Phil Beach Jr. emphasizes the necessity of possessing a heavenly vision in the church, especially in these challenging times. He draws from Acts 26, where Paul declares his obedience to the heavenly vision, urging believers to seek a divine perspective that transcends earthly aspirations. Beach highlights that without a heavenly vision, individuals and churches risk becoming aimless and unproductive. He encourages the congregation to meditate on God's Word, repent from sin, and seek a transformative vision that aligns with God's will. Ultimately, he calls for a commitment to righteousness and a passionate pursuit of God's purpose in their lives.

Spirit this morning, which has basically been developing all during the week. A message from his heart, a message from the word of God, a message from the spirit of God. And it's a message for each and every one of us here this this morning. The title of the message is Possessing a Heavenly Vision. Possessing a heavenly vision. The most important need that the church faces in this late dark apostate hour, is that her members would recognize the need to possess a heavenly born, heavenly given, heavenly nurtured vision from God. I would invite you to turn to Acts chapter 26. Acts chapter 26, and in this particular portion of scripture, Paul makes his defense before King Agrippa. Now I want to begin in verse number 12 of Acts chapter 26. Verse number 12, beginning in Acts 26. Beloved, I want to beseech you and implore you to be able to hear this, not so much as a sermon, not so much as a message that is enjoyable to hear, but rather, I pray that you will hear this as a word from the Lord to you personally. And I'm asking God that it will reproduce in you a desire, a heavenly born desire. To begin to ask God to give you a heavenly vision. There is nobody who is not qualified to be a possessor of a heavenly vision, if in fact Jesus Christ is the Lord and Savior of your life. It is the absence of heavenly vision in our lives, in our families, in our churches, that is resulting in the massive defeat and littleness of what we're seeing for God. There is great potential for what the Lord Jesus can do through a people, but it is imperative, as you will see in the scriptures as we're about to read, it is imperative that heavenly vision is a part of the very soul and breath of the church. There is vision today, but it is all earthly. It is earthly vision, it is earthly, it comes from earth, it is an earthly goals, earthly aspirations, a lot of people have vision in the world. A lot of people dream big dreams, a lot of people have visions, and many times these visions come to pass. And the problem though is that often times these visions in the world and so many times in the church is that they're not visions that are born from the spirit of God, that bring glory to God and bring an increase to the kingdom of God, but usually they're a vision from a man's heart that fulfill ultimately his own desires. So I want to challenge you this morning to ask God to give you a desire to seek God in His word until you experience the birth of a heavenly vision in your life. You will be an aimless, unproductive person for the kingdom of God without a vision in your heart. Everything that's ever been done in the kingdom of God that has brought glory to Him, beginning back with the days of the patriarchs, even to the Lord Jesus Himself. Jesus had a vision. Jesus walked with a vision. Jesus' life had purpose because He had a vision. He woke up every day and He had a vision from God. He had goals. He knew what He wanted. He knew what God wanted. And He was after it. And He wasn't going to be turned aside. And this is the kind of vision that we need today. We need to be focused. We need to have a tenacity given to us by God to see what God wants and then by the means that God provides, the Holy Ghost and prayer and the word of God and faith that comes from Jesus Christ. By these means, hold on until the vision come to pass. Acts chapter 26, Whereupon, verse number 12, As I went to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests, At midday, O King, I saw in the way a light from heaven, Above the brightness of the sun, Shining round about me, And them which sojourned with me. And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, And saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. But rise, stand upon thy feet, For I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, To make thee a minister and a witness. Both of these things which thou hast seen, And of those things in the which I will appear unto thee, Delivering thee from the people and from the Gentiles, Unto whom now I send thee, To open their eyes and to turn them from darkness, To light, and from the power of Satan unto God, And that they might receive forgiveness of sins, And inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. I want you to underline if you write in your Bible, If not, write this verse down on the notebook that you have, Because this verse is the secret and key to the incredible success That Paul had in his earthly ministry to the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything that God accomplished through that man called Paul of Tarsus Was the result of this incredible statement that he makes in verse number 19. And this incredible statement that he makes in verse 19 Is the statement that you and I must come to in our Christian life And make it with certainty and live by it and die by it. Verse number 19, Acts chapter 26, Whereupon, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision. Paul declared that he was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision. Everything that happened in Paul's life, All the success that he had as a minister, All of the souls that he won to Jesus Christ, All of the churches that he founded by the power of God, All the lives that he's affecting today because of the word of God, All the people that were delivered from the devil, All the people that were delivered from sickness and disease, All the churches that were strengthened, All the young men that have been nurtured under the letters of Paul and encouraged, All of them have been able to enjoy the benefits of this ministry Because there was a man who came to the place in his Christian life Where he said, I will not be disobedient to the heavenly vision. He had a vision from God. He had a vision of the Lord Jesus Christ. He had a vision that Christ was all and all And that the only thing that mattered in life was to know God, To know His will and to do His will. There was nothing that surpassed the intensity in Paul's life Than that of knowing and doing God's will. That, my friend, is what it is to have a heavenly vision. What means more to you today than anything? I'm telling you from the heart of God, From the word of God, From the spirit of God, Apart from righteousness that is in this vessel Because this vessel has no righteousness. This vessel is not able to stand without God. It is purely by the grace of God. I'm telling you this morning, beloved, That God wants to give you heavenly vision. He wants to impart to you a heavenly vision of Himself. He wants to give you heavenly purpose. It will transform your life. It will transform your family's life. Whereupon, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision. Now, I