It’s Not Too Late To Dream
Scripture Reading: Acts 2: 14-21
For several weeks the Holy Spirit has been calling us to a particular focus in this house. That focus has to do with present Kingdom purpose and responsibility. God has given each of us an assignment. He has gifted each of us with the gifts, talents and abilities necessary to accomplish that assignment.
But as we know, the living out of this purpose takes place in the presence of a definite enemy. That enemy has no real interest in you, but he hates with a burning passion the purpose, the assignment you carry. He may not be able to keep you from your eternal destiny but he is relentless in his effort to compromise and weaken your influence as salt and light.
What I just read is the introduction to Peter’s sermon. Peter had the task of interpreting this incredibly profound and supernatural happening called Pentecost. How do you explain the sudden horrific roaring sound of a tornado, the physical appearance of tongues of fire dancing around on the heads of 120 people, and those people speaking in about sixteen different languages and/or dialects which were not their mother tongue?
Peter’s explanation began with the prophetic words of the Old Testament prophet, Joel. And I must say, that each time I read his explanation I secretly wish for an explanation of his explanation. There are some things here difficult of understanding to be sure. However, I want to extract one text from this reading and deal with a particular theme based upon that text.
Acts 2: 17- ‘And it shall be in the last days,’ God says, ‘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.’
For several weeks the Holy Spirit has been calling us to a particular focus in this house. That focus has to do with present Kingdom purpose and responsibility. God has given each of us an assignment. He has gifted each of us with the gifts, talents and abilities necessary to accomplish that assignment.
But as we know, the living out of this purpose takes place in the presence of a definite enemy. That enemy has no real interest in you, but he hates with a burning passion the purpose, the assignment you carry. He may not be able to keep you from your eternal destiny but he is relentless in his effort to compromise and weaken your influence as salt and light.
For the most part all he has to do is to convince us that we really don’t count, our life really is without significance, and whatever we do really doesn’t matter – that our presence here makes little to no difference. And usually these demonic thoughts are tied to the hurts, failures, disappointments and losses we have encountered in walking out the Kingdom assignment we were given.
And perhaps more than any other thing, these demonic influences are tied to that experience when we honestly trusted, only to have that trust violated.
Let me remind you that in the Old Testament story of Joseph the thing his brothers really hated were his dreams. They hated his dreams because they feared his dreams. And they feared those dreams because of the prophetic indication concerning the future position they would find themselves in.
For that same basic reason Satan both hates and dreadfully fears the dream you carry. And that is what I want to speak into one more time this morning: You have a dream. And for that person who feels you can never trust again, or that it is simply too late and the dream has passed you by, I want you to know a particular truth based upon Acts 2:17. That truth will be the theme of this message: It’s Not too Late to Dream.
Peter’s explanation began with this: ‘And it shall be in the last days.’ With the coming of Pentecost something began, and what began was the outworking of Joel’s prophecy concerning the ‘last days.’ This means that the ‘last days’ began with the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost. Secondly, everything Peter references from this point on in his sermon is ‘last day’s realities.’ And what I would urge us to understand is that these realities can never be divorced from the Pentecostal outpouring of the Holy Spirit. In other words, all of these realities are available and functional only in relation to the operation and ministry of the Holy Spirit of the living God. All of these ‘last day’s realties’ he addressed are completely dependent upon his opening statement of fact: And that fact is Pentecost – the outpoured Spirit. In other words, if you do not accept that the Holy Spirit of the living God has been and is poured out upon this planet then there is no need to entertain the notion of experiencing any of these ‘last day’s realities’ listed here.
Among others he mentioned two distinct realities we can expect to experience during this period of the ‘last days.’ Keep in mind that it is only in, by and through the outpoured Holy Spirit that these realities become our experience. It is not by the religious efforts of the soul, but by the sovereign work and ministry of the Spirit.
