good morning my friends i'm pastor stephen brooks welcome today to our midweek bible study called morning glory i'm so happy that you're here today and i want to invite you grab your bibles and let's study god's word together we're primarily going to be in the book of acts today acts chapter 10 we're going to start in verse 3 and today let's talk about heavenly visions having supernatural visions seen into the glory realm being taken in the spirit to heaven seeing amazing things let's talk about that today maybe some of you will be caught up to the library of heaven praise god i've got a nice library setting over my shoulder today and i just believe that god's got some amazing things in store for you to see praise god with your spiritual vision let's pray heavenly father as we go into your word we well we thank you father that the entrance of your word brings light and that entrance comes with an understanding of it so father let the understanding of your word break forth today let the light be turned on the light of understanding and we thank you that you're still granting visions today and we give you praise for it thank you father for the holy spirit who brings forth these wonderful wonderful things we give you all the praise and we thank you that you are going to be granting and releasing visions father we praise you in jesus name let's all agree and say amen i'd like to start again in acts chapter 10 and let's go to verse three now it says about the ninth hour of the day so that would be right around three o'clock in the afternoon of course you know uh cornelius and peter and all of these guys they didn't have a watch on so you know it's a pretty close approximate uh to that three o'clock time it says about the ninth hour of the day or three o'clock he that would be cornelius saw clearly in a vision an angel of god coming in and saying to him cornelius well there's nothing quite as refreshing and certainly not many things quite as exciting as being greeted by an angel who actually knows your name praise the lord notice that it says that cornelius saw him clearly now today i want to talk about genuine visions that are given by god i know that it's so easy for young christians to maybe try to fabricate something to perhaps get into the soulless realm and you know in a sense even imagine something and it's all coming out of the soul it's not really something supernatural but today we're going to talk about the real and i've had many people over the years ask me pastor stephen i think i think i had a vision did is that a vision well if you're not sure and if you think you know maybe it could be or couldn't or maybe it wasn't well then probably 99 of the time it wasn't because when it's real it's very very powerful and of course here concerning cornelius it says that he saw clearly in a vision if there's not that clear sight then uh there's something that about it that's not authentic and every vision everyone 100 that i've ever had from god there's been clarity to it it's not like it was something that i've you know i i well i don't really know maybe i did have too much pizza no when it's real you'll know it and when it's uh real it's it brings a clarity that's probably beyond 1080p hd maybe even beyond 4k who knows but it it certainly is a real thing and he clearly saw in a vision an angel who praised god well we all like angels don't we an angel of god coming in and saying to him now excuse me notice that the angel came in and angels or spirits they can go right through walls they can go right through windows of course evil spirits can too somebody might think well pastor steve and i'm going to re i'm going to move to a remote island i want to get away from temptation well you can get onto a remote island and you could even build a fortress made of three feet thick walls but spirits can go right through good and unfortunately bad as well so these are spirit beings of course here in context we're talking about angels we're not going to talk about the demons and all those on the dark side the losing side but we're going to talk about the angels of god and about the visions and so an angel of god coming in so they can come right through the walls i've seen i've seen them do that in visions i've seen envisions jesus walk right through the wall and when he was done sharing what he came to share i've i've seen him turn around and walk right back out going back out through the wall and then you know just gone and you think wow that must be pretty cool one day we'll be able to do that too when we have a glorified body right now while we are a spirit you know your spirit i'm a spirit we are at the same time living within a physical body and the physical body has a lot of limitations and that's okay one day we'll have a glorified physical body and that's going to be really nice and we can we can do some fun things too uh but for now you know we have to play by the earthly rules that we are governed by and we'll let the angels do the walking through the walls now of course if there was a miracle manifestation of the holy spirit you could walk through a wall you could walk on water you could walk out of a prison you and those things have been recorded consistently throughout church history but that's a miracle and once it's over you're back to your normal physical structure praise god but those angels uh they can come right through a wall and then they could it's like they can vaporize they can turn into a mist they can turn into a fire they can turn into a smoke they can go up in the smoke and so they are spirit beings and it says that he saw an angel of god coming in and saying to him cornelius now verse 4 it says and when he observed him when cornelius observed the angel real visions have real clarity and there certainly can be observation i mean it's not like when i've seen angels like i couldn't you know notice what kind of clothes they were wearing where of course you're going to see that just like if a person you never met before comes and you meet that person you're having a conversation well you're gonna notice what color their hair is what color their eyes are and on and on it goes so i have seen different types of angels not all angels have blonde hair some angels have black hair some angels have red hair they can also have different uh i i don't know if i should use the word skin because they don't have skin like we do but i would say their exterior color i've seen that in different colors i've seen clothing in different colors i've seen white robes i've seen red robes i've seen other colors also that i've seen rainbow colored angels praise the lord rainbow of course representing the covenant and also representing the seven spirits of god now it says and when he observed him so these visions allow you to observe things praise god now he's going to observe the angel but the angels there not you know really to be looked at but really to bring a message praise god but nevertheless visions can be very immersive in their nature very um uh much something that stimulates our senses not only uh the ability to see but can be other senses that are uh encountering this visionary realm as well but today we're probably we're primarily talking about visions in the sense of seeing seen into the spirit realm seen through the supernatural ability of the holy spirit to see through visions praise god now real visions produce real encounters and real encounters produce real change for the better praise god so we're talking about the real the genuine and we need to be open to it and have faith for it because i believe that god is still granting visions today they can be life-changing experiences praise the lord now there are three types of visions today i want to spend a little more time i think on the subject of the open vision and that would be the highest form of the three types of visions the open vision is the highest vision and the first time i ever had an open vision i was probably about 24 years old i was thinking about that earlier how old was i when that happened i was about 24 years old and i had been baptized in the holy spirit for about two years so my prayer life had gotten stronger in the spirit uh the ability to speak in tongues and of course the build the ability of having been immersed in the holy spirit allows the gifts of the holy spirit now to manifest but the first time i had an open vision i was 24 years old and i was living with a roommate and we lived in a small house and his father owned the house but he was having a real tough time he was a nice nice guy he was a christian brother he was also spirit-filled we we had some good prayer times together but i realized that he was going through some things that he really needed some maybe i could say professional ministerial help he was in a place i couldn't help him out as a roommate he was going through a devastating divorce and there was tremendous friction between he and his wife that you know all the divorce papers and all that stuff's going on and you know i was just you know 24 so i thought well maybe i can be an encouragement to him and stuff like that but then then i realized uh no he's really struggling and he needs pastoral help he needs to really draw upon the lord because he was in such a state of just distracted and discouraged and despondent he hadn't washed the dishes for two months when i moved in with him the dishes were piled up i mean it looked like two feet high he had never washed one dish and i remember when i was talking to him one day i had turned around to pick something up because i was trying to clean up and help him out and when i turned back around to talk to him when i looked at him the holy spirit took me into a full open vision and i saw with my physical eyes open i saw him and at the same time i saw with my spiritual eyes and i saw what looked like to be ants now they weren't actually ants they were evil spirits but let me say this when you think of an evil spirit they're not always like you know like full-sized big evil spirits you know they can be extremely tiny they can be very small and these evil spirits looked like ants and they were crawling through his eyes they were crawling through his ears they were crawling all