want to read a section from a book that was sent to me. And I'm going to read from page 101. Now, I want you to please listen carefully. Because once God gives you a vision of the Lord Jesus Christ, And you make up your mind that you are going to know God and love God, And serve Him and make His will the most important thing in your life, God will not only sustain that vision of Himself, But He will give you a heavenly vision of what He wants to do through you and by you. And you will know beyond a shadow of a doubt, That as your eyes are stayed upon Jesus, That vision that He has given to you will come to pass. Jesus said He feasted upon a meat that His disciples didn't know about. In John chapter 4. And the meat was to do the will of God and to finish it. And that's the meat that Jesus had. He had a vision of His Father. He had a passion for His Father. He had a compassion for people. He was determined day by day by day to do not His own will, but the will of God. And once that decision was made in the life of the Son of God, He was then promoted to the position where not only did He live to see His Father, But He also lived to see what His Father wanted to do through Him. And was determined by the faith that came to the Son of God by God Himself, To see the works of God accomplished in His earthly ministry. The vision of seeing God, And the vision of having a heart that was wholly committed to God, Was the threshold upon which Jesus entered into a life, Where He was compelled to see what God wanted to do through Him. And then by the power of prayer, And the power of a life of dependence upon His Father, See the works of God accomplished. Every single one of us this morning, Are being invited by the Spirit of God and the Word of God, To have both a vision of Jesus Christ, But not just an emotional vision. Not just a vision that we talk about Jesus. I'm talking about a vision of the Son of God, That so affects us, That so devastates us, That so changes us, So as to bring our heart into a position where we say, Jesus you are my passion, I am committed by your grace to do your will and your will alone. I will not rise up my will against your will. And when I do God, I am going to repent, I'm going to come to you, And weep and pray that you change that area in my life. God is looking for men and women in this hour, Who are committed to Him, And who will not participate in the spirit of rebellion, That is working in the world today. There is a spirit of rebellion. It gets a hold of people, And it makes them walk around like arrogant people. I'm not under anybody's authority. Nobody is going to tell me what to do. Nobody is going to correct me. Nobody is going to show me my sin. Nobody is going to set limits on me. I'm going to do what I want. I'm going to do it if it feels good. And I'm telling you brother, That attitude comes from hell. That attitude comes from the devil. And it will destroy your life. It will destroy your spiritual life. It will bring you into ruin. You can't walk around, And have that attitude in you, And expect God to bless you. You can't expect God to prosper the plans that He has in your life. We have got to pray, That God will give us a vision of Himself. Now listen carefully. Uncle Jimmy dreamed of healing the family. Let me tell you about an amazing dream, That unfolds before my eyes every day. That focus on the family. This dream astounds the secular world, And inspires tens of thousands of Christians. On the surface, The dream appears to have started in 1976, When Dr. James Dobson founded Focus on the Family. But this ministry, Is far more than the work of James Dobson. It started earlier, In the heart of an almost obscure minister, Uncle Jimmy, Jim's father, And my uncle. Uncle Jimmy gave his life to ministry, As a pastor of small churches, As an itinerant evangelist. Later in his life, He taught art at colleges in California and Kansas. Two years before his death, At age 67, Uncle Jimmy had a beyond imagination dream, That challenged and mystified him. Here's how James Dobson told the story, On one of his radio programs. My father was in prayer for three days, And three nights, About his own health, And about the health of his brother-in-law, Back in 1977. Both of them were ministers, And he was asking the Lord to allow him to have more time, Time to preach the gospel, And to win people to the Lord. He had a passion for the ministry. The Lord spoke to him early one morning, And told him, That he had heard his prayer, And that he was going to answer it. He said, That he was going to reach, Literally millions of people, Around the world, But it was not going to be through his brother-in-law, Who had cancer. He said, It is not going to be through you either, But it is going to be through your son. God revealed to dad, All that focus on the family has become, But my father had a massive heart attack, The next day, And was never able to tell me that story. My uncle died that very afternoon, So the story was not communicated to me, Until seven years later, In 1985. My father had shared, All of his dream, With Alan Swan, His brother-in-law's sister, Aileen Swan, His brother-in-law's sister, And she said she had wanted to tell me, About it for seven years, But the Lord had said, Not yet, not yet. In 1985, When I was going through a really tough time, I was on the pornography commission, Focus on the family was going through, Some very difficult financial struggles, The burden of this ministry was so heavy, She said the Lord told her, This is the time, go tell him, So she wrote me and told me this story, Then I realized for the first time, Why the blessing of the Lord, Has been on this ministry, It doesn't have anything to do with me, My job is just not to mess it up, The truth of the matter is, The Lord answered the prayer of my father, And that's why this ministry is here, And why it is now a worldwide outreach to the family, It is a gift from God to my father, And the last line of Aileen Swan's letter said, The end is not yet, Think of the faithfulness of God, To Uncle Jimmy's prayers and dreams, Dr. James Dobson, the son, Went to Pasadena College, And then into the military service, Later he completed a graduate program, At the University of Southern California, Earned his Ph.D., And served as a clinical psychologist, On the medical staff at Children's Hospital, In Los Angeles, He wrote a bestseller, Dare to Discipline, That helps families apply Christian principles, To their children, Then one day, This focus on the family idea, Clicked with Dobson, Following God's dream, Dobson resigned his position at the hospital, Rented a little office, And began a modest ministry, His first radio broadcast, Was made in Chicago, On the same day, He had been beaten up, Emotionally and spiritually, On the Phil Donahue show, Just before Donahue and Dobson, Walked before the cameras, The host told Jim, I want you to know, That I disagree completely, With everything you believe in, And will do my best to prove it, Before this audience today, After the television program, Jim Dobson returned to his hotel room, He stood looking out the window, And prayed, Lord, I'm embarrassed, I've been disgraced, Before a nation of people, I am deeply discouraged, And I am supposed to go, Begin a radio ministry tomorrow, We