The text refers to two distinct seasons. The first is found in the words ‘young men’, the second in the words ‘old men.’ I will leave it to you to determine which season you are in. However (and this is important to where we need to go this morning) if you are basing these seasons on number of years you are going to miss the point of the text.
The second truth revealed in the text is that each season brings a particular experience. These experiences are expressed in the words, ‘see visions’ and ‘dream dreams.’ Young men see visions and old men dream dreams. Each season with its particular experience is essential. And there is order or sequence to these seasons: first, ‘young men & visions’ and then ‘old men & dreams.’
By the order of the sovereign Spirit there is a season of visions and there is a season of dreams. Also, by the order of that same sovereign Spirit we first see visions and then have dreams. And that brings us to the technical part of this which addresses the issue of difference: What is the difference between visions and dreams? And secondly, what is the meaning of ‘young men’ and ‘old men’?
The difference between the meaning of the words ‘visions’ and ‘dreams’ is at first a bit difficult to determine. There is some overlapping of the two, and yet there does remain a fundamental difference.
When you click on the word ‘vision’ in the Libronix Bible research program the amount of resources that appear on the monitor almost leaves you breathless. I certainly did not read through all of those resources, but I did engage at least twenty of them. I am very settled and comfortable in sharing with you what has emerged as the core meaning of the word ‘vision’based upon both the Hebrew and Greek texts.
Vision in it simplest or basic definition means: ‘the ability to see.’ But it means the ability to see in any and all applications such as physical sight, mental comprehension, internal discernment, as well as the seeing that only comes via experience. And by the way there were more than just four applications sited.
But the particular aspect of the definition of this word I want us to see (no pun intended) has to do with the nature of the seeing. The word ‘vision’ carries this very strong connotation: It means the ability to see very far and very wide. The idea is that of looking out from a high place with the result that vision is without impediment – unrestricted. I would describe it as that kind of seeing that engages the broad, panoramic vista; the ability to see or envision without horizons. Or in the lyrics of the song by Barbra Streisand – ‘On a clear day you can see forever.’
According to the prophet Joel and Peter’s quoting of him we can expect and anticipate this kind of seeing – this kind of vision – throughout the entire period of the ‘last days.’ Moreover such ability to see is supernatural in nature and directly related to the Pentecostal outpouring of the Holy Spirit and His present personal ministry in the life of the believer.
But according to the text this particular nature/experience of vision or seeing is associated with the words ‘young men’. It is referring to the season of our youth. But (and this is vital) it is not our youth with respect to time and physical age: It is youth in relation to our experience with and in the outpoured Holy Spirit. Regardless of how old you may be before being engaged by the outpoured Spirit of God, you will be brought into this wonderful season of vision and seeing in which you will gain some measure of the big picture; the incredible broadness, depth and height – the infinite scope of possibility and potential of your life in the Spirit - and that now because of the outpoured Spirit nothing is beyond the realm of possibility regarding the Kingdom purpose or assignment He has given you.
This season of broad, unrestricted seeing is absolutely vital in that it is designed to set into place or to establish a core defining inspiration of faith regarding the greatness, the wonder, the might, the majesty, the power, the glory, the mystery and awe of the Almighty God. But it is only one of two seasons, which immediately indicates there is more beyond this season and that we need more than this single experience of vision. That brings us to the season of ‘old men’ and the ‘dreaming of dreams.’
The term ‘old men’ carries the meaning of physical age. But far more than physical age, it refers to a state or condition of being. This condition or state of being is the particular maturity arrived at in consequence of life experienced.
This is maturity beyond the classroom, beyond mere academics, beyond theory and the sharing of information. It carries the idea of ‘elder’ or ‘eldership’ which cannot be limited to the issue of age, but rather, embraces the idea of one who is a cut above and beyond in terms of his/her experiential maturity and wisdom. And keep in mind that it is a state or condition of being relevant to life in the outpoured Spirit.
