Will you please turn again to Acts chapter
26.
We'll read a few more verses this morning.
Acts chapter 26.
We'll read from verse 13 through verse 23.
Acts 26 verse 13.
This is Paul's testimony.
At midday on the way I saw, O
King, a light above the brightness of the
sun, shining from heaven round about me and
those who were journeying with me.
And when we were all fallen to the
ground, I heard a voice saying to me
in the Hebrew language, Saul, Saul, why persecutest
thou me?
It is hard for thee to kick against
God.
And I said, Who art thou, Lord?
And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom
thou persecutest.
But rise up and stand on your feet.
For for this purpose have I appeared to
thee to appoint thee to be a servant
and a witness, both of what thou hast
seen and of what I shall appear to
thee in, taking thee out from among the
people and the nations to whom I send
thee, to open their eyes that they may
turn from darkness to light and from the
power of Satan to God, and they may
receive remission of sins and inheritance among them
that are sanctified by faith in me.
Whereupon, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to
the heavenly vision, but I first to those
both in Damascus and Jerusalem, and to all
the regions of Judea and to the nations,
announced that they should repent and turn to
God, doing works worthy of repentance.
On account of these things the Jews, having
seized me in the temple, attempted to lay
hands on and destroy me.
Having therefore met with the help which is
from God, I have stood firm unto this
day, witnessing both the small and great, saying
nothing else than those things which both the
prophets and Moses have said should happen.
Namely, whether Christ should suffer, whether he first
through resurrection of the dead should announce light
both to the people and to the nations.
Dear Heavenly Father, we offer the words that
thou hast given to us back to thee,
and ask thee, Lord, that thou will bless
thy word, break it, and distribute to us,
that we may be filled, that thou may
be glorified, and thy will will be done
among us on earth as it is in
heaven.
We ask in thy precious name.
Amen.
Yesterday morning we shared together on this matter
of the heavenly vision.
The heavenly vision is not optional.
It is mandatory.
In other words, as God's people, we must
have this heavenly vision, because without this heavenly
vision, we perish.
Without this heavenly vision, we cast off all
restraints.
We become a people without discipline.
Without this vision, we will be divided, scattered.
There is no unity, there is no cohesion
among God's people.
It is this heavenly vision that gives us
purpose, meaning.
It is this heavenly vision that satisfies God's
own heart, and only that vision can satisfy
our longing hearts.
So, brothers and sisters, it is essential that
we, as the redeemed of the Lord, that
we do have this vision.
It is the vision that is related to
the eternal purpose of God.
It is not a small thing.
It is a vision of Christ, as all
and in all.
It is a vision of the church, as
the body of Christ, the fullness of Him
who fills all and in all.
But God does not give such vision just
for us to contemplate, to meditate, and to
think about.
Our God is very practical.
The reason why He gave such vision to
His people is because He wants to work
out something for His glory.
Now, brothers and sisters, we have to see
that this heavenly vision is not just something
objective.
There is that objective aspect of that vision
that God has given to us in Christ
Jesus, through the Holy Spirit.
It is something that we need to see
with our inner eyes.
But this vision is more than just something
objective for us to view it from afar.
It is a vision that is also very
subjective.
That is to say, it is a vision
when it is given, it draws us into
that vision, it makes us part of that
vision, and we cannot help but be involved
fully, completely, in that vision.
Vision is given for vocation.
And if it is not for vocation, then
there is no meaning to that vision.
So, dear brothers and sisters, we have to
come to see that the heavenly vision is
given to be our vocation.
We remember the case with Apostle Paul.
When he was on the road to Damascus,
he was given the heavenly vision.
And when this heavenly vision was given, we
find that it has to be accepted by
faith, and it will result in a commitment
and it will end up with a commission.
It is not something vague, it is not
something abstract, it is something most practical, and
it is something that touches our very life
upon this earth.
It revolutionizes our life, it revolutionizes our ministry,
it is for a vocation.
