When someone says the word prophet, what do you think of? The label conjures up all sorts of images – a robed figure gazing into a crystal ball or a wild man dressed in camel hair, eating wild insects and raving about the end of the world!
Prophets have always been around – in the biblical tradition and beyond it. Among the Hebrews, prophets played a key role in expressing God’s will for the nation, but something significant happened to their role after Jesus came. There’s still prophets in the Church today, but what do they do and how do we know who they are? How are they different from the prophets in Old Covenant or prophets outside the biblical tradition?
On this show, we’re talking about the prophet’s role in the contemporary church with a globally recognised prophet based out of South Africa: Andre Bronkhorst.
You’ll hear about:
- Andre’s surprising initial encounter with God’s voice as he was contemplating ending his life at age 16. God seemed to say the exact opposite of what Andre felt he deserved. The experience changed his life and set him on course to learn more about the voice of Holy Spirit.
- God’s redemptive approach to communication. God speaks to awake our potential and the fullness of who we were created to be. God sees in us what we can’t see in ourselves!
- Andre’s calling to be a prophet which was sparked by a divinely co-ordinated ministry appointment.
- How Andre has been used of God to minister in churches that have previously shut down prophetic ministry. Andre shares how God has used him to introduce an approach that promotes safety and maturity.
- Andre’s understanding of a prophet and how they function in the church today. The primary difference between the Old and New Covenant centres on the coming of Jesus. Jesus modelled prophetic ministry (Hebrews 1:1-3) and initiated an era where the main purpose of prophecy is to strengthen our relationship with God. The main task of the prophet then is to equip the saints to hear the voice of God and follow (rather than reflect on world events) (Ephesians 4:11,12).
In Jesus’ day, there was a lot of political events that took place, but Jesus never got involved with that. He never gave his opinion. That’s the model that we follow. There’s going to be wars and calamities. But our focus (as a prophet) is to get people back into God’s assignment. To help fix your eyes on Jesus.
- Specifically, Andre sees his purpose in helping people identify how God speaks to them and help them to walk in that. Andre tells of the danger of prophets who draw on Old Testament models so that people come to him to hear God for them:
I love to prophesy, but it’s far greater to train and equip people to hear God’s voice personally. I’m very careful not to become sort of mediator.
- The problem with the tendency of prophets to give a “word for the year.” Andre reflects on how this works if every church, community, nation is different.
- The false idea of the prophet’s role being to predict the future. Andre shows how God invites us to participate in his plan rather than speaking through fatalistic pronouncements.
As a New Testament prophet, we don’t give predictions – we give invitations.
- The model of the New Testament which points to the existence of prophets in every local church.
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