Faith Walk

Peter’s Vision, Purpose, And The Call To Go

• Don Carpenter

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Ministering out of the 10th chapter of the book of Acts, Peter was the leading apostle. When the Holy Spirit was poured out in the upper room in Acts chapter 2, it was Peter who told the people of Jerusalem what was going on. From verse 9 through to 23, it's all about what's happening with Peter. He's gone to Joppa, he's with a tanner, and he's up on the rooftop. He gets hungry 12 noon. He wants to eat. Falls into a trance, and in the trance, this blanket comes down, has all kinds of animals in it, and creepy, crawly animals. And Peter said, You ain't gonna get me to touch that. No way, that's unclean stuff. I'm not touching that. And God's preparing Peter to carry out a major mission in his life and in his ministry. Many times when things start out small, we may think there's not much in it or this doesn't have much value. We don't know the outcome. I've always been reminded of the word of the Lord that says, Despise not the day of small beginnings. And it's amazing what God will do with you. When you will follow on to know the Lord, you will realize quite quickly that it's not you and what you're doing, it's what God is doing through you. And that makes all the difference. In verse 9, it says, as they were on their way. This would be the men that Cornelius had sent to go and define Peter. As they were on their way. Today you might be praying and believing God for something good. I want to tell you, it's on the way. If God put it in your heart and you feel it's the will of God, and you don't yet have it, it's on the way. Doesn't mean that God has not answered the prayer. It's on the way. Hang on to that promise and let nothing take that away from you. When you release faith, immediately you know it's on the way. Positions us in such a way that we will be able to position others. And that's what I do. I have been positioned by God to influence certain people in my lifetime. And you have people that you will influence in your lifetime. Whatever level it is, don't ever think that they're doing more than me. No. If you're doing what God wants you to do, you're doing everything that's pleasing to God. They were on their way. God has an answer on the way to you, and you may not know what it's going to be. It could be that maybe you're not a believer, but already God is positioning everything to bring you into the kingdom. This is amazing. Peter thinks I should go and pray or whatever, and he goes up on the housetop. And he's sitting there and he starts to get hungry. He wants to get his meal ready. And then he goes into the trance and he sees this blanket come down with all these creatures. God had a purpose for Simon to be at that house that day. Cornelius was going to be an instrument that God was going to use to bring the Holy Spirit to the Gentiles. You don't know what your positioned to do. That's why the enemy will fight you as hard as he does. That's why the enemy comes against you. And you're thinking, I believe in God. Why is there everything against me? Here's a little something that might encourage you. I have found whenever I begin to take a step of faith, or even to get my mind upon it, even to start meditating upon it, praying about it, bringing it before the Lord, and just preparing myself. The enemy will come in sometimes, and you're thinking, why is everything going wrong? It seems like nothing is working out. It shouldn't be this way. Remember, God has prepared you for greatness. And God has prepared you that you are going to be the vessel that He is going to use, and you're going to be blessed, and you're going to be a blessing. There is a purpose. And the word purpose means a setting forth. God is setting it into place. This is what I've purposed for you. And I'm going to give you passages of scripture right now for you to consider. Verses that's in the Bible. The first verse that I want you to look at is in 2 Timothy 1 and 9, saved and called according to his purpose. When you get saved, God has a calling. And we all have different callings. The second verse that I want you to consider about purpose, and I believe that these are relevant passages regarding purpose. And sometimes you need to know these things to keep you encouraged along the way. I have found that when I even start moving ahead and what God wants me to do, God has things in place that keep me encouraged. I've been preaching the gospel 63 years. And I'm thinking all those times and all those various levels of the ways and the ministries that I have to do, God has always encouraged me. And do you know what encouraged me the most? It's when I hear the word of the Lord. And if I'm reading and I find a verse in the Bible, and it will just encourage me so much. And it just stands right over at me. And that's like the Lord's saying, Dawn, that's for you. I want to speak to you right now. Don't get discouraged. That's for you. Getting saved is not just a big one-time event and it's all over in five minutes. Whatever. Oh my. It's bringing you into a wonderful kingdom where all kinds of things are going to be happening. Romans 8.28 and talks about those who are called according to his purpose.