over him they're actually tormenting him and the holy spirit allowed me to see that to realize he's in deep trouble and this is not a good atmosphere for me to be living in and i told him how much i loved him and that i wished him the best but i moved out shortly thereafter and uh because again he was in a mess he had actually gotten in a situation where his ex-wife he had gotten an argument with her father and her father was so angry about the divorce that he actually physically beat up his son-in-law which was my roommate and i wasn't there when that happened or anything like that but i just realized this is a very volatile situation and i don't need to be living in a situation where i'm in a in between like a war that's going on and so that was the holy spirit showing me that he needs a lot of healing and sometimes healing like that of course not not only deliverance but healing can take uh it can take a couple of years for people to grow and mature and he was he he had been wild before he got married i mean he was like super handsome and he had worked out and like and so when he got married he was just totally although he was saved in spirit filled he was just extremely carnal and the woman that he that he married she was very beautiful and all she was extremely carnal so you had this clash of the flesh and it was just a big big mess although both of them love god they're very carnal and of course as you and i both know you know it can take uh even when you love the lord when you're when you're just used to being carnal it can take a while to climb out of all that mud that you've been rolling around in for so long all of that carnality and base you know crude type stuff and so it was just time for me to leave and i did but that was the first time i ever saw an open vision where i could see in the spirit with my physical eyes open so he never knew that i'm like looking at his condition in the spirit realm and it certainly wasn't a good condition praise god now i'm going to share some things today that i just want you to be mindful that a vision can happen to you at any time you could be doing laundry and you can go into a full scare full not scare full scale a full color vision and uh it doesn't necessarily happen during your prayer time or your devotional time it can happen at any time praise the lord i want you to be open to that it does make life quite exciting praise god when you realize that you can have one foot in the natural and one foot in the supernatural and you can live in the best of both realms praise god thank you jesus now speaking of open visions let's go to well before we go to matthew chapter 17 understand here that what happened to cornelius was an open vision where he's just hanging out and suddenly he sees this angel come in and the angel calls him by name so this is uh this is not something where he's like uh in a different type of vision he's in an open vision it's an amazing saw the angel clearly praise god open your heart to open visions now matthew chapter 17 and there's different examples in the bible of open visions but here's to me what's probably always been one of my favorite examples of it matthew 17 verse 1 now after six days jesus took peter james and john his brother led them up on a high mountain by themselves so there are some things that uh if you're hungry and you're walking close with the lord you'll be privy to some special blessings that those that just don't have much of an interest in it they uh not only will it not happen to them but in so many cases they don't even know anything about it no i'm not saying that the other nine who did not have that invitation to come up on the mountain we're not spiritual i mean we are dealing with the apostles here certainly judas didn't belong up there but you do have some men that are extremely committed to the lord extremely into the things of god and so up they go praise the lord i see some mountaintop experiences destined for you as well as one who has a heart very hungry for god and the things of god now jesus led them up on a high mountain by themselves and he was transfigured before them his face shone like the sun and his clothes became as white as the light and behold moses and elijah appeared to them talking with him well you know you're not going to hear too many commentaries particularly on verse 3 makes a lot of theologians nervous you know because they they scream and holler oh necromancy and you know stuff like that communicating with the dead well you know i think at least we need to give elijah a nice break because he never died that's communicating with the dead well please let's let elijah off the hook because he's not dead he was caught up alive he's actually walking around in heaven right now with a physical body just like you and i i have and he's not the only one not only elijah but you also have enoch praise god but also you have moses here in this group of these two men that are communicating with the lord in this visionary experience praise god so yes there is that time where you can have these type of encounters i i agree with the catholic doctrine that would be known as the communion of the saints or the fellowship the communion of the saints i think i think we should probably talk more about that sometime because you hear a lot of visions about people saw heaven people saw heaven they saw god on the throne or they saw they saw the angels but they never or how about this one they saw the mansions but it's almost like it's forbidden you can't mention that there's people there oh you can't say that or they'll start saying oh that's communicating with the dead oh that's forbidden uh communicating with the dead in the sense of trying to do that through occult power and through familiar spirits and all that stuff yeah that's absolutely forbidden but we're talking about beautiful sacred holy manifestations of the holy spirit and should he take you to heaven in the spirit and show you heaven i just need to let you know heaven's not empty oh we know that there are angels there and seraphim and cherubim and we know there's mansions but you ever stop to think who's living in those mansions it's not the angels it's the redeemed saints whoo praise god and when you have a biblical foundation for these things it creates a platform for you to step off by faith into your inheritance in christ and that could that include could include something special like this praise god i have had encounters with the prophet elijah i have a a prophet friend of mine he has had encounters one-on-one conversations through visions of course with moses and that's because god chose that person moses to share some things with him that helped his ministry and i've had some things take place with me concerning the prophet elijah and i'm not going to really jump into that and unpack all of that right now but i just would like to tell you that heaven is not vacant heaven's not empty when a christian dies their life on earth ends they go to be with the lord their spirit and soul go to be with the lord their body goes into the grave but their spirit and soul are in heaven praise god and if you ever had a vision of heaven trust me the the streets of gold there's people walking on the streets of gold the heavenly city there's people living in the heavenly city whoo praise the lord amen glory to god now look at verse 9. now as they came down from the mountain and you can't you can't stay in like an ecstatic state forever you can't just you know stay in the glory around forever the mountaintop experiences are so that you can be anointed and uh illuminated and empowered by god to minister to those at the bottom of the mountain praise the lord now as they came down from the mountain jesus commanded them now now keep in mind jesus said this jesus commanded them saying tell the vision to no one until the son of man is risen from the dead now what did jesus classify that experience on the mountaintop as being when they not only jesus but peter james and john they all saw into the spirit realm at the same time they saw moses and elijah appearing on that mountain communicating with christ but while jesus is doing the conversation with moses and elijah the other three men saw it they saw it too what's going on a vision jesus called it that he identified that experience as a vision tell the vision to no one until the son of man is risen from the dead so this would be peter james and john with eyes wide open physical eyes wide open knowing where they're at they're on the mountain and at the same time they can see jesus talking to two saints praise the lord that left the earth a long long time ago thank you jesus so this again would be another example of what we would classify as an open vision by the way here in matthew 17 in this story we actually have what if we want to be a little more technical it's not only an open vision it's also a collective open vision in other words this is not something that just happened to one person like peter saw it and he wrote about it no peter james john they all saw it and jesus has also seen moses and elijah so this is like a corporate type anointing where they are all all four of them are seen in the spirit at the same time they're all four caught up in this vision experiencing this vision at the same time so there can be for the individual and open vision but there can also be times when an entire congregation can see by the holy spirit's anointing and enabling can see and you all at the same time you're all seeing the same thing and you're like wow praise the lord that's i would say that's kind of rare but i think we're going to see more of that in the coming days the collective anointing for groups believers together to see in the spirit praise god that is always fascinating when that happens you know you can compare notes afterwards hey did you see this did you notice that yeah i saw the same thing yeah i saw it yeah it's pretty cool stuff one time just before the 2008 election i think it was either like the night before or maybe two nights before uh the presidential election of 2008 we had a a corporate prayer meeting at our church and we had those from different churches intercessors there praying and were all