As with the first season, there is a particular ministry of the outpoured Spirit during this second season. It does not contradict the ministry of that first season – the experience of broad vision and unrestricted seeing – but it is different and we need to understand that difference.
According to the text the blessing awaiting those who are maturing is that of dreaming dreams. We tend to think that a vision is something we have when we are awake, and a dream is what we have when we’re sleeping. The word ‘dream’ in this text does carry the idea of sleep but its meaning is so much broader than just that. At core it is referring to a positional reality. That positional reality is rest or repose. This position of rest or repose is directly related to the maturity that comes with growing submission to the outpoured Spirit within the context of real life experience.
This position of rest and repose has nothing to do with physical sleep and everything to do withS/spiritual maturity in the midst of the practical details of life experience. The lyrics of the old song turn out to be true: ‘With my eyes wide open I’m dreaming.’ But what is a dream, and how does it differ from vision?
As I stated earlier, the dream does not contradict the vision. The role or function of the dream is to pull the broadness of vision into a focussed discipline whereby the vision becomes doable. When the broad, panoramic vista of vision becomes narrowed to specific task and concrete direction we have moved from vision to dream.
I think we can understand the importance of moving from the season of vision to the second season of dreams. To get stuck in that first season of vision is to spend your life romanticising about all that you see while failing to move to accomplish anything you see. And let me say that the transition between the seasons is never pleasant. The feeling is that the vision has died – that everything you saw in that unrestricted view of grand and sweeping vista turned out to be a lie. That is exactly what the enemy will tell you. But the truth is the vision did not lie – that grand and sweeping prophetic seeing by the Spirit was and is true. And all that’s happening now is that you are being moved along into this second season – the season of dreams – where the prophetic seeing becomes the focused, disciplined and practical structures of your life. It is now that the vision becomes established purpose in the earth, and in this His Kingdom comes.
Are you too old to dream? According to Acts 2: 17 the older we get – the more we grow in maturity and wisdom – far from dreaming less we will dream more and more. And with that dreaming the broad vision of youth will manifest in this time/space world through the daily works born of our dreams.
For several weeks the Holy Spirit has been calling us to a particular focus in this house. That focus has to do with present Kingdom purpose and responsibility. God has given each of us an assignment. He has gifted each of us with the gifts, talents and abilities necessary to accomplish that assignment.
But as we know, the living out of this purpose takes place in the presence of a definite enemy. That enemy has no real interest in you, but he hates with a burning passion the purpose, the assignment you carry. He may not be able to keep you from your eternal destiny but he is relentless in his effort to compromise and weaken your influence as salt and light.
What I just read is the introduction to Peter’s sermon. Peter had the task of interpreting this incredibly profound and supernatural happening called Pentecost. How do you explain the sudden horrific roaring sound of a tornado, the physical appearance of tongues of fire dancing around on the heads of 120 people, and those people speaking in about sixteen different languages and/or dialects which were not their mother tongue?
Peter’s explanation began with the prophetic words of the Old Testament prophet, Joel. And I must say, that each time I read his explanation I secretly wish for an explanation of his explanation. There are some things here difficult of understanding to be sure. However, I want to extract one text from this reading and deal with a particular theme based upon that text.
Acts 2: 17- ‘And it shall be in the last days,’ God says, ‘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.’
For several weeks the Holy Spirit has been calling us to a particular focus in this house. That focus has to do with present Kingdom purpose and responsibility. God has given each of us an assignment. He has gifted each of us with the gifts, talents and abilities necessary to accomplish that assignment.
But as we know, the living out of this purpose takes place in the presence of a definite enemy. That enemy has no real interest in you, but he hates with a burning passion the purpose, the assignment you carry. He may not be able to keep you from your eternal destiny but he is relentless in his effort to compromise and weaken your influence as salt and light.
For the most part all he has to do is to convince us that we really don’t count, our life really is without significance, and whatever we do really doesn’t matter – that our presence here makes little to no difference. And usually these demonic thoughts are tied to the hurts, failures, disappointments and losses we have encountered in walking out the Kingdom assignment we were given.