Probably, we have the thought, how glorious it
will be if we are given such a
vision.
And it is true, because this heavenly vision
is the glorious thing in the universe.
There is nothing more glorious than seeing the
purpose of God concerning Christ and concerning His
Church.
Because it lifts us up out of ourselves,
out of this world, deliver us from this
earth, and make us heaven-bound, and really
get us into His glory.
That vision is most glorious.
But brothers and sisters, at the same time,
this heavenly vision is most terrible.
You remember the story of Jacob?
He did have a spiritual desire, he did
desire spiritual things, even though he was a
carnal man.
He tried to attain spiritual reality through carnal
means, and of course we know he couldn't.
And because of this, he was so disciplined
that he had to leave home, wandered in
the wilderness, and there you'll find at night,
he laid his head upon a stone as
his pillow.
I think you can hardly describe a more
pitiful, tragic scene as this young man wear
out, worn out, and laid his head on
the stone and fell to sleep.
For then, at that time, God revealed Himself
to him.
He saw a letter that connected the earth
and heaven.
And God was on the top of that
letter, and Jacob was lying at the bottom
of that letter, and angels ascending and descending
on that letter, and God said to him,
I am the God of your father, I
am with you, I will perform all that
I have promised to your father Abraham, and
to Isaac, and so forth.
Jacob woke up.
And do you know what he said?
Oh, he said, this is wonderful, this is
marvelous.
No.
His reaction was, this is terrible.
This is a terrible place, because this is
the house of God, the gate of heaven.
Why is it so terrible?
It is terrible because he found himself so
unfit, so unworthy, he found himself so far
from what the vision was, and he knew
it was a terrible thing.
If this is to be true, how much
must be done in his life?
It is terrible, brothers and sisters.
And yet, terrible as it was to him,
he accepted it, even though he did not
understand fully.
And we knew how, after that vision, he
still bargained with God.
God said, I am with you, and he
said, if you are with me, God said,
I will bless you with all the blessing
of Abraham, and he said, God, if you
would give me the clothes to wear, and
food to eat, and keep me safe, and
come home, then I will make you my
God.
He still bargained with God, he did not
understand fully what that vision was, and yet,
brothers and sisters, on the other hand, he
did accept it.
Because he put up that stone to be
a pillar, and he poured oil on it,
and he said, if God should fulfill all
this, I will make this the house of
God.
Dear brothers and sisters, on the one hand,
he thought it was a terrible thing, because
he found himself so far away from that
vision, and he knew to make him fit
for that vision would take a long road.
And yet, he did commit himself to God,
and allow God to work it out in
his life, to make him the house of
God.
He poured oil on the stone.
In other words, symbolically, it means, by the
power of the Holy Spirit, it shall be
done.
And because he accepted that vision with faith,
however imperfect that faith might be, because he
did commit himself to God's hand, we find
from that day onward, the hand of God
was upon that man.
For twenty years, God worked in that life,
trying to break him down, trying to remake
him, but he was such a strong person,
it took God twenty years, and with a
man of a similar nature, to deal with
this man Jacob, until finally, God broke him.
And transformed him from Jacob to Israel, a
prince with God.
Dear brothers and sisters, whenever the heavenly vision
comes upon a person, the first reaction is,
how unfit, unworthy.
You remember the prophet Isaiah.
He was a prophet.
He was prophesying.
And how, if you read the first few
chapters of Isaiah, you'll find what a strong
prophet he was.
How he denounced, how he announced judgment to
God's people, as if he was above the
people.
And yet, in the sixth chapter, when his
close friend King Uzziah died, he went into
the temple, and in a vision, he saw
the Lord upon the throne, highly lifted up,
and his train filled the temple, and seraphim
were there, crying out, holy, holy, holy, Lord
God Almighty, the whole earth is full of
His glory.
And there was cloud, and there was shaking.
