Prophets 

Prophets are God's vehicle for communicating His Word. What is the mark of a true Prophet?

1. A prophet is an ordinary man. There is nothing extraordinary about the man God uses. Not a super Christian.

2. The prophet is an obedient man. He is a man that does not speak of himself. A vehicle to bring the Word. The Word he gives is not his own. Furthermore he does not take it personally when his message is rejected, nor when it is accepted.

3. He is a man who recognizes that his role is completely out of his hands. His message is from beyond- 1 Cor.4:10. As servants of God we must see that the role we have to play is out of our hands. Success or failure will not ultimately be charged to us.

4.The prophet is impartial in his administering the Word. He becomes like God who is not a 'respecter of persons'. He is one who cannot be bribed to change his message, like Balaam. When people harm God's prophets they do a dangerous thing - Ps.105:15. When anyone harms a prophet of God it can backfire in one of two ways. It maybe that the person who has done so will soon be struck down. Sometimes when people harm  God's prophets the consequences is a general famine of the Word of God, Jer.23:28-29.

How different the prophet in the O.T. were to the ones of today. When they spoke to bring the Word, people knew that God had spoken .The true prophets of God were indeed holy men of God. They had an awesome responsibility before God and they were aware of it fully.