I.　"A Prophet will Jehovah your God raise up for you from your midst, from among your brothers;…you shall listen to Him"—Deut. 18:15:

A.　A prophet is not mainly one who predicts the future but one who speaks for another, as Aaron spoke for Moses—Exo. 7:1-2.

B.　Acts 3:22 applies Deuteronomy 18:15-19 to Christ, who is God incarnated to be a man, indicating that Christ is the Prophet promised by God to His people, the children of Israel, to speak forth God and to prophesy many things concerning God's economy.

C.　That the Prophet was to be from among their brothers indicates that Christ as the coming Prophet would be human as well as divine—Deut. 18:15a.

D.　God would raise up this Prophet through the incarnation of Christ to speak the word of God—John 1:45; 3:34; 7:16-17; 8:18; Heb. 1:2a:

1.　To speak God's word, that is, to prophesy, is to dispense God, to speak God forth into others; this is what the Lord Jesus did as the Prophet raised up by God—1 Cor. 14:1, 3-5, 24-25, 31.

2.　The Lord Jesus lived a life of speaking God, a life of expressing God for His glory—John 7:16:

a.　Instead of speaking His own words, He spoke God—12:49-50; 14:10.

b.　When He spoke God's word, God was expressed through His speaking; God came forth from Him through His words—1:18.

II.　　"Oh that all Jehovah's people were prophets!"—Num. 11:29b:

A.　Moses desired that all the people of Israel would be prophets, those who spoke for God.

B.　This word was a great prophecy uttered by Moses; it was promoted by Paul and is fulfilled in God's New Testament economy—1 Cor. 14:24, 31.

C.　Three things characterize a prophet: a history before God, an inward burden, and divinely given words that express and interpret that burden.

III.　"He who prophesies builds up the church"—v. 4b:

A.　Prophesying is for the building up of the church as the organic Body of Christ—Matt. 16:18; 1 Cor. 12:12, 27; 14:1, 3-4, 12; Eph. 4:16:

1.　The central and divine thought of the Scriptures is that God is seeking a divine building as the mingling of Himself with humanity—a living composition of persons redeemed by and mingled with Himself—Exo. 25:8:

a.　God's intention is to have a group of people built up as a spiritual building to express Him and to represent Him—Gen. 1:26; Eph. 2:21-22.

b.　Whatever God is doingtoday—in preaching the gospel,edifying thesaints, or establishing churches—is part of His building work; theseactivities arepart of God's main work,the workof building—Matt.16:18; Eph. 4:16.

2.　Prophesying builds up the church—1 Cor. 14:1, 12:

a.　Prophesying is not for the building up of a congregation, an organization, which is a fa?ade.

b.　Everyone prophesying builds up the church as theorganic Body of Christ—vv. 12, 31; Matt. 16:18; Eph. 4:16.

B.　We need to help the saints to arrive at the goal of the practice of the church life according to the God-ordained way—prophesying in the district meetings for the building up of the church as the organic Body of Christ—1 Cor. 14:1, 3-5,12, 31:

1.　All the believers have the capacity to prophesy; this capacity is in the divine life, which the believers possess and enjoy and which needs to increase within them so that this capacity may be developed—v. 31; John 3:15.

2.　When thesaints prophesy in the district meetings, supplying Christ to others, the riches in the Body of Christ are expressed—Eph. 3:8; 4:12, 16.

C.　We should speak with the three constituting elements of prophesying:

1.　A knowledge of the Word of God—the human element of learning—2 Tim.3:16-17; Ezek. 3:1-4.

2.　The instant inspiration of the Holy Spirit—the divine element of inspiration—1 Cor. 14:32, 37a.

3.　A vision concerning God's interest and economy, the church as the Body of Christ, the local churches, the world, the individual saints, and ourselves—the view through the enlightening of the divine light—Eph. 1:17-18; 1 Cor.2:11-12.

D.　The ability to prophesy, the greatest of all gifts, is produced through the enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ revealed in 1 Corinthians—1:2b, 9, 24, 30; 5:7-8;10:3-4; 15:45b:

1.　The enjoyment of Christ first issues in the growth in life to produce materials for the building up of the church—3:6, 9-14.

2.　The enjoyment of Christ also issues in the development of gifts for functioning to build up theBody of Christ, prophesying beingtheexcelling gift—14:1, 3-4, 12.

3.　The highest development of the gifts as an issue of the enjoyment of Christ is to prophesy—to speak for Christ, to speak forth Christ, and to speak Christ into others, supplying them with Christ by ministering, dispensing, Christ into them—vv. 19, 31.

E.　Like the apostle Paul, we should minister Christ by prophesying with clear and plain words—vv. 6, 19, 23-24, 31:

1.　Paul determined not to know anything but Christ, his preaching was not with persuasive words but in demonstration of the Spirit, and he spoke in revelation, knowledge, prophecy, and teaching—2:1-2, 4; 14:6.

2.　Paul functioned in the way of ministering Christ to others by speaking in clear and plain words with the demonstration of the Spirit—2:4; 14:19.

3.　When we come together in a meeting, we should speak something for Christand of Christ with the strong exercise of our spirit.

4.　In prophesying for the building up of the church, we need spiritual words;these words come from God's Spirit of life—Rom. 8:2; 1 Cor. 12:8:

a.　The Spirit of life will give us the words, the utterance, and the boldness to prophesy—2:11-13.

b.　When we depend on Him, we can prophesy for the Lord unto the building up of the Body of Christ—14:31; Eph. 4:12, 16.

5.　Prophesying is the highest expression of the Christian life; in order to prophesy for the building up of the church as the organic Body of Christ, we need:

a.　To love the Lord, have fellowship with Him, andbe one with Him—Mark 12:30; 1 Cor. 1:9; 6:17.

b.　To be saturated and constituted with the Lord's word—Col. 3:16.

c.　To walk according to the Spirit, receiving instant inspiration—Rom. 8:4; Gal. 5:16, 25.

d.　To have a heavenly, divine view—the view of God—to know Christ and the church—Eph. 1:17; 3:5.

e.　To speak with revelation, using fresh expressions and utterance—1 Cor.2:11-13.