Links & Downloads
Bible School Home
The Approved Watchman Course Home
Download this lesson [PDF]
Lesson 28 - God's Special People
Lesson 30 - Testing the Gifts
Study Questions
1. When Christ ascended, He gave what unto men? Ephesians 4:8
2. What are some of the gifts that He gave? Ephesians 4:11
The word apostle is a transliteration of a Greek word meaning “one sent forth,” or in other words, a missionary.
3. Why did Jesus give these spiritual gifts to members of His church? Ephesians 4:12
Unlike natural talents which anyone might possess, spiritual gifts are given to God’s people so that each believer will have some specific ministry he may perform in the service of God.
4. How long will each of these gifts be needed? Ephesians 4:13
Until the church reaches the perfection that measures with the fullness of Christ’s stature she will have missionaries, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. All the gifts were to continue operating until the end of time.
5. These gifts are to protect us from being tossed to and fro, and carried about with what? Ephesians 4:14
6. Which two gifts were noted at Antioch? Acts 13:1
7. What was Philip’s gift? Acts 21:8
8. The same man had four daughters which did what? Acts 21:9
God often endowed women with the spirit of prophecy: Miriam (Exodus 15:20), Deborah (Judges 4:4), Hulda (2 Chronicles 34:22), Anna (Luke 2:36).
9. What has God set before us, for us to walk in? Jeremiah 26:4
10. What second source of instruction are we also to hearken to? Jeremiah 26:5
11. Since the law and the prophets go together, what happens when the law is upheld no more? Lamentations 2:9
12. How did God reply to some who inquired of Him? Ezekiel 20:3
13. Why did the Lord refuse to give them any new counsel at that time? Ezekiel 20:11-13
If people forsake God’s law and break His Sabbath, they cannot expect to receive the gift of prophecy. But restore the commandments of God, and the testimony of Jesus appears again also (See Revelation 12:17).
14. When would it come to pass that the spirit of prophecy would be manifested again? Acts 2:17
15. How does God give messages to His prophets? Numbers 12:6
The natural possession of keen insight or the gaining of knowledge by study does not constitute the gift of prophecy. Prophecy is when God speaks directly to His chosen messenger through a vision or dream, giving specific information, which the prophet had no other way of obtaining. The prophet is not the source of the information he reveals, but simply the channel through which God speaks.
16. He that is now called a prophet was beforetime called a what? 1 Samuel 9:9
17. What prophet and what seer wrote books that are not in our Bible? 1 Chronicles 29:29
From the above text it is clear that a prophet’s writings do not have to be in the Bible in order for that prophet to be inspired. When Ahab disregarded the counsel of the prophet Micaiah (who never wrote a single word of the Bible) he suffered the consequences for disobedience just as if it had been Isaiah or Jeremiah who had given the warning (1 Kings 22). When the Lord inspires a prophet, whether the message serves only to meet a specific need at a specific time, or whether it is canonized in the Scriptures for people in all ages, the degree of inspiration is the same. And the messages of all true prophets of God, whether they are Bible writers or not, will be in perfect harmony with the written Scriptures, by which all things must be tested.
18. What two vital roles did the gift of prophecy play in the experience of ancient Israel? Hosea 12:13
“Surely the Lord God will do nothing but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.” Amos 3:7.
19. How important is it to believe God’s prophets? 2 Chronicles 20:20