Prophesying was one of the ways the Word of God was spread in the first century. It was not always “foretelling.” Often it was “forth-telling,” telling forth the Word of God. The Word was preached and passed along verbally from one person to another. “Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” (II Peter 1:21) Apparently there were people who despised prophesying, seeing that Paul found it necessary to address the issue.
Two pre-teen boys were at one of those country church gatherings where, following the noon meal, people sat and heard three or four sermons and some gospel singing. One of the boys went up the hill above the church for a breath of fresh air. On his way back down the hill he met the other boy. Asked the first boy, “Is the preaching done yet?” To which the other one replied, “The preaching is done but they ain’t done nothing about it yet.”
Neglecting the straight forward preaching and doing nothing about it is one of the many ways people despise prophesying. Missing church for a ball game on television, taking the family to the beach on Sunday, or a host of other entertaining things because we despise prophesying, counting it of no value are ways we show how we despise the word.
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