praying in our office at that time had a big open area everybody's praying and right at the end of the prayer time we'd been praying for over an hour right at the end of the prayer time i went into a vision and i saw jesus walk through the wall come into the room where we were all at and he walked right up to me and he shared something with me that was very very interesting i've talked about it before but he personally talked to me and gave me a personal message and then when he was done he turned around and walked away and walked right back through that wall and he was gone and after that vision had ended and he had walked to the wall and disappeared i opened my eyes and lifted my hands and began to thank god and a brother about 20 feet away he said stephen i saw him he said i saw jesus walk through the wall walk over to you say something to you and then turn back around and walk right back through the wall i said yeah i said he sure did didn't he he said yes i saw him so you know it's very fascinating how the holy spirit can manifest this ability to see in the spirit realm and uh just be open be open to the moving of the holy spirit and when it happens just lean into it and uh embrace what god's doing enjoy it praise god and then always write it down later i'm talking about real visions any real valid vision uh it's something very special and it needs to be written down so that you never forget it and there could be some things that you saw that you may not fully understand at that moment maybe two or three years later you'll have a much better grasp on it that's why it's so important to write down exactly what you saw don't add anything to it write down exactly what was said don't add or take away anything from it that way it is preserved and it will prove a benefit not only for that moment but of course in the days to come praise the lord now here's a question can you pull someone into your visionary experience i think this is something we should touch on a little bit today let's do that by going to second kings chapter six and in verse 17 you will see that yes you can pull someone who doesn't maybe we could say they're not yet activated or maybe we could say they're just not yet um mature enough to get there yet on their own but you can pull them into the spirit yes you can second kings chapter 6 verse 17 take a moment and turn there with me will i get a drink of water and elisha prayed now he has to pray for this this servant this assistant because the guy can't get in on his own and elisha prayed and said lord i pray open his eyes well pastor stephen the man's eyes are already opened i i don't know of course again we're looking at another open vision his physical eyes are already open but he can't see into the spirit realm so what is elisha praying that his spiritual eyes would be opened okay i pray open his eyes that he may see in other words see spiritually see into the spirit realm then the lord opened the eyes of the young man and he saw and behold the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around elisha yep just like elisha said well now pastor stephen i thought that at last i thought he was making all that up well he was the real deal and those that knew him knew he was the real deal now if you go around all the time telling people oh i had another vision i had another vision you're going to start to lose credibility when all of that if it's all coming out of your soulish realm or it's just all you know something you're cooking up because you wanna but yeah but see i'm saying when it's real uh it will carry and all this authenticity to it it will have a weight to it and it'll have a holiness to it praise god and god wants you to have it but yes if it is something that you are well developed in you can pull others into it we see that example here by elisha who's already established in this i mean by this time who knows maybe he's had hundreds of visions but yet he has a new helper a hazard it didn't work out with gehazai so he's got a new helper and this new helper is a young man and it appears that a lot of these things are new to him so he's going to need some help he's going to need some some prayer but you know there's a place where you can't ride the bike what do we do in that place well we're going to either have to get some training wheels on the bike or we're going to let you ride the bike and we're going to put a hand on you so you don't fall over and hurt yourself but after you've caught it and by the way have you ever noticed that once you've learned to ride a bike you never forget it even if you haven't been on it for five or ten years maybe a little shaky when you get back on it but that memory is still there your muscles remember that but the same thing with your spirit your spiritual muscles if you can just go there once then you know how you did it you know how it happened and if there is an impartation no i'm not talking about a mantle but if there's an impartation and an activation of that gifting that anointing then you're up and running remember in the old testament they had all of the gifts of the holy spirit except for two which were what the two they did not have were tongues and the interpretation of tongues which is distinctly for the new covenant dispensation now today we have all nine gifts of the holy spirit but even back in the old testament they had seven of them an operation praise god so yes there is the ability for a seasoned prophet to pray to lay hands on someone and bring them under that umbrella of anointing that he or she walks in and next thing you know you can get pulled into that and you can move into that realm praise the lord there is a beautiful story about william branham's son billy paul is his name and william branham was traveling going from meeting to meeting and he was in a he was in between meetings staying in a hotel a little bitty uh rinky dink type hotel maybe i should call it a motel not a hotel and staying in the room is his son 14 year old son billy paul and william branham's brother so that night at about two o'clock in the morning brother branham was conversing with his personal angel the ministry angel that god had assigned to him and he asked the angel can i can i how can i say this show you to william branham said to my brother and to my son and the angel said you can show me to your son god permits it that your son will be able to see me and so william branham went and woke up billy paul who was 14 years old two o'clock in the morning and he had a pillow though william banham softly had a pillow over the face of his son and he woke billy paul up and he said now son i'm going to i'm going to gently remove this pillow but i'm going to allow god's going to allow you to see something the the angel that ministers with me because by that time uh billy paul had already been in many many of his father's meetings and you know ran the product table and stuff like that so we always heard his dad talk about this angel and stuff but you know it's not like he ever saw him or anything well william bradham said son when i pulled this pillow back he's going to be standing right over here in this area and don't be afraid he will not hurt you or anything like that he he's a protector but he's going to be standing right over here and so william branham slowly removed the pillow and his son looked and sure enough there was the angel of the lord standing there in the motel room now what's interesting is that billy paul said it wasn't quite how he thought it would be to him there's a man standing there and so sometimes we think all of the angels have to have wings and uh stuff like that that's not that's not the case they don't all have wings now billy paul said that the angel did have a white garment on but he looked he looked like a man and for from his perspective it just looked like a man that was standing there and it kind of scared him a little bit and his father said no son he's an angel he's here he's with me and it's a beautiful testimony it's actually um if if you ever want to hear billy paul's testimony about seeing his father's angel there's a video on on youtube it's called a testimony from brother billy paul so if you just went to youtube and typed that in you could hear that very sweet story of how he saw his father's angel but keep that in mind william branham had visions often so he often could see that angel through the anointing of the holy spirit but for others they would just hear about it but it is true that billy paul said later there wasn't one time after he saw that angel there wasn't one time after that when he was in those meetings he knew exactly when that angel would come on the platform and although he couldn't see it come on the platform he could sense that presence same presence he discerned in that motel room that night and he would hear his dad preaching his dad would kind of ramble sometimes he knew exactly what his dad was doing his dad was waiting for that angel to to show up and his dad would know it and billy paul said i began to know it instantly because of that presence and now his dad could see that angel many many times but for others you have to sense it by the presence but they carry the glory of the lord praise god thank you jesus so yes just as william branham the world's leading prophet at that time could pull his son into that vision and had permission to do it yes there's an anointing for that i was in albuquerque new mexico one time kelly and i were traveling and we just stopped off because we knew the pastor there that was hosting a conference and he said bob jones will be ministering and so he said stephen just come on by and have a good time with us i said okay so i would say that prophet bob jones one of his strengths was the ability to very easily enter into visions and the reason that he could do that is that he had developed that area of his life he had developed faith he had developed a biblical faith in that area to be caught up very quickly in divisions and so for him that was one of his strongest strengths and it was so strong that he could actually pull others into that same anointing so can you ride on someone else's anointing can you ride the prophet's coattail as we've heard that