The Power of Vision and Dreams

Recording:

Abstract: The first sermon preached since the church began was delivered by Peter after being filled with the Holy Spirit. As a result, 3,000 people believed and were baptized. What kind of sermon was this? It was about how the disciples, filled with the Holy Spirit, prayed loudly as if they were drunk. He quoted the words of the prophet Joel. After the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the result is the restoration of vision and dreams. This manuscript discusses the role of vision and dreams in life.

1 Today's topic: Vision and Dreams!
Today, we are sharing a topic: vision and dreams. Because you and I are living beings with a spirit, vision and dreams have become very crucial parts of your and my life! People can create the future because they have vision and dreams!

Last Sunday, it was mentioned that Peter converted 3,000 people with one sermon. This was not because of anything else, but because there were 120 people praying. The reason why these 120 people were able to persevere in prayer for more than a week was not because of anything else, but because they had dreams in their hearts! Anyone with dreams can persevere! People whose dreams are shattered cannot persevere in anything. Vision and dreams are the keys to our ability to create the future! A person without dreams has no future. A person with dreams can create the future! Are dreams seeds? Faith is the nourishment until the dream is born! The church does not teach people to live in the past and present, the church teaches people to create the future! Where is the future? In your dreams! God is the God who fulfills our dreams! Whoever has dreams and can hold onto them through God, God will fulfill their dreams!

In fact, there were more than 500 people watching the Lord Jesus ascend to heaven. Those 500 people were blessed. They were able to see the Lord Jesus being taken up by the clouds. But that is not the greatest blessing, the greatest blessing is the 120 people who saw the Lord Jesus ascend to heaven, carrying the dream given by the Lord Jesus, relying on the promise of the Lord Jesus, and praying. It was these 120 people who brought the dream to life! Later revivals of the church cannot be separated from these 120 people. It is also strange, why only these 120 disciples decided to be people of prayer? Where did the other 380 people go? Do not be surprised. God originally prepared extremely beautiful blessings for people, but not many receive them, and among those who receive them, the level of what they receive is also different. Do not think that everyone in the kingdom of God is the same. It is not. Some people get a lot, some people get less. Some people have nothing and are thrown into the darkness. God's will is originally like this. What I desire is that I myself, my whole family, and the brothers and sisters of our church are all disciples who receive the best blessings! Just like these 120 disciples, who can bring forth revival with vision and dreams, and bless this generation!

The Matthew Effect and Spiritual Abundance

There is a concept that everyone must know, which is the Matthew effect. Has everyone heard of the Matthew effect? For those who have heard of it, I encourage you to refresh your memory. Those who have not heard of it, raise your hand. The Matthew effect is one of the laws created by God. In today's words, it means the winner takes all. The Lord Jesus said, For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. In fact, this is not referring to worldly things. It refers to spiritual things. This is a spiritual law. But this world is also governed by this spiritual law. Then we who believe in the Lord must be those who have. If we are above and not below in the matter of believing in the Lord, we are those who have, and more will be added to us! Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him and given to us! Our church is going to be a church that is above and not below! Why is it that an old sister who is almost ninety years old did not receive any healing in the church she went to, but when she came among us, her eyes, back, and waist were healed? Why is it that an eighty-year-old sister with heart failure was healed by our prayers? It is because our church is a church that pays a great price in faith. We do not care about time when we pray, we do not care about time when we read the Bible, we do not care about time when we gather and worship, and even newcomers do not care about time, and as a result, there is a strong presence of God. This is having. To those who have, God will give even more. We will all experience more wonderful things! Amen! Be a Christian, be a Christian on top. Be a person, be a person on top. Be a winner in life!

Of course, I also desire to see every church be a church that is above and not below! In this generation, even if all the churches are churches with the strong presence of God, there are still too many people who need to be served.

