February 21, 2024 • 50 mins
This episode dives into the world of dreams and visions, unfolding their theological significance from a Christian viewpoint. Discover the divine revelations God has delivered through them and learn how these divine messages have guided lives and decisions throughout history (and continue to do so today).
Our Scripture references in order are: Acts 9:10-12, 13-15; Joshua 24:1-3, 14; Acts 7:1-3; Numbers 12:6-9; Genesis 20:3-6; Deuteronomy 13:1-3; Luke 4:5-8; Jeremiah 23:25; Colossians 2:18; Genesis 28:16-17, 18-22; Genesis 37:5-8; 1Kings 3:5, 10-14; 1Kings 11:7-9; Deuteronomy 4:2; Deuteronomy 12:32; Revelation 22:18-19; Romans 10:19, 20; Acts 2:14-18; 1Corinthians 13:9-12; 1John 3:2.
The purpose of this podcast is to seek out biblical patterns of truth to understand the events of our times. We seek to answer the overarching question: How do we do the will of God in a world where current events never stay current?
1 John 2:17 says, "And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever."
Questions & Comments & Requests can be sent to:
eventsandexpectations@gmail.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Music.
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Good day to you, brothers, sisters, friends, and new faces, and welcome to Current
Events and Christian Expectations.
And today, we're going to be talking about dreams and visions.
We'll lead off with Acts 9, verses 10 through 12, and we'll have many other
scriptures that we reference and read today. We'll put those in the overview.
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But with dreams and visions and how they fit into the Christian perspective, let's just dig right in.
Well, hello to everybody out there in the podcast land.
We're going to look at dreams and visions and their place in the Christian life.
See if anyone out there recognizes this. As I walked through the wilderness
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of this world, I lighted on a certain place where there was a den.
And I laid me down in that place to sleep. And as I slept, I dreamed a dream.
And that's the beginning of Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan,
classic literature, historically so.
But not only in classic literature do we have this, it shows up in award-winning
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musicals. I don't know how many out there are fans of Les Miserables.
If you are, you'll know this. I dreamed a dream in time gone by when hope was
high and life worth living.
I dreamed that love would never die. I dreamed that God would be forgiving. giving.
Dreams have an important place in our history, in our literature.
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But for we who are Christian, it's very important to understand that dreams
and visions that we're talking about here are not ideals, not vocation.
You watch America's Got Talent, and the contestants are always asked,
what's your dream? And I say, well, last night, I saw this great mountain. No.
They go on and say, well, I want to be the most famous person who ever does
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whatever they do. Well, dreams and visions don't happen all the time.
They don't. They're infrequent.
They are infrequent. Yeah. Yes. Even in biblical times, infrequent.
So we need to take a look at how this works.
It is about God breaking into our natural cycles of life, natural cycles as
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we normally recognize them.
Listen to this from Acts 9, 10 through 15. Listen.
Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in
a vision, Ananias. And he said, Here I am, Lord.
And the Lord said to him, Rise and go to the street called Straight,
and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul,
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for behold, he is praying.
And he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on
him so that he might regain his sight.
But Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard from many about this man,
how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem.
And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.
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But the Lord said to him, Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry
my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.
We're not told if this was the first or the hundredth time that Ananias has gotten a vision.
I suspect that, as Randy mentioned, he has not had that many of them.
It's interesting that... But you know what you do have. You do.
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It's very clear. That'll be very clear from the scriptures we'll be going through
as well as the experiences we'll share.
And the Lord appears to him in a vision, but it seems to be mostly an audio,
audible vision, listening to the word of God, from God.
And he tells him, I want you to go and take care of this man and get his sight back, Saul of Tarsus.
And Ananias said, no, I don't want to do that.
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He's mean. Yeah. Immediately we find out that visions and dreams provoke us.
Yeah. That's one of the keys to keep in mind. We get provoked and he says,
Lord, and he doesn't seem to be totally concerned about the Lord being upset
because he's going to rebut this.
I've heard from many about this man. He's done damage to our cause,
the Christian movement. But the Lord said to him, go and do it.
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Take note of the but. Go. The Lord said to him, go and do it.
And we should do what the Lord says in a vision or dream.
We will see part of the vision or dream is we'll always involve some kind of
act of obedience on our part.
We should not pursue visions or dreams from God as the way of discerning God's will.
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Scripture, tradition, experience, and reason, with Scripture at the the top,
of course, are our main guides and in that order.
And those four things are, I got that from John Wesley, so it's not original
with me, and found it very helpful.
As we shall see, dreams and visions from God are initiated by Him,
not us. Keep that in mind.
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All the ones we're looking at in this podcast, God initiates it,
and people aren't expecting it, and all of a sudden, it just shows up,
and they're in a vision, they're in a dream.
Note that Ananias' vision comes out out of nowhere, and he's not happy about it.
People always think, I'll get a vision, it'll be wonderful. Well,
it might be, but more often than not, you're going to be disturbed.
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So what do you think about these stories of visions and dreams?
This is by way of World Net Daily from the Christian Broadcasting Network from
January 1st of this year.
Two Assembly of God missionaries are sharing multiple firsthand testimonies
of Muslims coming to the Christian faith after meeting Jesus Christ in their dreams.
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James Bradford, the lead pastor at Central Assembly in Springfield,
Missouri, and missionary Dick Brogden, told Assemblies of God that God is answering
the prayers of Christians who are praying for Muslims.
Now, over the years, I've tracked these visions and dreams that Muslims have,
so this is not unusual. unusual.
Now, one may say, well, I don't believe it, but nonetheless,
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I'm telling you, it's not unusual.
But if we are praying for this, why should we be surprised that Muslims should
get the Word of God if God takes the initiative to transcend the barriers that
keep a people in that culture isolated from the truth?
Well, that's not the only time, too, that God has called repentance into a totally
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pagan group of people, and they've repented and followed their scripture after
Scripture after scripture.
Oh, yeah. Right. In fact, we've got a couple or three, I think,
in this broadcast. Yeah.
From the Christian Post, a missionary man by the name of Bradford, quote,
shared that he was in a Muslim country meeting with church leaders from several
Muslim nations, and one of the leaders shared a testimony of a woman who had
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a dream. Yes, she dreamed a dream. Where she saw Jesus.
He says, a woman had left the Muslim faith, but she was full of hatred and suspicion of Christians.
She didn't know what to do. she asked God for help. One night she had a dream.
Now notice she asked God for help. And you say, well, she's Muslim,
but there's only one God. And God knows who he is.
He answers people. And he answers people. Exactly.
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One night she had a dream where she saw a shepherd walking about an empty tomb with the staff.
The shepherd walked around it a few times, and then he headed directly toward the woman.
He had a loaf of bread in his hands, which he broke and offered to her,
and as he did, he said, Take, eat, this is my body.
This missionary went on to share that the woman, who knew nothing about the
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Bible, woke up and contacted a person who she knew was a Christian,
and he showed her in the Bible where Jesus had said those very words.
The woman accepted Jesus and continues to serve Him to this day, the missionary said.
So, what shall we say to these stories? Well, first of all, let's see how it
works out in Scripture, all right?
Listen to this, Joshua 24, first, second, and third verse.
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Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem and summoned the elders,
the heads, the judges, and the officers of Israel.
And they presented themselves before God. And Joshua said to all the people,
Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, Long ago your fathers lived beyond the
Euphrates, Terah, the father of Abram and of Nahor, and they served other gods.
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Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the river, and led him through the
land of Canaan, and made his offspring many. I gave him Isaac.
So, the Jewish nation has its origin, as we know, and Abraham.
He was from an idolatrous family.
He's referred to as their father. Well, you say, well, but was he personally
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involved? Well, let's take a look now at verse 14.
Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness.
Put away the gods that your father served beyond the river and in Egypt and serve the Lord.
All right. I took your father Abraham from beyond the river.
And Joshua goes on to say, put the gods away that your father others served
from beyond the river and in Egypt, and you need to serve the Lord.
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So that's where Abraham comes from, idolatrous life.
Well, what happened to change that? How does that happen? Acts chapter 7,
verses 1, 2, and 3, Stephen is preaching that great sermon, which will get him
stoned to death. But listen to this part of it here.
And the high priest said, Are these things so?
And Stephen said, Brothers and fathers, hear me.
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The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia,
before he lived in Haran.
And he said to him, Go out from your land and from your kindred,
and go into the land that I will show you.
He appeared to Abraham. The God of glory appeared to Abraham.
Was it a vision or a dream?
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Well, we know that later, Abram does have some visions and dreams and things of that sort.
And his family were idolaters. But God appears to him, God of glory.
If he shows up in all his light, I can see where that would really put the humble on to Abram.
And he calls Abram to himself to be the beginning of the people of Israel.
So it's not unusual for God to take the initiative and make an appearance to
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those who know him not, even, as Randy said, idolaters.
Think of Pharaoh in Genesis with the story of Joseph.
Think of Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon in connection with the story of Daniel.
And sometimes he does it in person, but the norm is to appear or communicate
in dreams or visions as he chooses. this.
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Now, another current event. This is from CBN, January the 20th of this year.
A former Palestinian sniper turned Christian believes revival will break out
in Gaza and thousands will come to Christ after the end of the Israel-Hamas war.
Taser Tass Abu Sarda, a former aide to the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat,
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recently told CBN News Global Lane that God's Holy Spirit is already changing
Palestinian hearts through dreams and visions.
Sadat said he believes hearts are turning to Jesus and confirmed a report late
last year that hundreds of Gazans met Jesus in their sleep.
Quote, I have a report from one of my team members that 200 Gazans gave their
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heart to Jesus in one lump sum, he expressed.
The Lord appeared to them in visions and dreams, and they They were hugging
each other and rejoicing. They realized all of them had had the same vision
that each one of them had had. So that is extraordinary.
