Jan. 21, 2024

The Importance of Visions and Dreams (21 Jan 2024) – Pastor John Custer

Introduction - Several weeks ago, Teacher Chris Werre presented an excellent teaching on visions and spiritual phenomena.  I am taking time this morning to re-emphasize the importance of these forms of extra-biblical communication from the Holy Spirit.  If we “despise prophesying” as Paul warned, we will be rejecting important information needed to give us hope.  Without hope, we eventually get discouraged and stop “pressing toward the mark” for the prize of the high calling God has in mind for each of us.  

1 Thessalonians 5:20. Do not stifle the Holy Spirit. 20 Do not scoff at prophecies, 21but test everything that is said. Hold on to what is good. NLT

The first point I’d like to make is that God is giving out this information through all of his people in this age:  

Acts 2:17-18  ’In the last days,’ God says, ‘I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams. 18 In those days I will pour out my Spirit even on my servants—men and women alike— and they will prophesy.  NLT

These phenomena are plainly not things which were already written in the Bible.  There would be no need for extra-biblical sensory perception if everything we needed to know about our Kingdom work here was written in the Bible.  We could look up chapter and verse and have the answer.  Instead, the Bible is a basic blueprint, like a builder uses.  Every builder knows that the blueprint is only a theoretical starting point.  It is a general master plan, which you cannot deviate from.  To make the house a reality, he will have to solve a great number of additional problems in the preparation of the building site and the application of materials to the site.  Underground water problems, concrete for the foundation, drainage and sealing, building of the frame of the house, plumbing, electric, and heating systems having to be designed and adapted - these are just some of the many bits of specialized wisdom which are needed.  Even more, the house needs a suitable roof to keep rain, heat, and snow out, and myriad choices must be made concerning materials and colors to finish off the interior to please the tastes of the inhabitants. 

So it is with prophesying, under the broad heading of which all uttered spiritual phenomena fall.  Prophesying is as necessary for us as are all the non-blueprinted instructions, wisdom, and choices confronting the builder of a home.  We absolutely need prophecy or we will not have enough information to do the work God has called us to do.  We will not know how to make a disciple, for example.  Do we do it, each of us by ourselves, or as a group?  Do we preach to a crowd or quietly meet in a home?  Do we meet like the Quakers and sit in silence, or do we teach, have an agenda and expect things of each other?   Everything we do for Christ is like this, so we have a critical need to be shown the how, when, and where for our particular home, church, town, and region. The need for this specialized knowledge is, obviously, (can I use the word?) Ubiquitous! Look that one up!

The second point I’d like to make is that visions, dreams, and the resulting prophetic statements about them must be evaluated, as stated in the verse above.  This means that we compare the contents of the vision, dream, etc., to the Scripture:  

1 John 4:1-3 Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world. 2 This is how we know if they have the Spirit of God: If a person claiming to be a prophet acknowledges that Jesus Christ came in a real body, that person has the Spirit of God. 3 But if someone claims to be a prophet and does not acknowledge the truth about Jesus, that person is not from God. Such a person has the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard is coming into the world and indeed is already here. NLT

This does not mean that we corner a suspected heretic and force him to answer a simple question.  What he acknowledges, confesses, or proclaims is more easily seen in what he propounds or teaches over time.  If Jesus is not preeminent, and His bodily existence on earth are not front and center, what the heretic teaches is indeed false.  

Conclusion - Let’s be a church which sees the amazing benefits of prophecy, including visions and dreams, and receives it, (with proper evaluation).  In the weeks ahead we’ll be applying this understanding to descriptions of heaven, which should give us a special, powerful hope.