September 14th, 2025 - "Do Not Be Afraid of the Vision" - Rev. Dr. T. Ray Wheeler

Matt Nelson: Welcome to the Sermon podcast from First United Methodist

Church in downtown Bentonville.

If you have questions related to what you hear today or just want to find

out more about the ministries of First United Methodist Church, please visit us

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Rev. Dr. T. Ray Wheeler: How about that?

Is that better?

Woohoo.

That's good.

You don't even need to hear that story I was telling it was silly.

So I am going to get a robe with a little pocket here because.

I'm, uh, I can't turn my mic on and off, but when I was a kid I used to

watch a TV preacher from California.

I used to watch Coral Ridge Presbyterian.

Really handsome guy, and he always had a robe, but he always had his robe unzipped

so you could see his beautiful tie.

So I'm gonna, I'm gonna channel that today so I can turn my mic on and.

I'm so grateful to be here.

I'm Ray Wheeler.

I'm the the clunky associate pastor here at First United Methodist

Church, and we're so grateful that you're here in worship.

And I just want to add my welcome to Pastor Michelle's and say that I hope you

feel loved and celebrated in this space.

So my sermon this morning is Do not fear the vision.

Do not fear the vision.

We're continuing our Do Not Fear sermon.

I'm, I'm gonna read two examples of visions from the Bible, one from Daniel,

the Old Testament, and one from Acts.

So here are the word of God contained in these holy scriptures.

This is Daniel 10, one through 12.

In the third year of Persia, king Cyrus, a message was revealed

to Daniel, who was called Azar.

The message was true.

There would be a great conflict.

Daniel understood the message, having discerned the meaning of the vision.

During that time, I, Daniel had been mourning for three weeks.

I didn't eat any rich foods, neither meat nor wine past my

lips, and I didn't clean up at all.

Till the three weeks were up.

Then on the 24th day of the first month, as I was on the Bank of the Great Tigris

River, I looked up and suddenly saw a man clothed in linen in front of me, and

he had a brilliant gold belt around his waist, and his body was like topaz, and

his face was like a flash of lightning and his eyes were like burning torches.

His arms and feet looked like polished bronze, and when he spoke,

he sounded like the roar of a crowd.

Only I, Daniel saw this vision.

The other people who were with me didn't see it.

Despite that, they were terrified and ran away to hide.

So I was left alone to see this great vision all by myself.

All my strength left me.

My energy was sapped, and I could not stay strong.

And then I heard the sound of the man's words when I heard it.

I fell into a trance with my face on the ground, but then a

hand touched me, lifted me up.

To my hands and knees.

The man said to me, Daniel, you are greatly treasured.

Now, grasp the meaning of what I'm saying to you and stand up

because I've been sent to you.

And as he said this to me, I stood up, shaking.

And then the man said to me, don't be afraid, Daniel, because from the day

you first set your mind to understanding these things and to humble yourself

before your God, your words were heard.

I've come because of your words.

And then from Acts chapter four, verse 23 to 31, after their release, Peter

and John returned to the brothers and sisters and reported everything the

chief priests and elders had said.

They listened, then lifted their voices in unison to God.

Master you are the one who created the heaven and the earth

and the sea and everything in.

You are the one who spoke by the Holy Spirit through our

ancestor, David, your servant.

Why do the Gentiles rage and the people plot in vain, the kings of the

earth took their stand and the rulers gathered together as one against

the Lord and against his Christ.

Indeed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate with Gentiles and Israelites did

gather in this city against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed.

They did what your power and plan had already determined would happen.

Now, Lord, take note of their threats and enable your servant to speak

your word with complete confidence.

Stretch out your hand to bring healing and enable the sons and

wonders to be performed through the name of Jesus, your holy servant.

After they prayed the place where they were gathered with shaken, and they were

all filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking God's word with confidence.

This is the word of God for us, the people of God.

Yes.

I, I would love it if you join me in a prayer this morning.

Gracious God, God of extravagant love.

Open our hearts and minds to receive your word and let the words of my

mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your

sight, our strength, in our redeemer.

Amen.

Now I've shared with you all, I know that I grew up in a independent Pentecostal

church and there was an overriding vision in this Pentecostal church,

and I have this really strong memory.

I was about nine years old and my grandfather on my mother's side, grandpa

Hoggard, was a. Pentecostal preacher in Dallas, he, he founded this small church

in West Dallas called Gospel Lighthouse.

And on this particular Sunday, my grandfather had had a young evangelist

preach, and this evangelist had brought his family, had a little

3-year-old girl and his wife, and we're sitting in my grandfather's

parlor waiting for Sunday lunch.

And the girls playing, the little daughter's playing there on the

floor, and I'm over here probably, I'm acting like I'm reading a book or

playing with something, but really I was listening to the older people as

they were talking, and during this conversation my grandfather looked very

intently at this young preacher and he said, do you think she will grow up?