What role do dreams and visions play in the life of today's Christians as well?
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As well as others, as we've already seen. For this broadcast,
we submit that whether it's a dream or vision, and a dream takes place,
obviously, while you're asleep,
and a vision normally in waking times, but you're temporarily disconnected from
the rest of the waking world.
You're just suspended animation, so to speak.
God is still in the business of this kind of communication.
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In Daniel 8, verse 1, it's done this way.
In the first year of Belshazzar, king of Babylon, And Daniel saw a dream and
visions of his head as he lay in bed. So they can be combined together.
And we will not look at every dream or vision found in Scripture.
But those that we can give us a pattern to follow for a guide,
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we're going to use as we read Scripture.
And as we experience dreams or visions in our own lives, how to sort that out.
And this is not a book, go to chapter 1, paragraph 2 and find out.
But it's about a pattern to follow that you, when you have a dream or vision
that you believe absolutely is from God, you've got to follow that through based
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on your obedience to God.
There's no particular handbook that you can turn to and say,
this is how you do that, and this is what you do next.
You learn from Scripture. Well, and from discerning. And discerning.
You have the dream, you pray about it. Right. That's the big thing.
People immediately want to jump into interpreting it, and it's like,
well, have you prayed about it yet?
Exactly. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. In fact, we're going to see that in a moment here with Joseph.
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We'll first explore the Old Testament and then go to the New Testament for examples
to get scripture-based perspective as to how to respond and how to interpret
and how to act upon such dreams or visions.
And we'll finish up, Randy and myself, a couple of personal testimonies.
Well, let's begin with an overarching perspective given by the Lord in Numbers 12, 6 through 9.
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And he said, Hear my words. If there's a prophet among you, I,
the Lord, make myself known to him in a vision.
I speak with him in a dream. Not so with my servant Moses.
He is faithful in all my house. With him I speak mouth to mouth clearly, and not in riddles.
And he beholds the form of the Lord.
Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?
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And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them, and he departed.
Yes, that's, of course, Aaron and Miriam.
They objected to some aspects of Moses' life and his wife and all that. But it's very clear.
Moses is an exception. God dealing with him face-to-face, really.
It's wonderful. And it's the only time I think you see that going on in the
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Old Testament. And we're told in the New Testament we have to wait until Jesus
comes to do face-to-face.
Very few exceptions. So don't think you have an exception with your dream.
Yeah. You probably don't. Yeah. Yeah.
Right. The normal way God often communicates with prophets, and that's what
he says to the prophets, is by way of visions and riddles.
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You say, well, I'm not a prophet. Well, hold on. We're going to get there.
Visions would often propose a riddle as well. In the New Testament,
Acts 10, Peter's on a rooftop.
He's hungry, and he goes into a trance, which later on he refers to as a vision, or Luke does.
And he sees this big sheet
coming down with all these animals and he's very
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kosher peter's still very much an orthodox jew at this point very very
kosher rise eat kill what no no no i've never had anything
that's right yeah can't eat crawly things and shrimp from the sea i've never
done anything that's defiled me and this happened three different times with
the word of the lord coming from heaven rise and kill and he's trying to figure
this out when events begin to move him toward cornelius and finally,
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the riddle is solved when he gets to the house of Cornelius.
You can read all that in Acts chapter 10.
And so visions and dreams, which is more important? Well, the main thing is the content.
Don't get hung up on whether it's a dream or a vision.
And as to why sometimes a vision or sometimes a dream, well,
dream obviously is best suited when you're asleep and a vision when awake.
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And there are differences, but in this podcast, we're just concerned about what
do we do with them when we get them, what we do with the content.
Notice Peter was hungry. He had a dream about food that was unclean.
He couldn't eat it. God showed him something else he should hunger for.
And that's, of course, getting the word of God to the Gentiles.
The first recorded dream from God in the Old Testament is to a pagan.
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Randy mentioned that earlier. Listen to this. Genesis 20, 3 through 6.
But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him,
Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman who you have taken, for she is a man's wife.
Now Abimelech had not approached her. So he said, Lord, will you kill an innocent people?
Did he not himself say to me, she is my sister?
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And she herself said, he is my brother. In the integrity of my heart and the
innocence of my hands, I have done this.
Then God said to him in his dream, yes, I know that you have done this in the
integrity of your heart, and it was I who kept you from sinning against me.
Therefore, I did not let you touch her.
This is one of the most curious passages when you get in Genesis about the idea
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of the providence of God.
Can God keep me from sinning? He kept him from sinning. Absolutely.
But this is a dream. And notice Abimelech knows who he's talking to.
Now, I'm thinking this is probably the first time ever he's had a conversation, a dream with God.
But he knows who is talking to him. Yeah.
And that means that when you say, how will I know? You'll know.
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You'll know. No, it's a kind of intuitive understanding.
Abimelech knows who he is talking to. And he has that conversation where,
again, he feels free to register a complaint. Lord, I haven't done anything.
Don't kill me, my wife, my kids, my people here.
And God says, that's not going to happen. But, you know, you need to go to Abraham
and do the following, which he does, and things work out.
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So this is a warning dream.
And it's given to one outside the covenant of God, pagan, idolater.
Some dreams and visions are warnings, and some are encouragements,
and some dreams and visions combine both.
And these warnings and encouragements vary depending on God's purposes.
But first, a warning about dreams and visions. Not all who claim to have these are to be believed.
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So we need to take that in consideration.
Deuteronomy 13, verses 1, 2, 3. If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among
you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass,
and if he says, Let us go after other gods, which you have not known,
and let us serve them, you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams.
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For the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your
God with all your heart and with all your soul.
The true test of following God is to judge any dream or vision by the word of God already given.
Even if what is given in that particular dream or vision comes to pass,
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if it contradicts what's already been written down, I don't care if it's a dream
or a vision and who gives it and who tells it to you. It's a test from God.
Don't buy into it. Even Jesus was tested with a vision from Satan, Luke 4, 5 through 8.
And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a
moment of time and said to him, To you I will give all this authority and their
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glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will.
If you then will worship me, it will all be yours.
And Jesus answered him, It is written, You shall worship the Lord your God,
and him only shall you serve.
Right. What helps in having dreams and visions, if you have one,
is to the better you know the the Bible, it is written, the better you'll be
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able to wrestle and grasp what the content is and how you're supposed to respond.
Of course, when Satan gives you one, he'll take a little truth and put it with
untruth and really deceive you, as he does here, tribe with Jesus, but it does not work.
So, whether in a vision or dream, vet the content.
Meditate on it. Check Scripture. If needed, counsel with others.
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Here's a passage from Jeremiah 23, 25, pointing out the same thing.
I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed.
I have dreamed. There you go. I've dreamed, I've dreamed.
Colossians 2.18, New Testament. Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism
and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up about reason by his sensuous mind.
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Right, and we're still having those kinds of things around today.
Gotta be serious vetting and meditating and understanding of dreams and visions.
Jacob dreamed a dream, which he interpreted as an encouragement to commitment.
Genesis 28, 16, 17. Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said,
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surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.
And he was afraid and said, how awesome is this place.
This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.
Right. And the dream, he entered into kind of a portal place there of heaven
because of the nature of the dream.
Heaven's opened up and the big staircase came down and angels
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going up and down on it the gate of heaven sort of a
stargate experience note the
fear of jacob and his confession of the experience he's awesome meaning he's
he knows this is divine and this clearly marks off that dream of his from the
run of the mill type which was something special about this yes something that
you can't shake it's one you don't say i gotta write down that dream so i won't
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forget it these dreams you don't have to write them down yeah you'll remember.
And so he acts based upon the dream he has, Genesis 28, 18 through 22.
So early in the morning, Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head
and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it.
He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first.
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Then Jacob made a vow saying, if God will be with me and will keep me in this
way that I go and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear so that I shall
come again to my father's house in peace, then the God, the Lord God, shall be my God.
And this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God's house.
And of all that you give me, I will give a full tenth to you.
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Right. Some people see Jacob's bargaining with God here.
He's already being pressed. It's not so much bargaining as I need to respond
in a way that is acceptable. And that's what he does. He makes a memorial.
Great idea. And promises 10% in the Old Testament. That was well known.
You got got the story of Melchizedek and Abraham.
Yeah. Where Abraham comes back from the battle with all the loot and gives that 10%.
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Well, we've all done that before. You know, when we say, God,
if you get me through this. Yeah.
I will do X, Y, and Z. I did that myself in the military, you know, during Desert Storm.
Lord, if you get me through this, I'll use my GI Bill to go to Bible college.
Yes. You know, so we've all done it. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. And of course,
once you make a vow like that.
You got to do it. You need to follow through on it. Yeah. Yeah.
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When we have a dream or vision and sense the divinity in it,
it's awesomeness, or it may be something that fills us with fear.
I'll discuss my testimony of the dream I had, disturbing dream, or maybe it blesses us.
We will know it's from God and we'll go over it in our mind,
rehearse it as Jacob did, and try to figure out what our response should be. Now.
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Here is a good passage that deals with that. It's Joseph, Jacob's favorite son.
So you got issues right there with all the other brothers.
Has dreamed a dream of great significance, and he knows it's great.
He does not handle it well. Genesis 37, 5 through 8.
Now Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers,
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they hated him even more.
He said to them, hear this dream that I have dreamed. Behold,
we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and stood upright,
And behold, your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf.
His brother said to him, Are you indeed to reign over us, or are you indeed a ruler over us?
So they hated him even more for his dream and for his word. Yes.
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And later on, when Joseph comes to him out in the field, I love the, here comes that dream.
I mean, you could just see the venom dripping off this. As only siblings can do.
Yes. Yeah. And of course, instead of killing them, they decide finally to sell
them as a slave. It goes to Egypt.
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Joseph's dream will indeed come to pass, but not as expected.
