“GOD’S CALLING OF HEAVENLY VISIONS!”
BY: J.FARRELL FISHER, MAY 20-21,2019
HOW AWARE ARE “YOU” OF HEAVENLY VISIONS OR,YES,THE TESTIMONIES OF OTHERS OF VITAL MOMENTS WHEN THEY “KNEW” HOLY GOD WAS SPEAKING INTO THEIR LIVES? HIGHLY INTERESTING VERSES ARE FOUND IN ACTS 26 AS WE READ ABOUT PAUL SHARING WITH KING AGRIPPA! VERSES 13-23 SAYS: “AT MIDDAY, O KING, I SAW IN THE WAY A LIGHT FROM HEAVEN, ABOVE THE BRIGHTNESS OF THE SUN,SHINING ROUND ABOUT ME & THEM WHICH JOURNEYED WITH ME.
AND WHEN WE WERE ALL FALLEN TO THE EARTH, I HEARD A VOICE SPEAKING UNTO ME, & SAYING IN THE HEBREW TONGUE, “SAUL, SAUL, WHY DO YOU PERSECUTE ME? IT IS HARD FOR YOU TO KICK AGAINST THE PRICKS.” AND PAUL SAID, “WHO ARE YOU, LORD?” AND HE SAID, “I AM JESUS WHOM YOU PERSECUTE. BUT RISE, & STAND UPON YOUR FEET: FOR I HAVE APPEARED UNTO YOU FOR THIS PURPOSE, TO MAKE YOU A MINISTER & A WITNESS BOTH OF THESE THINGS WHICH YOU HAVE SEEN, & OF THOSE THINGS IN THE WHICH I WILL APPEAR UNTO YOU;
DELIVERING YOU FROM THE PEOPLE, & FROM THE GENTILES,UNTO WHOM NOW I SEND YOU:TO OPEN THEIR EYES,& TO TURN THEM FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT, & FROM THE POWER OF SATAN UNTO GOD, THAT THEY MAY RECEIVE FORGIVENESS OF SINS, & INHERITANCE AMONG THEM WHICH ARE SANCTIFIED BY FAITH THAT IS IN ME.” WHEREUPON, O KING AGRIPPA, I WAS NOT DISOBEDIENT UNTO THE HEAVENLY VISION:
BUT SHOWED FIRST UNTO THEM OF DAMASCUS, & AT JERUSALEM, & THROUGHOUT ALL THE COASTS OF JUDEA, & THEN TO THE GENTILES, THAT THEY SHOULD REPENT & TURN TO GOD, & DO WORKS MEET FOR REPENTANCE. FOR THESE CAUSES THE JEWS CAUGHT ME IN THE TEMPLE, & WENT ABOUT TO KILL ME.
HAVING THEREFORE OBTAINED HELP OF GOD, I CONTINUE UNTO THIS DAY, WITNESSING BOTH TO SMALL & GREAT, SAYING NONE OTHER THINGS THAN THOSE WHICH THE PROPHETS & MOSES DID SAY SHOULD COME: THAT CHRIST SHOULD SUFFER, & THAT HE SHOULD BE THE FIRST THAT SHOULD RISE FROM THE DEAD, & SHOULD SHOW LIGHT UNTO THE PEOPLE, & TO THE GENTILES.” THAT, MY FRIENDS, IS AN AMAZING, CONVICTING, LIFE-CHANGING REVELATION! WHAT GOD DID FOR PAUL, HE STILL DOES TODAY, & WILL DO FOR YOU ALSO!!
GOD’S CALLING THROUGH “HEAVENLY VISIONS” “IS” PERSONAL & PREEMPTIVE & POWERFUL & PERSUASIVE, TAKING EVEN DOUBTING MEN & WOMEN OUT OF THEIR SPIRITUAL BLINDNESS INTO “ETERNAL REALITY” OF HOLY GOD’S COMPASSIONATE, LOVING, MERCIFUL HELP, FROM ‘SINNERS’ TO “SAINTS”, FROM EARTHLY, SELF-CENTERED BEINGS INTO HEAVENLY CITIZENS OF CHRIST’S ETERNAL KINGDOM LIVING & MINISTRY, FROM TEMPORARY,EARTHLY ALLEGIANCE TO THE CROSS, TOMB, & RESURRECTED PRESENCE OF THE INDWELLING CHRIST, ALIVE & WELL ON PLANET EARTH IN THE HEARTS OF “BLOOD-WASHED”, TRANSFORMED, ‘MADE-ALIVE-IN-CHRIST’ SERVANTS, FOOT-WASHERS, MESSENGERS, AMBASSADORS OF THE KING OF KINGS & LORD OF LORDS!!!!