Brothers and sisters, this strong prophet cried out,
woe to me, for I am undone.
I'm a man with unclean lips, dwelling among
a people of unclean lips.
You know, there is no member of the
body of a prophet stronger than the lips,
because he is a spokesman of God.
He uses his mouth, his lips.
That is his strength.
And yet, brothers and sisters, when he saw
the Lord on the throne, his strength turns
into weakness.
He discovered how unclean his lips were.
He was not fit to speak for God.
It is only people who have no vision
that feel he is fit to speak for
God.
If you see God, you dare not speak.
You know how unclean your lips are.
But thank God, he was cleansed by the
fire from the altar.
And from that day onward, you'll find he
became the spokesman of God to his people.
The same thing happened to the prophet Ezekiel.
Ezekiel chapter 1, when the glory of the
Lord appeared to Ezekiel, he fell down.
He couldn't stand anymore.
The same thing happened to Daniel, the beloved
of God.
You remember, in chapter 10, when the Lord
appeared to him in glory, he fell down
as one dead.
And he said, my glory, my beauty has
turned into corruption.
We know Daniel was the beloved of God.
He was such a perfect man.
In the Bible, a few persons were mentioned
without any fault.
Not that they had not fault, but it
was mentioned.
And Daniel was one of them.
And yet, when he saw the Lord, his
beauty turned into corruption.
Dear brothers and sisters, if we say we
have seen the heavenly vision, and yet it
only makes a thing we are worthy, we
are fit, instead of seeing our unworthiness, our
total unfitness, I wonder whether we have seen
the heavenly vision.
The first reaction that comes to a person
who has seen the Lord is to find
himself so unworthy, so unfit, he had to
fell down as dead.
And he has to rely upon the Lord
to raise him up from the dead.
Wherever a vision comes, it demands obedience.
Do not think a vision is given just
to make you feel good.
Do not think a vision is given just
to make you think that you are more
spiritual than other people.
And that's the reason why you are giving
this vision.
Remember, whenever the heavenly vision is given, it
demands our obedience.
The Apostle Paul, he could testify, I was
not disobedient to the heavenly vision.
I wonder why he used double negatives.
Why did he not say, King Agrippa, I
was obedient to the heavenly vision?
It was much simpler to say that, more
positive.
But no, he said, I was not disobedient
to the heavenly vision.
Now I know in Hebrew language, sometimes you
know you use double negative to make it
more emphatic.
That is true.
But personally, I believe there must be something
more.
Is it not that Paul, he sensed very
deeply, out of his experience through many years,
that obedience is simply something not in him.
On the contrary, he found that disobedience was
in him.
In other words, the very nature of the
old man is disobedient.
From the first man, Adam, when he disobeyed
God, it seemed that in the very blood
of Adam, there was disobedience.
And we who are the descendants, the seeds
of Adam, we discover that within us there
is that seed of disobedience.
Disobedience is not just an act, occasionally.
We discover that disobedience is deeply implanted in
our very natural life.
It is easy for us to disobey.
It is very difficult for us to obey.
Even in this world, you will discover that
when a child begins to talk, the first
thing for him to do is to say
no.
It is very difficult for a child to
say yes.
Why?
Because the very spirit of disobedience is in
that natural life.
And brothers and sisters, unless we see this,
we are not delivered.
We have to acknowledge that in our spirit
that is in the fallen man, there is
the very spirit of rebellion, the very spirit
of disobedience, especially when you come to the
things of God.
Some people may be quite obedient outwardly, but
it may not be true inwardly.
And if you find it is hard to
obey, even in the natural sense, how much
more difficult you'll find to obey God, to
obey that heavenly vision.
It is not there.
So I do believe that Apostle Paul discovered
in his own life.
Now do not think that it is easy
for Paul, after seeing such a glorious vision,
that obedience became something natural to him.
Not so.
If you read Paul's writing, you will find
again and again he said the mind of
the flesh did not understand the things of
God.