Fortunately, there are these 120 people who called for the Holy Spirit to come down! These 120 people are remarkable people. There were 5,000 people who ate the bread and fish that Jesus miraculously turned into, and 4,000 people who ate the bread and fish that Jesus turned into. Countless people have seen miracles, countless people have experienced the healing of the Lord Jesus. But only 500 people accompanied Jesus, watching Jesus ascend to heaven. In the end, only 120 people became the best Christians who were above and not below, who were the head and not the tail! They became people who turned that generation around, served that generation, and built a glorious church! I think these 120 people will receive great rewards in the kingdom of God! They are people who manifest God's glory throughout their lives! What is the difference between these 120 people and the 380 people who saw Jesus ascend to heaven and then left? These 120 people are people with vision and dreams! It is because these 120 people have vision and dreams in their hearts, and they prayed and cried out desperately for 10 days with vision and dreams! Without vision and dreams, it is difficult to persevere even for one day!

So, today, we will continue the message from last Sunday and talk about vision and dreams!

Say to the person next to you: You must be a person with vision and dreams!

2 Today's scripture: Acts 2:17
Act 2:17 “‘And it shall be in the last days,’ says God, ‘that I will pour forth of My Spirit on all mankind; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams;

3 Prayer – Be a person with dreams!
(Impromptu prayer)! Pray in the name of the Lord Jesus, Amen!

4 Peter's sermon that converted 3,000 people
The scripture we read today is quoted from the Old Testament book of Joel by Peter in his sermon. It is very wonderful that the first sermon since the church began was about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. No wonder the Apostle Peter, the Apostle Paul, and the disciples of that generation spent their lives preaching the truth of being filled with the Holy Spirit!

The Dual Witness of Prayer and Preaching

We say that these 120 people who prayed are the key to the 3,000 people being baptized and believing in the Lord in one day! That was the first sermon preached since the church began after these 120 people were filled with the Holy Spirit. Although the 120 people praying, the Holy Spirit descending, and filling these 120 disciples is the key. But after praying, the sermon preached by Peter is also indispensable! We have prayer in tongues that transcends understanding, but we also need to be filled with the knowledge of God's grace in our understanding!

Here we need to have a correct concept of believing in the Lord. Everything revealed in the Bible is indispensable. Praying in tongues is very important and necessary, but it can never replace praying with understanding, nor can it replace Peter's preaching! But each has its emphasis, but these are not all parallel. Some are more important, some are less important. For example, believing in the Lord Jesus and having our sins forgiven, and then being filled with the Holy Spirit is the foundation of the Christian faith. Prayer is particularly important. Thank the Lord, I think we should get the order right! When things are done right, according to the Bible, the effect in the Bible will come out! This is what we see today. Last Sunday we talked about prayer. Today let's look at Peter's sermon.

Who did Peter preach to? Peter preached to a group of people who came to see what was happening because of the sound of the disciples praying loudly in tongues. As a result, these people who came to see the excitement actually believed in the Lord because they heard Peter's sermon. This gives me a revelation, our loud prayer itself is a testimony! It testifies to the power of our God. If everyone goes home, I encourage everyone not to worry about anything and start learning to pray loudly. Before praying, tell your family generously that I am going to pray! Many people among us have believed in the Lord because of this prayer. That is really God's work. If we are not ashamed of Christ, Jesus Christ will surely manifest His power! For example, Sister Ningjing, prayed like this, and her family took pictures and videos, saying that she was crazy. As a result, those who took pictures and videos are now following Ningjing to believe in the Lord Jesus. Sister YX prayed in the rented house, and TT, who lived in the same room, saw it and followed YX to believe in the Lord. WH prayed loudly, and as a result, Sister XC heard about it and followed her to receive the grace of deliverance. HF prayed loudly, and as a result, DJ followed her to believe in the Lord.

So, brothers and sisters, praying loudly is a testimony! Later I discovered that praying loudly, praying loudly in tongues in the spirit, can make people believe in the Lord. In the past, I often worried about scaring others. In fact, there is no need to worry about this. Those who come among us, seeing us pray like this, all say, very good! In fact, these 3,000 people did not find it strange to hear the disciples pray like this. On the contrary, they were attracted to see what was happening. As a result, they believed in the Lord. I was amazed by God's work! God is so wonderful, what originally made people feel strange, but people do not find it strange. This is also God's work!