have no money, And very few radio stations, Very encouraging circumstances, Huh? At that moment, God gave him a wake up call, More real than an audible voice, Jim, Remember what your dad prayed, Remember what your dad believed, Remember what your dad thought, The dream has never died, son, It is still alive in you, That night, Dobson taped three radio programs, Starting a ministry, That reaches around the world, Uncle Jimmy dreamed for his son, And he could not dream for himself, At the time of this writing, The broadcast is heard in more than 1,500 radio markets, Now it's 1,800, This is a few years old, In the United States, Canada, Plus several thousand more, In over 56 countries around the world, And the dream continues to bear, Unbelievable fruit, Turn your Bibles to Joshua chapter 1, Let me tell you from the word of God this morning, From the word of God this morning, Where all true dreams begin, Where all true dreams are sustained, Where all true dreams come to maturity, And where all true dreams are brought to incredible fruitfulness, Joshua chapter 1, Beginning in verse 1, Now after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, It came to pass that the Lord spoke unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' minister, Saying, Moses my servant is dead, Now therefore arise and go over this Jordan, Thou and all this people, Unto the land which I do give to them, Even to the children of Israel, Moses was a man with a dream, Moses was a man whose heart had been stirred from his youth, With a passion for his God, We can read that in the story of his life, We can read that in the story about him in the book of Hebrews, Moses was a man with a dream, He was a man with a passion, Moses was a man who was governed by a heavenly vision, And because of that, Perhaps there is not another person in the whole world, Other than the Lord Jesus himself, Who has affected the world, As much as one man called Moses, Who was according to the decree of Pharaoh, Supposed to have been killed, Because he was the first born, And the first born of the Hebrews, Were supposed to be killed, But God said, No, No, This one Moses is going to be plucked out of the water, No? Excuse me? Okay, I'm sorry, It was all the boys, Thank you, All the boys, All the male childs, Of the Hebrews were to be killed, But God said, No, Moses, I'm going to snatch him out of the water, He was a dreamer, He was a man with vision, Because he met the God who authors visions, You need to have a vision in this world, Because when you look at the world, And you don't have a vision and a dream, Of what God wants to do, You're going to look at the world, And think that's the way it's supposed to be, You're going to look at your circumstances, And think, Well, that's just the way it's going to be, And because my circumstances are contradicting, What I believe God wants to do, Then that means I'm just going to have to, Succumb to my circumstances, And abhor and abandon the vision, If you're not a man or a woman of vision today, You're going to be defeated, The reason why the children of Israel, Didn't enter into the land of Canaan, Was because the spies came back, And they didn't have a dream, They didn't have a vision, They didn't see things the way God saw them, But they saw the circumstances, They saw the difficulties, They saw the giants, They saw all the difficult problems, That they were going to come up against, And they came back and told all Israel, We can't do it, Moses, we can't do it, Joshua, we can't do it, We're going to fail, And they failed because they didn't dream, They didn't have a vision, And today you and I fail, When we cease to have a vision from God, If you don't have a vision for your life, You're going to fail, If you don't have a vision for your family, Your family's going to fail, If you don't have a vision, If you don't have a heavenly dream, That you are praying about, And seeking after, And letting God speak to you about, You are going to fail, Moses, my servant is dead, Verse 3, Every place that the sole of your foot, Shall tread upon, That have I given unto you, As I said unto Moses, From the wilderness, And this Lebanon, Even unto the great river, And the river Euphrates, And all the land of the Hittites, And unto the great sea, Toward the going down of the sun, Shall your coast be, There shall not any man be able to stand, Before thee all the days of thy life, And as I was with Moses, So I be with thee, I will not fail thee, Nor forsake thee, This is a vision that God had given to Joshua, The servant and minister of Moses, But I want you to see, beloved, That even though Joshua had a vision, First of all, Joshua had a vision Of the God of Moses, The God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, Joshua knew God, Because Joshua was nurtured by Moses, And Joshua was taught by Moses, And Joshua was instructed by Moses, And when Moses pitched a tent, And went into it, And the glory of the Lord appeared, Joshua was usually right there next to him, Basking in the presence, Looking and watching, He learned to worship God at the feet of Moses, He learned to weep before God at the feet of Moses, When Israel went into apostasy, And God said, I'm going to destroy them, And Moses began to weep and say, God, don't destroy your inheritance, Joshua watched Moses, And probably put his head down and said, Wow, God, this is incredible, I see a picture of an intercessor, I see a man that's got so much passion and compassion, Joshua was nurtured by Moses, So he had a vision of God, And now that vision of God, Went into and was transformed into, A vision of what God wanted to do, You cannot have a vision of God, Through the Holy Ghost and by the word of God, Without eventually getting a vision of what God wants to do, First of all in your personal life, Second of all in your family's life, Third of all in your church's life, Where you are a part of in a local assembly, Then you're going to get a vision for your community, You're going to get a vision for your state, And before you know it, You're going to be dreaming dreams, That God will turn the nation aside, That's what God does, He wants you to see things the way He sees, What does the word say? God is not willing that who? That any should perish, But that all should come to repentance, That's the bigness of God's heart, But I tell you beloved, Even though Joshua had a vision of God, And even though Joshua had a vision of what God wanted to do, It wasn't a guarantee, It wasn't something that Joshua could look at and say, Well I know this is going to happen no matter what I do, God specifically told Joshua instructions, Beloved, I want this to be very clear this morning, I want this to be crystal clear, If you ever get a vision of God, If you ever get a vision of what God wants to do, It's going to come out of sincere, Humble meditation in the word of God, The word of God is the birthing place, From which men get a vision of God, Get a vision of who God is, Get a vision of what God wants to do in them, And through them, And in their churches, And in their communities, So therefore, Let's hear what God says to Joshua, And let us pray that God will speak these words into our heart today, Do you want to be a man of God? Ladies, do you want to be women of God? Do you want to make a difference in