And perhaps more than any other thing, these demonic influences are tied to that experience when we honestly trusted, only to have that trust violated.
Let me remind you that in the Old Testament story of Joseph the thing his brothers really hated were his dreams. They hated his dreams because they feared his dreams. And they feared those dreams because of the prophetic indication concerning the future position they would find themselves in.
For that same basic reason Satan both hates and dreadfully fears the dream you carry. And that is what I want to speak into one more time this morning: You have a dream. And for that person who feels you can never trust again, or that it is simply too late and the dream has passed you by, I want you to know a particular truth based upon Acts 2:17. That truth will be the theme of this message: It’s Not too Late to Dream.
Peter’s explanation began with this: ‘And it shall be in the last days.’ With the coming of Pentecost something began, and what began was the outworking of Joel’s prophecy concerning the ‘last days.’ This means that the ‘last days’ began with the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost. Secondly, everything Peter references from this point on in his sermon is ‘last day’s realities.’ And what I would urge us to understand is that these realities can never be divorced from the Pentecostal outpouring of the Holy Spirit. In other words, all of these realities are available and functional only in relation to the operation and ministry of the Holy Spirit of the living God. All of these ‘last day’s realties’ he addressed are completely dependent upon his opening statement of fact: And that fact is Pentecost – the outpoured Spirit. In other words, if you do not accept that the Holy Spirit of the living God has been and is poured out upon this planet then there is no need to entertain the notion of experiencing any of these ‘last day’s realities’ listed here.
Among others he mentioned two distinct realities we can expect to experience during this period of the ‘last days.’ Keep in mind that it is only in, by and through the outpoured Holy Spirit that these realities become our experience. It is not by the religious efforts of the soul, but by the sovereign work and ministry of the Spirit.
The text refers to two distinct seasons. The first is found in the words ‘young men’, the second in the words ‘old men.’ I will leave it to you to determine which season you are in. However (and this is important to where we need to go this morning) if you are basing these seasons on number of years you are going to miss the point of the text.
The second truth revealed in the text is that each season brings a particular experience. These experiences are expressed in the words, ‘see visions’ and ‘dream dreams.’ Young men see visions and old men dream dreams. Each season with its particular experience is essential. And there is order or sequence to these seasons: first, ‘young men & visions’ and then ‘old men & dreams.’
By the order of the sovereign Spirit there is a season of visions and there is a season of dreams. Also, by the order of that same sovereign Spirit we first see visions and then have dreams. And that brings us to the technical part of this which addresses the issue of difference: What is the difference between visions and dreams? And secondly, what is the meaning of ‘young men’ and ‘old men’?
The difference between the meaning of the words ‘visions’ and ‘dreams’ is at first a bit difficult to determine. There is some overlapping of the two, and yet there does remain a fundamental difference.
When you click on the word ‘vision’ in the Libronix Bible research program the amount of resources that appear on the monitor almost leaves you breathless. I certainly did not read through all of those resources, but I did engage at least twenty of them. I am very settled and comfortable in sharing with you what has emerged as the core meaning of the word ‘vision’based upon both the Hebrew and Greek texts.
Vision in it simplest or basic definition means: ‘the ability to see.’ But it means the ability to see in any and all applications such as physical sight, mental comprehension, internal discernment, as well as the seeing that only comes via experience. And by the way there were more than just four applications sited.
But the particular aspect of the definition of this word I want us to see (no pun intended) has to do with the nature of the seeing. The word ‘vision’ carries this very strong connotation: It means the ability to see very far and very wide. The idea is that of looking out from a high place with the result that vision is without impediment – unrestricted. I would describe it as that kind of seeing that engages the broad, panoramic vista; the ability to see or envision without horizons. Or in the lyrics of the song by Barbra Streisand – ‘On a clear day you can see forever.’