What is Peter preaching? Peter is explaining what their loud, noisy prayer in tongues is all about! Let's take a look at Peter's sermon. All who preach should learn Peter's sermon. All who explain what this loud prayer is to those who are attracted by this prayer should also learn Peter's sermon. Let's look at Acts 2:14-40

Act 2:14 But Peter, taking his stand with the eleven, raised his voice and declared to them: “Men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give heed to my words. Act 2:15 For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day;

The Structure and Revelation of Peter's Sermon

Act 2:16 but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel: Act 2:17 ‘And it shall be in the last days,’ says God, ‘that I will pour forth of My Spirit on all mankind; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; Act 2:18 even on My bondslaves, both men and women, I will in those days pour forth of My Spirit and they shall prophesy. Act 2:19 ‘And I will grant wonders in the sky above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke. Act 2:20 ‘The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before the great and glorious day of the Lord shall come. Act 2:21 ‘And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

Act 2:22 Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know— Act 2:23 this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. Act 2:24 But God raised Him up, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power. Act 2:25 For David says of Him, ‘I saw the Lord always in my presence; For He is at my right hand, so that I will not be shaken. Act 2:26 ‘Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue exulted; Moreover my flesh also will live in hope; Act 2:27 Because You will not abandon my soul to Hades, Nor allow Your Holy One to undergo decay. Act 2:28 ‘You have made known to me the ways of life; You will make me full of gladness with Your presence.’ Act 2:29 Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Act 2:30 And so, because he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants on his throne, Act 2:31 he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that He was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh suffer decay. Act 2:32 This Jesus God raised up, and we are all witnesses of it.

Act 2:33 Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this thing which you both see and hear. Act 2:34 For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, Act 2:35 Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.”’ Act 2:36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified.” Act 2:37 Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” Act 2:38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Act 2:39 For the promise is for you and your children, and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” Act 2:40 And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation!”

If we make an outline of Peter's sermon, it can be this structure:

• Raise the question – What is the disciples' loud prayer in tongues all about?

• Quote the words of the prophet Joel: The prophecy of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit – Restore our vision and dreams

The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the Restoration of Dreams

• This began with how Jesus proved He is Lord through miracles and wonders, His suffering, and resurrection from the dead.

• The Lord Jesus returned to heaven and poured out the Holy Spirit, which the Father had promised.

• What you see is what the prophet spoke of.

• Tell everyone to believe in the Lord Jesus, repent, and receive the Holy Spirit!

This is the gospel that Peter preached! If someone tells you to believe in the Lord Jesus, confess your sins, repent, and receive forgiveness, but nothing more, that is incomplete. The complete gospel is to believe in the Lord Jesus, confess your sins, repent, receive forgiveness, and then receive the promised Holy Spirit! According to Peter, the phenomenon of them speaking in tongues is the receiving of the Holy Spirit.

I think that day, those 3,000 people also received the Holy Spirit and were gifted with praying in tongues, just like them. If we grasp the key point Peter made, it is that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit brings about the restoration of visions and dreams within people! Peter hit the nail on the head. This group of devout Jews (Acts 2:5: Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven) were dwelling in Jerusalem. Why? To worship the Jewish God, Jehovah. As a result, they received tremendous grace that day, just as we are filled with the Holy Spirit when we come into His presence today. When people are filled with the Holy Spirit, the hope in their hearts is restored, and the darkness in their hearts is illuminated! Before, we dared not dream. Too many dreams had been shattered, and we were afraid to dream. Now that the Spirit of God has been poured out, the dreams within us are alive again! In fact, dreams are the key to our lives!

This passage raises a crucial question: The problem that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit solves is the greatest problem of mankind, which is the loss of vision and dreams.