OH, BUT THEN IN 1 CORINTHIANS 11:23a, PAUL SAID: “FOR I HAVE RECEIVED OF THE LORD THAT WHICH I ALSO DELIVERED UNTO YOU.” DO YOU SEE,SENSE,& SEPARATE YOURSELF UNTO THE MISSION & MINISTRY OF CHRIST IN TOUCHING OTHERS AROUND YOU WITH CHRIST’S LOVE, GRACE, & MERCY? ARE “YOU” CHRIST’S AMBASSADOR IN & AROUND WHERE YOU LIVE? LET’S EXAMINE GOD’S CALLING!
FIRST: THERE IS THE CALL OF GOD UPON EVERY BORN-AGAIN DISCIPLE THE,YES, ‘MINISTRY’ OF IMPACTING A LOST & DYING WORLD WITH GOD’S, THE HOLY SPIRIT’S, & CHRIST’S DESIRE TO ‘SAVE THE WORLD’! DID PAUL SAY TO KING AGRIPPA, “I WAS NOT DISOBEDIENT TO THE HEAVENLY VISION”? QUESTION! AS A ‘PROFESSING’,OR ‘CONFESSING’, OR ‘POSSESSING’ DISCIPLE OF CHRIST IN THE 21ST CENTURY, OF,YES, HIS CALLING YOU IN YOUR HEAVENLY VISION, ARE YOU DISOBEDIENT OR OBEDIENT? IN GALATIANS 2:20-21a, PAUL WROTE: “I AM CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST; NEVERTHELESS I LIVE;YET NOT I, BUT CHRIST LIVES IN ME; & THE LIFE WHICH I NOW LIVE IN THE FLESH I LIVE BY FAITH IN THE SON OF GOD, WHO LOVED ME, & GAVE HIMSELF FOR ME. 21a, I DO NOT FRUSTRATE THE GIFT OF GOD.”
IN GALATIANS 4:19 PAUL SAID, “MY LITTLE CHILDREN, OF WHOM I TRAVAIL IN BIRTH AGAIN UNTIL CHRIST IS FORMED (FULLY) IN YOU.” SALVATION IN CHRIST IS INITIAL IN BIRTHING BY THE SPIRIT, IT IS PROGRESSIVE FROM BABES, CHILDREN, & YOUTH, IT IS ULTIMATE IN ONE TRULY, FULLY, YIELDINGLY, BEING AVAILABLE AS THE “TEMPLE” IN & THROUGH WHICH CHRIST CONTINUES HIS MINISTRY “THROUGH YOU”!!
AND IN THAT PROGRESSIVE SPIRITUAL STATE OVER THE YEARS AS ONE MATURES, IN THE BOOK OF ACTS YOU LEARN ABOUT DISCIPLES THAT WERE “STORM-TOSSED”, “SHIP-WRECKED”, & EVEN “SNAKE-BITTEN”, BUT THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST INSPIRED THEM, UPLIFTED THEM, & CROWNED THEM AS FAITHFUL SOLDIERS OF THE CHRIST OF THE CROSS & EMPTY TOMB!!
ACTS 1:8 SAYS, “BUT YOU SHALL RECEIVE POWER, AFTER THAT THE HOLY SPIRIT IS COME UPON YOU; & YOU SHALL BE WITNESSES UNTO ME BOTH IN JERUSALEM, & IN ALL JUDEA, & IN SAMARIA, & UNTO THE UTTERMOST PART OF THE EARTH.” TELL ME ABOUT YOUR RECEPTION OF CHRIST’S CALLING OF YOU TO BE HIS “CHOSEN WITNESS”! THE MASTER’S MANDATE INSTILLED BY GOD IN HIS SON BY THE HOLY SPIRIT IS “YOUR” MANDATE IF TRULY YOU ARE CHRIST’S NEW-BORN CHILD OF FAITH EMPOWERED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT!