expression yes absolutely you can but if you're if you do that or you're privileged to have that experience uh remember that prophet's not going to be around forever so you're going to have to learn to ride that bike uh as we know elisha is not here anymore you can't get elisha to lay hands on you and pray for you that so that you can see it's gone same thing with prophet bob jones he's not here anymore he's gone well what do we do if they're not here well you know when there is that activation and you're activated god expects you to grow in that and to develop that because you need to have it developed in your own life because if you're just relying on writing on somebody else's anointing trust me they're not going to be around all the time and you can ride that anointing not only in a prophetic sense of moving into those visionary experiences you can ride that healing anointing and there's a lot of people in the crusades of healing evangelists take benny hinn for example there's a lot of people that you can't you can't really say they have faith they're getting healed but what they're doing is they're under that anointing that's very very strong upon his life and so people are getting healed so often off of his anointing because they're they're going to just catch that anointing catch that glory the next thing you know healing is going into their body and that was also true with over the years with many of uh pastor benihan's ministers who would assist him in those healing crusades and so forth and a lot of them they went off to start their own ministries and they thought well i'm going to i'm going to work the same healing signs and wonders in my ministry but when they left benny hinn's ministry and they went off to start their own ministry they realized what happened to that anointing well that was never your anointing that was his anointing and you are next to him working under him and so you are in a sense participating in that anointing as it flows down psalm 133 the anointing the oil of the spirit flows down over the head comes down the beard of aaron comes down over the garments over the body of the corporate body so a lot of those uh good men they found out later oh that was actually his anointing we thought it was ours and you know but that's all understanding kingdom dynamics also uh spiritual protocol which is why if you want something to stick and to stay uh you you're gonna have to really understand honor and uh if if there's honor that's being demonstrated uh month after month year after year then you're probably going to receive an anointing that will uh be resident within your life not something that just will lift once you're away from that person these are things of course we understand in the kingdom of god bless the lord but let me give an example in that meeting in albuquerque where bob jones was ministering he just said he told the audience maybe there's about 2 000 people there it was at a convention center he said i'm going to pray for you and he said when i pray the holy spirit will just catch you up and you can just go up your spirit can go up and um well i wasn't ministering so i'm up i'm at the front and he's got a whole bunch of people lined up a couple thousand people and you know people are just standing up and uh so i'm just kind of like walking around having fun because you know i'm just relaxing i'm not ministering so i'm having fun and uh i know the pastor is hosting the whole thing so i can enjoy myself and uh so when bob jones prayed for people to go up to be caught up you had some that had valid experiences but i could see others were really kind of struggling one man was actually kind of frustrated he was about he was up the front and he said nothing's happening nothing's happening and i walked over to him i just put my hand on him and prayed a blessing i said it's okay i said it's all right i didn't try to explain it but here's here's what's going on if you have no prayer life and you have no close walk with god and you just expect somehow they're going to still pull you in and you're still going you're going to ride the elevator up it's not going it's not going to happen even with a tremendous anointing that's flowing it's not going to happen you're going to have to walk with the lord you're going to have to you're going to have to pursue the lord and if you're doing that and then you encounter an anointing trust me you'll uh whether it's a healing anointing or whatever it might be or prophetic visionary anointing yeah you could ride that just as easy as a surfer can catch a big wave and stand up on the board and off you go it's it's not rocket science but uh if you're gonna if you're gonna surf in the spirit you need at least need to have a surfboard praise god have a prayer life or all of this you know you're just going to think oh there's nothing to it well there's not if you're a meathead in the body of christ and you you don't really love god you don't really you know you're just consumed with you know stupid movies and uh you know ignoramus television programs that insult your intelligence and then you think you're going to go into a meeting and one prayer is just going to pull you into the glory well not unless there is some kind of outrageous glory right so it's not going to happen but if you're just cooperating even if you don't even know but you have a hunger for god and you're open and you really want the lord yeah you can get swept into it um i was in the back room in the green room after that conference was over and i saw bob jones and uh i uh he asked me to come over to him and when i did he said do you want to go up and uh i said yes he said lift your hands i lifted my hands he touched me just once on the forehead boom and the next thing i i had closed my eyes the next thing i just saw a vision just run off right in front of my mind clear as clear could be didn't what didn't try to make something up or imagine something or anything like that i just i was i was there my my spirit was in heaven and i could see exactly where i was at i was actually in the city i've had the heavenly city and i would i would tell the prophet bob jones okay this is what i'm seeing and then he would say okay this is what that means and then he would say things like now keep on walking and so i would walk and i would go here and there and he was explaining things to me and finally as as i kept on walking i ended up on a dirt road out in the country and he began to translate that you know the you know prophetic meaning of these things and basically said stephen you're called to the nations hallelujah and i've been running to the nations ever since glory to god praise the lord so yeah you could ride that anointing but remember you want to learn to ride the bicycle yourself you don't you want to like continually stay in training will cycle i mean if a kid does that the other kids are going to start laughing at him hey when you're going to take those training wheels off right you want to be able to ride yourself and just get in the spirit you don't want to always be saying elisha now please come over here and pray for me again and i really like that last time you did that i'm ready no no you you need to enter into that and catch that flow and develop your own spiritual muscles in those areas it now this is if you have an interest in this and that way um you're going through your spiritual journey not just you know hoping for another sovereign visitation that might only happen once you know in 20 years or you for some spirit for believers has never happened you know but but you learn to cooperate with the holy spirit very tender sensitive heart so you can very quickly respond the moment the holy spirit begins to move you can go right in you can go right in and you can catch that anointing and develop that get better and better and stronger and stronger with that and uh you'll find out that it's a very very beautiful thing now i do know uh you know i've seen a lot in charismatic prophetic pentecostal type uh meetings in churches where you're always going to have those that say oh i go to heaven all the time pastor steven i was there yesterday i was there this morning i i'm there and you know it's just you have a lot of that fluff and fake and goofy and all of that but the bottom line the core truth is that there is an anointing to go up if you develop that you can get real strong just like you can you can develop your faith in certain areas like for finances or for healing or for other areas you can also develop your faith in the area of visions and when you do that and of course you do that by hearing the word meditating on the word concerning that subject or that topic and you can um you be can become quite quite strong in that area praise god there are certain things that god has anointed me with in the area of certain types of spiritual gifts where yes i can pull others into that anointing that i that i operate in and the more spiritual they are the easier i can pull them in now i'm not talking about an evangelistic anointing because you can be spiritually dead you can be unsaved or not born again but you're going to hear an evangelist operate in that anointing of salvation and preaching that and that's going to pull them in to receive christ in his eternal life but as far as believers go goal yes i mean if if you're prepared if you're prepared and you're you're ready then uh we could go a lot further together than just one person trying to do all the pulling that's why the apostle paul said that when you come to the to the assembly the assembling together of believers in the lord then you know you're you're not coming just to extract you're also coming to bring something and one of the greatest things you could bring is just your heart prayed up and ready for whatever god might want to do so as the holy spirit begins to do it you're just pushing along with that in the spirit and you can have a stronger anointing with a corporate collective anointing than you can with just an individual anointing just like one person could only lift so much but you get you get 50 people you know you can you can move a lot more praise god thank you jesus all right let's continue on about about these