your generation? You say, brother, that's a big thing, I don't even think about my generation, Alright, let's bring it right down to where we're at, Do you want to make a difference in your life and in your home? You don't have to stop there though, You don't have to stop there, You can make a difference in your home, You can make a difference in your children's life, But you can make a difference in your church, You can make a difference in your community, You can make a difference, You can do it, If God be for you, who can be against you? One man called Paul of Tarsus made such a difference, He's been dead for how long? And he yet speaketh, He's still making a difference, Every single person who gets saved, Is introduced to Paul through the scriptures, And everyone who gets saved, Comes under the discipling hand of the apostle Paul, Through the scriptures, He's still making a difference, And it's been almost two thousand years, Verse number six, Begins the word, That we need to meditate upon, The Lord gave me this several weeks ago, A month ago, And I tell you beloved, This is as sure as anything, Let me tell you, The stock market is not certain today, There's a lot of questions going on, There's no certainty with the stock market, You might get a good month, You might get a good six years, You might get a good year, But inevitably, The uncertainty of riches will fail, Those who are placing their trust in it, And they're going to discover, That the money that they have hoped in, Is going to fail them, And they're not going to be able, To get deliverance from money, I don't know what you're trusting in today, I don't know what you have your hope in today, But I want you to know, By the word of the Lord, That there is nothing that is certain, There is nothing that is sure, Except what we're about to read, And that is the word of God to Joshua, And to you and I today, Be strong, Verse six, And of good courage, For unto this people, Shalt thou divide, For in inheritance the land, Which I swore unto their fathers, To give them, Only be thou strong, And very courageous, That thou mayest observe, To do according to all the law, Which Moses my servant commanded thee, Turn not from it to the right hand, Or to the left, That thou mayest prosper, Whithersoever thou goest, This book of the law, Shall not depart out of thy mouth, Now in order for the word of the law, Not to depart out of your mouth, Where does it got to be? In the heart and in the head, Because the Bible says, Out of the abundance of the heart, The mouth speaketh, That is, The things you say with your mouth, Reflect what's in your heart, For the most part, Now sometimes we say stupid things, Because we get stupid thoughts, But that really doesn't reflect, What's in our heart, But generally that's not the case, Generally we are saying, The very thing that's in our heart, And the reason why we say so little word, Is because there's little word in us, There's little word in us, We need to get the word in our heart, So that the book of the law, Will not depart out of our mouth, Listen to this now, Verse 8, This book of the law, Shall not depart out of thy mouth, But thou shalt meditate therein day and night, That thou mayest observe to do, According to all that is written therein, For then, When? For then, Shalt thou make thy way prosperous, And then thou shalt have good success, Have not I commanded thee, Be strong and of good courage, Be not afraid, Neither be thou dismayed, For the Lord thy God is with thee, Whithersoever thou goest, God's word tells us, That we will prosper, And we will have good success, If the word of God, Doesn't depart from our mouth, Which means that God's word, Has got to get in our hearts, God's word has got to get in our thinking, God's word must become that which sustains us, That which we live upon, That which morning by morning we go to, And receive strength, God's word must be the book that we govern our lives on, Must be the book that we teach our children, Must be the book that as couples we pray over, And we meditate upon, We must let God's word correct us, We must let God's word reprove us, We must let God's word be God's word to our hearts, And the Bible says, That if God's word doesn't depart from our mouth, Then we will prosper, And be successful in whatever we do, Now the thing about this whole thing is this, If God's word gets into our heart, And God's word gets into our mind, We're not going to be wanting to do our own thing, We're not going to be wanting to make our own plans, Well this is a promise, The promise is this, God says, If you meditate on my word, I'm going to give you a vision of me, And I'm going to give you a vision of my plans, And those plans, And those thoughts will prosper, It is a promise from God, That anyone, Hallelujah, Anyone who is a dreamer for God, And has a dream from God, Will not fail, If they stay in the word, And stay broken before God, And allow God to fill them with his word, They will not fail, Be not afraid, Neither be thou dismayed, For the Lord thy God is with thee, Whithersoever thou goest, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Where are you going, When you got God's word in you, Where are you going, When you've got the vision of what God wants to do, I'll tell you where you're going, You're going right to Daniel chapter 3, You can turn there, Oh this is a great thing to have a vision from God, This is a great thing to be governed by a vision, This is a great thing to have a vision from God, Is it going to lead you to an easy life, Where you're going to have no difficulties and no troubles, Is it going to lead you to a place where you're just happy, And your circumstances are so nice, And you have no difficulties, And you're living in an ivory palace, I say not, Where did a vision from God lead Paul, We're going to find out where it led Daniel brother, Where did it lead Paul, It led Paul into one of the most difficult lives that a man ever lived, And it was because he had heavenly vision, It was because he had a vision of Jesus as Lord, And it was because he had a vision of what Jesus as Lord, Wanted to do through his broken earthly vessel, And anybody who dreams a dream from God, And gets into the word of God, Where their life and their mind and their heart is wrapped up in the word, And they believe the word, And they live by the word, And they meditate on the word, And they love the word, And they seek God, And they talk with God, And God talks with them, They're going to be led into trouble, They're going to be tested by fire, It's just the way it is, Suffering is inevitable for the righteous, But the word of God says, But the Lord shall deliver them out of all their afflictions, Out of all their troubles, Daniel chapter 3, Hallelujah to God, Hallelujah to God, Daniel was a man who had a vision, Daniel had a vision of God, And he had a vision of what God wanted to do, And this is where Daniel's vision led him, Verse 1 chapter 3, Suffer the reading of the word this morning please, And I encourage you all to please, Get a copy of this tape, And listen to it, And meditate on the scriptures, And let this word get into your spirit, Because this word alone from the Bible, That is being preached this morning, Is what's going to sustain you in the days and years to come, This word alone, I'll