SECOND, THERE MUST BE THE AWARENESS IN YOU, BY THE HOLY SPIRIT’S PRESENCE, THAT YOUR ‘CALLING’ IS THE CONSIDERATION OF THE NEEDS OF THOSE WE ENCOUNTER, & THAT THE ONE’S WE “WIN” TO FAITH IN CHRIST ARE NOT A NOTCH ON A CERTAIN CHURCH’S GUN! LOST,ALIENATED,SEPARATED,WANDERING ‘SHEEP’ ARE TO BE RECONCILED TO “THE TRUE SHEPHERD”, CHRIST JESUS! SPURGEON, IN HIS WRITING ENTITLED “SOUL-WINNING”, (P.13) SAID: “DO NOT CONSIDER THAT SOUL-WINNING IS OR CAN BE SECURED BY THE MULTIPLICATIONS OF BAPTISMS & THE SWELLING SIZE OF YOUR CHURCH…WHAT DO THESE DISPATCHES FROM THE BATTLEFIELDS MEAN? LAST NIGHT 14 SOULS WERE UNDER CONVICTION, 15 WERE JUSTIFIED, & 8 RECEIVED FULL SANCTIFICATION.’ I AM WEARY OF THE PUBLIC BRAGGING, THIS COUNTING OF UNHATCHED CHICKENS, THIS EXHIBITION OF DOUBTFUL SPORTS. LAY ASIDE SUCH NUMBERINGS OF THE PEOPLE, SUCH IDLE PRETENSE OF CERTIFYING IN HALF-A-MINUTE THAT WHICH WILL NEED THE TESTING OF A LIFETIME.”
GOD ISN’T INTERESTED IN YOUR’S OR A CHURCH’S STATISTICS – HE’S INTERESTED IN THEIR TRUE CONVERSIONS BASED UPON GENUINE REPENTANCE & GRACED SALVATION; GOD’S NOT INTERESTED IN OUR RANKING IN ONE’S STATE OF LIFE IN COMPARISON TO OTHERS – HE’S INTERESTED IN OUR RESCUE, OUR RENEWAL, & OUR RELEASE AS THE “AMBASSADOR OF CHRIST”!! GOD ISN’T INTERESTED IN YOUR ‘SPIRITUAL PRIDE’ ABOUT THE ‘JOB’ YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING FOR HIM – HE’S INTERESTED IN THOSE SAVED WHO’VE SENSED THE URGENCY OF THEIR CALLING, & THEN HUNGER FOR THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT UPON THEM & THROUGH THEM WHO,YES, GUIDES THEM IN THEIR ‘WITNESS’ TO THOSE STILL SEPARATED FROM GOD!
ACTS 26:15-19 TELLS US OF PAUL’S EARLY CONVERSATION WITH THE LORD: AND I,PAUL, SAID, “WHO ARE YOU, LORD?” AND HE SAID, “I AM JESUS WHOM YOU’VE BEEN PERSECUTING. BUT RISE, & STAND UPON YOUR FEET;FOR I HAVE APPEARED UNTO YOU FOR THIS PURPOSE, TO MAKE YOU A MINISTER & A WITNESS BOTH OF THESE THINGS WHICH YOU HAVE SEEN, & OF THOSE THINGS IN THE WHICH I WILL APPEAR UNTO YOU;
DELIVERING THEM FROM THE PEOPLE, & FROM THE GENTILES, UNTO WHOM I NOW SEND YOU: TO OPEN THEIR EYES, & TO TURN THEM FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT, & FROM THE POWER OF SATAN UNTO GOD, THAT THEY MAY RECEIVE FORGIVENESS OF SINS, & INHERITANCE AMONG THEM WHICH ARE SANCTIFIED BY FAITH THAT IS IN CHRIST.” THEREUPON, O KING AGRIPPA, I WAS NOT DISOBEDIENT UNTO THE HEAVENLY VISION.” LOOK CAREFULLY AT VERSE 18 AGAIN!! THAT’S AFTER THE LORD SAID:
- HE WAS SPEAKING ABOUT PROCLAIMING SAVING TRUTH!
- HE WAS ENCOURAGING WITNESSING, PREACHING, TEACHING, EVANGELIZING, WITH ‘FIRE IN YOUR BONES’!
- HE WAS ALERTING TRUE DISCIPLES OF POSITIONING THEMSELVES AS A ‘WITNESS’ IN THE FULLNESS & ANOINTING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT: RECEIVE THE HOLY SPIRIT,LIVE IN THE SPIRIT, WALK & WITNESS IN THE SPIRIT!