uh wonderful things concerning the realm of visions thank you lord jesus there's there's probably some that are listening right now and you're thinking well pastor stephen i'd like to i'd like to dive a little deeper into this and i'd like to get like uh get some impartation or get an anointing to get up and running in this but uh i don't really know anybody in my denomination or church who has any exposure to this well you know all i would say is that if you can't get uh around those who are up and running in it then just keep listening to it keep studying it keep reading it and keep drawing from spiritual sources and um you can get it right where you're at praise god thank you jesus and of course if you can if you can get into a service let's say you want to get into to the prophetic and you want to learn to prophesy where if you can get around those that are already up and running in that and have been doing it for decades well my goodness yes go to one of those conferences go to one of those meetings have those people lay hands on you ask god for impartation glory to god and you'll find yourself uh moving in that but if you can't for some reason get there maybe you are you know on a remote island but you have you have a tv or you have internet and a computer and you're watching me or other good ministers then by all means just keep listening uh along these lines of these specific topics such as visions and seeing into the glory realm and being caught up and so forth and as you keep feeding your faith with this specific knowledge from god's word it will begin to produce eventually in your life but you also let me say this if i can even temper this when it comes to visions and uh bona fide prophetic experiences you're going to have to have a prayer life it's almost impossible to get into this if you don't pray and if you if it ever does happen and you're not praying then that's just god's total sovereign grace and it may never happen again but if you want to see it quickened in your life activated in your life then you're going to have to have a prayer life to get into it and more importantly you're going to certainly have to have a prayer life to sustain it praise god amen but it's a joy to pray right i mean it's fellowship with god hallelujah all of these things are good now let's go back to acts chapter 10 praise the lord i want to talk just just a little bit more today about the second type of vision there's three types let's go to the second type the first was the open vision and the second would be what is known in scripture as a spiritual excuse me a trans spiritual vision's third type but let's talk about the second type which is a trance it's the second highest type of vision the highest is an open vision that's pretty beautiful pretty powerful but a trance is another type of vision and it's a little more frequent and uh i wouldn't say it's common but it is more common than an open vision and i think that some of you you're going to have your first trans vision praise god now for those that maybe just be saying that made you nervous about a trance oh that's the new age they go into a trance well you know let's just stick with the bible and if you stick with the bible it will dispel um any kind of error or you know going off in the wrong direction for example look at verse 10 acts chapter 10 verse 10 then he that would become that would be peter became very hungry and wanted to eat but while they made ready he fell into a trance so trances are biblical if it happened to peter uh you know this is not the devil doing this this is god the holy spirit giving peter a trans by the way a little side note it's a rabbit trail i'm not going to journey down today because it's a whole subject within itself notice that it says he became very hungry did you ever notice that or consider that that is a supernatural manifestation a supernatural hunger for food that is way beyond a normal appetite here's peter minding his own business and suddenly he's engulfed with a tremendous appetite for food i have had that happen to me before where one time for example i had a full breakfast wasn't hungry in the least bit but something happened that morning where god through the holy spirit put such a supernatural hunger on me that i said i've got a heat and i i have to eat now i actually begin salivating i know exactly what's going on with peter here i got so ravenous hungry i was actually driving down if i'm correct i was driving down harbor boulevard in anaheim california and i got so hungry i said i'm taking the first exit i don't care the first restaurant i see i can't i can't stand this hunger and i had a a very very powerful experience that happened outside of that restaurant where i was able to lead four young people to the lord two were unbelievers two were pastors children who had gone into rebellion and had walked away from god and they had all four of them were uh very very uh bad stuff and the holy spirit led me to minister them in great power they all four were restored to the lord the two were restored the other two were saved and it was a very happy ending and then after it was done the whole appetite thing lifted [Laughter] i wasn't even hungry afterwards so it was a hunger that hit me because god was setting me up for something to get me to that restaurant to reach those young people and god's setting peter up of course we know that as well now notice he fell into a trance what is a trance well i can prove to you that it is a vision by looking at verse 17. now while peter wondered within himself what this vision which he had seen meant behold the men who had been sent from cornelius had made inquiry for simon's house and stood before the gate now you'll always be safe if you let the bible interpret the bible if you'll let scripture interpret scripture you'll be on solid ground we see in verse 10 that peter had a trance he fell into a trance we see in verse 7 that the trance is identified as a vision and the times where i have had heavenly experiences where i have been taken to heaven most of those not all of them but most of those have taken place when i just fall into a trance and i go into a vision and the thing about a trance is that when you fall into it you enter into the spirit realm with your scene and of course your hearing and everything but you are completely oblivious to what's going on with your physical body uh in other words i could there's been times i've been praying in my bedroom and i would fall into a trance i would leave my body and go to heaven my spirit would go to heaven but i'm all i know is i'm in heaven walking around in heaven i have no idea you know like i'm still actually my body is still in you know the bedroom of my house but my spirit has gone my spirit is gone and when you read about trances and visions particularly with the mystic saints throughout the past centuries of church history um you know there are saints that would go into visions and you know their spirit is in heaven but let's say you had a monk in a monastery and he goes into a vision that i'm thinking of one particular man joseph of cooper joseph of cupertino and he would go into these visions and uh the other monks would see his body there and but yet he's like as they would say in the catholic church he's in an ecstatic state you know so about you so he's there hands up eyes not blinking nothing's moving and he's just there and so sometimes they would poke him and sometimes he would burn little pieces of his cloth or sometimes hold a little fire to him but nothing would move him and he's he's just completely oblivious to what's going on in the natural sundar singh the apostle to india back in the early 1900s he had many visions and he would he would also have many trends many of his visions were done in a trance type state and one time he went into a vision uh in a trance and when he came out of it later he had realized that he had actually gotten stung by a few hornets but he didn't even know it there was no pain involved or anything like that just uh some swelling because they had stung him but um he didn't know that in a sense he was gone so when i go into a trance when the holy spirit leads me into a trance i don't know where i'm at except all i know is i'm where god has is with me whether that's in heaven or a spirit realm or something like that praise god i'll give you an example it was a wednesday night let me go back some years it was a wednesday night church service i was pastoring and we had a good time and nice praise and worship nice message but what the people didn't know is that my heart on the inside was broken i was i and my wife were in great sadness because our doggie tabitha had just died and i can't remember right offhand if she lived to be nine years or 11 years i'm thinking she lived to be 11. but uh you know when somebody's with you for that like a decade you just they become family and that's what can happen with these precious little pets right and so our doggie had died she lived her life out and she died and we had just you know taken her to the vet and she had to be put down and things like that because uh of her age and also her body was just shutting down she was about to die and it was so hard for us and you know she she dyed my arms and uh it was just very very um i was so sad but you know i had to go minister at the church so i pulled myself together but on the inside me and kelly were both just uh tore up because we loved that donkey so much kelly had gone and picked her out from a kennel and this was a very run-down kennel but you know she got this pure uh purebred uh airedale terrier the king of the terriers and she was just a little puppy and she was covered with dirt and mud and was not well taken care of but we got her and cleaned her all up and she was beautiful she never did one thing wrong her entire life i know that may sound pretty wild but she never i mean sure she barks sometimes when i wish she would have been quiet but she never did anything wrong she never scratched anybody never hurt anybody she was just absolutely wonderful you know god gives these animals to us to teach us how to love that's the whole purpose of animals is to teach us to love and to teach us