So listen up. There are some dreams and visions which need to be set on for
a while or meditated on before we go blabbing it to everyone.
His brothers already hated him, and now more so.
And we all know where that led. and neither does Joseph know what he will go
through to get to that place where the sheaves bow down.
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He has no idea of what's ahead of him, the temptations, the trials,
year after year after year.
11 years in prison alone. Yeah. Yeah. Before it comes to pass.
And it comes to pass in a way that Joseph could never have dreamed.
That's the paradox. So think hard before you ask God, give me a dream or vision.
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No, he will give you one if it's warranted. You're ready then to know how to
deal with it and respond.
So dreams and visions handle with care. Meditate so you can discern them.
And then commit to the dream, the vision, the content of it,
and God's word that is in it for you.
Nor do dreams whose content are extraordinary ensure that even when God brings
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something to pass, that ensures that everything will turn out right.
You've got to understand that. In the long run, of course, it will all turn
out right if we remember the lesson of the dream.
Listen to this. This is Solomon's sad story. 1 Kings 3, 5.
At Gibeon, the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night,
and God said, Ask what I shall give you.
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And of course, he responded wonderfully.
I'm but what a child, how can I govern all these people? I need wisdom. I need help.
Absolutely. And God was impressed. God was impressed with that.
And so verses 10 through 14.
It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this.
And God said to him, because you have asked this and have not asked for yourself
long life or riches or the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself
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understanding to discern what is right.
Behold, I now do according to your word.
Behold, I give you a wise and discerning mind so that no one like you has been
before you and none like you shall rise after you.
I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor,
so that no other king shall compare with you all your days.
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And if you will walk in my ways, keep my statutes and my commandments as your
father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.
Right. All that. at, and if you will walk in my ways and keep my statutes and my commandments.
It's a great promise in the dream, but remember the if you will walk the way you're supposed to.
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And how did Solomon end up after having such wonderful vision of God?
Now we're going to look at 1 Kings 11, 7 through 9.
Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab,
and for Molech, the the abomination of the Ammonites on the mountain east of Jerusalem.
And so he did for all his foreign wives who made offerings and sacrifice to their gods.
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And the Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the
Lord and the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice.
There you go. Mercy.
Dreams and visions carry with them a profound truth from God to be acted upon,
especially if he makes a point of it.
Visions and dreams, hey, they're exciting, writing, and they are always a call,
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one way or the other, to be faithful.
And in dreams and visions, it is God who takes the initiative,
not us, as we've already seen.
Now, Ezekiel, Daniel, John in the book of Revelation, yes, they have these visions,
dreams, which deal with the kingdom of God then and in the future.
And we're not getting into that because when the written word of God is complete,
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those dreams and visions don't come anymore.
The canon is closed. So if you ever get a vision that says, add to the word
of God, however it's said.
Because why? Listen to these scriptures.
Deuteronomy 4.2. You shall not add to the word that I command you,
nor take from it, but you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you.
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Right. And then Deuteronomy 12, 32. Everything that I command you,
you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from it.
Right. As it is in the Old Testament, so it is in the New. This sentiment closes out the whole canon.
Last book of the Bible with these words from the very last chapter of the very
last book down almost to the last verses. Revelation 22, 18, 19.
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I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book,
if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book.
And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of prophecy,
God will take away his share in the tree of life and the holy city,
which are described in this book.
Yes, Revelation is the book to close the canon because it sums up so many things,
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and it's got so many quotes and allusions from the Old Testament,
from Genesis all the way through.
And therefore, like in Deuteronomy, when that portion of the law of God that
Moses wrote was was finished.
So now this is given and is an indicative that there's not going to be any more
revelation later on of the kind that they had.
But the principles of dreams and visions that we have found through still apply
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to us today in our current lives.
However, we must have no expectation of receiving a word from God that's to be added to Scripture.
In our ministry, we knew of dear lady, a good saint, and what she was sure the
Lord was coming in her lifetime and told us so.
We had conversations with her, but she passed on.
Now, do I think that she was a heretic? No, she misinterpreted. She didn't understand.
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And apparently the information that God gave her and that dream or whatever
it was by vision was profound.
But that's why I say you got to sit on these things and think about them.
And before you decide to either talk to somebody else or act upon it.
So does God today deal directly in dream or visions with those who are not seeking
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him? as the Muslim testimonies above describe.
In other words, there's a scriptures to back up what these Muslims are saying.
Let's go to Romans 10, 19. But I asked, did Israel not understand?
First Moses says, I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation.
With a foolish nation, I will make you angry.
Right. Then listen to this, Romans 10, 20. Listen to this.
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Then Isaiah is bold to say, I have been found by those who did not seek me.
I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.
Amazing. I've been found by those who didn't seek me. They weren't looking.
They weren't interested. They weren't concerned.
And I've shown myself to those who did not ask or seek or look for me.
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God can do what he wants. Right.
So visions and dreams must be vetted, tested.
God takes the initiative. He goes to whoever he wants to, whenever he wants
to, however he wants to do it.
And God is on record of doing this, showing himself to those who don't inquire.
Now, you say, why didn't he send an evangelist or missionary?
Well, he does that normally, but not always.
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Because sometimes he apparently likes that direct connection with people.
Because he did it in Scripture. So we can have a good, reasonable understanding
he'd be doing it today. He'd still do it today.
And because he answers prayers this way, and because he can reach anyone with
a dream or a vision, according to his goodwill.
And I know from a fact that getting missionaries into Muslim territory is a
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most, most difficult thing.
Yes, Chuck. And the people there are incredibly biased as the lady who hated
Christians. That's part of the teaching.
This verse, so do many, it goes right back to the garden after the fall.
Think of it. Did Adam and Eve seek God after their sin? No, they were hiding.
Adam, where are you? And he says, I'm hiding.
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I didn't want to meet you. I'm afraid. I've got fears. I don't want to do it.
But God came out and sought them even in their sin and when they were hiding,
even when they didn't want in his presence.
And since Peter describes, quoting the book of Joel, that this age,
these last days, right before Jesus returns, as a time when men and women will
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have dreams and visions from God to help us, we need to understand this.
It's found in Acts chapter 2, where the pattern for this age is given to us,
that is, for dreams and visions, and Peter's Pentecostal sermon.
Here's Acts 2, 14 through 18.
But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them,
Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give ear to my words.
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For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it's only the third hour
of the day. But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel.
And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit
on all flesh, and your sons and daughters shall prophesy, and your young men
shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.
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Even on my male servants and female servants in
those days i will pour out my spirit and they
shall prophesy exactly what god told
aaron and miriam i speak to moses face to
face but when i speak to prophets there's a prophesy it's riddles it's dreams
it's visions and now we occupy that in this present age centered in jesus christ
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and the truth of the cross resurrection and the ascension the enthronement and
his return prophecy of course is open to all it's basically God lays a word
on your heart and you feel a need to share it.
Well, however the situation or whatever the particular context is.
So dreams and visions come under that heading.
Just as surely as God can lay a word on our heart for us to share,
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he may do that by way of a vision or a dream.
We're going to talk a little just a second about the voice of God.
Quite often that is a visionary experience. It could be a dream.
But you know, if you go to 1 Samuel chapter 3, a young Samuel who does not know
the Lord yet is called three times by the Lord.
Samuel, Samuel. And Samuel thinks it's Eli, the priest. And finally,
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the third time when he goes to Eli, Eli realizes, oh, this is God calling him.
And so he says, next time you hear that, just say, Lord, here I am. Your servant listens.
Speak for your servant that's listening. So there is the voice of God.
For example, years ago, when we were still in Ohio, we had been at one of our
favorite Mexican restaurants, Wanda, my wife and I, and we're coming out of
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that and getting into, I think we had a van at that time.
And they had just created these new turnarounds like they have over in Europe
and other places. And if you're not used to them, they can be a little confusing at first.
And I didn't know this till later, but as we got in the car and pulled out immediately,
Wanda heard a voice inside her head, very clear, said, pray for you and Jim, just like that.
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And so Wanda started started doing that and she didn't know
why for so we get into this turnabout and we're in our right place
where we should be on the on the outside and all of a sudden out of
nowhere this huge 350 ford super
tired truck sees his exit and
figures i don't have to do the routine around i'll just cut across the center
why he didn't hit us to this day i don't know it's it scared me to death and
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right after we so we calmed ourselves down and wanted to sit i heard the lord
say pray about this So these things take place.
Now, we're going to get some personal testimonies here.
Shall I go first or should I? Sure. Okay. Let me just do the one about coming
down here to Middle Tennessee. Middle Tennessee.
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We've been coming down here visiting the family, kids, some time going back
to 2016, 2017, 2018, stay for a month, especially during summer.
And the, of course, Randy, Chris, all them on me and Wanda case to,
you need to move down here.
You need to move down here. And when we moved into our condo from where we were,
and I'm retired now from ministry, I made the point, the only way I'm leaving
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this condo is feet first.
Because I was thrilled to death to be in it. Did not want to leave.
But as the years went by, it wore on me.
So I was, the last time, which is in 220, I'm sitting up a few prayers to God.
Well, Lord, maybe we should move down here.
Nudge me. Maybe I just need a couple nudges. A nudge. Keep that in mind.
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And I'm not asking for a vision or a dream.
It's just a conversational prayer you have as you walk along and do things, all right?
Well, this time, 2020, we're down there doing the book of Acts and I'm studying
because I'm teaching the small group that night and it's a passage that Randy
read, the visions and dreams.
Your old man will dream dreams and your young men have visions and so forth.
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And so as I'm studying this, I'm having in my head a conversation aimed at the
Lord. It's not a normal prayer where you sit down and you fold your hands.
I'm just saying, okay, that's interesting.
But Lord, I'm saying to myself, Lord, I guess I'm an old man now.
