to be alone. Even with the living God. Because after you speak your word. Which is a word of judgment. It shall not rain nor dew but according to my word. That's the end of Israel's economy.

It's the end of Israel. And no sooner is the word spoken. As it was for me yesterday. Then the thought comes. Invariably comes. Was that really God? Or me? You can't take the words back again. They have been spoken.

But you have to live with it.

And be responsible for it. In speaking for God. Was that really God's word?

Because there's an enemy right at your elbow. Who will say the same mocking thing always. You really missed it. You really missed it. What kind of a prophet do you think you are? You really blew it this time.

You have done remarkable damage.

A prophet has to live with his word. And it can be painful.

Excruciating. How does he know that the word that he speaks is God's? He's after all still a son of man.

At any moment his humanity can intrude.

And spiritual though he may be. Prophet that he may be. He will never come to a time. That he can have an absolute confidence.

That he may not have missed the Lord. That he may not have lost what the Lord said. And that he may not have done a terrible damage. Because he's a man of influence. And people hang on his words.

And he can never live with a complete confidence. That there's not a moment. A crucial moment. In which he cannot miss it.

How would you like to live? With that tension. Continually. There's a word for that.

It's called suffering. But speak he must. Whatever the uncertainty. Whatever the tension. Whatever the possibility of failure.

There's a moment of time that comes. When he has no option.

It's not a luxury available to him. If he's anything he's the man of obedience. And he must speak. That is an exquisite anguish. Peculiar to the prophetic call.

That's why God doesn't have many candidates.

Who want to be a prophet of that kind. Much rather personal prophecy. God really loves you. He has a plan for your life.

He's going to do this for you and that for you. He's so happy. And people call that prophet. The word is sinking fast.

It's going down for the third time. Do you say that? No. It needs to be saved. Because if we lose the meaning of this word. We've lost everything. And it's a word under attack. And the way in which the enemy destroys.

Is not only by opposition. But by imitation. Flooding the market with many so-called prophets. Making them popular. Who do not represent the real thing. And might well even be false. Can you tell the difference?

This is the test of your spiritual maturity. Your ability to discern. The clarity of your own spirit and heart. To see two things almost side by side. Maybe perhaps saying very much the same thing. Seeming to have impressive credentials.

One might even have a larger following. Can you tell the true from the false? This is the issue of the last days.

True and False Prophets

Is to distinguish between true and false prophets.

By a church that can't even distinguish. Between the gift of prophecy and the office of the prophet. Are you following me? There's a gift of prophecy. And God gives the gift severally as he will. Anyone, man or woman, can prophesy.

In a service. And we see that beautifully here. But they have not the office. Can we tell the difference? Merely to prophesy does not make you a prophet. You have not the call. You have not the history.

You have not the preparation. You have not the service. And the church has blurred the two things. And can't even distinguish the one from the other. How shall we distinguish the true from the false? Because you know what King Ahab's accusation was against Elijah?

Art thou he who troubleth Israel?

You're a troublemaker. You're stirring things up. You're ruining the services. So you can't be true. Because the false prophet.

Never disturbs anything. He's always saying peace, peace. The only problem is he says it when there is no peace. And he heals the wounds of God's daughter, Lightplayer. The false prophet is always light.

Cute, humorous.

Engaging. Personable. But the true prophet.

You have to turn your face away. He's pathetic. What a stink.

What a reproach. What a troubler. What an antisocial character. Not good company. Speaks about judgment.

This is classic. Historic. Conflict. In the whole of the history of Israel.

And it will be the issue of the last days.

You can't believe how important our sessions together are.

Elijah’s Hidden Preparation and Obedience

So where was Elijah? Before he confronted Ahab? There's not a word about him.

Until we come to 1 Kings 17. And all of a sudden he appears. When all the prophets have been slain. And he alone is left confronting Ahab himself whose wife has personally seen to the execution of all the prophets.

He comes with a confronting word. Announcing a judgment that will fall. It shall not rain nor dew. According to my word. Where'd this man come from? Where was he all this time? When the other prophets were being persecuted?

Why didn't he stand up with them? Was he some kind of a coward?

Couldn't stand with his brethren? Hiding out? Preserving his fleshly life? And now when he thinks it may be safe? He will appear?

What kind of thinking is that man? Totally human. Carnal. God does not tell us where he has been till now. But we can assume he's not hiding to protect his protoplasmic life. He's holding himself in reserve for the historic moment of God's use.

And he dare not appear before that time. Though he's being acutely provoked. You say you're a prophet? Well, then why don't you stand with your brothers? Look at the condition of Israel. Shouldn't you be saying something?

What kind of prophet are you? Wouldn't you have been provoked? Could you have resisted that? When the pressure of men come upon you? Religious men? Spiritual men? Shouldn't you be doing something? Look what's happening!