- HE WAS SAYING: HAVING POSITIONED YOURSELF UNDER THE SPIRIT’S ANOINTING,PRACTICALLY STAND ON FAITHFULNESS OF THE WORD & THE SPIRIT PROCLAIMING THE NECESSITY OF REPENTANCE TOWARD GOD & FAITH IN THE FINISHED WORK OF CHRIST! IN ACTS 20:17-24 PAUL TESTIFIED:AND FROM MILETUS HE SENT TO EPHESUS, & CALLED THE ELDERS OF THE CHURCH. AND WHEN THEY WERE COME TO HIM, HE SAID UNTO THEM, YOU KNOW, FROM THE FIRST DAY THAT I CAME INTO ASIA, AFTER WHAT MANNER I HAVE BEEN WITH YOU AT ALL SEASONS, SERVING THE LORD WITH ALL HUMILITY OF MIND, & WITH MANY TEARS, & TEMPTATIONS, WHICH BEFELL ME BY THE LYING IN WIT OF THE JEWS:
AND HOW I KEPT BACK NOTHING THAT WAS PROFITABLE UNTO YOU, BUT SHOWED YOU, & HAVE TAUGHT YOU PUBLICLY, & FROM HOUSE TO HOUSE. TESTIFYING BOTH TO THE JEWS, & ALSO TO THE GREEKS, REPENTANCE TOWARD GOD, & FAITH TOWARD OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. AND NOW, BEHOLD, I GO BOUND IN THE SPIRIT UNTO JERUSALEM, NOT KNOWING THE THINGS THAT SHALL BEFALL ME THERE:SAVE THAT THE HOLY SPIRIT WITNESSES IN EVERY CITY, SAYING, THAT BONDS & AFFLICTIONS ABIDE ME.
BUT NONE OF THESE THINGS MOVE ME, NEITHER COUNT I MY LIFE DEAR UNTO MYSELF, SO THAT I MIGHT FINISH MY COURSE WITH JOY, & THE MINISTRY, WHICH I HAVE RECEIVED OF THE LORD JESUS, TO TESTIFY THE GOSPEL OF THE GRACE OF GOD.
SPURGEON USED TO PREACH ABOUT, “TRUE BELIEF & TRUE REPENTANCE ARE TWINS,” BUT AS I READ THE WORD OF GOD, I SEE, FOR HIS TRUE SERVANTS, TRUE BELIEF, TRUE REPENTANCE, TRUE ETERNAL LIFE, & TRUE FAITHFUL WITNESS TO ALL THE SPIRITUALLY NEEDY!! SPURGEON ALSO SAID: “IDLE ARE THE BOASTS OF A MAN WHO HARBORS WITHIN HIMSELF THE LOVE OF ANY TRANSGRESSION. HE MAY FEEL WHAT HE LIKES, & BELIEVE WHAT HE LIKES, BUT HE IS STILL IN THE GALL OF BITTERNESS & THE BONDS OF INIQUITY WHILE A SINGLE SIN RULES HIS HEART & LIFE. TRUE REGENERATION IMPLANTS A HATRED OF ALL EVIL. WHERE ONE SIN IS DELIGHTED IN, THE EVIDENCE IS “FATAL” TO A SOUND HOPE. A MAN NEED NOT TAKE A DOZEN POISONS TO DESTROY HIS LIFE; ONE IS QUITE SUFFICIENT.”
- PAUL WAS SAYING: “YOUR CALLING “IN CHRIST” IS THE CALL OF DIVINE EXPERIENCE & DIVINE EXPRESSION! AGAIN ACTS 26:16-18 AS A REFRESHING REMINDER: “RISE,&STAND UPON YOUR FEET; FOR I HAVE APPEARED UNTO YOU FOR THIS PURPOSE, TO MAKE YOU A MINISTER & A WITNESS BOTH OF THESE THINGS WHICH YOU HAVE SEEN, & OF THOSE THINGS IN THE WHICH I WILL APPEAR TO YOU.
DELIVERING YOU FROM THE PEOPLE & THE GENTILES, UNTO WHOM I NOW SEND YOU:TO OPEN THEIR EYES, & TO TURN THEM FROM THE DARKNESS TO LIGHT, & FROM THE POWER OF SATAN UNTO GOD, THAT THEY MAY RECEIVE FORGIVENESS OF SINS, & INHERITANCE AMONG THEM WHICH ARE SANCTIFIED BY FAITH THAT IS IN CHRIST!
THIS ALSO TELLS US THAT OUR CALLING IS A CALL OF TRUST & DEPENDENCE! ACTS 26:22 SAYS, “HAVING THEREFORE OBTAINED HELP OF GOD, I CONTINUE…” & CONTINUING TO BE FAITHFUL & OBEDIENT, IT LED HIM TO BE MARTYRED FOR THE FAITH.
THAT, MY FRIENDS, MAY AWAIT YOU OR ME, WHEN GODLESS MEN & NATIONS DETERMINE YOU’RE TOO GREAT A RISK TO ALLOW YOU TO CONTINUE! BUT “TRUTH” NEVER DIES – IT’S JUST TRANSFERRED TO A BETTER PLACE OF ETERNAL REST IN CHRIST!! AMEN?