And I haven't had any dreams for some time. I'm certainly not in color.
Yeah. I haven't changed. You're black and white. Yeah, they're black and white
and they're fuzzy. And my father told me about that. He said,
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I hate my dreams now. Just, ah, well, no.
So I'm just saying, I'm not complaining.
Well, maybe a little. I'm saying old men will dream dreams. I'm not doing that. Okay.
That's all. Well, and I was not making a connection with coming down here.
Now, understand, when we would go to church, the church people began to get
on our case about coming down here.
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And finally, I knew I had to make a positive statement, either get people off my back.
And as a way of also knowing the Lord, if you want this, it's going to be boom, boom, boom.
So they would say, when you and your wife coming down here, and I would say,
when there's an act of God, it is not happening short of an act of God because
I'm staying in that condo. I said that once, twice.
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Got to take an act of God. Well, that morning, early morning,
two or three o'clock in the morning, Friday, I had a dream. I dreamed a dream.
It was the most fearsome dream I ever had. And it's in color. I mean, amazing color.
Technicolor, VistaVision. And it starts with me saying, as dreams do,
they start in the middle of something.
You don't have a story that has three acts, you know. And I'm saying, but I have a Tucson.
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Because I heard everybody down here comes down here and buys a Jeep.
So that's part of the dream. me saying, I don't want to do this. I got a Tucson.
Next thing, drink shifts. And I'm in a truck, an older truck,
like back from the fifties or something, standard shift. And there's this fella driving.
I don't know who he is, but I know he's an angel. All right.
And let me, let me say, I know he's an angel for two reasons.
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This is how God uses things in your life that you would never guess.
If you've ever seen the show Knowing with Nicolas Cage, there are angels there.
Now, Now, they don't look necessarily like biblical angels, but they are awesome dudes.
And they are a little on the creepies. And they are scary.
And I look over at this guy, and that's immediately, that was the vision I had.
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But he smiled at me, smiled at me. So I'm thinking, wow, that's cool.
So we're driving along, and Wanda's, I know Wanda's in the backseat.
Now I'm in front with this guy.
And all of a sudden, he's speeding up, speeding up, speeding up,
going faster and faster. And I notice the road has turned red.
I'm going, what is that about? Well, I never knew about all the red dirt down
here in Tennessee and it wasn't actually till two days later after that dream
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We were out and about yeah with your friends from I think North Carolina Down here in Tennessee.
I forget. Well anyway, yeah Yeah, and we passed a big road where they're bulldozing
and it's laid out with red all the way through Making a new strip of highway
or something just like in my dream.
Now, you know that rattled me. Okay, so but.
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In the dream, I haven't known that the red dirt here is Tennessee.
So we're going faster, faster, faster. And I tell the guy, I said,
I think you need to slow down. And he looks at me and sort of smiles and says, okay. And he shifts.
And all of a sudden, this thing takes off like a jet. It flies through the air.
And I'm a little upset with this.
I hear one of them say, well, this is interesting. Really?
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And then we get way above. I look below me and there's this great,
great, huge blue body of water that normally would call the ocean.
I'm thinking, what is that about? And then all of a sudden this guy tilts the
steering wheel and we just head straight down to that.
And the last thing I remember before I woke up in shock was this is for real.
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I mean, you ever have a dream where you're convinced it's really real.
This is the realest dream I ever had. I'm sure we're going to crash into this.
Boom. I woke up and I was shook.
And I just sat there for a while. I said, well, I got to think about this.
This is obviously significant.
Got to think. So I spent a couple, three days and then finally began to share.
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But the thing I had to do was, what is that?
And here's why reading of the Bible is important because in the Bible,
you don't have oceans, you have seas.
And so, and trying to interpret the dream, what I know about the Bible and own
experience, I'm thinking, all right, so So I know this is from God,
but I'm above this great sea, and we're going to go take this big dive into
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the sea. And I'm thinking, what kind of sea is that?
And immediately in my mind, I heard this, Tennessee.
God uses those kinds of double play words throughout the Old Testament.
And I just said, oh, gee, you know. So I surrendered. I didn't say I'm triumphant.
I'm going to Tennessee. I was like, okay, I'm going.
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I'm going. And of course, obviously glad we're here and we're having wonderful
times. The Lord has blessed many times over.
But again, I realized as I interpreted and tried to meditate on it, God is challenging me.
Yeah, it's going to be because this is not what you wanted. It's not even close
to what you wanted. You're comfortable up there. It's nice.
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It's going to go. This is going to, I understand that, but this,
it's going to be complete immersion into Tennessee.
Boom. It's going to be that. And you have to get over your fears.
So I said, okay, I got to conquer my fear.
And so what do we do in the next two days? We bought a house down here,
went back, went to, took the condo. It sold in 10 hours, 10 hours.
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And then we moved down here and that's, there are others, maybe at some other
time that the people are interested, we can share other experiences.
But that's the one dream that I've had that is obviously, toward the end of
my life here, clearly significant.
Well, I've had a few, you know, not a ton, but I've had a few, and some of them are.
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Well, I guess, comforting, and also some dreams that were confirming Hmm.
People, as an example. You know, as we've been at church and different people
have—we've had different needs and,
additional leaders have been needed for the congregation and other shepherds
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and other deacons and things like that.
God has given me visions of different men who have subsequently been asked to
serve in some of those roles.
But again, One Dream in particular, one of the folks that serves as a deacon,
he also owns a grocery store.
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And The Dream was his grocery store, which is on a road that leads not too far from the church.
And in my dream, there's this grocery store and there's water pouring out of
the windows and pouring out of the front door.
And, you know, the gentleman who owns the grocery store is there and he's not upset.
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And I'm thinking, how can you not be upset? Your store is being ruined.
Like, it's literally flooded. Right.
But was actually quite happy and, you know, was just serving people and helping
people check out as they walked around the huge swaths of water that they were,
you know, just pouring from the store.
But that was part, you know, realizing the Holy Spirit, you know,
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water moving is always a spirit type thing. And the Holy Spirit was moving through
his store and through him and through the work that he's doing.
And that was one of the things I shared that with the other shepherds.
And that, you know, that was a confirmation of sorts for that person.
Another dream of someone who, my girls were lost.
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My two youngest girls were lost and everyone was worried, particularly my wife.
You know, we were at an amusement park and did not know where he was and where they were.
And they said, oh, they're with so-and-so. And I immediately felt a bunch of
peace and I look over and there's so-and-so in an amphibious car driving.
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Going down this flowing water track, just bringing the girls safely up to Christina
and I and just smiling. And the girls were happy.
And even though we were in duress, the whole situation was peaceful.
So even though we felt duress, then this vision of this person being able to,
and again, confirmation for that person, but also comforting.
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I have a daughter who has left her faith and And she is probably the deepest
pain in my life and anguishing over it, just anguish over it.
And my wife as well in ways that, you know, we don't verbalize very much,
but I had this dream and my daughter, my oldest name is Caitlin.
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She, she and all of us were on a camping trip and all the kids had different
tents. and in this dream, everyone was looking for her.
And the first place I went to look for her was I went in her tent.
When I entered her tent, her tent was completely in order.
Everything was neatly folded. Not like a tent you would see when you're camping
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with stuff thrown everywhere around, but meticulously put in place and everything in order.
And everyone we knew from church and from our social life and from our family
life were there and they were calling out, they were calling her name and everyone
kept saying the same thing.
And this was the only thing that was said in the dream. How can she be lost?
You can see the city from anywhere in the forest. How can she be lost?
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You can see the city from anywhere in the forest.
And everyone kept saying that. And indeed, everywhere I went in the forest,
as I went everywhere looking for her, you You could see the city from the forest.
As you lifted up your eyes, you could see the city through the trees.
And I woke up and, you know, while I was not, I did not feel good,
I was comforted in the fact that she's choosing to be where she is and choosing
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the path that she's on right now, that her mother and I weren't at fault for
the choices that she's making.
And again, while that is not a good ending to the dream, it was comforting to
us. us because it took away the greed and guilt that we somehow pushed her away.
So there's just two dreams, comforting and, and, and then I had one other dream
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I'll share that I went to heaven.
And again, how do I know it's heaven? Because there was a thing that was said,
again, didn't come from me.
We're in heaven. Long story short, I got to see the, my mansion in heaven and
there were a number of things about it.
But one of the things I asked the angel that was showing me around was,
uh, Hey, I really like leather couches, big, nice leather couches.
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And if you've ever been in my home, I like big, nice leather things.
And the guy looks at me and just goes, there's no leather in heaven.
And I'm like, why is there no leather in heaven? He goes, because something would have to die.
So there's no leather in heaven. And I realized, okay, so I'm not going to have
my leather couches in heaven.
But again, that's something that my subconscious mind didn't come up with that,
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right? This was just something that was revealed.
And again, too much to go into in the podcast, but.
Lots of stuff like that have happened that are confirming, comforting,
or in some way encouraging.
True. And that's what visions and dreams in this age for us are all about.
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And of course, then having been given that, you have opportunity and times to
share, like we're doing here, that word.
Because a vision or a dream can be summed up in a word from God as to how it
operates and works in our lives. So, we affirm that God today,
at various times and places, with various people, gives dreams and visions.
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But the day is coming when those things will be passed.
For Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13, 9-12, For we know in part,
and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.
When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child,
I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways,
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for now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.
Now I know in part, then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
Yes, when we know face to face, we'll be like Moses, but more so.
Absolutely. And then 1 John 3, 2.
Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared.
But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
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So the day of direct access to God is coming. No more riddles, dreams, or visions.
But above all, let us seek that as in the prayer. Seek this.
Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
And that's the Christian expectation.
Well, we've been dreaming of this podcast for some time. Yes, we have.
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Thanks, Jim. And you might have questions or comments on dreams and visions.
And if you do, we'd love to hear from them.