Look at the crisis! Look at the need!

Respond to it! You know what the genius of Elijah is? He never did anything.

He never went anywhere. He never spoke anything except by the word of the Lord that came to him. And the word of the Lord came to Elijah. Always precedes everything that Elijah does. He was a man of the word.

Who lived by the word was directed by the word and never responded to any other impetus. However legitimate. Look at the need! That will compromise you.

If you respond to the need rather than the word of God.

You will lose your prophetic currency. The needs you have with you always.

The prophet is explicitly moved by one thing only. The word of God. When it comes. If it doesn't come.

You don't move. And God says this is the foundation of the church. Imagine a church like this so disciplined it will not move will not conduct a program to be found itself doing.

It waits for the word however long it takes.

And is willing to suffer the reproach. And it's painful of not doing anything until the word comes. That calls for discipline obedience. A people who can live without action whose human senses need not be gratified by seeing something, hearing something, doing something.

They can wait upon the Lord and wait until.

The word of the Lord comes then they speak then they go then they act. And it may be one act only one confrontation one moment of truth but it's eternal in its consequence.

Because they waited. Can you handle this? Is it enough for today? Conceptually speaking you can't believe the volume of what we have already discussed. Every one of these statements are like a thunderclap and when you ponder them they are so much in opposition to the conventional wisdom of how we understand church and what it is that makes it successful.

This is another wisdom another way. We need to ponder it and to reflect upon it.

And take it into our spirits internalize it. And maybe it's not your calling personally but it's the church's calling.

Corporately and it needs to be prayed for there needs to be deep intercession to bring the church from where it presently is in all of its current and popular mode.

Into its prophetic stature that would be unwelcome resisted unpopular.

But if it's not that how shall it call the world to God? How shall it call the church to God? The way Elijah did. How long do you hold between two opinions? Elijah confronted his nation in the power and authority of God and that needs again to be sounded by prophetic men out of a prophetic church.

And it requires a suffering. What will men say? How will you be understood? What of your reputation? What if God calls you to say something unpleasant? harsh? misunderstood? Can you render a full obedience?

When the word of the Lord comes to you without any thought of the consequences to yourself that's prophetic.

The Prophetic Man and the Testimony of Jesus

Well let's look at the text. 1st Kings 17. We've already mentioned some of this Elijah the Tishbite of the inhabitants of Gilead. He's not even from Jerusalem he's from some scummy suburb of a questionable kind Gilead mixed bag questionable history.

So then what validity can he have?

With credentials of so questionable a kind that's why God tells us this.

God's not just being geographic. He's showing us that a prophet is a stink from his very beginnings from his very origins until his end. He's at disjuncture with everything. And yet how greatly does God honor the prophetic?

That the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Wow there couldn't be a greater honoring than that that Jesus identifies his own person.

His own testimony of what he is in himself with the prophetic thing. The testimony of Jesus is the very spirit of prophecy. So reject the prophet and you reject Jesus. It's a costly thing to scorn and to reject the prophet sent of God.

Jesus is identified with him. Reject him. You're rejecting me. I have been rejected children. My whole adult life is a history of rejection but I can take it more or less.

I'm schooled for that. I'm trained for that.

I've gone through a special school of the Lord not this kind another kind a hidden kind that can't even be communicated. But we need that because unless we can bear rejection the most painful human experience that makes cowards of all men.

How shall we fearlessly bring the word of God.

If we are afraid of being rejected.

But those who reject the prophet pay for it.

Because often historically the prophet of God and his word of soon coming judgment is God's last statement.

His last appeal for the repentance of the people.

Before the judgment falls when the prophet is rejected.

Stoned or killed the judgment falls. It's a very serious thing to fail to recognize and to identify.

And to receive the prophetic man who bears the prophetic word you cannot separate the two they are inseparable. The man is the thing in himself and that's why historically to reject the word.

Is to reject the man. Can you take it?

Are you willing to be trained to take it? Are you willing to be enrolled in another school?

Not quite so nice as this. Not so polite as this not so pleasant as this. It has another curriculum it's called the cross.

Painful for the flesh continually being applied.

That you should not be afraid of being rejected because you know that there's a God.

Who lives when no one else does because he lives for you and with you.

In the fellowship of his sufferings in the participation of his sufferings.

The Weight of Prophetic Words

Once I went to hear a man of God.

I was not disappointed. I often feel disappointed that time. I was not.

All his words.

Were full of divine weight and content. Do you know what the Hebrew word for glory is? Kavod do you know what it means?

Strangely. Weight weight. The glory of God has weight but the lightness of false prophets the very opposite. There was a weight to this man speaking what he spoke. He didn't get out of the concordance.