tell you those who are going to do exploits for their God, In the days to come if Jesus should tarry, It's going to be those people, Who have a heavenly vision of a heavenly savior, They have a heavenly vision of what Christ came to do, He came to destroy the works of the devil, They're not going to be in this world, Flirting with the world, Going around doing the things of the world, They're going to be men and women of vision and passion, Prepared to die for Jesus, Prepared to go into the death sentence with Jesus, They're going to be a people who lose their life for Christ, You say I don't know if I'm prepared to do that, Of course you're not prepared, Neither am I, But it's not whether I'm prepared, It's God, God will make me prepared, God will give you the strength, You say well what do I have to do, Just come to God and be willing, Say God I'm willing to go all the way with you, But I can't in my own strength, God says fine I'll give you my strength, Don't look at your resources, You'll get discouraged, How many have ever gotten discouraged, By looking at your own resources, How about your track record, Have you done real well, No, Have you made a lot of mistakes, Yeah, Are you still making them, Yeah, Real discouraging isn't it, Alright, Let's pretend this whole thing, Hangs upon your faithfulness, And your perfect track record, Who among us can stand up and say, Well God can still use me, Come on, Where's the one, Let me sit down, None of us can, But yet this vision is still in our heart, How come, This vision is still living, How come, Because God didn't make the promise to you and I, Because of our faithfulness, He made the promise because of the faithfulness of his son, Get delivered from yourself, Get delivered from looking at yourself, And your failures, And your woes, And then saying it'll never happen, Of course it'll never happen, By your own power, Pray God give me a humble attitude, God will use the meek, Not the perfect, God will use the humble, Not the ones who have no sin, So it's not a matter of having a perfect track record, It's a matter of I am the Lord, I dwell in the heavens, I inhabit eternity, But I also will come and live, And make my abode with him, That what is of a humble, And a meek, And a broken, And a contrite spirit, If you've got a humble, And a meek, And a broken, Contrite spirit this morning, And you're willing as Lucy said, To acknowledge your sin, And not to cover your sin, And to call an ace an ace, And a spade a spade, And to call it like it is, And to come up and confess to God, And to those that you need to confess to, Then as far as God's concerned, You're a champion, You're an overcomer, You're a winner, And if you don't give up, God will give you a dream, And he'll bring it to pass, I don't know about you, But I am encouraged this morning, Because the Lord is speaking to this all weak vessel, And is strengthening it to go on, Daniel chapter 3 verse 1, Nebuchadnezzar the king, Made an image of gold, Whose height was three score cubits, And the breadth thereof six cubits, And he set it up in the plain of Dura, In the province of Babylon, Then Nebuchadnezzar the king, Sent to gather together the princes, The governors, And the captains, The judges, The treasurers, The counsellors, The sheriffs, And all the rulers of the providences, To come to the dedication of the image, Which Nebuchadnezzar the king Had set up, Then the princes, The governors, And the captians, And the judges And the treasurer, And the counsellors And the sheriffs And all the rulers of the provinces, Were gathered together, Unto the dedication of the image, that Nebuchadnezzar, the king, had set up. And they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Guess who knows what the image was? Himself. The image was an idol of himself, Nebuchadnezzar. Then a herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O people, nations and languages, that at what time you hear the sound of the cornet, and the flute, and the harp, and the sack, but psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music, you fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar, king, had set up. And whosoever falleth not down in worship, that shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. Beloved, listen to the word of the Lord. Just as there was an image literally built in the day of Nebuchadnezzar, and that he commanded and demanded all peoples everywhere to bow down and worship this image, likewise today there is an image that is built. It is an image that is against God, against Christ. This supports what John said in 1 John. Just let me read this real quick. You don't have to turn to it. 1 John chapter 5 verse 19. And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the wickedness. Another translation says that the whole world lies under the power of the wicked one. That's what this verse means in chapter 19. Spiritually, what happened back then literally is happening spiritually now. There is an image. It's the image of man. It's the image of worshiping man, and the worshiping of human desires, and the worshiping of all the inordinate desires. That's why there's lawlessness in the land. That's why there's no morality in the land. That's why people are being bidden to do what they want. If it feels good, do it. Why? Because spiritually, the world is an apostasy, and they are worshiping this image of Nebuchadnezzar, and they are bowing down before it. They're not giving their allegiance to the God of heaven. They're not calling upon the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of sins. But they're following after all the imaginations and desires of their wicked heart. Pornography and all the licentious desires within the heart of an unredeemed human are wild today. Why? Because the call has gone forth. But verse number 6 says, And whosoever falleth not down and worshiped the same hour shall be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. So we see the devil saying, I want you to go my way, and if you don't, what's he going to do? Who's casting these people into the fiery furnace? God or the devil? The devil is casting them into the fiery furnace. But we're going to see in this story that when the devil casts one of God's faithful ones into the fiery furnace, God goes in with him. He doesn't necessarily stop it, and he doesn't necessarily let the heat go down. It goes up seven times. But what he says is, All righty, you want to go in the fiery furnace? You want to throw my children in? I'm going to go right in with them. Hallelujah to God. That's encouraging. Verse 12. There are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, have not regarded thee. They serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. Let me tell you something. Listen to the word of the Lord this morning. The devil knows every single Christian who is not bowing down to the world, who is not bowing down to the image, who's not dancing to the music of this world, who are not committing the sins of this world, but whose hearts are seeking Him, who are meditating in the word of God. God knows every Christian who says, I'm not interested in earthly desires. I want a heavenly vision. God, the devil knows every Christian who's meditating in the word of God, who's waking up in the morning, and the thoughts on their mind