According to the prophet Joel and Peter’s quoting of him we can expect and anticipate this kind of seeing – this kind of vision – throughout the entire period of the ‘last days.’ Moreover such ability to see is supernatural in nature and directly related to the Pentecostal outpouring of the Holy Spirit and His present personal ministry in the life of the believer.
But according to the text this particular nature/experience of vision or seeing is associated with the words ‘young men’. It is referring to the season of our youth. But (and this is vital) it is not our youth with respect to time and physical age: It is youth in relation to our experience with and in the outpoured Holy Spirit. Regardless of how old you may be before being engaged by the outpoured Spirit of God, you will be brought into this wonderful season of vision and seeing in which you will gain some measure of the big picture; the incredible broadness, depth and height – the infinite scope of possibility and potential of your life in the Spirit - and that now because of the outpoured Spirit nothing is beyond the realm of possibility regarding the Kingdom purpose or assignment He has given you.
This season of broad, unrestricted seeing is absolutely vital in that it is designed to set into place or to establish a core defining inspiration of faith regarding the greatness, the wonder, the might, the majesty, the power, the glory, the mystery and awe of the Almighty God. But it is only one of two seasons, which immediately indicates there is more beyond this season and that we need more than this single experience of vision. That brings us to the season of ‘old men’ and the ‘dreaming of dreams.’
The term ‘old men’ carries the meaning of physical age. But far more than physical age, it refers to a state or condition of being. This condition or state of being is the particular maturity arrived at in consequence of life experienced.
This is maturity beyond the classroom, beyond mere academics, beyond theory and the sharing of information. It carries the idea of ‘elder’ or ‘eldership’ which cannot be limited to the issue of age, but rather, embraces the idea of one who is a cut above and beyond in terms of his/her experiential maturity and wisdom. And keep in mind that it is a state or condition of being relevant to life in the outpoured Spirit.
As with the first season, there is a particular ministry of the outpoured Spirit during this second season. It does not contradict the ministry of that first season – the experience of broad vision and unrestricted seeing – but it is different and we need to understand that difference.
According to the text the blessing awaiting those who are maturing is that of dreaming dreams. We tend to think that a vision is something we have when we are awake, and a dream is what we have when we’re sleeping. The word ‘dream’ in this text does carry the idea of sleep but its meaning is so much broader than just that. At core it is referring to a positional reality. That positional reality is rest or repose. This position of rest or repose is directly related to the maturity that comes with growing submission to the outpoured Spirit within the context of real life experience.
This position of rest and repose has nothing to do with physical sleep and everything to do withS/spiritual maturity in the midst of the practical details of life experience. The lyrics of the old song turn out to be true: ‘With my eyes wide open I’m dreaming.’ But what is a dream, and how does it differ from vision?
As I stated earlier, the dream does not contradict the vision. The role or function of the dream is to pull the broadness of vision into a focussed discipline whereby the vision becomes doable. When the broad, panoramic vista of vision becomes narrowed to specific task and concrete direction we have moved from vision to dream.
I think we can understand the importance of moving from the season of vision to the second season of dreams. To get stuck in that first season of vision is to spend your life romanticising about all that you see while failing to move to accomplish anything you see. And let me say that the transition between the seasons is never pleasant. The feeling is that the vision has died – that everything you saw in that unrestricted view of grand and sweeping vista turned out to be a lie. That is exactly what the enemy will tell you. But the truth is the vision did not lie – that grand and sweeping prophetic seeing by the Spirit was and is true. And all that’s happening now is that you are being moved along into this second season – the season of dreams – where the prophetic seeing becomes the focused, disciplined and practical structures of your life. It is now that the vision becomes established purpose in the earth, and in this His Kingdom comes.
Are you too old to dream? According to Acts 2: 17 the older we get – the more we grow in maturity and wisdom – far from dreaming less we will dream more and more. And with that dreaming the broad vision of youth will manifest in this time/space world through the daily works born of our dreams.