He said the carnal mind cannot accept God's
will because it is folly to him.
The man of the flesh cannot please God.
Brothers and sisters, these are not just words,
these are experiences.
Out of his own experience he discovered that
in him, that is in the flesh, there
is no obedience.
And that is the reason why I think
he said, I was not disobedient.
Naturally he would be disobedient to the heavenly
vision.
But supernaturally he was not disobedient.
Oh brothers and sisters, the heavenly vision demands
obedience.
But remember, in you there is no such
thing as obedience.
Especially when you come to the heavenly vision.
Why?
Because with the heavenly vision comes the cross.
It is the cross that converts that vision
into vocation.
If there is the vision given and there
is no cross, you become a visionary.
But God does not give a vision to
make you a visionary.
God gives you vision that it may be
a vocation to you.
And in order that it be a vocation,
you find with the vision comes the cross.
Therefore, it is terrible.
Think of our Lord Jesus.
He is the heavenly vision.
But for Him to be that heavenly vision,
even before the foundation of the world, He
was the Lamb slain.
When He came into this world, it was
not easy, as we came, because He had
to empty Himself.
He was God, He was equal with God,
He received all the worship, the adoration, the
praises, the service of the angelic hosts.
That was His right.
And brothers and sisters, in order to complete
that vision, He had to empty Himself.
Now it is true He could never empty
Himself of His deity, because even though He
became man, He was still God.
But He emptied Himself of all that surrounded
His deity, His honor, His glory, His rights,
His authority.
He laid on everything, He emptied Himself in
order to become a man.
Brothers and sisters, that is the cross.
As a man, how He denied Himself.
If there is any man that does not
need to deny Himself, that is our Lord
Jesus.
Because even His human self is pure, sinless,
perfect.
And yet He denied Himself to the point.
He said, I cannot do anything by myself.
I cannot say anything, by myself.
I cannot.
Your time is always easy, but my time
is not yet come.
You find His whole life is a life.
He denied Himself to the point that He
entered into death.
And even the death of the cross.
Brothers and sisters, we can never understand fully
what He suffered, how much He suffered throughout
His life.
We could never fully understand how much suffering
He suffered on that Calvary's cross.
He not only suffered physically, He suffered mentally,
He suffered spiritually.
He had to give up everything.
He had to lay down His life.
He had to cry out, My God, My
God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?
And yet, brothers and sisters, it is through
the things which He suffered that He learned
obedience.
Our Lord Jesus learned obedience while He was
as God.
Obedience was not in the vocabulary of God.
God never needs to obey.
God commands.
So our Lord Jesus, as man, as God
-man, He had to learn a new lesson.
He had to learn obedience.
How?
Through the things which He suffered.
How much He suffered.
How much He had to deny His holy
self.
How much He had to lay down His
holy life.
But from the things which He suffered, He
learned obedience, and He became the author of
our eternal salvation.
One translation is, and it is more accurate,
He became the causer of our eternal salvation.
In other words, He learned obedience not for
Himself.
He learned obedience in His life for us,
because He is going to give His own
life to us.
And in that life, there is the spirit
of obedience.
Brothers and sisters, we can never obey God.
We can never obey the heavenly vision by
ourselves.
But thank God today, there is the possibility,
there is the potential, because in the very
life that we have received from our Lord
Jesus, when we believe in Him, dear brothers
and sisters, in that life, there is, and
it is only by that life, Paul said,
I was not disobedient to the heavenly.
Do not think that you can obey the
heavenly vision.
If anybody should think that he or she
can obey the heavenly vision, or he or
she can even make it work, you deceive
yourselves.
You haven't seen the vision, or you have
turned away from the vision, and you are
building something else.
We have to humbly acknowledge, if God should
by His mercy give us that heavenly vision,
it is totally out of us, beyond us.
It is something we cannot fulfill.
But thank God, by that life, it can
be done.
That heavenly vision either makes us or breaks
us.
