Series: The New Humanity
Message: Dreamers
Preacher: Japhet De Oliveira
Reflection: Tim Gillespie
Live Wonder: Verity Were
Live Adventure: Zan Long
Live Beyond: Moe Stiles
Live Purpose: Vanessa Rivera
Editor: Becky De Oliveira
Refresh: Begin with prayer. Ask for the Holy Spirit to open your heart to new understanding and for God’s character to be revealed.
Read: Acts 2:14-21 in The Message (MSG). Note 1–3 insights or questions.
Reflect: “They are not drunk.” Peter has to remind people that the disciples are not drunk. But why does he have to do that? Chances are, they were given visions and dreams that got them excited about what God was doing. When was the last time you were considered “out there” because of an idea that you had? It happens to some of us quite often . . .
These disciples were so taken up with what God was doing and what they were expecting Him to do that they could not stop talking about it, and it seemed like they were a little bit off. I often wonder if we have become so stagnant in what we think God will do through our churches and communities that we will never be mistaken for being too excited! When was the last time you were so excited about church that it became ubiquitous in your conversations, in your life, and in your expression of faith? How long has it been until you couldn’t wait for the weekend to get together with the people of God? “
Shouldn’t church be the best place to be? The best place to hang out? The best place to express who God is in your life? If this is how you feel about church—awesome! But if it has been too long, it is time to re-imagine how this weekly experience for the family of God needs to look and feel.
Recalibrate: Where is the best place you are during the week? How can church feel like that? What can you do to change your weekly church-going experience so that church is the best place you go each week?
Respond: “God of Grace, give us the eyes to see the visions that you have for us! Never let us wait for someone else to tell us how we can worship, but let us discover the newness of community that you have for us!”
Research: Every time you go somewhere you love, write down three things: 1) Why you love it, 2) What is specific about the experience that is not reproducible, and 3) What is reproducible about the experience.
Remember: “Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams. Your young men will see visions” (Acts 2:17, ICB).
Dr. Timothy Gillespie is lead pastor of Crosswalk Church in Redlands, CA. He also teaches at several universities and consults on mission integration for Adventist Health.
What is an activity your child or children love? (Examples might include swimming, singing, or riding a bike.) Invite God to be a part of that activity with you and your child. Talk with your child about how that activity could be done to the glory of God. For example, God gives us the ability to ride bikes; we can be joyful in that gift and ability.
Play a game of Imagine How This Could Be with Jesus Standing Next to Me. Think about something that you do all the time. Imagine how you would do this thing with Jesus right beside you. Would anything change? How do you feel imagining that Jesus is right there?
The Words to Remember for this week say that God will have “sons and daughters” prophesy. I grew up attending a lot of meetings (where mostly older men and women were in attendance), about all things relating to “prophecy’”— usually focusing on End of the World events. The words “prophecy” or “prophesying” speak to something that is going to happen in the future. For instance, before Jesus was born there was prophecy regarding His birth; you can find it in the Old Testament, especially in Isaiah, Daniel, and Psalms. The prophecies covered something like 500 or so years before coming Messiah actually came to be. But it happened, and there are other prophecies in the Bible that came to be after they were predicted. What I love about this passage is the idea that prophecy can still happen in our day— that a prophetic word given by God to believers concerning humanity that can become a reality. Here’s the coolest thing to think about: God is the God of yesterday, today, and tomorrow! He is still placing dreams and prophetic words into the minds and hearts of His believers today. When the Bible says that “sons and daughters will prophesy,” what do you think this could mean? What good thing is God working on if this is something that can still take place? Would you like to be an agent of prophetic word, speaking and working as an agent of God bringing about goodness into our world? I would— although, according to the text, I’m in the category of old, so maybe I will just become a dreamer!
Some Biblical scholars would refer to Joel as a minor prophet. Sounds funny to me. Makes him sound less important than the other prophets. This is not the case. The reason some refer to him as minor is because his book, like other prophet’s books, is quite small. It is only three chapters long. There were some prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah that had much larger books, so that’s why they are categorized as major prophets. These smaller books may not get studied as much and can at times be forgotten. It may have been only the studious person that would have known the prophet Joel wrote these words. The more we study the Bible, the more we can see how everything connects. This should be a great encouragement for all of us to continue studying His word today so that we can be like Peter. I want you to search the web for a list of minor prophets. Maybe you’ve never heard about Amos or maybe the only thing you remember about Jonah was that one time he was in a whale. Pick a book and research a bit about that prophet. What is their book about? What did they prophesy?
Verity Were is a registered nurse at the largest pediatric intensive care unit in Sydney, Australia. She attends Kellyville Adventist church with her husband and two toddlers.
Zan Long is GRC director for faith development for ages 0-17. She lives in Sydney, Australia, and serves at her local church in nearby Kellyville.
Moe Stiles is lead pastor at Oasis Church in Vancouver, WA. She is married to Adrian and is mother to Caleb and Johnny.
Vanessa Rivera is a therapist at a community mental health center in Denver, CO, and serves as the faith engagement pastor at Boulder Church.