to be patient and they're used by god to help soften us and help us to be more loving and sweet and tabitha actually traveled with us all over america when we used to travel by motorhome and there was years where all we did was go from meeting the meeting meeting the meeting in the motor home and the whole time there's tabitha sleeping with us and uh sleeping on the couch you know and guarding the door and things like that so any helmet she died i was so sad but i had to do the meeting that night and the holy spirit helped me get through it and when i was closing the service after the message was over and we wrapped things up i said let's now have the closing prayer and i was doing the closing prayer and as i was saying the closing prayer i i started going into a vision and i knew i was about to go all the way in and i quickly said i quickly announced i'm going into a vision god bless everybody good night and i'll see you next time and i just let go in a sense where i just let the holy spirit pull me in and i fell into a trance and i went down on my knees and the next thing i knew i was in heaven praise god now everybody else that was in that room that night saw me kneeling down and they began to quietly and respectfully stream out and to leave the service because the service was over but i'm gone i'm i don't i don't know anything about that room or anything else i i just i'm in a different world and i i'm in i was in heaven my spirit was in heaven two angels met me and escorted me to my heavenly mansion now this is actually the mansion that is designated for me and kelly now some people get a little nervous with that oh pastor stephen when you when you get in heaven you don't you're not married and stuff like that uh as if you don't know that used to be your wife i mean i'm like okay so i understand what jesus taught about marriage but yes if spouses those that were husband and wife on earth want to live together in heaven absolutely you can and let me go a little bit further i don't know why some theologians almost like take delight in trying to knock the wind out of christians and discourage them by trying to get so intellectually brilliant that they're actually getting i don't know if i should say stupid but i've heard i've heard some theologians say now there are no mentions in heaven that word in the greek means dwelling places you know in other words so don't don't expect to mention they're just dwelling places as if maybe there's like a holiday inn or something like you know we're going to be staying in i don't know what they're trying to but they're just always trying to pull down any hope or any joy let me tell you from a first hand witness with my own eyes of walking around in the city of god and walking up the street and walking up to my mansion there are real mansions yes yes amen you i i would i would not deny that for martyrdom you couldn't pull that out of me with wild horses i was there in the spirit i saw it i saw my mansion the angels took me inside lots of wood lots of exotic stone the wood appeared to be like a deep like cherry mahogany it was beautiful beautiful beautiful and they led me down a hallway and i i just somehow knew this is leading to the living room and one of the angels who was in front of me turned around and he did like this he went shh in other words be real quiet and we kind of if i could say tiptoed down the hallway and they took me into the living room of my mansion but my wife and i's mansion and i there in the living room i saw a beautiful fireplace with the fire on i saw an exquisite mantle whew i filled the anointing i saw the mantle over the fireplace i saw the beautiful living room and i saw in front of the fireplace what we would call like a beautiful oriental type rug and there laying on the rug asleep was tabitha i saw her there that would be her and now i know her body went into the earth but her spirit her soul are in heaven i saw her laying on the rug asleep in front of the fireplace and what i saw next just um melted me to pieces i saw her collar she had a new collar on but first of all she all of her youth was restored she looked phenomenal the same beautiful coat of fur that she had when she was like in the prime of her life and just all of her muscles filled back out in the beauty and she was asleep she had a collar on that was solid gold and i don't know how they do this in heaven it's like the gold was solid but flexible and comfortable at the same time and i saw in cursive writing it said tabitha brooks going around the collar hallelujah it said tabitha brooks praise god and when i saw that the love of god just melted my heart and i felt such phenomenal the such phenomenal love of god go through my whole being the angels walked me back out down through the hallway very quietly we went and did some other things and then later they allowed me to uh to see tabitha at a dog park now they did not take me up to her um and i did not get to pet her or anything like that but i saw her from a distance at a dog park the park was probably i don't know it was bigger it could have been bigger than the state of north carolina i live in i couldn't even see the end of the park and it was it was all on a level beyond the world's finest golf course and i saw an angel take a tennis ball and she loved chasing tennis balls the angel took a tennis ball and threw it uh easily but it looked like it went a mile through that tennis ball the angel did like a mile away in front of us it just took off chasing at that ball i saw i saw dogs in their beauty and their prime i saw i don't know look like a thousand dogs but they're it's not like it's you know they're um they're crowded running into each other it was just the park was so phenomenally big and beautiful but their dogs all over the places it was a dog heaven literally glory to god you have no idea the glory the wonder the love the goodness that's awaiting you must continue on you must keep the faith you must cross the finish line and go all the way praise god amen you know years before that had ever happened i was talking with the prophetess one time very godly woman and she was in her 80s her husband was in her 80s the husband was my treasurer for my chapter that i i was the chapter president of a full gospel businessman's fellowship international chapter and he was my treasurer and she was his wife her name was maya henry and maya and henry didn't have a bone of what we would call prophetic visionary he didn't have any of that didn't have an ounce and didn't really care he was a great treasure good with money he had worked a good job all of his life but he didn't have what we would call uh like a supernatural anointing of the holy spirit but she did it was all over her and she prophesied to some great people she prophesied to the my spiritual father when he was much younger in the ministry she was actually the one that god used anointed her to drive to his business and say the lord is calling you into the ministry you must go into the ministry and you know what he said he said god would have to bankrupt my business in order for me to do that my business would have to run out of money well the bus it did within about two weeks he was like i'd better better obey god but she gave the most beautiful words gave a phenomenal word to demonstrate the head of the uh full gospel businessmen but she was a wonderful anointed servant of the lord but you know because i held these meetings every week for these chapter meetings uh and then when the meetings were over you know and we're kind of like just relaxing and talking about the meeting it gave me the opportunity to talk to her about spiritual things and i would say maya can you can you share with me some other things that you've experienced through god's visions some other things that you have seen she talked with me about one of the times and she told me and my wife kelly about one of the times when jesus took her to heaven in a vision now now it's kind of interesting because now she is in heaven she knows she lived her life out and she died so she is there now one day praise god will all be there but she told me about the time when uh you know jesus took her to heaven in a vision and she was allowed to see different things she was actually allowed to meet her father now her father was a christian he had died many years earlier but she was allowed permitted by jesus to meet her father she was even allowed to go over to his heavenly home and she visited him and she to her great joyful shock when she went into her father's home there was the little dog that the father that her father loved there was the little dog that she grew up with now she was i think like in her 60s when she had this vision but that was the family dog when she was a little girl that she grew up with and there was that doggie she said in her father's home there in heaven so she saw the family dog the dog that her daddy loved but um this is interesting she said father she said daddy she said i have to ask you a question i i just want to be kind of you know transparent here um jesus has granted me this vision to be with you here for this amount of time while i'm with you in heaven and i i see these things and i've seen some amazing mansions while i was being taken to your home here and he lived in what you would call like a heavenly town home maybe a like a heavenly condo which is compared to earthly standards what he had was still beautiful but it wasn't like a big whopper mansion or anything like that and she said dad she said i've seen these other mansions and um yours is actually kind of small so like what's up with this why do you have this smaller home and he said maya i never told you this while you were on the earth and while i was on the earth i never talked spoke to you about this but for years and years and years god had called me into the ministry and i never obeyed him jesus called me into the ministry and i never stepped into it and because of that disobedience that is why i'm living in this type of a residence which was nice but was it like this phenomenal heavenly mansion that you envisioned no no because of a lifetime of decades of disobedience and saying no to the lord and there's no telling how