When that heavenly vision comes to us, and
we find it demands obedience, and yet within
us, that is in our flesh, we find
there is rebellion.
We find that we just cannot obey.
We find that it demands too much, because
it demands our very life.
It demands all.
We know that it means that we have
to deny ourselves, and take up the cross
and follow the Lord.
And we find that we cannot do it.
And brothers and sisters, if we try to
struggle it on our own, it breaks us.
But if by the mercy of God, we
realize that we cannot make it, but He
can, then He will make us.
You remember the heavenly vision is such a
strange thing.
The heavenly vision on the one hand repels
us, and on the other hand, it attracts
us.
Let me illustrate it.
You remember the story of Peter, when he
was brought to the Lord by his brother
Angel.
The Lord looking over.
You know in the Gospel of John, chapter
1, the word, the Lord look at him,
in the original it means the Lord look
him over, up and down, you know.
And evidently, you know, when the Lord look
at Peter up and down, and look him
over, you know, the look of the Lord
just penetrates into the very heart of Peter.
Peter was a very talkative person.
He always spoke first.
He never gave you the chance to speak
first.
And yet you find when he was brought
to the Lord, and the Lord just looked
him over, and he was speechless.
He never uttered a word.
And the Lord said, you are Simon, weak
as water, but you shall be Peter, firm.
Peter followed the Lord.
The Lord called him, when he was fishing,
come and follow me, I will make you
fish on me.
And Peter left his boat, and left his
net, and followed the Lord.
And you remember Peter began to travel with
the Lord?
Now that was in the very early days.
And one day when our Lord Jesus came
to Capernaum, that was Peter's hometown.
And you remember what happened?
In Luke chapter 5, you'll find Peter went
fishing.
Now why did he go fishing?
He left his fish net, he left his
boat and followed the Lord.
And he followed the Lord for a short
period.
And now he went back to fishing.
But thank God, God did not allow him
to catch a single fish.
Now suppose he succeeded.
And in the morning the Lord borrowed his
boat to preach.
And the Lord said, all right, if that's
what you want to do, I borrow your
fish, I borrow your boat, I'll pay you
the price.
So the Lord said, go out, launch out,
put down the net, you will catch fish
to pay for your boat.
If that's the way you want to deal
with me, and you'll find full of fishes.
What was the reaction of Peter?
Peter fell down before the Lord and said,
depart from me.
I'm a sinful man.
I'm not worthy.
Peter thought he could make it.
He was attracted by the Lord.
And he followed the Lord.
He thought he could make it.
But after spending time with the Lord, he
discovered that he was an unfit.
He couldn't make it.
And because he found he couldn't make it,
he felt it was better to slip out
early.
And that's why he went fishing.
But the Lord revealed his glory to Peter.
That the Lord is the Creator.
He had command over the whole universe.
And when Peter saw the glory of the
Lord in that net full of fishes, what
was his reaction?
He said, depart from me.
I'm a sinful man.
Do you think you are fit for the
Lord?
Do you think you are fit for the
heavenly vision?
You are not fit.
You will cry out within you, depart from
me, Lord.
I'm a sinful man.
It repels you.
The heavenly vision repels you.
And yet, on the other hand, it draws
you.
You know, in the heart of Peter, even
though he said, depart from me, but in
his very heart, he was crying out, Lord,
if you are merciful to me, don't let
me go.
And then if you turn to John chapter
6, what a difference.
After the Lord feeding five thousand with five
fishes and two loaves, and people wanted to
make the Lord king, the Lord retreated to
the other side of the lake.
And people followed him.
And the Lord said, seek not the things
that perisheth, but the things that are eternal.
I am the bread of life.
And when our Lord was saying these things,
his disciples said, it is hard saying.
And many departed.
There was the twelve disciples there.
And the Lord turned to them and said,
you want to go?
If you do, you may.
And what Peter said?
Peter said, where shall we go?