Please leave a comment in the comment section of the podcast or send us an email
at events and expectations.
That's the word events, the word and, the word expectations all together at gmail.com.
And we'd love to hear from you and we will always answer you.
(50:29):
This has been Current Events and Christian Expectations. And until next time, keep looking up.
Music.
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Good day to you, brothers, sisters, friends, and new faces, and welcome to Current
Events and Christian Expectations.
And today, we're going to be talking about dreams and visions.
We'll lead off with Acts 9, verses 10 through 12, and we'll have many other
scriptures that we reference and read today. We'll put those in the overview.
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But with dreams and visions and how they fit into the Christian perspective, let's just dig right in.
Well, hello to everybody out there in the podcast land.
We're going to look at dreams and visions and their place in the Christian life.
See if anyone out there recognizes this. As I walked through the wilderness
(00:50):
of this world, I lighted on a certain place where there was a den.
And I laid me down in that place to sleep. And as I slept, I dreamed a dream.
And that's the beginning of Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan,
classic literature, historically so.
But not only in classic literature do we have this, it shows up in award-winning
(01:13):
musicals. I don't know how many out there are fans of Les Miserables.
If you are, you'll know this. I dreamed a dream in time gone by when hope was
high and life worth living.
I dreamed that love would never die. I dreamed that God would be forgiving. giving.
Dreams have an important place in our history, in our literature.
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But for we who are Christian, it's very important to understand that dreams
and visions that we're talking about here are not ideals, not vocation.
You watch America's Got Talent, and the contestants are always asked,
what's your dream? And I say, well, last night, I saw this great mountain. No.
They go on and say, well, I want to be the most famous person who ever does
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whatever they do. Well, dreams and visions don't happen all the time.
They don't. They're infrequent.
They are infrequent. Yeah. Yes. Even in biblical times, infrequent.
So we need to take a look at how this works.
It is about God breaking into our natural cycles of life, natural cycles as
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we normally recognize them.
Listen to this from Acts 9, 10 through 15. Listen.
Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in
a vision, Ananias. And he said, Here I am, Lord.
And the Lord said to him, Rise and go to the street called Straight,
and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul,
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for behold, he is praying.
And he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on
him so that he might regain his sight.
But Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard from many about this man,
how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem.
And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.
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But the Lord said to him, Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry
my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.
We're not told if this was the first or the hundredth time that Ananias has gotten a vision.
I suspect that, as Randy mentioned, he has not had that many of them.
It's interesting that... But you know what you do have. You do.
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It's very clear. That'll be very clear from the scriptures we'll be going through
as well as the experiences we'll share.
And the Lord appears to him in a vision, but it seems to be mostly an audio,
audible vision, listening to the word of God, from God.
And he tells him, I want you to go and take care of this man and get his sight back, Saul of Tarsus.
And Ananias said, no, I don't want to do that.
(03:45):
He's mean. Yeah. Immediately we find out that visions and dreams provoke us.
Yeah. That's one of the keys to keep in mind. We get provoked and he says,
Lord, and he doesn't seem to be totally concerned about the Lord being upset
because he's going to rebut this.
I've heard from many about this man. He's done damage to our cause,
the Christian movement. But the Lord said to him, go and do it.
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Take note of the but. Go. The Lord said to him, go and do it.
And we should do what the Lord says in a vision or dream.
We will see part of the vision or dream is we'll always involve some kind of
act of obedience on our part.
We should not pursue visions or dreams from God as the way of discerning God's will.
(04:33):
Scripture, tradition, experience, and reason, with Scripture at the the top,
of course, are our main guides and in that order.
And those four things are, I got that from John Wesley, so it's not original
with me, and found it very helpful.
As we shall see, dreams and visions from God are initiated by Him,
not us. Keep that in mind.
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All the ones we're looking at in this podcast, God initiates it,
and people aren't expecting it, and all of a sudden, it just shows up,
and they're in a vision, they're in a dream.
Note that Ananias' vision comes out out of nowhere, and he's not happy about it.
People always think, I'll get a vision, it'll be wonderful. Well,
it might be, but more often than not, you're going to be disturbed.
(05:14):
So what do you think about these stories of visions and dreams?
This is by way of World Net Daily from the Christian Broadcasting Network from
January 1st of this year.
Two Assembly of God missionaries are sharing multiple firsthand testimonies
of Muslims coming to the Christian faith after meeting Jesus Christ in their dreams.
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James Bradford, the lead pastor at Central Assembly in Springfield,
Missouri, and missionary Dick Brogden, told Assemblies of God that God is answering
the prayers of Christians who are praying for Muslims.
Now, over the years, I've tracked these visions and dreams that Muslims have,
so this is not unusual. unusual.
Now, one may say, well, I don't believe it, but nonetheless,
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I'm telling you, it's not unusual.
But if we are praying for this, why should we be surprised that Muslims should
get the Word of God if God takes the initiative to transcend the barriers that
keep a people in that culture isolated from the truth?
Well, that's not the only time, too, that God has called repentance into a totally
(06:22):
pagan group of people, and they've repented and followed their scripture after
Scripture after scripture.
Oh, yeah. Right. In fact, we've got a couple or three, I think,
in this broadcast. Yeah.
From the Christian Post, a missionary man by the name of Bradford, quote,
shared that he was in a Muslim country meeting with church leaders from several
Muslim nations, and one of the leaders shared a testimony of a woman who had
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a dream. Yes, she dreamed a dream. Where she saw Jesus.
He says, a woman had left the Muslim faith, but she was full of hatred and suspicion of Christians.
She didn't know what to do. she asked God for help. One night she had a dream.
Now notice she asked God for help. And you say, well, she's Muslim,
but there's only one God. And God knows who he is.
He answers people. And he answers people. Exactly.
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One night she had a dream where she saw a shepherd walking about an empty tomb with the staff.
The shepherd walked around it a few times, and then he headed directly toward the woman.
He had a loaf of bread in his hands, which he broke and offered to her,
and as he did, he said, Take, eat, this is my body.
This missionary went on to share that the woman, who knew nothing about the
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Bible, woke up and contacted a person who she knew was a Christian,
and he showed her in the Bible where Jesus had said those very words.
The woman accepted Jesus and continues to serve Him to this day, the missionary said.
So, what shall we say to these stories? Well, first of all, let's see how it
works out in Scripture, all right?
Listen to this, Joshua 24, first, second, and third verse.
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Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem and summoned the elders,
the heads, the judges, and the officers of Israel.
And they presented themselves before God. And Joshua said to all the people,
Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, Long ago your fathers lived beyond the
Euphrates, Terah, the father of Abram and of Nahor, and they served other gods.
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Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the river, and led him through the
land of Canaan, and made his offspring many. I gave him Isaac.
So, the Jewish nation has its origin, as we know, and Abraham.
He was from an idolatrous family.
He's referred to as their father. Well, you say, well, but was he personally
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involved? Well, let's take a look now at verse 14.
Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness.
Put away the gods that your father served beyond the river and in Egypt and serve the Lord.
All right. I took your father Abraham from beyond the river.
And Joshua goes on to say, put the gods away that your father others served
from beyond the river and in Egypt, and you need to serve the Lord.
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So that's where Abraham comes from, idolatrous life.
Well, what happened to change that? How does that happen? Acts chapter 7,
verses 1, 2, and 3, Stephen is preaching that great sermon, which will get him
stoned to death. But listen to this part of it here.
And the high priest said, Are these things so?
And Stephen said, Brothers and fathers, hear me.
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The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia,
before he lived in Haran.
And he said to him, Go out from your land and from your kindred,
and go into the land that I will show you.
He appeared to Abraham. The God of glory appeared to Abraham.
Was it a vision or a dream?
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Well, we know that later, Abram does have some visions and dreams and things of that sort.
And his family were idolaters. But God appears to him, God of glory.
If he shows up in all his light, I can see where that would really put the humble on to Abram.
And he calls Abram to himself to be the beginning of the people of Israel.
So it's not unusual for God to take the initiative and make an appearance to
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those who know him not, even, as Randy said, idolaters.
Think of Pharaoh in Genesis with the story of Joseph.
Think of Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon in connection with the story of Daniel.
And sometimes he does it in person, but the norm is to appear or communicate
in dreams or visions as he chooses. this.
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Now, another current event. This is from CBN, January the 20th of this year.
A former Palestinian sniper turned Christian believes revival will break out
in Gaza and thousands will come to Christ after the end of the Israel-Hamas war.
Taser Tass Abu Sarda, a former aide to the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat,
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recently told CBN News Global Lane that God's Holy Spirit is already changing
Palestinian hearts through dreams and visions.
Sadat said he believes hearts are turning to Jesus and confirmed a report late
last year that hundreds of Gazans met Jesus in their sleep.
Quote, I have a report from one of my team members that 200 Gazans gave their
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heart to Jesus in one lump sum, he expressed.
The Lord appeared to them in visions and dreams, and they They were hugging
each other and rejoicing. They realized all of them had had the same vision
that each one of them had had. So that is extraordinary.
What role do dreams and visions play in the life of today's Christians as well?
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As well as others, as we've already seen. For this broadcast,
we submit that whether it's a dream or vision, and a dream takes place,
obviously, while you're asleep,
and a vision normally in waking times, but you're temporarily disconnected from
the rest of the waking world.
You're just suspended animation, so to speak.
God is still in the business of this kind of communication.
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In Daniel 8, verse 1, it's done this way.
In the first year of Belshazzar, king of Babylon, And Daniel saw a dream and
visions of his head as he lay in bed. So they can be combined together.
And we will not look at every dream or vision found in Scripture.
But those that we can give us a pattern to follow for a guide,
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we're going to use as we read Scripture.
And as we experience dreams or visions in our own lives, how to sort that out.
And this is not a book, go to chapter 1, paragraph 2 and find out.
