Taking Me Up
Ezekiel 3:12-15
12 Then the spirit took me up, and I heard behind me a voice of a great rushing, saying, Blessed be the glory of the LORD from his place.
13 I heard also the noise of the wings of the living creatures that touched one another, and the noise of the wheels over against them, and a noise of a great rushing.
14 So the spirit lifted me up, and took me away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; but the hand of the LORD was strong upon me.
15 Then I came to them of the captivity at Telabib, that dwelt by the river of Chebar, and I sat where they sat, and remained there astonished among them seven days.
I have entitled this today: “Taking Me Up”
I believe that we live in a day where God is doing great and miraculous things. He is taking us places, as believers, that we might have thought we would never go.
Eph 2:6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
Sometimes I think that we forget that the Word of God is for all generations.
What God has done in past generations He is still doing today!
Eph 3:10 To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,
God wants us, as the Church, to know who He is, what He can and will do in our lives.
God wants us to know about the Principalities and powers in Heavenly places in the church.
God’s Word is timeless; what was spoken to one generation is still being spoken unto us in the day that we live in.
In our opening Text, Ezekiel has been taken up by the Spirit of God and he heard behind him a voice of a great rushing, saying, Blessed be the glory of the LORD from his place.
When the Word says that He took him up, that is what He did in the Spirit.
“The exclamation” Blessed be the glory of the LORD from his place probably means that the Glory awakens Praise wherever it goes, and so could even make Babylonia God’s place.
The phrase, “Then the spirit took me up,” refers to the Holy Spirit, who earlier had energized the Cherubims and the wheels took hold of Ezekiel to energize him.
What Ezekiel is observing he be became apart of, God wants us to observe what we can become.
Ezekiel 3:14
14 So the spirit lifted me up, and took me away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; but the hand of the LORD was strong upon me.
Ezekiel went in bitterness and heat of his spirit; this is talking about the wrath or anger of the Prophet concerning the sins of the people and their opposition and rebellion against God.
Ezekiel 3:15
15 Then I came to them of the captivity at Telabib, that dwelt by the river of Chebar, and I sat where they sat, and remained there astonished among them seven days.
All that is known of “Tel-abib” is said here.
It is by the “river of Chebar”.
He sat where they sat, refers to Ezekiel beginning his ministry in silence.
They that wait upon the Lord shall renew his strength; we have to learn to wait until God tells us to move in situations.
Ezekiel was taken where it was that he was going but still had to wait until God told him what and when to speak.
Ezekiel 3:16
16 And it came to pass at the end of seven days, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Ezekiel did not move until the Lord said so, and neither should we.
Habakkuk 2:1-4
1 I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.
2 And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.
3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.
4 Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.
Ezekiel was commissioned to be a watchman for Israel and whatever God wanted him to speak he was going to say.
God was taking Ezekiel up in the things of Him because of obedience.
I have entitled this today:
“Taking Me Up”
Dream 1-17-09
I dreamed that I had a few drinks. I was then playing cards. I felt lightheaded. I told an individual in the game that I wasn’t drunk. I knew they thought I was. I said that I didn’t touch any alcohol; they said they believed me. I was then looking out the window at a beautiful cloud. I felt like I was drunk. I knew that I wasn’t. The Spirit of God picked me up and started taking me up. I was heading into another room. I said “thank you Jesus” as I woke up.
Interpretation
Acts 2:14-18
14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:
15 For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.
16 But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
18 And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:
What I was drinking was not alcohol, but it was coming from the Holy Spirit.
Beautiful cloud-Heavenly manifestation; glory presence of God
The Spirit of God picked me up and started taking me up.
God is still the same even in the generation that we live in.
Just like Ezekiel was taken up in the Spirit, God is able to do that in the generation that we live in.
In the dream, the Holy Spirit picked me up and was taking me to another room.
That is what God has done in the past few years. After this dream, I started to have a lot of dreams where Jesus has shown up in.
The Holy Spirit is still taking me and you to other rooms if we will be obedient to His Word.
The people to whom Peter was preaching to did not understand what they were seeing.
They were seeing people speaking in tongues from other cultures in their langage.
To these people, they looked like they were drunk.
Acts 2:15-17
15 For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.
16 But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God; I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
Just like Ezekiel, we have to willing to be God’s watchmen and watchwomen who will do what and say what the Spirit of God is speaking today.
We have to be a people who are going to take our places in the time that God has appointed us.
Ezekiel 317:21
Eze 3:17 Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.
18 When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
19 Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.
20 Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
21 Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul.
We are watchmen in the generation that we live in and it is time for us to declare the Word of the Lord.
When I think about warning people, I go back to 2001 and the warning that God had given me concerning my cousin who is was a Jehovah witness.
On February 24 2001 I had this dream:
I dreamed that I was at a hospital and I walked up to my cousin and told him I felt God wanted me to tell him that he needed to know God, I felt God wanted me to tell him that he needed to accept Jesus as his personal Saviour. I felt God wanted me to tell him that if he asked Him that He would give him a dream. I felt that God wanted me to tell him if he didn’t then he would go to Hell.
If I would have seen him I would have told him. I did not get the urgency of the message.
2 weeks later on March 10, 2001, I had the following dream: basically the same dream:
I dreamed that I was at a hospital and I walked up to my cousin and I told him God told me to tell you that he needed to know God. God told me to tell you that he needed to accept Jesus as his personal Saviour. God told me to tell you that if he asked Him He would give him a dream. God told me to tell you if he didn’t, then he would go to Hell.
Jehovah witnesses do not believe in Hell.
I knew that there was an urgency to give him the message that God had given me.
I found out where he lived and I went and told him what God had said.
My knees were knocking and you want to talk about trembling, I was.
I gave the warning and he said to me “Joe, I have just finished dealing with this Hell stuff, he said a loving God would not send anyone to Hell.”
March 10, 2002, the same day, a year later, God had given me the seriousness of the warning; my cousin had a massive heart attack and died, 33 years old.
If you could have seen the look on his face in the casket, how his face was all twisted up, it was like he was fighting something.
God is taking us up!
We are watchmen in the generation that we live in and it is time for us to declare the Word of the Lord.
Closing
If I had not given the warning, his blood would have been on my hands.
Acts 2:15-17
15 For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.
16 But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God; I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
Taking Us Up!
If you are interested in seeing some God given dreams given to me and others in our church go to:
http://www.ourchurch.com/member/w/windoffaithdrea/
Go to the new text page for the God given dreams.