many people he could have won to the lord or how many lives he could have influenced for good he didn't do it now he was saved but um no he never obeyed the lord in that area and that caused a loss of rewards praise god thank you jesus heaven it's a beautiful place we know who we belong to and we know where we're going and your every heart's desire will be there if you run out of time here something get accomplished it'll be waiting there for you and a lot more praise god thank you jesus hallelujah glory to god i have seen other things in heaven through visions usually through a trance by going into a trance by the way when i had that trance and i was in heaven and i saw tabitha when that was finally all done and the vision lifted i had my hands up and i was worshiping the lord and the vision lifted and when the when the when i came out of the vision all the lights were off in the church there was nobody there the deacons locked everything up my wife had gone home with my daughter and i was there all by myself i had gotten totally lost i didn't know what time it was quite a bit of time had passed all of that time i had been in heaven completely unaware of what was going on in the physical realm that's what happens at a trance you are in a vision and you're not aware of what is going on in the physical realm praise god hallelujah i have another i've had other times when i've been in heaven again having fallen into a trance and going into a vision have seen and to have gone to heaven and i have had the privilege of meeting redeemed saints again there are streets of gold in heaven nobody's going to argue that i just need to let you know that there are redeemed saints walking on those streets not just angels a lot of people um they never want to talk about the redeemed saints thus they be labeled as like a crazy person or something like that but all of your loved ones in the lord they're all there in heaven that's why we we want to do all we can to reach the lost for christ so that they can receive salvation and so that they can make it to heaven as well praise god so yes i've had the privilege of talking to various redeemed saints i have two spiritual mentors i won't say who they are on the world wide web over the internet or something like that but i do have two redeemed saints that are i would call them spiritual mentors and if that sounds a little bit strange all i can do is encourage you to read church history and you'll find out that many of the great uh ministers throughout church history particularly those that would be considered prophetic in nature they all had spiritual mentors because while you're going to have mentors on the earth that will help you it just could so be that there are some in heaven that have a keen interest in your life and particularly in the area of winning the lost and in the area of revival and the area of ministry praise the lord and so i've been privileged to to have those divine encounters one time i actually met when i was in heaven having had a vision and being caught up to heaven i met one of the 24 elders that was a very very special time unforgettable time i i don't know what his name was all i can say is that he was a man that looked young but at the same time i could tell he was of ancient age had a long beard had a beautiful robe had a golden scepter in his hand with a a beautiful ruby about the size of my fist a beautiful ruby on top of the golden scepter and representing the spirit of wisdom and also representing the authority and i was privileged to talk with him and also to receive ministry from him praise god he prayed for me because i wasn't sleeping well [Laughter] oh praise the lord my friends these things are very real peter fell into a trance and then verse 17 now while peter wondered within himself what this vision which he had seen meant in other words the trance was a vision so can you pull out of something like this and miss it uh you could if you were um if you were not walking in faith just because the holy spirit is manifesting doesn't mean that you can just um you kind of like get out of the spirit you need to stay in the spirit you need to stay in faith so that um you've you just receive all that god has for you particularly in that initial process of stepping into that vision or leaning into it and uh i mean if you're not quite in it yet and you hear the phone ring just do all you can to just i mean to ignore a distraction and pray starts praying in the spirit and just lean into it and phone you'll go all the way in you'll go all the way in and then you'll receive the blessing that god has for you in that praise god glory glory glory to the lord praise god i feel the anointing of the holy spirit you know i was raised in a denominational church that did not believe in miracles but they did believe in salvation and they were very strong on that and i'll always be thankful for the church i raised in i was raised in because at least i i came to know christ which is the greatest thing a person could ever know but then later when i was a young man in my 20s i received the baptism in the holy spirit and i began to realize there's more there's the gifts of the spirit there are visionary experiences but then as i continue to grow and mature in the lord i begin to receive you know different types of teaching good teachings such as word of faith teaching and things like that but i also begin to realize that some maybe i could use the word camps some camps or some tribes within the body of christ while they did believe in miracles they didn't want anything to do with this visionary realm maybe they believed in healing and they're comfortable with healing because by the way i mean healing has been pretty well established in the body of christ today you don't even have to be pentecostal or charismatic to under you know almost everybody in the body of christ today believes that god still heals today uh now you'll have some that don't but that that doctrine has been established to the point of where maybe you could say it's a comfortably established doctrine across the predominant spectrum of the body of christ but in this other area of visions and visionary experiences being caught up uh that's still a little bit more of a segment that there are a lot of churches they they want to play it safe they oh we don't know about that but i'm just saying if you stick with scripture and you you walk close with god you'll see the holy spirit he performs the word he validates the word and it's all through the bible open track open visions trans visions and then you would also have what can be called spiritual visions which is where you see the vision on the image screen of your mind but this is not imagination this is not trying to make something up you just you close your eyes and that anointing comes and there's there's the holy spirit begins moving and you start seeing it it's like um you know in the stock market they have they have the ticker symbols going across on a board you can close your eyes that usually helps to lean into a spiritual vision you close your eyes and you just start seeing it and i've had many of those visions as well matter of fact it was prophet kenneth hagin who taught that the most common type of vision is a spiritual vision and i would have to say out of all three i i completely agree with that because the majority of my visions have been spiritual visions it doesn't make it doesn't make it any less genuine it just means it's more common and it's easier to get into these experiences through that first level of the spiritual vision praise the lord thank you jesus glory to god and you know if if if you're around somebody they're always quote how can we say having visions and you know you don't really uh you know you sense it's just a lot of fluff you know just say well you know tell me something i don't know you reveal something supernaturally that will give credence to that because so often when the holy spirit is moving he's not only moving through discerning the spirits which is what's taking place when you're having any one of the three visions but so often the other gifts will operate too i love the uh many many stories of dr dgs denicarin when he would have his heavenly visions he would often come back uh not only having seen heaven but uh he would meet people in heaven and uh sometimes he would have messages for others on the earth to deliver uh one time he was in heaven and he saw a woman that he knew now she had died now she's in heaven because she got sick and she died so now she's in heaven but dr dennicarra knew that on the earth her husband was extremely saddened and still very sorrowful about her death and you know her home going to heaven he just missed her and he was very very sad so he saw that woman in heaven and he went up to her and he said that when he went up to her she was actually in a in a place of worship she was worshiping the lord with many other people but he was allowed to talk to her you know kind of tapped her on the shoulder and said hey hey it's me and she recognized him of course and he said um i'd like to talk to you just for a moment because uh your husband on the earth he's very very sorrowful about he's still sorrowful about your death he misses you greatly and he feels like there wasn't a closure he goes she goes oh she goes okay when you go back after your vision is done and the lord sends you back um have him go find uh this one bible i think it was her bible in the bible there is a note there's a card that i made out and i wrote some things for him and she said you'll find it right in this particular area of this bible and she said make sure he reads that it will bring him the closure and the peace that he's looking for and so after brother dennicarin's vision was completed he's back on the earth you know and he goes oh i've got to go find that brother so he goes over to his house and tells him uh that he saw his wife in heaven and says we gotta find that bible well they found it it's exactly where she said it would be the the the the husband he opens it up there's a card for him exactly where dr dennicarin said she said it would be and he reads it and just weeps and it brought the closure in peace it was