Upward!

I'm going to try to advance the cause by combining the next two ministers. I'm also going to start posting more often than just once a week. I've been gathering some crops into the barn and I'm just about ready to load them up and take them to market. Maybe then those of you with attention spans just slightly longer than a goldfish will stay awake! Huh? Oh, squirrel!

The Prophet (Gr: prophetes) reeks of vision. The nouns prophet and prophecy, along with the verb prophesy, all have connotations in their original use of seeing circumstances from God's point of view and then speaking out of that divine perspective (pro, forth, phemi, to speak). The same Greek word is used in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament) for the Hebrew roeh, which is sometimes translated "Seer" in English, indicating that the prophet was one who had immediate communication with God. Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words defines prophet as "one who speaks forth or openly..., a proclaimer of a divine message, denoted among the Greeks an interpreter of the oracles of the gods." The function of the Prophet is to bring God's truth to the body as they see it. Their perspective includes the past, present, and future. They often see God's view of people's past actions and their present condition as well as what God intends to do in the future. The Prophet's function, then, is to go to local bodies and bring them God's truth. One caveat: "The spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets," 1 Cor. 14:32. What this means is that it is possible for the Prophet to imbue their own personal vision with God's vision and add that to the speaking. There are three tests to the veracity of prophecy: (1) it must conform to and not contradict God's written Word; (2) the hearer must have a witness in their spirit from the Holy Spirit; and (3) any circumstances attached to the prophecy, whether past, present, or future, must be 100% accurate. God does not lie; people can fudge, however. So the Prophet's vision is for a body of believers that is operating with all the "intel" necessary to wage a successful war against the forces of darkness.

The Evangelist (Gr: euaggelistes) has roots in his or her local body but spends most of the time going to places where the Gospel has never been preached, spreading the word and eliciting new converts. They bring the good news to those who become the body in that locality. Literally, the Greek word means "a messenger of good (eu, well, angelos, a messenger). The initial stages of missions work involves heavy doses of evangelism, followed by the apostle and the other ministry gifts. So, the evangelist is usually the vanguard of the Kingdom of God and the one who most populates the list of martyrs (Greek for "witnesses"). They spend considerable time in cross-cultural environments, but they tend not to stay in one place for long. Their vision is to see as many people as possible hear the Gospel and have an opportunity to respond by accepting Jesus as their Savior.

Next time, we'll finish up the fifth level of involvement with Pastor and Teacher so that we can forge ahead into the mechanics of vision for ministry. Until then...