And this young preacher said, no, I don't believe she will.

With all that's going on in the world today, I believe the second coming

will happen soon, and she won't be much older than she is right now.

Now, I knew in my heart I should be happy that Jesus was coming

soon, but I was actually terrified.

Uh, I'm nine years old.

I wanna grow up.

I wanna learn to drive a car.

I wanna have a first date.

I wanna make some foolish decisions.

I'm not ready for this to end

the vision, uh, in the church I grew up in is an apocryphal vision.

Jesus is coming soon, maybe tomorrow, next week at the latest.

So to my young self, that was really frightening.

And this vision caused me to carry a lot of, uh, guilt about every other

Sunday evening when they gave the ultra call, I would go down and pray for

forgiveness for my 9-year-old sins.

I was pretty sure I was a ranked sinner at nine years old.

But you can see, and I kind of understand this young preacher

now, you understand this.

As the nearest, I can figure this is about 1968 or 69, and you can think

back what was going on in 1968 or 69.

It really looked bad, but we can take comfort in the fact that this, I don't,

I don't know who these people were.

I don't know this young 3-year-old girl, but she's approaching 60.

And I'm older too, and we're all still here.

We're all still dealing with things, right?

So the vision that's described in Daniel is also a really frightening vision.

Listen, I praise God every day that I'm called to be your associate

pastor and not called to be a prophet.

Profiting is hard work.

Daniel hasn't Eden or bathed in three weeks when he finally gets this vision

on the banks of the Tigris River, and he sees this vision that scares

him so badly, he falls to the ground and he can't move, and all the people

around him run away terrified and hide.

And Daniel says they don't see this vision, but we've seen this

at other places in the Bible.

Maybe they heard the voice or maybe they felt something, but they

were afraid and they leave Daniel.

By himself to face this vision.

And while Daniel's alone, he is passed out on his face before this heavenly

creature, this creature reaches and touches him and brings him up.

Now, I'll note that in my study of this, a lot of scholars suggest that this is

the image of Christ that's appearing in the prophet Daniel in the Old Testament.

This reminds us we are temporal beings.

We're in time.

God's eternal.

And so when we get a vision, we may be seeing something that

God's gonna do way down the line.

Daniel sees a vision of Christ about 485 years before the incarnation of Jesus.

So some visions will take an abundance of patience.

But listen again to what this vision of Christ says to Daniel In the scripture,

he says, Daniel, you're greatly treasured.

Now, grasp the meaning of what I'm saying to you and stand up

because I've been sent to you.

And as he said this to me, I stood up, shaking.

And then the man said to me, don't be afraid, Daniel, from the day you

first set your mind to understanding these things and to humble yourself

before God, your words were heard.

I've come because of your words.

I've come because of your words.

This vision occurs during a really difficult time for the nation of

Israel and for the prophet Daniel.

The kingdom of God breaks into this situation to assure

Daniel of a couple of things.

First, this image of Christ tells Daniel, you are greatly treasured,

and I think if you don't remember anything from worship today.

I want you to remember you're a beloved child of God, and even

in hard times, God is with you.

This first message of Daniel's vision, even if you believe all is lost, the

heavenly message is We've got you.

You are greatly treasured.

And then this heavenly being says, I've come because of your words.

Daniel had been fasting and praying the words of this Christ-like image.

Underline our conviction that our prayers are a means of grace, that

God works through them to shape the world and to strengthen us

even when answers seem delayed.

And the message that Daniel gets is, Hey, a lot of bad stuff is gonna happen,

but your people are gonna come through this and they're gonna be redeemed.

It's gonna take a while, but God is still in charge.

This is really the message of all apocryphal literature in the Bible.

Bad things may happen, but God's still in charge.

And by God's grace, you are part of God's plan.

Your prayers make a difference.

Your faithfulness makes a difference.

Your demonstrations of loving kindness make a difference.

When you work for justice and peace, you make a difference.

That's the message of vision.

Now let's look at this vision from Acts, and now you have to kind of know

what's happened leading up to this.

Peter and John being good Jewish Christians are going to the synagogue for

afternoon prayers Around three o'clock.

The scripture says there's a man who's been crippled from birth, and

he lays every day at the entrance to the temple and asks for alms.

So all of the faithful Jewish people who go in there for prayers know this man.

They've probably given him alms, and as Peter and John are going

into the temple to do their prayers, this man ask for alms.

And Peter says, I don't have silver or gold, but what I have, I'll give

you in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, rise up and walk, and the man starts.

He not only gets up and walks, he dances around.

He hugs Peter, he is full of joy because he's walking for the first time.

And all of those people who knew this guy is a person who asked for alms.

Gather around and there's this big crowd that gather around now.

Peter is a preacher.

If you get a big crowd of people around, a preacher, preacher is gonna preach.