To whom else can we go?
We were finished.
You have the word of life.
You are the holy one of God.
We are stuck with you.
Brothers and sisters, that is the heavenly vision.
If you see the heavenly vision, you have
nowhere else to go.
Many times I tried to go away, but
nowhere.
We had to go.
Dear brothers and sisters, if you still have
an alternative, you haven't seen the vision.
People who have seen the vision are finished
with everything.
They are stuck with Christ forever.
There is no other place to go.
No other one to go.
He has captured us.
We are caught forever.
This heavenly vision, when it comes to us,
there is the temptation.
On the one hand, we want to obey.
And on the other hand, we find it
is hard to obey.
And during that time, brothers and sisters, there
is a great temptation to compromise.
We try to compromise that vision.
Even with the father of faith, Abraham.
Brothers and sisters, when the Lord of glory
appeared to him, the call came to him,
depart from your land, homeland, from your kindred,
from your father's house, and go to the
place of my choice.
You find Abraham obeyed.
But how did he obey?
He compromised.
If you read Genesis chapter 11, you find
that it was not Abraham who went out.
It was his father Terah who brought Abraham
out with his wife and with his nephew
Lot.
In other words, when God appeared to Abraham,
and Abraham desired to obey, but here you
will find he compromised.
He let his father take the initiative, and
he brought out.
And they came to the land of Haran,
in the middle of earth and the promised
land.
And there he stopped.
He compromised.
And you know when a vision is compromised,
God became silent.
During those days in Haran, God never appeared
to Abraham.
Now brothers and sisters, is this your story?
Once upon a time, God did appear to
you.
You do have your eyes open.
You see Christ.
He deserves the first place.
You see the church, the fullness of Christ.
You are attracted by it.
But then you consider, you wait, and you
compromise.
And the result is, you fell into darkness.
It is only by the mercy of God
that God opened the way for Abraham.
It is very tragic.
God took away Terah, but then God appeared
to him again and said the very same
thing.
No new vision.
No addition.
The same old vision.
Why?
Because he had not obeyed.
He had compromised.
Oh brothers and sisters, what a temptation it
is to compromise God's vision.
And when God's vision is compromised, you find
gradually it becomes dimmer and dimmer, until it
becomes something.
You may be able to look back and
say five years ago, God appeared to me.
But you lived in the past.
You are not in the present, nor in
the future.
Another thing.
In 1 Samuel 15 verse 22, God spoke
through Samuel to Saul.
Obedience is better than sacrifice.
You know there is another temptation.
When the heavenly vision comes to us, our
response to the heavenly vision is substituting sacrifice
for obedience.
We are very clever.
We do not want to obey.
Because we know if we obey, we have
to allow the cross to work in our
lives.
We want to keep our integrity.
Therefore we offer to God sacrifice.
I will do this for you, I will
do that for you.
I will offer sacrifice to you.
Let me use an illustration.
Again, our brother Wasserman Lee.
You know he grew up with the Chang
family.
And from his youth he fell in love
with one of Chang's girls, Charity.
And they had mutual agreement, understood
that they will become one.
And then brother Lee got saved.
And after he got saved of course, he
was very concerned about Charity.
So he tried to talk to her about
the Lord.
Tried to lead her to Christ.
And if he should succeed then, you know,
the earthly vision and the heavenly vision will
go in the same way.
But God did not honor that.
And you know what brother Lee did?
He bargained with God.
He said, Lord, if you let me have
her, I'm willing to go anywhere you want
me to go.
I will serve you.
But our God does not seek a bargain.
So finally, our brother yielded.
And after he yielded, he changed his clothes,
put on an old gown, make some paste,
and went out to the streets and put
up scriptural posters.
That is his declaration.
Now he is dead.
And the scripture that spoke to him was,
to whom do I have in heaven?
To whom do I desire?
He could say it, I have no one
in heaven but the Lord.
But he couldn't say that before.
