In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of not boasting about men and instead focusing on the inheritance that believers have in Christ. He mentions various figures like Paul, Apollos, and Keithus, highlighting that all things belong to believers. The speaker also shares a personal story about a Friday night experience involving three boys on a bench. The sermon concludes by discussing the concept of the new creation and the promise of inheriting all things in Revelation 21 and 22.

We come unto you tonight with praise and thanksgiving. You're so good, so good, so good, so good, so good. Lord, you are good. We thank you, Lord, for your goodness to each family represented here. We thank you especially for Devin, Lord, to hear that he's doing so well, such a miracle. We pray, Lord, that he will just improve rapidly now, Lord. In Jesus' name, help the little fellow. And each family represented here, Lord, bring peace and health and protection. And, Lord, as we pursue your word, we pray the things you want said will be said, Lord, and add Jesus to each one as he or she has need, Lord. Let no one go empty, we pray, in Jesus' name, amen. A little Devin that hurt his throat so bad with this razor scooter, the thing that really touched me, has a little sister named Bethany. And she was sitting back there, Sunday nights. She started crying, and they couldn't figure out what it was. And she said that she's fine coming to church. But she started crying as soon as she got in here, and they asked her what it was, and she said that Devin used to hold her hand during the service. A little eight-year-old boy. And I don't know how old his sister is, but I thought, God's going to hear that. God will hear that prayer if he doesn't hear anything else. So, he fell over on a razor scooter and it punctured his trachea. And just on, I mean, it was touch and go. But now he's breathing on his own. Who's up there? Tim? Tim, you don't happen to have that one that shows the six aspects of the inheritance. Do you have that up there? Can you dredge that up? I want to tie that in, because we're leaving that now. Passing on to something else. But I just wanted to tie it together, because I haven't been here at my post for a while. Eddie, praise God, faithful Eddie, filled in for me. So, does anyone in here remember those six aspects of the inheritance while he's finding them? Oh, you suddenly remembered them? All right, I think we've covered that. I'll move it down now, if you will, so we can see the last ones. Paradise. Remember what we said about paradise? A couple of things, just two things to remember about it. Well, three things. Do you remember what it means, what the word itself means? Garden. The source of the word is somewhat obscure, but they believe it means garden. And anything else you remember that we said about it? Paradise. It'll be on the earth. See, when we say heaven, what we mean is paradise. When we think of heaven, we mean paradise, because that's where we were created, on earth, in a garden. And so, heaven merely means a spirit realm. And we're not after the spirit realm. We're after the garden. We're after the delights of the garden. And we're not just after the spirit realm per se, because that's full of angels and four-headed creatures and other things we don't know about, but what we're after is the garden. That's paradise. And so, remember what we said about it? It will be on the earth. It means garden. It will be on the earth. And there's a third thing that's very important. It will come from God, through Christ, through the saints. It will not just drop down from heaven. It's being formed in us. What is being formed in us now, that is so utterly important, is the wall. See, Eden had no wall. Eden was an unwalled paradise. God will have no more unwalled paradises, because it invites the entrance of the enemy. When they were rebuilding under Ezra for a while, there was no wall. Nehemiah started them on the wall, and the enemies, you'll see in the book of Ezra, were able to get right in there. So, when there's no wall. So, when you see the New Jerusalem, the most conspicuous feature is the wall. We'd love to see what was going on inside there, but what God shows us is the wall, and the twelve foundations with all the precious stones in it. Because what's important in God's sight is a wall. He doesn't want any more unwalled paradises. And the wall is created in us. We're the foundation of that wall. All these precious stones, with all their colors, represent various virtues that are created in us through heat and pressure. And that wall will stand for eternity. It will protect the presence of God, and the holiness of the holy city, and the river of life, and all these other things. There'll be many nations on the earth, saved nations. But they will not be able to go through the gates into the city. Someone asked me about those gates. So, the gates are always open, that's true. The gates are always