But it's about a pattern to follow that you, when you have a dream or vision
that you believe absolutely is from God, you've got to follow that through based
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on your obedience to God.
There's no particular handbook that you can turn to and say,
this is how you do that, and this is what you do next.
You learn from Scripture. Well, and from discerning. And discerning.
You have the dream, you pray about it. Right. That's the big thing.
People immediately want to jump into interpreting it, and it's like,
well, have you prayed about it yet?
Exactly. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. In fact, we're going to see that in a moment here with Joseph.
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We'll first explore the Old Testament and then go to the New Testament for examples
to get scripture-based perspective as to how to respond and how to interpret
and how to act upon such dreams or visions.
And we'll finish up, Randy and myself, a couple of personal testimonies.
Well, let's begin with an overarching perspective given by the Lord in Numbers 12, 6 through 9.
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And he said, Hear my words. If there's a prophet among you, I,
the Lord, make myself known to him in a vision.
I speak with him in a dream. Not so with my servant Moses.
He is faithful in all my house. With him I speak mouth to mouth clearly, and not in riddles.
And he beholds the form of the Lord.
Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?
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And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them, and he departed.
Yes, that's, of course, Aaron and Miriam.
They objected to some aspects of Moses' life and his wife and all that. But it's very clear.
Moses is an exception. God dealing with him face-to-face, really.
It's wonderful. And it's the only time I think you see that going on in the
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Old Testament. And we're told in the New Testament we have to wait until Jesus
comes to do face-to-face.
Very few exceptions. So don't think you have an exception with your dream.
Yeah. You probably don't. Yeah. Yeah.
Right. The normal way God often communicates with prophets, and that's what
he says to the prophets, is by way of visions and riddles.
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You say, well, I'm not a prophet. Well, hold on. We're going to get there.
Visions would often propose a riddle as well. In the New Testament,
Acts 10, Peter's on a rooftop.
He's hungry, and he goes into a trance, which later on he refers to as a vision, or Luke does.
And he sees this big sheet
coming down with all these animals and he's very
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kosher peter's still very much an orthodox jew at this point very very
kosher rise eat kill what no no no i've never had anything
that's right yeah can't eat crawly things and shrimp from the sea i've never
done anything that's defiled me and this happened three different times with
the word of the lord coming from heaven rise and kill and he's trying to figure
this out when events begin to move him toward cornelius and finally,
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the riddle is solved when he gets to the house of Cornelius.
You can read all that in Acts chapter 10.
And so visions and dreams, which is more important? Well, the main thing is the content.
Don't get hung up on whether it's a dream or a vision.
And as to why sometimes a vision or sometimes a dream, well,
dream obviously is best suited when you're asleep and a vision when awake.
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And there are differences, but in this podcast, we're just concerned about what
do we do with them when we get them, what we do with the content.
Notice Peter was hungry. He had a dream about food that was unclean.
He couldn't eat it. God showed him something else he should hunger for.
And that's, of course, getting the word of God to the Gentiles.
The first recorded dream from God in the Old Testament is to a pagan.
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Randy mentioned that earlier. Listen to this. Genesis 20, 3 through 6.
But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him,
Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman who you have taken, for she is a man's wife.
Now Abimelech had not approached her. So he said, Lord, will you kill an innocent people?
Did he not himself say to me, she is my sister?
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And she herself said, he is my brother. In the integrity of my heart and the
innocence of my hands, I have done this.
Then God said to him in his dream, yes, I know that you have done this in the
integrity of your heart, and it was I who kept you from sinning against me.
Therefore, I did not let you touch her.
This is one of the most curious passages when you get in Genesis about the idea
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of the providence of God.
Can God keep me from sinning? He kept him from sinning. Absolutely.
But this is a dream. And notice Abimelech knows who he's talking to.
Now, I'm thinking this is probably the first time ever he's had a conversation, a dream with God.
But he knows who is talking to him. Yeah.
And that means that when you say, how will I know? You'll know.
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You'll know. No, it's a kind of intuitive understanding.
Abimelech knows who he is talking to. And he has that conversation where,
again, he feels free to register a complaint. Lord, I haven't done anything.
Don't kill me, my wife, my kids, my people here.
And God says, that's not going to happen. But, you know, you need to go to Abraham
and do the following, which he does, and things work out.
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So this is a warning dream.
And it's given to one outside the covenant of God, pagan, idolater.
Some dreams and visions are warnings, and some are encouragements,
and some dreams and visions combine both.
And these warnings and encouragements vary depending on God's purposes.
But first, a warning about dreams and visions. Not all who claim to have these are to be believed.
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So we need to take that in consideration.
Deuteronomy 13, verses 1, 2, 3. If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among
you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass,
and if he says, Let us go after other gods, which you have not known,
and let us serve them, you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams.
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For the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your
God with all your heart and with all your soul.
The true test of following God is to judge any dream or vision by the word of God already given.
Even if what is given in that particular dream or vision comes to pass,
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if it contradicts what's already been written down, I don't care if it's a dream
or a vision and who gives it and who tells it to you. It's a test from God.
Don't buy into it. Even Jesus was tested with a vision from Satan, Luke 4, 5 through 8.
And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a
moment of time and said to him, To you I will give all this authority and their
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glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will.
If you then will worship me, it will all be yours.
And Jesus answered him, It is written, You shall worship the Lord your God,
and him only shall you serve.
Right. What helps in having dreams and visions, if you have one,
is to the better you know the the Bible, it is written, the better you'll be
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able to wrestle and grasp what the content is and how you're supposed to respond.
Of course, when Satan gives you one, he'll take a little truth and put it with
untruth and really deceive you, as he does here, tribe with Jesus, but it does not work.
So, whether in a vision or dream, vet the content.
Meditate on it. Check Scripture. If needed, counsel with others.
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Here's a passage from Jeremiah 23, 25, pointing out the same thing.
I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed.
I have dreamed. There you go. I've dreamed, I've dreamed.
Colossians 2.18, New Testament. Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism
and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up about reason by his sensuous mind.
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Right, and we're still having those kinds of things around today.
Gotta be serious vetting and meditating and understanding of dreams and visions.
Jacob dreamed a dream, which he interpreted as an encouragement to commitment.
Genesis 28, 16, 17. Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said,
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surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.
And he was afraid and said, how awesome is this place.
This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.
Right. And the dream, he entered into kind of a portal place there of heaven
because of the nature of the dream.
Heaven's opened up and the big staircase came down and angels
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going up and down on it the gate of heaven sort of a
stargate experience note the
fear of jacob and his confession of the experience he's awesome meaning he's
he knows this is divine and this clearly marks off that dream of his from the
run of the mill type which was something special about this yes something that
you can't shake it's one you don't say i gotta write down that dream so i won't
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forget it these dreams you don't have to write them down yeah you'll remember.
And so he acts based upon the dream he has, Genesis 28, 18 through 22.
So early in the morning, Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head
and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it.
He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first.
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Then Jacob made a vow saying, if God will be with me and will keep me in this
way that I go and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear so that I shall
come again to my father's house in peace, then the God, the Lord God, shall be my God.
And this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God's house.
And of all that you give me, I will give a full tenth to you.
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Right. Some people see Jacob's bargaining with God here.
He's already being pressed. It's not so much bargaining as I need to respond
in a way that is acceptable. And that's what he does. He makes a memorial.
Great idea. And promises 10% in the Old Testament. That was well known.
You got got the story of Melchizedek and Abraham.
Yeah. Where Abraham comes back from the battle with all the loot and gives that 10%.
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Well, we've all done that before. You know, when we say, God,
if you get me through this. Yeah.
I will do X, Y, and Z. I did that myself in the military, you know, during Desert Storm.
Lord, if you get me through this, I'll use my GI Bill to go to Bible college.
Yes. You know, so we've all done it. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. And of course,
once you make a vow like that.
You got to do it. You need to follow through on it. Yeah. Yeah.
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When we have a dream or vision and sense the divinity in it,
it's awesomeness, or it may be something that fills us with fear.
I'll discuss my testimony of the dream I had, disturbing dream, or maybe it blesses us.
We will know it's from God and we'll go over it in our mind,
rehearse it as Jacob did, and try to figure out what our response should be. Now.
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Here is a good passage that deals with that. It's Joseph, Jacob's favorite son.
So you got issues right there with all the other brothers.
Has dreamed a dream of great significance, and he knows it's great.
He does not handle it well. Genesis 37, 5 through 8.
Now Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers,
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they hated him even more.
He said to them, hear this dream that I have dreamed. Behold,
we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and stood upright,
And behold, your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf.
His brother said to him, Are you indeed to reign over us, or are you indeed a ruler over us?
So they hated him even more for his dream and for his word. Yes.
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And later on, when Joseph comes to him out in the field, I love the, here comes that dream.
I mean, you could just see the venom dripping off this. As only siblings can do.
Yes. Yeah. And of course, instead of killing them, they decide finally to sell
them as a slave. It goes to Egypt.
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Joseph's dream will indeed come to pass, but not as expected.
So listen up. There are some dreams and visions which need to be set on for
a while or meditated on before we go blabbing it to everyone.
His brothers already hated him, and now more so.
And we all know where that led. and neither does Joseph know what he will go
through to get to that place where the sheaves bow down.
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He has no idea of what's ahead of him, the temptations, the trials,
year after year after year.
11 years in prison alone. Yeah. Yeah. Before it comes to pass.
And it comes to pass in a way that Joseph could never have dreamed.
That's the paradox. So think hard before you ask God, give me a dream or vision.
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No, he will give you one if it's warranted. You're ready then to know how to
deal with it and respond.
So dreams and visions handle with care. Meditate so you can discern them.
And then commit to the dream, the vision, the content of it,
and God's word that is in it for you.