That he does not desire anybody else.
But from that day onward, he was able
to follow the vision that God has given
to him.
Now of course, I want to make you
happy.
Because after many years of separation, God in
his sovereignty saves Charity.
And finally, they become husband and wife.
But anyway, brothers and sisters, what I want
to emphasize is, often times when the heavenly
vision comes to us, we try to substitute
obedience with sacrifice.
Do you think God wants our sacrifice?
Do you think God really wants your service?
Do you think your sacrifice can satisfy his
heart, if he does not have you?
If he does not have your obedience?
Obedience is better.
How often when a person sees a vision,
instead of being open to God, in
the attitude of obedience, and let God work
out that vision in his life, and then
through his life.
When we receive a vision, we hurry it
off, and try to work it out.
And brothers and sisters, when you do that,
what you create, what God wants in us
is obedience, not sacrifice.
The heavenly vision is very sensitive.
By sensitive I mean that it can easily
be clouded.
It can easily be lost.
It can easily be distracted into something else.
We find many of God's people who do
have a vision in the beginning, but you
find they are being distracted into something else.
I like to use an example.
A wheel is a tremendous invention, but in
the Bible you find a wheel is also
very important, especially in Ezekiel.
You find that wheel, a wheel within the
wheel.
You know that heavenly vision is like a
wheel.
A wheel speaks of motion, the movement of
God, moving towards a goal.
And this wheel, the center of this wheel,
the apple, the center of this wheel is
Christ.
The circumference, rim of this wheel is the
church.
And then you find all the other things,
whether they are truth, or they are experiences,
all these things that you find in the
Bible, they are the spooks.
They are all centered upon Christ, and reach
out to the church.
Or to put it another way, you find
that everything you find in the scripture, everything
you find in life, every truth, every experience,
are all the spooks.
They have to come out from Christ, the
center, and they reach to the church as
the rim.
And that's the way that the wheel moves.
So everything you find is related to Christ,
and everything is coming out to the church.
But brothers and sisters, our problem is, instead
of seeing the heavenly vision as a wheel,
we lose our vision of the center.
Or we lose the vision of the rim.
And all we see is a spook here,
a spook there.
Now, these spooks represent truth.
I'm not talking about false doctrine.
Truth.
These spooks represent spiritual experience, not just something
mystical.
And yet, brothers and sisters, whenever a truth
is seen out of the context of Christ
and the church, it becomes a thing by
itself.
It becomes a substitute of the heavenly vision.
And how many people today are being occupied
with these spooks?
Not all the spooks, and all you know,
all these spooks, they are all balanced.
How do you balance these spooks?
Because you have Christ on one end, you
have the church on the other end.
When a truth or experience is out of
the context of Christ and the church, you
find it either is too short or too
long.
And if the spook is either too short
or too long, you know what happens.
Either the wheel will break, or you will
just jerk around.
And that is what is happening today.
Dear brothers and sisters, we need to center
upon Christ.
We need to have the church as the
boundary.
And then you will find the church which
is the body of Christ, the fullness of
Him who fills all.
Sorry, my time is up.
I have more to say, but I think
remembering the Lord is more important than speaking.
I don't want to be like Paul.
Unfortunately, we are on the ground floor.
But I think it is more important to
remember the Lord.
And when the glory of the Lord shall
appear, we all have to.
Dear Heavenly Father, will you please, in your
mercy, reveal that heavenly vision to thy redeemed
people.
Will you please, by thy grace, make us
faithful that we may, with our brother Paul,
declare we are not disobedient to the heavenly
vision.
Will you please bring that vision to us,
and bring us into that vision.
Will you please glorify, Lord, we offer
ourselves to thee.
We are at thy disposal.
Do whatever thou dost seem fit with us.
We acknowledge that we are totally unfit, but
Lord, thou art able to make us fit
to that vision.
And for this, we are grateful.
We ask in the name of our Lord
Jesus.