So he starts saying, this is done in the name of Jesus Christ, and

you need to repent and of your sins and be redeemed by Jesus Christ.

You can have these gifts as well.

Well, you get a big crowd at the gate of the temple and you get

a, a street preacher preaching.

The guards from the temple come and the Sadducees, who were the ruling

rabbis of the temple come and they just arrest Peter and John to break

all this up and throw 'em in jail.

They leave 'em in jail overnight 'cause it's kinda late.

And they don't really wanna mess with them.

And the next day, Peter and John are taken outta jail and they're

questioned by these Sadducees.

And the Sadducees are perplexed.

They're like, how are these two uneducated men speaking with such authority?

The Temple authorities want to keep all this miracle and Jesus stuff suppressed,

but they've got this problem of a guy walking around that everybody knows who's

walking around and used to be crippled.

It's a miracle walking around.

And so in frustration, they just say to Peter and John, do not speak about this

again, don't preach about this again.

But Peter and John say, we cannot be silent about what we've seen and heard.

And that brings us then to the vision in Acts chapter four, where beginning in

verse 23, Peter and John go and meet their other Christians who are in their meeting

place, and they tell 'em what's happened.

And the believers respond not in fear, but with a communal prayer.

And this group prays that the Lord will take note of the threats of the temple

authorities and that God will enable God's servant to speak God's word with complete

confidence, stretch out your hand.

They pray to bring healing and enable signs and wonders to be performed through

the name of Jesus, your holy servant.

And in the next verse, we see another outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

The room is shaken and they're all filled with the Holy Spirit.

And the Bible says, after they prayed, they were all filled with

the Holy Spirit and began speaking God's word with confidence.

So John Wesley, in his notes on Acts, said, thus, God is gone to lead on

his children by degrees, always giving them light for the present hour.

God's trying to give us light for the present hour.

And we can notice a few things from both these visions.

God doesn't shield the believers from conflict, but he gives them

courage to meet that conflict.

Wesley often describes the Holy Spirit's work as giving believers holy boldness,

not arrogance, but an assurance that comes from knowing we are God's instruments.

Recently in a class I read in by water in the spirit that the UMC reaffirms

that the spirit empowers the church to be Christ's body in the world.

Here in the shaking of the house in verse 31 symbolizes that God's spirit shakes

believers into action, not into retreat.

So sometimes we can see a vision can be of the future and.

It's just a reminder, God's in control.

We may not see the answer, we may not see this come to fruition,

but we can rest in the knowledge that God will win in the end.

And these visions may require patience, but sometimes we get a vision that breaks

open our hearts and gives us a glimpse of the Kingdom of Heaven here and now.

So what do these two stories mean here at FUMC Bentonville?

This past week I participated in a workshop with Dr. Thomas Long, who's,

he's a retired seminarian and a writer, one of the great thinkers in our church.

And Dr. Long told the class that he believes the Christian Church is in

an Abrahamic time, and he, he reminded us, you know, God spoke to Abraham.

He said, go from your country and your kindred in your father's house

to a land you do not know that.

I will show you.

So Dr. Long's point was that God may be leading the church to places that

are less familiar and less comfortable.

I'm not saying we leave this physical space, but I believe we may need

to consider leaving the ways we've always done things and looking

for new things God wants us to do and new ways God wants us to be.

And that can be really scary.

When I think about scary, I think about how it can be scary to feel that God

is giving us a vision or a calling.

So hear me today, do not fear this vision.

I know it's not easy.

In my own life, I really wrestled with God's calling, I mean to

preach, and I kept thinking, is this just something I'm making up?

Has anybody ever felt that way?

Am I just making this up or is this really God?

And then one day I had an impression of a message from God

and the Holy Spirit bore witness.

This is a message from God.

I didn't hear an audible voice, but I had this such a strong impression.

I sat down and wrote this out, this message from God, and I

hold onto that as a talisman.

This is from God, this vision.

Remember, if you are feeling a calling to do something or if you're

sensing a vision, it's usually for the good of the community.

So speak that vision to other believers and they will establish your vision.

They'll corroborate your vision because they can see that that's from God as well.

And the more we pray and listen to God, I think the easier it is to hear

God's voice and believe the vision.

So this morning, I'm not sure where God is leading the larger Christian Church or.

For that matter where he's leading this congregation of believers

during these tumultuous times.

But I believe God has a vision and a work for us to do, and a love for us to share.

And whether we're entering a new Golden Age, or we are on the doorstep of the

end of days, our work will not change.

Our job is to love God, to listen for the voice of God.

To look for the vision of God and to enact that vision to bring about

the kingdom of God in this place.

Thanks be to God.

Amen.

Matt Nelson: Thanks for listening to the Sermon podcast from First United

Methodist Church in downtown Bentonville.

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Grace and peace.