5 The biggest problem people face is the loss of vision and dreams!
When you face a despairing person, someone with a terminal illness, or someone whose dreams have been shattered, the greatest blessing is to restore the dreams within them. Once the dream within a person is shattered, that person is as good as dead. Although the ancient Chinese had not read the Bible, they knew through observation that there is no greater sorrow than the death of the heart. When the heart dies, even though one is alive, one is dead.

Among the overseas Chinese students I have met, a significant number are decadent. Why? Their dreams have been shattered. There is no future, no dream, no vision. These people only have dreams when they are drunk. When they sober up, the dreams are shattered again.

Thinking about it, I am truly grateful to God for restoring the dreams within me. I came to Singapore with dreams. But in just one year, my dreams were shattered. The pain brought about by the shattering of life's dreams is truly unbearable. Those whose dreams have been shattered are the most miserable people, and the way to solve this pain is through numbness. People become the living dead.

In World War II, two-thirds of those imprisoned in concentration camps died. Those who survived, when asked why they were able to persevere to the end and live on after Hitler died, all replied that they still had dreams inside. With dreams, people become strong. With dreams, they can create the future.

Brothers and sisters, whether you have vision and dreams not only determines whether you have a future but also determines how you live today! The environment is still the same, the problems are still the same, but when the Holy Spirit is poured out, the dreams within you come alive again. Immediately, your eyes light up, immediately, your mood improves, immediately, you begin a new journey of creating the future. Christians do not live in the present, nor do they live in the past; Christians, filled with the Holy Spirit, are creating the future!

The Power of Dreams and the Restoration by the Holy Spirit

Someone did an experiment by putting mice in a dark jar, and they died in a few minutes. That is, if you put a mouse in a jar and close the lid, a healthy mouse will die in three minutes. But when scientists put a mouse in a jar and then drilled a hole to let a ray of sunlight in, it did not die even after 36 hours. The mouse that would have died in three minutes survived for 36 hours with a ray of light. Scientists say that the mouse died in the dark jar in less than three minutes not because of physical exhaustion but because of despair. In the despair of darkness, it died in three minutes.

People are the same way. Even if their future is pitch black, as long as they do not despair and do not give up, they can survive. To avoid despair and abandonment, they must have dreams. As long as there are dreams and hope, they can overcome any suffering. Joseph was a slave for ten years and in prison for three years, enduring all kinds of hardships and pain, yet he was able to survive and not only survive but also transform his life and become the prime minister of Egypt. This was because he had dreams in his heart. Dreams will eventually come true. Because the One who fulfills your dreams is God. Jacob was the same way. When he went to his uncle's house, he had nothing but a wooden staff in his hand. That was all Jacob's property. But his dream at Bethel changed his life and enabled him to persevere for twenty years. Twenty years later, he became extremely wealthy and returned to the land of Canaan.

The Book of Genesis in the Bible is a book about dreams.

What people need most is dreams! God knows that what people need most is dreams. Therefore, when the Holy Spirit is poured out, it brings young men seeing visions and old men dreaming dreams, which is the restoration of vision and dreams within people! A person with a dream can mobilize the resources of heaven that God has prepared for them, because that is the kind of person God is looking for!

Today, you need to know how important it is to restore dreams and hope within people! If you want to bless someone, bring them to the Lord Jesus, receive the Lord Jesus, receive the promised Holy Spirit, and restore the dreams within!

For a person suffering from a terminal illness or someone who has experienced setbacks throughout their life, the best blessing you can give is to restore the dreams within them! Therefore, when I meet these people, what I can give them is the blessing of being filled with the Holy Spirit. The outpouring of God's Spirit can change a person's life.

There was a little boy from a poor family who made a living by selling newspapers. One day, he knocked on the door to deliver a newspaper, and an old man opened the door. Looking at the child, his eyes were filled with confidence, and he said to the child: You will be a great child in the future. As a result, one sentence ignited the dream in the child's heart. Wherever he went, the child kept proclaiming: I will be a great person in the future. As a result, the child later became the steel magnate of the United States. His name was Carnegie.

Dreams are priceless treasures!