she she knew she was going home so she had written some things to speak uh secretly sacredly just to him and it really it really you know you you can still love and miss the person but it brings that healthy closure praise god look that that's why these things are so sacred uh i've had it happen to me like i said with my doggy story i've had some other stories too um i'm going to put that in my next book some other things i haven't shared yet that the lord has done to bring supernatural comfort and they have come through visions and i've had other things where i've had certain visions for example one time when i was in uh indonesia i had shared with the minister about when i was taken to heaven and i saw my doggy oh he said oh he said pastor stephen so and so has to hear you tell him this he's his wiener dog died 20 years ago and he has been in a depression for it was 22 years the man has been in a depression for 22 years and has not pulled out of it ever since his little wiener dog died so so while we're indonesia the conference host called the man who lived in hong kong and said get on the next plane get here immediately to indonesia and pastor stephen brooks will minister you to one one on one and he'll share with you his heavenly story and i did i shared he flew he was there the next day i shared it and it brought healing and closure to his heart knowing that he's going to see his little wiener dog one day in heaven i've heard theologians say there's no animals in heaven look i don't even have to go to heaven and have visions to check that one off as no you're wrong i mean elijah was taken to heaven by a chariot pulled by horses okay so we know there's horses in heaven and jesus when he comes back for the second coming there will be he's gonna be riding on white horses and on and on this stuff goes and um but i've been there i've seen the animals with my own eyes i actually know one prophetess who was there uh she was taken to an area of paradise a special park where all of the original dinosaurs are kept the originals and they're real dinosaurs and um so you know there's a lot to do in heaven it's a big place but we could talk about this more and more it's a lot of fun but my friends there is an anointing to receive activation in the area of experiencing visions and some of you have never had it happen before get ready praise the lord amen but before i pray for you in that area i want to pray for anybody that would be listening to me but you don't know christ as your lord and savior but you know that he died on the cross well my friend he died for your salvation he paid the penalty for your sins if you if you'll just put your faith and trust in the work that he accomplished at calvary he'll save you right now from your sins if you would like to receive his salvation pray this prayer after me say lord jesus i believe you died on the cross and you rose again on the third day to save sinners like me jesus come into my heart i accept you and i receive you now as my savior and my lord jesus wash all of my sins away and write my name in your book of life thank you jesus and from this day forward lead and guide me thank you jesus thank you walk with me lead me and guide me thank you jesus and he will in your name i pray lord amen amen and amen he's heard your prayer you now belong to him live for him and serve him all the days of your life and one day one day you'll go home to your heavenly reward as well we're all heading to heaven all of those that are washed with the blood of jesus and have christ in our hearts those of you that would like to receive impartation for the anointing to see spiritually which is what we would call visions lift your hands right now father all over the world hands are going up different states different countries different time zones day and night and on and on it goes but yet that person is hungry for you with their hands raised in the air in the air right now lord jesus let your anointing come upon that person now with the anointing to see spiritually let the realm of visions open be ignited in their spirit now i release the impartation of visions receive in the name of jesus hallelujah hallelujah thank god for the holy spirit say that right now say thank god for the holy spirit hallelujah somebody right now is seeing christ on the cross as the suffering savior whoo glory to god amen amen look upon what god shows you praise god glory to god and others you're starting to go up right now hallelujah i've been caught up before sometimes it's like i've been in that heavenly elevator going up at a phenomenal speed my grandsons were were over the other day and spent the night and and you know my grandsons they told their parents please let grandpa let grandpa uh stephen sleep with us in the room so he could tell us more stories so i said okay so i'm sharing bedtime stories um you know it's supposed to be a 10 minute talk it somehow turned into another hour and a half that seems to happen but they love me so much and i love them so much but i told them one of my visions one time when i was taken to heaven and i was actually in the very throne room of god and i was right before the mighty throne room of god and one of the beautiful beautiful things that happened in that visionary experience and when i finished telling my story my youngest grandson set up from his sleeping bag and said grandpa stephen that is the most beautiful story i have ever heard i said praise god my friends god wants you to have beautiful experiences with him get ready to encounter the lord jesus the mighty resurrected christ through visions i'm not saying that you're going to see the lord but for some be open to it be absolutely open to it and for others you'll see different types of things but it's whatever the holy spirit wants to reveal to you get ready to encounter the glory realms of heaven and the glory realm of god praise god now father bless your people in jesus name amen let's receive holy communion grab some unleavened bread grab some grape juice [Music] the torah commands that we teach our children the ways of god hallelujah that's not only how to live your life in the sense of obeying the commandments of god that's also teaching them spiritual principles and spiritual truths of how they can walk in the spirit praise god don't don't leave that to uh just thinking well somebody else will teach them that like well who that needs to be you praise the lord amen lead them into the holy things of god let's pray together father we thank you for the bread the juice we consecrate it and set it apart as holy through this prayer and we thank you that this is now the flesh and blood of christ our savior the man of galilee the messiah the messiah the son of god who has come he's already come he's going to come again to take his own home with him now father we thank you for the flesh of christ as we receive it we thank you that there has been the release of activation and we thank you in your own good time and in your own good way and of course with our own good cooperation we thank you that visions are our inheritance and we believe in visions and we will experience visions we thank you father we receive the body of christ now knowing that all of his promises are yes and amen and that concerns visions in jesus name amen praise god let's receive glory glory to god father thank you for the blood of jesus we ask that if we have committed any sin you would wash them all away we forgive anybody who has sinned against us we completely forgive them we let it go we bless them and we go on with you thank you father for the cleansing blood of jesus and we thank you for full access into your throne room through the shed blood and we give you all the praise for your son and his blood in jesus name we pray and agree and say amen let's receive praise the lord your walk with the holy spirit requires a flexibility you can't be super rigid and say not now you know lord you can't no no god can do whatever he wants whatever he wants we need to go with his flow glory glory use wisdom of course yes but you yield to that to that anointing you yield to the holy spirit god knows what he's doing he's not going to manifest uh at a wrong time or wrong place if he's moving you you just walk in wisdom uh just like i did you know like i closed that that meeting out that night in prayer and then i'm free to go went right into it everybody else spirit-filled nobody nobody had any trouble everybody's happy everybody knows what's going on god knows what he's doing just go with the flow there's no telling when the holy spirit's going to move but when he does he's going to take you into these special experiences of visions get ready get ready to receive glory glory glory to god hallelujah hallelujah and you know what there might be some that see it that don't understand but if god's allowing that that could be exactly what they need you know maria woodworth-etter who was a woman that god placed i would say america's first mighty healing anointing upon and then after her you had amy simply mcpherson and then you had catherine coleman and then it went on the benny hen that that mantle goes back to maria woodward theater but she would go into visions uh right in front of huge crowds with many of the people in the crowd unsaved and she would be in that vision sometimes frozen in that vision should go into a trance and she wouldn't move for eight hours sometimes two days sometimes and newspapers with cameras took pictures of her sometimes she would go into a trance vision one hand with one finger pointing up and another hand with one finger pointing down basically basically symbolizing make your choice heaven or hell and uh i mean but that that happened consistently and many people in her meetings under that umbrella of that tremendous anointing that she walked and guess what they went into trances and visions also why should that be surprising when it hap when it's happening with her and her ministry and that anointing is flowing just going out thank you jesus [Laughter] catch the anointing glory to god have a great time in the spirit stay close with the lord because he has some special things to share with you thanks for watching i'll see you back next time