REV.J.K.ALWOOD WROTE THE HYMN “THE UNCLOUDED DAY” IN THE OLD BROADMAN HYMNAL PUBLISHED BY BROADMAN PRESS IN NASHVILLE, TENN., IN 1940! IT SAYS: “O THEY TELL ME OF A HOME FAR BEYOND THE SKIES, O THEY TELL ME OF A HOME FAR AWAY; O THEY TELL ME OF A HOME WHERE NO STORM-CLOUDS RISE, O THEY TELL ME OF AN UNCLOUDED DAY.
O THEY TELL ME OF A HOME WHERE MY FRIENDS HAVE GONE, O THEY TELL ME OF THAT LAND FAR AWAY, WHERE THE TREE OF LIFE IN ETERNAL BLOOM SHEDS ITS FRAGRANCE THRO’ THE UNCLOUDED DAY.
O THEY TELL ME OF A KING IN HIS BEAUTY THERE, & THEY TELL ME THAT MY EYES SHALL BEHOLD WHERE HE SITS ON THE THRONE THAT IS WHITER THAN SNOW, IN THE CITY THAT IS MADE OF GOLD.
O THEY TELL ME THAT HE SMILES ON HIS CHILDREN THERE, & HIS SMILE DRIVES THEIR SORROWS ALL AWAY; & THEY TELL ME THAT NO TEARS EVER COME AGAIN, IN THAT LOVELY LAND OF AN UNCLOUDED DAY.
O THE LAND OF CLOUDLESS DAY, O THE LAND OF AN UNCLOUDED DAY; O THEY TELL ME OF A HOME WHERE NO STORM-CLOUDS RISE, O THEY TELL ME OF AN UNCLOUDED DAY.”
HAS YOUR ‘SORROW’ MELTED BY YOUR SAVIOR’S SWEET VOICE? HAS YOUR ‘PAIN’ BEEN ARRESTED BY CHRIST’S FAITHFUL PRESENCE? HAS YOUR ‘HEART-ACHE’ BEEN TRANSFERRED INTO A HALLELUJAH CHORUS BECAUSE OF YOUR LORD’S HELPING HAND?
“IN CHRIST”,EVERYDAY SHOULD BE A SONG OF PRAISE, EVERY TRIAL THE RINGING OF HIS TRIUMPHANT VICTORY EVEN THROUGH HIS CROSS, EVERY TESTING,TROUBLING MOMENT SHOULD ERUPT IN YOUR HYMN OF PRAISE FOR HIS SUSTAINING, ABIDING, OVERCOMING PRESENCE, EVERY TRIBULATION MUST BE “EYES OFF SELF –EYES FULLY ON JESUS ONLY”!
“IN CHRIST”, EVERYDAY SHOULD BE A DISCIPLE’S CELEBRATION OF THE “VICTORY IN JESUS”! FANNY CROSBY & ROBERT LOWRY WROTE THE OLD HYMN “ALL THE WAY MY SAVIOR LEADS ME”,( THE AMERICAN HYMNAL, PUBLISHED BY BROADMAN PRESS, NASHVILLE, TENN.) THAT SAYS: “ALL THE WAY MY SAVIOR LEADS ME; WHAT HAVE I TO ASK BESIDE? CAN I DOUBT HIS TENDER MERCY, WHO THRO’ LIFE HAS BEEN MY GUIDE? HEAVENLY PEACE, DIVINEST COMFORT, HERE BY FAITH IN HIM TO DWELL! FOR I KNOW, WHATE’ER BEFALL ME, JESUS DOES SLL THINGS WELL.
ALL THE WAY MY SAVIOR LEADS ME, CHEERS EACH WINDING PATH I TREAD, GIVES ME GRACE FOR EVERY TRIAL, FEEDS ME WITH THE LIVING BREAD. THOUGH MY WEARY STEPS MAY FALTER, & MY SOUL ATHIRST MAY BE, GUSHING FROM THE “ROCK” BEFORE ME, LO! A SPRING OF JOY I SEE.
ALL THE WAY MY SAVIOR LEADS ME; OH, THE FULLNESS OF HIS LOVE! PERFECT REST TO ME IS PROMISED IN MY FATHER’S HOUSE ABOVE. WHEN MY SPIRIT, CLOTHED IMMORTAL, WINGS ITS FLIGHT TO REALMS OF DAY, THIS MY SONG THRO’ ENDLESS AGES; JESUS LED ME ALL THE WAY. AMEN?