are not what they can do in order to indulge in their sinful nature. But how can they get in and worship God? And God, you've got to speak to me today. God, I need a word from you. The devil knows everyone by name. Just like in this story, Nebuchadnezzar's imps came and told him, Hey, there's three Hebrew men that aren't listening to your decree. So what's the response of the devil when he finds Christians who are faithful to God and His word? Verse 13, Then Nebuchadnezzar in his rage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and they brought these men before the king. Nebuchadnezzar spoke and said unto them, This thing that I hear about you, O Christian woman, O Christian man, Is it true? What, sir? Is it true? O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, do not yet ye serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up? This is incredible. Don't you serve my gods? Don't you worship my image? Aren't you like everybody else? Don't you cheat when nobody's looking? Don't you look when nobody's looking? Aren't you serving my gods yet? Now, if ye be ready, that at the time ye hear the sound of the cornet, the flute, the harp, the sakhba, the psaltery, and the dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made. Well, well, fine. That'd be good. But if ye worship not, listen, you shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a fiery furnace. And who is that god that shall deliver you out of my hands? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. Listen, if it be so, our god whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. Listen carefully, beloved. Please listen carefully. I know I've preached a lot this morning. I've covered a lot of territory. That's why I'm encouraging you to get the tape and listen to it again, because it's hard to digest the whole thing. But listen carefully. We've talked about heavenly vision this morning, possessing a heavenly vision. We've talked about the fact that when you possess a heavenly vision, you first see God. Then you see what God wants to do. Then we saw that the way to get a heavenly vision is to meditate upon the word of God, to get it in you, to think upon it, to meditate upon it, to hide it in your heart. And now we're seeing what happens to every man or woman that gets a heavenly vision. We're seeing that you, by virtue of your association with Christ, by virtue of your heavenliness with Christ, and by virtue of having a heavenly vision, you will inevitably be tested by fire. And the reason you're going to be tested by fire is because the devil is going to try everything he can to get you to renege on your commitment to Christ. He'll offer you the world or he'll offer you a dungeon. He'll ask you to sell your birthright for something wonderful in the world or he'll say, if you don't give up and serve my gods, I'm going to take your family away. He might offer you wealth and he might offer you death and he might offer the death of your children. You never know what he'll offer. So you've got to be always on your knees before God. You've got to be on your knees before God. Look at the faith that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had. O King, let me tell you something. God is able to deliver us, but if he doesn't, we're still not going to bow down to your gods. And if it means we're going to be fried in the furnace, so be it. That's the kind of faith that we need if we are going to live by a heavenly vision. And you're not going to find that faith in yourself. Because when you go through a test, you're going to find out that in yourself, you don't have the goods to stay faithful and you're going to want to run. So the only way to have this kind of faith that looks at the devil in the eyes and says, devil, I don't care what you do, I don't care what kind of circumstances you bring, you can offer me the world or you can offer me a life of total misery, I'm not going to serve your gods. There's no one here that can say that in and of themselves apart from God working in them. And there's no one here that's going to have God working in them in a strong way unless they go back to Joshua and heed the word of God to Joshua and that is meditate in the word day and night. What is the Lord trying to say this morning? This is what he's trying to say. If you are captured with a heavenly vision, you are going to end up in a fiery furnace. And if you're going to be true to the Lord in the fiery furnace, you have got to make it a point now, not then, now. You've got to settle it in your mind that you're going to live by the word of God, you're going to meditate on the word of God, you're going to bring your family up in the word of God, you're going to bring your own life up in the word of God, and you're going to find all your strength from God's word. And anyone who makes that decision in the grace of God will be an overcomer and a conqueror no matter what they go through. Verse 20. And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. These men were bound in their coats, their hoes, and their hats, and other garments, and were cast into the midst of the fiery furnace. Therefore, because the king's commandment was urgent and the furnace exceeding hot, listen, the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. The fire was so hot that those who took Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and threw them in the fire were burned because the heat from the furnace was so hot. So what do you have here? You've got three men who refused to bow down to the world, refused to bow down to Nebuchadnezzar, and because they were men of heavenly vision, men of heavenly dreams, and they saw God and saw what God wanted to do, where did it bring them? Right into a fiery furnace. Watch out when the devil whispers to you and says, Look at you. You've served God. You've committed your life to God. You're praying. You're seeking God. And look at your life. You're in a fiery furnace. Where's your God? Watch out, beloved. That's one of the devil's oldest lies, to try and accuse God of not being fair because you're being tested, and he makes you think that God, if God really was God, you wouldn't be tested. That's a lie. Every single child of God, whoever loved God, was tested. Every single child of God goes through the fire. It's essential. So you tell the devil, Devil, get behind me. I'm in the fire because I'm going to prove that God is greater than me and in me than you. I'm in the fire because God is teaching me that my strength doesn't come from myself, but it comes from the Word of God. I'm in the fire because God is making me a piece of gold, so that when he's revealed, I'm going to be part of those people who are going to crush you under my feet. That's the truth. Don't let him intimidate you, beloved. Don't let him lie to you. Don't let him breathe slanderous accusations against God to you. Stay in the Word. Stay in the Word. Verse 23, And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound in the midst of the fiery furnace. Did you ever feel like that? A fiery furnace? You were bound and you fell down and you just didn't know what to do. Well, here's what God says, Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished. He was amazed. This Hebrew word could actually be translated, he was speechless. Speechless. You know how to silence the devil? Listen. You know how to silence the devil? Stay true to your commitment to God. Let the devil cast you into the fire and then let him see Jesus right there sustaining you. It'll silence him. Don't despair. You're in a fire. Don't despair. Look at the Word of God. Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. How many is that? Three. They answered and said unto the king, True, O king. And he answered and said, Lo. I love it. Lo. I see four men. How? Loose. Four loose. They were cast in bound. Listen. I'll tell you. This is heavenly arithmetic. Only God can do this. You figure this out. Three men bound, cast into a furnace, seven times hotter than normal. Now I see four men loose walking around in the midst of the furnace. Can you make sense out of that? No, you can't. Why? Because when you trust God in the impossible situation, God takes the impossible and he makes it possible. Hallelujah to God. So I told the devil this morning. I said, Devil, you know what? I'm loose and walking around in this fire. Hallelujah to God. Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace and spoke and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the Most High God, come, come forth, come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came forth of the midst of the fire. And the princes, governors, and captains, and the kings, and these counselors being gathered together, saw these men upon whose bodies the fire had no power. Oh, beloved, can you see it? This fire that you're in has no power to destroy you. This fire you're in has no power to bring you into utter destruction if you will but trust God. The fire had no power. Listen, nor was the hair of their head singed, neither was their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them. You don't have to have the smell of your trial in your life if you will trust that God is with you. If you will believe that the Son of God is in the midst of your trial with you, the smell of smoke won't even be on you. You'll be in it, but the smell won't be on you. You'll be in it, but the fire won't burn you. Hallelujah to God. Somebody jump with me. I'm just kidding. That's what they all do on TV. Somebody jump with me. But I'll tell you, this is real. I'm leaping because on the inside, I'm leaping. It's coming from the Spirit, not music. So it's all right. Hallelujah to God. Did you ever get the smell of smoke on you through your trial and everybody around you gets the smell too? Why? What does the Word say? The smell of smoke was not on them. The fire didn't burn them. The reason why the smell of smoke gets on us in our trials is because we forget that in the trial, Jesus is with us. And instead of keeping our eyes on Him, we get introspective and we let the devil lie to us. The key in being in a trial is to remember the arithmetic that occurs when we're thrown into the fire. Three go inbound and four loose to end up in there. That's the key to going through a trial successfully. Hallelujah to God. Verse 28, Then Nebuchadnezzar spoke and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent his angel and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king's word and yielded their bodies, and they might not serve nor worship any god except their own God. Therefore, I make a decree that every people, nation, and language which speak anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill, because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort. Hallelujah to God. Is that victory, brothers and sisters? So the word from the Lord's heart this morning, I'm closing by turning to Joel chapter 2. Joel chapter 2. This is another word that God has given me over the past two weeks that I have been meditating upon day and night. Day and night in Joel chapter 2. Heavenly vision. Oh beloved, I pray the Holy Spirit of God will speak to you, has spoken to you through this word from His heart this morning, and that you will see that God wants to give you a vision, but I don't want you to dream big things way out, way under. Start with your personal life, and then start with the people in it. If you have a family, start with your family. If you don't have a family, if you're single, then connect with some people, and start believing God to make a difference in their life. Start with a little. Don't start with a lot. You can't dream for big things when you haven't dreamed for yourself yet, and you haven't seen God's plan for your life first. Start with this dream. God wants to make me like His son Jesus. That means there's got to arise in me a love for righteousness and a hatred for iniquity. Now, if you haven't got that, you're not ready to dream any further than that. Got it? You're not ready to dream any further than that until you have come to the place where you are committed to righteousness and you hate unrighteousness, and every time it comes to your attention, either by reading the word or by the Holy Ghost speaking to you or by your wife or your children or somebody coming up to you, and they show you that there's some area of darkness in your life, you have to be willing at that time to repent. You don't justify your sin. You don't say, it's all right. You don't say, well, no, no, I don't want to go that way. No. Until you have a vision and a dream of seeing yourself like Jesus by the transforming power of God, you can't dream any further. But once you see that, and once you have proven that you see that by letting God bring people into your life who are able to speak into your life, listening to your wife and husband, and you have a humble heart, a meek heart, and you're willing to admit, yes, there is sin here. Pray with me. I don't want it. I hate sin. Then you're ready to dream on. Then you can start working on your children or start helping other members in the body of Christ. But once you get this dream and vision working in your life, there's nothing that God will withhold from you. Nothing. So going to Joel chapter 2. Joel chapter 2. Beginning in verse number 12. Therefore also now saith the Lord, Turn ye everyone to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning. Wren your heart and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness, and repenteth him of evil. Who knoweth if he will return and repent and leave a blessing behind him, even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the Lord your God? Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children and those that suck the breasts, let the bridegroom go forth of her chamber and the bride out of her closet. Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep before the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them. Wherefore should they say among the people, Where is your God? Then will the Lord be jealous for his land and pity his people. Beloved, we're closing with Joel chapter 2. If we can catch a vision, remember at the beginning, this whole message is about possessing heavenly vision, being a dreamer. Don't dream dreams disconnected from God's heart and the word of God because they're dreams of vanity. And they might come to pass, but they're not going to bring any fruit into heaven. Dream dreams that are rooted and grounded in the heart of God and in the word of God. If you get enough of this word in you, you're going to be a dreamer because you're going to constantly be going around all day thinking about what God says and what God wants and seeing how everything contradicts it and then dreaming and believing God to do it. You're going to be a dreamer if you get this word in your heart. So, the word of the Lord in Joel is this. We've got to dream and believe that if we truly repent. Now, when I say repentance, I mean repentance. Not ambiguous, elusive repentance. Not, yeah, I've sinned. I mean specific repentance. Going to your wife, your husband, your brother or sister and say, I have sinned against you. I am committing this sin. He that covereth his sin shall not prosper. This kind of repentance is not the repentance we see for the most part in the church. That's very vague, ambiguous repentance. This is specific repentance. Repentance that really causes the heart to be ripped, broken before God. I have sinned against God. I have sinned against my brother, my sister, my wife, my children. Forgive me, God. Forgive me, brother and sister. Here's what the dream is. I have a dream. Here's what the dream is. If we will repent. There doesn't have to be 500 people here repenting. If we will repent. You and I. If we will repent. Listen. Listen closely. Young people, listen. If we will repent, God says, then will the Lord be jealous and pity his people. Verse number 28. And it shall come to pass afterward. That afterward there is referring to after my people repent. After my people rend their hearts and not their garments. After my people weep. After my people throw out their sin. After my people call sin, sin. And turn from it. Afterward. God says, I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh. Hallelujah. There's the promise of the revival that we're talking about. That's the promise God made to me. I've got a dream. I personally have a dream from God. I don't know what your dream is. God may have given you the same dream. If so, let's walk together. But I have a dream from God. God has given me a dream that he wants to pour out his spirit upon all flesh and fill the auditorium. And this is only going to be the annex then. We're going to need more room because God's going to have a people who are going to repent. I've got this dream. You say, how do you know it's going to happen? Because God's not a liar. That's why. If God says if I repent, he'll pour out his spirit, that's just what he'll do. God's not a liar. It can't fail. God will pour out his spirit if we repent. If we come to God with all of our heart. 2 Chronicles 7.14 If my people who are called by my name shall humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven. Sounds like the same thing that's in Joel, isn't it? Acts chapter 2, Peter said the Holy Ghost was coming in the fashion that Joel predicted. But what preceded, what went before Acts chapter 2? John the Baptist. And what was John's message? Repent! For the kingdom of God is at hand. Then who followed John the Baptist? And what was his message? Repent! Hallelujah! It's true! The Holy Ghost fell in Acts chapter 2 because repentance was preached and people turned from their sin and they came to a loving God who said, I want to pardon you. I want to forgive you. I want to wash your sins away. I'll give you the power and the grace to change. Just repent. And they repented and there was a revival that happened in the book of Acts that shook the world! Now do you think God can do that today? Do you think God wants to do that today? I believe yes. I answer yes to both those questions and I add another affirmation. God will do it today. I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. You know what that means? That means people are going to get the word of God in their heart because prophecy is speaking the word. So this revival is going to be intimately related to the word of God. It's not going to be a revival of experience essentially, but there will be experiences. It's not going to be a revival of emotion. It's not going to be a revival where our theology will be born out of our emotion. But it's going to be a revival where our emotion will come as a result of our theology. It will be God's word that will come out of our mouth. They will prophesy. They're not going to talk about themselves. They're not going to talk about crazy visions and dreams. They're not going to talk about this and that. How many angels dance on the pin of a needle? They're going to prophesy. They're going to speak God's word. They're going to dream dreams. What kind of dreams? The kind of dreams we just talked about. They're going to see dreams and visions of Jesus in His word as the Son of God. They're going to want to be like Jesus. They're going to dream dreams of men being saved. They're going to dream dreams of adulterers and fornicators being delivered. They're going to dream dreams of alcoholics being delivered. Oh my God, have mercy, have mercy, have mercy. They're going to dream dreams. They're going to see visions. And upon my servants and upon my handmaidens in those days will I pour out my Spirit upon all flesh. Hallelujah to God. Hallelujah to God. I can go on, but I won't. One sec, brother. Listen, in closing, this is a closing now, okay? God wants to give us a heavenly vision. We've gone into the word of God this morning and we have gotten a foundation about the vision, of what kind of vision God wants us to have. And I want to challenge you, everyone this morning, challenge you to pray and ask God to move your heart, to move your mind, to move your will into a position where you are saying, yes, Lord, I want a heavenly vision. I want the word of God in my life. I want to be a lover of righteousness and a hater of all iniquity. I want meekness and humility in my life. God, I want you to shake the world and I want you to start in me and in my family. And I want to believe you, Lord, for the church that you're going to bring a great and mighty harvest so much that our nets won't be able to take it all in. Isn't that what Jesus did when he gave Peter and his fishermen a harvest? The nets were so full. What does the Scripture say? The point of breaking. That's the vision God has. But it all starts with a vision of Jesus Christ and a desire to be made like Him. Which means I despise and abhor all moral infidelity, all moral imperfection, all sin and all unrighteousness. Jesus is what God has made as the perfect Son. And now His life is in me. And I only want what is in the life of Jesus, the righteousness and the holiness of Jesus living in me. If we'll start there, God will birth that vision in our heart. Let's have a word of prayer and then we'll turn the tape off and have a time of prayer and Brother Michael can share what is in his heart. Father, thank You so much for the Word of God. Lord, thank You for the Lord Jesus Christ and thank You that He is the heavenly man and it is He that we are to have a vision of. Father, I commit the Word into Your hands and pray that it will bring forth much fruit. That lives will be changed. Bondages will be broken. Shattered dreams will be healed. Failures and insecurities will be overcome as people begin to live by the Word of God and get full of the Holy Ghost. Lord, raise up a generation of dreamers who will dream for You, who will live by You and who will see Your glory. In Jesus' name, amen and amen.