Nor do dreams whose content are extraordinary ensure that even when God brings
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something to pass, that ensures that everything will turn out right.
You've got to understand that. In the long run, of course, it will all turn
out right if we remember the lesson of the dream.
Listen to this. This is Solomon's sad story. 1 Kings 3, 5.
At Gibeon, the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night,
and God said, Ask what I shall give you.
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And of course, he responded wonderfully.
I'm but what a child, how can I govern all these people? I need wisdom. I need help.
Absolutely. And God was impressed. God was impressed with that.
And so verses 10 through 14.
It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this.
And God said to him, because you have asked this and have not asked for yourself
long life or riches or the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself
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understanding to discern what is right.
Behold, I now do according to your word.
Behold, I give you a wise and discerning mind so that no one like you has been
before you and none like you shall rise after you.
I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor,
so that no other king shall compare with you all your days.
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And if you will walk in my ways, keep my statutes and my commandments as your
father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.
Right. All that. at, and if you will walk in my ways and keep my statutes and my commandments.
It's a great promise in the dream, but remember the if you will walk the way you're supposed to.
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And how did Solomon end up after having such wonderful vision of God?
Now we're going to look at 1 Kings 11, 7 through 9.
Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab,
and for Molech, the the abomination of the Ammonites on the mountain east of Jerusalem.
And so he did for all his foreign wives who made offerings and sacrifice to their gods.
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And the Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the
Lord and the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice.
There you go. Mercy.
Dreams and visions carry with them a profound truth from God to be acted upon,
especially if he makes a point of it.
Visions and dreams, hey, they're exciting, writing, and they are always a call,
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one way or the other, to be faithful.
And in dreams and visions, it is God who takes the initiative,
not us, as we've already seen.
Now, Ezekiel, Daniel, John in the book of Revelation, yes, they have these visions,
dreams, which deal with the kingdom of God then and in the future.
And we're not getting into that because when the written word of God is complete,
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those dreams and visions don't come anymore.
The canon is closed. So if you ever get a vision that says, add to the word
of God, however it's said.
Because why? Listen to these scriptures.
Deuteronomy 4.2. You shall not add to the word that I command you,
nor take from it, but you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you.
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Right. And then Deuteronomy 12, 32. Everything that I command you,
you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from it.
Right. As it is in the Old Testament, so it is in the New. This sentiment closes out the whole canon.
Last book of the Bible with these words from the very last chapter of the very
last book down almost to the last verses. Revelation 22, 18, 19.
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I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book,
if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book.
And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of prophecy,
God will take away his share in the tree of life and the holy city,
which are described in this book.
Yes, Revelation is the book to close the canon because it sums up so many things,
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and it's got so many quotes and allusions from the Old Testament,
from Genesis all the way through.
And therefore, like in Deuteronomy, when that portion of the law of God that
Moses wrote was was finished.
So now this is given and is an indicative that there's not going to be any more
revelation later on of the kind that they had.
But the principles of dreams and visions that we have found through still apply
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to us today in our current lives.
However, we must have no expectation of receiving a word from God that's to be added to Scripture.
In our ministry, we knew of dear lady, a good saint, and what she was sure the
Lord was coming in her lifetime and told us so.
We had conversations with her, but she passed on.
Now, do I think that she was a heretic? No, she misinterpreted. She didn't understand.
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And apparently the information that God gave her and that dream or whatever
it was by vision was profound.
But that's why I say you got to sit on these things and think about them.
And before you decide to either talk to somebody else or act upon it.
So does God today deal directly in dream or visions with those who are not seeking
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him? as the Muslim testimonies above describe.
In other words, there's a scriptures to back up what these Muslims are saying.
Let's go to Romans 10, 19. But I asked, did Israel not understand?
First Moses says, I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation.
With a foolish nation, I will make you angry.
Right. Then listen to this, Romans 10, 20. Listen to this.
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Then Isaiah is bold to say, I have been found by those who did not seek me.
I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.
Amazing. I've been found by those who didn't seek me. They weren't looking.
They weren't interested. They weren't concerned.
And I've shown myself to those who did not ask or seek or look for me.
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God can do what he wants. Right.
So visions and dreams must be vetted, tested.
God takes the initiative. He goes to whoever he wants to, whenever he wants
to, however he wants to do it.
And God is on record of doing this, showing himself to those who don't inquire.
Now, you say, why didn't he send an evangelist or missionary?
Well, he does that normally, but not always.
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Because sometimes he apparently likes that direct connection with people.
Because he did it in Scripture. So we can have a good, reasonable understanding
he'd be doing it today. He'd still do it today.
And because he answers prayers this way, and because he can reach anyone with
a dream or a vision, according to his goodwill.
And I know from a fact that getting missionaries into Muslim territory is a
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most, most difficult thing.
Yes, Chuck. And the people there are incredibly biased as the lady who hated
Christians. That's part of the teaching.
This verse, so do many, it goes right back to the garden after the fall.
Think of it. Did Adam and Eve seek God after their sin? No, they were hiding.
Adam, where are you? And he says, I'm hiding.
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I didn't want to meet you. I'm afraid. I've got fears. I don't want to do it.
But God came out and sought them even in their sin and when they were hiding,
even when they didn't want in his presence.
And since Peter describes, quoting the book of Joel, that this age,
these last days, right before Jesus returns, as a time when men and women will
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have dreams and visions from God to help us, we need to understand this.
It's found in Acts chapter 2, where the pattern for this age is given to us,
that is, for dreams and visions, and Peter's Pentecostal sermon.
Here's Acts 2, 14 through 18.
But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them,
Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give ear to my words.
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For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it's only the third hour
of the day. But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel.
And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit
on all flesh, and your sons and daughters shall prophesy, and your young men
shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.
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Even on my male servants and female servants in
those days i will pour out my spirit and they
shall prophesy exactly what god told
aaron and miriam i speak to moses face to
face but when i speak to prophets there's a prophesy it's riddles it's dreams
it's visions and now we occupy that in this present age centered in jesus christ
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and the truth of the cross resurrection and the ascension the enthronement and
his return prophecy of course is open to all it's basically God lays a word
on your heart and you feel a need to share it.
Well, however the situation or whatever the particular context is.
So dreams and visions come under that heading.
Just as surely as God can lay a word on our heart for us to share,
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he may do that by way of a vision or a dream.
We're going to talk a little just a second about the voice of God.
Quite often that is a visionary experience. It could be a dream.
But you know, if you go to 1 Samuel chapter 3, a young Samuel who does not know
the Lord yet is called three times by the Lord.
Samuel, Samuel. And Samuel thinks it's Eli, the priest. And finally,
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the third time when he goes to Eli, Eli realizes, oh, this is God calling him.
And so he says, next time you hear that, just say, Lord, here I am. Your servant listens.
Speak for your servant that's listening. So there is the voice of God.
For example, years ago, when we were still in Ohio, we had been at one of our
favorite Mexican restaurants, Wanda, my wife and I, and we're coming out of
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that and getting into, I think we had a van at that time.
And they had just created these new turnarounds like they have over in Europe
and other places. And if you're not used to them, they can be a little confusing at first.
And I didn't know this till later, but as we got in the car and pulled out immediately,
Wanda heard a voice inside her head, very clear, said, pray for you and Jim, just like that.
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And so Wanda started started doing that and she didn't know
why for so we get into this turnabout and we're in our right place
where we should be on the on the outside and all of a sudden out of
nowhere this huge 350 ford super
tired truck sees his exit and
figures i don't have to do the routine around i'll just cut across the center
why he didn't hit us to this day i don't know it's it scared me to death and
(35:34):
right after we so we calmed ourselves down and wanted to sit i heard the lord
say pray about this So these things take place.
Now, we're going to get some personal testimonies here.
Shall I go first or should I? Sure. Okay. Let me just do the one about coming
down here to Middle Tennessee. Middle Tennessee.
(35:56):
We've been coming down here visiting the family, kids, some time going back
to 2016, 2017, 2018, stay for a month, especially during summer.
And the, of course, Randy, Chris, all them on me and Wanda case to,
you need to move down here.
You need to move down here. And when we moved into our condo from where we were,
and I'm retired now from ministry, I made the point, the only way I'm leaving
(36:18):
this condo is feet first.
Because I was thrilled to death to be in it. Did not want to leave.
But as the years went by, it wore on me.
So I was, the last time, which is in 220, I'm sitting up a few prayers to God.
Well, Lord, maybe we should move down here.
Nudge me. Maybe I just need a couple nudges. A nudge. Keep that in mind.
(36:40):
And I'm not asking for a vision or a dream.
It's just a conversational prayer you have as you walk along and do things, all right?
Well, this time, 2020, we're down there doing the book of Acts and I'm studying
because I'm teaching the small group that night and it's a passage that Randy
read, the visions and dreams.
Your old man will dream dreams and your young men have visions and so forth.
(37:04):
And so as I'm studying this, I'm having in my head a conversation aimed at the
Lord. It's not a normal prayer where you sit down and you fold your hands.
I'm just saying, okay, that's interesting.
But Lord, I'm saying to myself, Lord, I guess I'm an old man now.
And I haven't had any dreams for some time. I'm certainly not in color.
Yeah. I haven't changed. You're black and white. Yeah, they're black and white
and they're fuzzy. And my father told me about that. He said,
(37:27):
I hate my dreams now. Just, ah, well, no.
So I'm just saying, I'm not complaining.
Well, maybe a little. I'm saying old men will dream dreams. I'm not doing that. Okay.
That's all. Well, and I was not making a connection with coming down here.
Now, understand, when we would go to church, the church people began to get
on our case about coming down here.
(37:49):
And finally, I knew I had to make a positive statement, either get people off my back.
And as a way of also knowing the Lord, if you want this, it's going to be boom, boom, boom.