6 The Holy Spirit wants to restore vision and dreams within us!

The Power of Dreams and the Outpouring of the Holy Spirit

God is very clear about how important dreams are to life, which is why Peter's first sermon spoke of the restoration of vision and dreams! This is not what Peter wanted to say but what God wants to tell us. It is not only for the 3,000 who heard it but also for the people of this generation. God knows very well how people should live because He created them. Mingding Destiny, God wants to restore the vision and dreams within us. This is the first step in our beautiful life! It is the beginning of the restoration of our glorious life. Reverend Robert H. Schuller said in his book Impossible Is Nothing: The great things in this world all begin with great dreams. Reverend Bill Hybels said: A dream is a vision of the future that ignites the passion in my heart. This is like a very beautiful building that begins with the dream of an architect. The architect's dream becomes a sketch, the sketch becomes a blueprint, the blueprint becomes a construction site, and the construction site becomes a complete and beautiful building. Without the architect's dream, there would be no creation. In fact, when the architect's dream begins, the building does not yet exist, but in the architect's heart, the beautiful building already exists!

When the Spirit of God is poured out, we begin to have dreams and visions within us. Although we have not yet seen things come to pass, in the hearts of those who dream, it is already a reality. This is what the Bible says: Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen! That is what it is talking about.

Visions and dreams can create the future, visions and dreams can overcome any suffering, and visions and dreams can bring spiritual power!

Today, when people in the world see those who believe in Jesus, they will say: Christianity has come. What they mean is, The dreamer has come. As long as we believe in Jesus, if there is a husband, wife, or child in the family who does not believe in Jesus, they will say: My mother is a dreamer, my father is a dreamer, my child is a dreamer, always talking nonsense. Wow, the dreamer is coming to eat, wow, the dreamer is going to work. The dreamer is going to the market. We have a dreamer in our family. This is not a derogatory term. We must make them say such things. We must be people with dreams.

Starting with those 120 people with dreams, God gave them dreams, courage, strength, and ability, and they began to preach the gospel throughout the world, transform people's lives, restore the dreams within people, and accomplish what seemed impossible. As a result, in just three hundred years, they brought the great Roman Empire to the feet of Jesus Christ. From this, do we not see how powerful dreams and visions are? Ah, I am not from Peking University, so there is no hope. Others go to study in the United States, but because my family is poor, I could not go to study in the United States. I simply have no hope. Those who think like this are foolish. Success and failure in this world do not depend on how much you have in your head. Whether you have a degree from a top university is not important. The question is whether you have great dreams in your heart. As long as you have dreams, God will take your hand and lead you forward. I am a nurse, I am a nurse with dreams. I am a car mechanic, I am a car mechanic with dreams. I am a baker, I am a baker with dreams!

This world is changed by those who dream. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit that provides us with dreams. Why did the Holy Spirit come to our side? It is to bring us dreams. It is not just to give dreams to young people but also to give dreams to the elderly. To give visions to the young and dreams to the old, and then let others say to us: Look, the dreamer is here. Look, the dreaming gentleman is coming, the dreaming housewife is coming, the dreaming child is coming.

The Path to Achieving Visions and Dreams

The Holy Spirit restores our vision and dreams and also gives us faith, ability, words, and passion.

The achievement of a dream also requires faith, desire, and declaration!

7 The fulfillment of vision and dreams requires - faith, desire, proclamation.
A person with a dream is just the beginning. It's just a seed. It's just a fertilized egg. To give birth to vision and dreams, you still have to do something. These are faith, desire, and proclamation.

Here I want to teach you a down-to-earth concept. A mature person needs to have a few things. These things have some similarities with what I said. A mature person needs to have: clear goals (that is, vision and dreams), good management of their time (temperance), emotional control (confidence), and a clear description of their words (proclamation).

God's reaction to you is your reaction to God.

You desire God to accomplish for you, and God desires to accomplish for you.

Dreams are seeds, faith is nutrition, desire is... proclamation...

8 Summary – God is the God who restores our vision and dreams!