open, but there's an angel at each gate. And the word of God is there in those angels. It says, there shall not enter into it the various things described in the 22nd chapter of Revelation. Lying and immorality and all this will not be permitted, ever, into the paradise of God. And what will hold it out is Christ in the saints. And that is why we are going through what we're going through. God could take us to heaven. What's the problem with that? You know, we don't have to go through all this to go to heaven. There's no problem with that. The problem is that God doesn't want a repeat of what happened in the beginning. And so, he is creating a company of people who will rule with Christ. And they will be a wall to keep sin out away from God's presence. And on the earth, so that they will teach and correct it. So, God will deal with you and me endlessly about our love for the things of the world. Finding security in the world. He will deal with us about the lust of our flesh that is yielding to Satan. The satanic impulses in our flesh. The nature of Satan. The lust, the passions, jealousy, envy, hatred. And he will deal with us especially about self-will. And our unwillingness to do whatever God says, no matter what. That is the very core of the kingdom. Is the doing of the will of God. And in order to... Now, worldliness is up to us to renounce the world and to turn away from us. We ask God for help. Just keep me from finding security in the world. In the world system. I don't want to do that. How do we get rid of the sins that are in us? The nature of Satan. Through the power of the Holy Spirit as we confess Him. If you through the Spirit to put to death the deeds of your body. Now, in this third great realm, which is the source of all other sin. Which is an unwillingness to do God's will in every situation. How does God get rid of that? Being faithful in your prison. And the prison is simply being where you don't want to be. Being denied what you want fervently. And being forced to do things year after year after boring year. That you don't care to do. And it's there that we qualify for the crown of life. It says you'll be in prison ten days. Be faithful unto death. It doesn't mean until you die. Physically. It means until your will dies. Until you're ready to say not my will be done. Get some of me, that's a death. My soul is exceedingly sorrowful. Even unto death. And until you're willing to do that. And of course the saints of all ages have experienced God's dealings like this. You do not qualify for the crown of life. That is the authority to rule, to govern with the power of an endless life. You do not qualify for that until you have been faithful unto death. And it's the cross represents that prison. And that's what God is facing this church with today. Now we can overcome the things of the world fairly readily by just being unwilling to occupy our time with the things of the culture. We have many opportunities here to make money, to invent things, to make a start-up company on the internet. And to all kinds of things. And you see none of these is sin per se. But they take our time and strength. And we don't have that to give. It takes all we have to keep up with the program of transformation. And like it says, having food and clothing let us be content. And see the American culture is constantly inviting us. And showing us how young men by the time they're 25 they're millionaires because they started up some company on the internet. And we think, well there's no sin in that. What I could do with the church for my family, blah, blah, blah. It's a big lie. Because it takes time, thought, strength that we don't have to give. We've got to have food and raiment, provide shelter for our loved ones. And that's where it stops. From then on our attention, seek ye first. The kingdom of God. And his righteousness. And all these things shall be added to you. That's a commandment. And that's hard for us. But that's the first great temptation. The temptation of bread. Finding your security in the world. Finding your strength there in the world. Your ability to survive. Survival and security. Finding survival and security in the world. Command this stone that it be made bread. Take your talents and make bread. What did Jesus say about that? Man shall not live by bread only. And so making money invites you to make more money, invites you to make more money, invites you to make more money. And then by the time you're too old to do anything for God, Satan just laughs at you. You've wasted the one thing that meant something. Was your opportunity to use your talent from God. And I'll tell you this. We think of the parable of the talent as being something when the Lord returns. And I'm sure that's true. But let me tell you something. It operates now. It operates now. God will deal with you for years about using what you have for the kingdom of God. And when he finally sees you're not going to do it, guess what? He