Written in Heaven

Mark Driscoll is a church planter who pastors Mars Hill Church in Seattle, WA. He describes Jesus’ leadership in three forms – Jesus the Prophet, Jesus the Priest, and Jesus the King. Over the next three weeks, we’ll discuss each one.

Jesus the Prophet is the side of Jesus that speaks prophetically into the lives of people. What this means is that Jesus spoke the truth into the lives of people, even if it wasn’t pleasant. We see Jesus do this often. This is the ‘repent’ type of message in some instances. Jesus goes off on the Pharisees on more than one occasion – Matthew 23 being my favorite. He has little tolerance for people who call themselves Christians and then pursue endeavors that are far from Christ. But this can take a softer tone as well. When Jesus encountered the woman at the well, he spoke prophetically into her life talking about her spirit, her relationships, and her past. This was so profound that the woman said, “Sir, I can see that you are a prophet” in John 4:19. Jesus the prophet speaks the truth again and again and again.

As Christian leaders, we must also be able to speak prophetically in this way. By that, I mean, we must be in tune with the Holy Spirit so that we can speak the truth of God into the lives of people around us. This can be a lot of fun. Yesterday I had the privilege of recruiting a small group leader. I was able to speak prophetically and tell them how God had gifted them for this role and how he wanted to use them. That was a blast! It can also be tough. People may approach you that are destroying their lives and ask you for advice. When they do that, you have to be able to speak the truth in love to them for their own good. In other words, you have to speak prophetically, even when it’s tough.

Take some time this week to examine how Jesus spoke prophetically into the lives of those around him and pray that he would allow you to be able to do the same by his strength.