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We don't just get brought into the kingdom and then go our little merry way and say, I don't want to do that. Yeah, I'll do that. And oh, this is okay. This would be more popular. No, it doesn't work that way. You might know people that act that way. Well, I know how I'm to act. And therefore I share this with you. You act according to the purpose of God. I want you to think about the first found in Acts 26, 16, and it says, For this purpose I have appeared unto you. And God said, I'm showing you this because this is my purpose for you. What goes through our mind right away? Is it scriptural or what's my family going to think? What are my friends going to say? What's going to be, etc.? If you're that kind of a person, you're going to struggle all of your Christian life. If you're that kind of a person, you're going to fight unnecessary battles. I have found the best thing to do is make sure that you are following what the Lord wants you to do. Anybody that comes against you when you start moving in God and obeying the Lord, and if they come against you for that, I'm going to tell you right now, they're not on the Lord's side. In 1 John 3:8, the Son of God appeared for this purpose. This is why Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil. All the ministry that we have, we destroy the works of the devil. The moment we come into the kingdom of God, the moment that Jesus saves us right away, we're going to follow on to know the Lord. And the outcome is that we're going to destroy the works of the devil, first of all, in us. Because when you spend years walking in the devil's territory as someone who's been pleasing the flesh, there is a lot of mayhem, there's a lot of chaos in your life. And the devil has been using it because remember, the devil wants to kill and to destroy you. Remember that. That's what he wants to do. And Jesus said, I've come that I may give you life and more abundantly. There's the difference. Peter falls into something called a trance. If you look up at the definition of a trance, it's a displacement, a rearrangement of the mind. It's a shift. Like right now, our mind is functioning this way, and everything is just clicking right into place, and suddenly there's a shift. It's a displacement of our mass where we are right now, everything we got all together. It's a displacement of another mass that moves us from the mass that surrounds us. It's much like taking over and speaking above what one is thinking. And all of a sudden, this thought comes and just begins to overtake you. And when you're in a trance, the Lord can speak to you. We're talking about spiritual and we're talking about physical. You and I, human beings, are physical. And when God comes upon us, whether it's conviction that we need to be born again, or whether it's the Holy Spirit that's been poured out upon us, and then we start to move in the gifts, and the list goes on and on. It is the Lord taking over and controlling us. Peter couldn't move. You've seen it. Some of you have seen this. Maybe it's happened to you. And maybe for a minute, two minutes, three minutes, five minutes, an hour. You're just there. I myself think that trances often happen early in the morning. When we first wake up, you don't know whether you're dreaming or you don't know whether you're awake. I find that quite often when you have your mind stayed upon the Lord and you're a believer, quite often trances will happen then. It could be that when you're praying and maybe you're alone and suddenly you go into something and you begin to see, visions start to appear, and God starts showing you things. Now, before you think I'm getting too spooky, you're not always going to see into heavens. You're not always going to see angels. It could be that God may show you something that's going to happen today to you. Maybe you're going to meet a certain person. Face may come before you. And the Lord says, when you meet that person, I want you to tell them this. And it goes and it passes. And then you're going about your day, and lo and behold, you meet that person. What you should be doing is giving them the word of the Lord. Let them have a spiritual encounter. Every day with a spirit-filled Christian is a wonderful experience of life. It's not just one hour on Sunday morning, maybe a midweek meeting. No, every day. God's got plans and purpose for us. God doesn't want you to waste a day of your life. God doesn't want you to miss opportunities. When you're in church and you're with the body, what a wonderful opportunity to encourage and to strengthen one another. God moved upon them there. I want us to go over to Acts 10, 17. Now, while Peter was greatly perplexed in mind as to what the vision which he had seen might be. This is a strange vision. Now look what God did with Peter. Remember, Peter was a Jew, he was against eating bacon, and certainly Fried Iguana would never have been on his plate. Okay? Then, lo and behold, the men that God sends to Peter, they're not Jews, they're Gentiles. Peter was greatly perplexed. Perplexed means to be thoroughly, entirely at loss at what's being said, done, or what's going on. Sometimes in life we're doing things or stuff happens to us, and we don't