The written Word of God, the Scriptures, is the basis for all Christian doctrine. The gift of prophecy is not used for establishing doctrine—rather it is used by the Lord to direct His people in the present and sometimes in revealing the future. When prophetic revelations have been wrongly used to establish a new teaching, these have inevitably been false teachings and have often resulted in the beginning of a cult. We should never give credence to one who seeks to use a revelation to establish a doctrine.

Amos 3:3 asks, “Can two walk together unless they are in agreement?” This has often been wrongly interpreted to mean that we cannot walk together with someone unless we are in full agreement. If that was true, we would not be able to walk with anyone, including, in most cases, our spouses! Amos 3:3 is a question, and the answer is “yes.” I think the answer would be more accurate if we can walk together in any area that we agree on.

We have briefly studied three phases of development, maturity, and operations in the church. For the purpose of this study, “Taking the Land,” I would categorize them:

1) Taking the land
2) Occupying the land
3) Making the land fruitful

Our text for this week is Ephesians 5:11-12:

Heaven is real. The most wonderful experiences on earth cannot compare with the glory we will experience in heaven. And it will never end! Our life today will be filled with wonder and awe to the degree that we can perceive this unfathomable inheritance we have in Christ. It is the basic calling of every Christian to perceive and experience heaven now, and bring evidence of it back to earth so that others will begin to look up.

         Our world is becoming more polarized. This is to be expected. We are coming to the end of this age, which will be the ultimate battle between light and darkness. Every person must enter the “Valley of Decision” and choose which they will serve. Every person will choose a path for their life that leads to the light or the darkness. As we have covered before, we are told in Proverbs 4:18-19:     

The year 2007 will be a significant year, and 2008 will be even more so. We can expect each year to ratchet up in intensity and significance. This means that the consequences of our choices will continue to increase in importance. This is why asking God for wisdom should be one of our highest priorities. Therefore, we have a great promise and warning in James 1:5-8:

          What would the perfect President be like? What would the perfect Senator or Congressman be like? Of course, we do not have perfect people to choose from for these positions, but if we set the standard of what we’re looking for, and then start looking for the right people to fill the positions, we would likely end up with much better leaders than we have now.

On February 5, 2005, I dreamed that I was in the house with an invalid, crippled woman. She rose up out of her bed and began to walk. Immediately she wanted to go outside. I checked and it was a beautiful day, and all who were in the room knew that it was right for her to go outside immediately. There was great joy in this, and we knew that it would be a very big event. The dream ended as we were about to open the door for her.

    Remember that the three aspects of the prophetic are the following: 1) revelation, 2) interpretation, and 3) application. To help illustrate these, I will relate some personal stories as well as other peoples’ stories that I personally witnessed. I will start with one that reaches back 24 years but is becoming relevant today.