So they would say, when you and your wife coming down here, and I would say,
when there's an act of God, it is not happening short of an act of God because
I'm staying in that condo. I said that once, twice.
(38:11):
Got to take an act of God. Well, that morning, early morning,
two or three o'clock in the morning, Friday, I had a dream. I dreamed a dream.
It was the most fearsome dream I ever had. And it's in color. I mean, amazing color.
Technicolor, VistaVision. And it starts with me saying, as dreams do,
they start in the middle of something.
You don't have a story that has three acts, you know. And I'm saying, but I have a Tucson.
(38:35):
Because I heard everybody down here comes down here and buys a Jeep.
So that's part of the dream. me saying, I don't want to do this. I got a Tucson.
Next thing, drink shifts. And I'm in a truck, an older truck,
like back from the fifties or something, standard shift. And there's this fella driving.
I don't know who he is, but I know he's an angel. All right.
And let me, let me say, I know he's an angel for two reasons.
(38:57):
This is how God uses things in your life that you would never guess.
If you've ever seen the show Knowing with Nicolas Cage, there are angels there.
Now, Now, they don't look necessarily like biblical angels, but they are awesome dudes.
And they are a little on the creepies. And they are scary.
And I look over at this guy, and that's immediately, that was the vision I had.
(39:17):
But he smiled at me, smiled at me. So I'm thinking, wow, that's cool.
So we're driving along, and Wanda's, I know Wanda's in the backseat.
Now I'm in front with this guy.
And all of a sudden, he's speeding up, speeding up, speeding up,
going faster and faster. And I notice the road has turned red.
I'm going, what is that about? Well, I never knew about all the red dirt down
here in Tennessee and it wasn't actually till two days later after that dream
(39:39):
We were out and about yeah with your friends from I think North Carolina Down here in Tennessee.
I forget. Well anyway, yeah Yeah, and we passed a big road where they're bulldozing
and it's laid out with red all the way through Making a new strip of highway
or something just like in my dream.
Now, you know that rattled me. Okay, so but.
(40:01):
In the dream, I haven't known that the red dirt here is Tennessee.
So we're going faster, faster, faster. And I tell the guy, I said,
I think you need to slow down. And he looks at me and sort of smiles and says, okay. And he shifts.
And all of a sudden, this thing takes off like a jet. It flies through the air.
And I'm a little upset with this.
I hear one of them say, well, this is interesting. Really?
(40:24):
And then we get way above. I look below me and there's this great,
great, huge blue body of water that normally would call the ocean.
I'm thinking, what is that about? And then all of a sudden this guy tilts the
steering wheel and we just head straight down to that.
And the last thing I remember before I woke up in shock was this is for real.
(40:45):
I mean, you ever have a dream where you're convinced it's really real.
This is the realest dream I ever had. I'm sure we're going to crash into this.
Boom. I woke up and I was shook.
And I just sat there for a while. I said, well, I got to think about this.
This is obviously significant.
Got to think. So I spent a couple, three days and then finally began to share.
(41:07):
But the thing I had to do was, what is that?
And here's why reading of the Bible is important because in the Bible,
you don't have oceans, you have seas.
And so, and trying to interpret the dream, what I know about the Bible and own
experience, I'm thinking, all right, so So I know this is from God,
but I'm above this great sea, and we're going to go take this big dive into
(41:27):
the sea. And I'm thinking, what kind of sea is that?
And immediately in my mind, I heard this, Tennessee.
God uses those kinds of double play words throughout the Old Testament.
And I just said, oh, gee, you know. So I surrendered. I didn't say I'm triumphant.
I'm going to Tennessee. I was like, okay, I'm going.
(41:48):
I'm going. And of course, obviously glad we're here and we're having wonderful
times. The Lord has blessed many times over.
But again, I realized as I interpreted and tried to meditate on it, God is challenging me.
Yeah, it's going to be because this is not what you wanted. It's not even close
to what you wanted. You're comfortable up there. It's nice.
(42:08):
It's going to go. This is going to, I understand that, but this,
it's going to be complete immersion into Tennessee.
Boom. It's going to be that. And you have to get over your fears.
So I said, okay, I got to conquer my fear.
And so what do we do in the next two days? We bought a house down here,
went back, went to, took the condo. It sold in 10 hours, 10 hours.
(42:28):
And then we moved down here and that's, there are others, maybe at some other
time that the people are interested, we can share other experiences.
But that's the one dream that I've had that is obviously, toward the end of
my life here, clearly significant.
Well, I've had a few, you know, not a ton, but I've had a few, and some of them are.
(42:53):
Well, I guess, comforting, and also some dreams that were confirming Hmm.
People, as an example. You know, as we've been at church and different people
have—we've had different needs and,
additional leaders have been needed for the congregation and other shepherds
(43:15):
and other deacons and things like that.
God has given me visions of different men who have subsequently been asked to
serve in some of those roles.
But again, One Dream in particular, one of the folks that serves as a deacon,
he also owns a grocery store.
(43:39):
And The Dream was his grocery store, which is on a road that leads not too far from the church.
And in my dream, there's this grocery store and there's water pouring out of
the windows and pouring out of the front door.
And, you know, the gentleman who owns the grocery store is there and he's not upset.
(44:01):
And I'm thinking, how can you not be upset? Your store is being ruined.
Like, it's literally flooded. Right.
But was actually quite happy and, you know, was just serving people and helping
people check out as they walked around the huge swaths of water that they were,
you know, just pouring from the store.
But that was part, you know, realizing the Holy Spirit, you know,
(44:22):
water moving is always a spirit type thing. And the Holy Spirit was moving through
his store and through him and through the work that he's doing.
And that was one of the things I shared that with the other shepherds.
And that, you know, that was a confirmation of sorts for that person.
Another dream of someone who, my girls were lost.
(44:43):
My two youngest girls were lost and everyone was worried, particularly my wife.
You know, we were at an amusement park and did not know where he was and where they were.
And they said, oh, they're with so-and-so. And I immediately felt a bunch of
peace and I look over and there's so-and-so in an amphibious car driving.
(45:03):
Going down this flowing water track, just bringing the girls safely up to Christina
and I and just smiling. And the girls were happy.
And even though we were in duress, the whole situation was peaceful.
So even though we felt duress, then this vision of this person being able to,
and again, confirmation for that person, but also comforting.
(45:28):
I have a daughter who has left her faith and And she is probably the deepest
pain in my life and anguishing over it, just anguish over it.
And my wife as well in ways that, you know, we don't verbalize very much,
but I had this dream and my daughter, my oldest name is Caitlin.
(45:51):
She, she and all of us were on a camping trip and all the kids had different
tents. and in this dream, everyone was looking for her.
And the first place I went to look for her was I went in her tent.
When I entered her tent, her tent was completely in order.
Everything was neatly folded. Not like a tent you would see when you're camping
(46:14):
with stuff thrown everywhere around, but meticulously put in place and everything in order.
And everyone we knew from church and from our social life and from our family
life were there and they were calling out, they were calling her name and everyone
kept saying the same thing.
And this was the only thing that was said in the dream. How can she be lost?
You can see the city from anywhere in the forest. How can she be lost?
(46:39):
You can see the city from anywhere in the forest.
And everyone kept saying that. And indeed, everywhere I went in the forest,
as I went everywhere looking for her, you You could see the city from the forest.
As you lifted up your eyes, you could see the city through the trees.
And I woke up and, you know, while I was not, I did not feel good,
I was comforted in the fact that she's choosing to be where she is and choosing
(47:04):
the path that she's on right now, that her mother and I weren't at fault for
the choices that she's making.
And again, while that is not a good ending to the dream, it was comforting to
us. us because it took away the greed and guilt that we somehow pushed her away.
So there's just two dreams, comforting and, and, and then I had one other dream
(47:27):
I'll share that I went to heaven.
And again, how do I know it's heaven? Because there was a thing that was said,
again, didn't come from me.
We're in heaven. Long story short, I got to see the, my mansion in heaven and
there were a number of things about it.
But one of the things I asked the angel that was showing me around was,
uh, Hey, I really like leather couches, big, nice leather couches.
(47:50):
And if you've ever been in my home, I like big, nice leather things.
And the guy looks at me and just goes, there's no leather in heaven.
And I'm like, why is there no leather in heaven? He goes, because something would have to die.
So there's no leather in heaven. And I realized, okay, so I'm not going to have
my leather couches in heaven.
But again, that's something that my subconscious mind didn't come up with that,
(48:14):
right? This was just something that was revealed.
And again, too much to go into in the podcast, but.
Lots of stuff like that have happened that are confirming, comforting,
or in some way encouraging.
True. And that's what visions and dreams in this age for us are all about.
(48:35):
And of course, then having been given that, you have opportunity and times to
share, like we're doing here, that word.
Because a vision or a dream can be summed up in a word from God as to how it
operates and works in our lives. So, we affirm that God today,
at various times and places, with various people, gives dreams and visions.
(48:56):
But the day is coming when those things will be passed.
For Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13, 9-12, For we know in part,
and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.
When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child,
I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways,
(49:17):
for now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.
Now I know in part, then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
Yes, when we know face to face, we'll be like Moses, but more so.
Absolutely. And then 1 John 3, 2.
Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared.
But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
(49:42):
So the day of direct access to God is coming. No more riddles, dreams, or visions.
But above all, let us seek that as in the prayer. Seek this.
Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
And that's the Christian expectation.
Well, we've been dreaming of this podcast for some time. Yes, we have.
(50:06):
Thanks, Jim. And you might have questions or comments on dreams and visions.
And if you do, we'd love to hear from them.
Please leave a comment in the comment section of the podcast or send us an email
at events and expectations.
That's the word events, the word and, the word expectations all together at gmail.com.
And we'd love to hear from you and we will always answer you.
(50:29):
This has been Current Events and Christian Expectations. And until next time, keep looking up.
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