understand why that happens, and we're perplexed by it. But I believe that when you speak and you know you're moving in God and you're moving by faith, even though you might not understand it, we're going to move with this. So he's reflecting on the vision in verse 19, focusing on what's going on, and God begins to speak to him. Whenever God comes and says something to you, whether it's a dream, whether it's a prophecy, whether something in the Bible you've read and it just comes right out at you, and you know it's God. You know that God is saying something to you. Okay? You know it. My recommendation is that you stay centered on that, and God's going to reveal it to you. Because God speaks and reveals. There's a scripture in Deuteronomy, and it has encouraged me every time that I have to move forward in God. Because somebody said, they had a quote, they said, New levels, new devils. God raises you up, and now you're having to deal with something you never dealt with before. But there's a passage in Deuteronomy 29, 29. The things which are revealed belong to us. That is a powerful faith-possessing statement. It's a word. God reveals it to us. We're meant to understand it. We're meant to deal with that, walk it out. And don't expect that when you get there, sometimes if somebody else is going to understand, God will surround you with people that are necessary to make it work. In Acts 2.17, it says, Your young men shall see visions. Believers are going to see visions. Vision is the act of seeing into another dimension. When you're filled with the Holy Ghost, you'll get visions, and God will speak to you through visions. And what you'll do through visions is there will find that there will be time shifting in visions. With God, there is no time. Time is for us, but in God there is no time. So in visions, it could be past, could be present, it could be future. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever. In the gifts of the Spirit, three gifts that will help you in ministering to people, and preachers especially should know about these. So that's why I say time shifting. It's in the spirit. Like right now, we're focused on just the moment we are. But when we move by faith, we got to move beyond the moment. We got to see ourselves walking and being. It's just like somebody comes and says, I'm a cripple and I need to be walking, and I don't believe God wants me this way. I will say to them, can you see yourself walking? And if they can see themselves walking, can you see yourself carrying the word of the Lord when you're called of God? Can you see God using you to do these things? Verse 20 of Acts chapter 10. But get up, go downstairs and accompany them without misgivings, for I have sent them myself. What a verse I'm reading to you out of Acts chapter 10. Look at this verse. But get up and go downstairs and accompany them without misgivings, for I have sent them myself. Oh powerful. Three steps to obey the Holy Spirit are right here. Number one, get up. Get above the mentality that God couldn't use you. Get up above the situation that's weighing you down, the problems and all the things of life. Get above that. When I first started flying in jets, not piloting them. That would have been my second choice if I wasn't a preacher. But I remember the first time that I took off, it was raining somewhere where they get lots of rain, and cloudy everywhere. And that jet takes off, and you're climbing two minutes, three minutes. I've seen us climb several minutes. I've seen us go several thousand feet, and all we see is cloud, and all of a sudden, the sunshine. Go forward. Go! Open your mouth. Open the door. Go Lord, when do you want me to do it? Go Lord, someday. Oh, when I return. Because the same opportunity is not going to be here for you next week. That's here for you today. Go. If God's giving you the word, go. You make a way where there's no way. That's what God does. And that's what faith is like. Peter had another plan for being in Joppa. And the third thing is this accompany without misgiving. And I look at that as doing what the Holy Spirit wants you to do. The Holy Spirit's going to be there with you. You're not going to be alone. And I like how the Holy Spirit says this. But get up, go downstairs and accompany them without misgivings. For I have sent them myself. This doesn't fall into the pattern. How do I know this is God? This might be the devil. Well, God wouldn't ask me to do that because we get all our excuses. You will find not once, not twice, every time in your Christian life, this will work. And that word misgivings means without passing judgment. We like to judge everything. You go in your spirit. You will feel right in your spirit. When you're filled with God, don't have a whole bunch of items you got to check off before you do it. You should have done all of that a long time ago. It's going to come to you, and you're going to be right there at the moment. Stop judging. Don't say, I'm not worthy to do this. It says here, God says, I've sent them. You go with them. Romans 8 4. We don't walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. Galatians 5 25, if we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. God bless you.

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