takes it from you, gives it to another, and you go into the darkness of confusion. That you don't know where you are spiritually. I'm seeing this happen with people. The Bible means just what it says. And we have to take our God-given help, what understanding we have, what gifts we have of the Spirit, what opportunities we have, and we use them today. We don't say later. Because let me tell you something. Later never comes. Never comes. I know one man that when we were over in the old church, he wanted to serve God. He said, when I sell my business, I'm going to serve God. When I sell my business, I'm going to serve God. This has got to be 20 years ago. I saw him about a year ago. Guess what? What he said to me. He moved to another place. I'm going to sell my business. When I get that business, I'm going to serve God. 20 years wasted. Wasted. Doing what? Amassing paper. Money. You go into his casket without it. And you come up on the day of resurrection and face a frowning Christ. You wasted what I gave you. So, God doesn't want that for us. He wants us to be free from the American way of death. And that's what it is. It's the American way of death. He wants us free from that. He wants us having food and clothing to be content. Not to be attempted into making more money and making more money. And God will lead us if we ask Him. I'm not being impractical. I'm being immensely practical. We've seen enough people in nursing homes to see what we all come to. Sooner or later. Incontinent. You know, not able to do anything for anybody. Just having to be waited on. And so the time for us to serve God and others is now. It doesn't come later. It's now. And there's not time to dabble in the American economic system. There's not time for that. It's not, as I said, inherently sinful. It's like Jesus said. They were marrying and giving in marriage. Buying and selling. See, there's no inherent sin in that. Until the flood came and took them all away. See, He didn't say they were committing adultery and sodomy and stealing and lying. He said they were marrying and giving in marriage. Buying and selling. When the flood came, it says that they did not. And what do you mean? Sure. They didn't know because it blinds you. Because it blinds you. It's called in the Bible the deceitfulness of riches. It deceives you. And you think everything's going fine. And what you don't realize is this is fritting away. And you'll stand before God and say, Why didn't you tell me this is what I'm doing? And God said, I told you in the Word. You don't need a telegram. I told you in the Word. This is it. Do it. And so as we read the Bible and we see our faces dirty, then what do we do? We pray. We wash it by the Word. We pray and ask God to save us from the world. And the lust of the flesh, the same thing. We just have to put it when God reveals it. We confess it. Renounce it. Denounce it. Draw near to God. And the Holy Spirit breaks that yoke in our life. It's an ongoing process. Boy, it doesn't happen every Sunday morning at 11 o'clock. It's 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. All your life. To transform an Adamic nature to a life-giving spirit. 1 Corinthians 15.45 The first Adam was made a living soul. The second Adam is made a life-giving spirit. 1 Corinthians 15.45 And in order for that transformation to take place, you have to not neglect your salvation. Remember Hebrews 2.3 How shall we escape? It's not written to the unsaved. It's written to the saints. Hebrew saints. How shall we escape? We saints. If we neglect. Neglect. Because that second chapter goes on and tells us that we are rulers of all the works of God's hands. And they were neglecting it. They had been saved and filled with the Spirit. Now they were dwelling in their paneled houses. That's so easy to do. You know, we come so far. Maybe we're in a church that's on the growing edge. And we come so far. And we get saved. We get filled with the Spirit. Maybe something else in that church. And pretty soon the whole church has kind of found its level. And it quiets down. And from then on it just kind of... I don't know what. It quits growing. It loses the verb. Like he says in Ephesians. You've left your first love. That's so easy to do. We're not there yet. God has more for us. He's challenging us now. With going to the nations. That was the word of God Sunday. And every one of us have got to turn back to God now. And say, Lord. Do you have a ministry for me? And I would suggest. Ask God for a nation. See what he'll do. He'll guide you. There may be people right here in this room. That God has in mind to send to Red China. Or to Tibet. Or to Yemen. Or to some place you'd never think. But let me tell you. It will never just happen. The only reason I'm standing before you right now. And not working as a superintendent of public instruction. The only reason. Is because all the while. That I was in the public school. I was praying. Praying. Seeking God's face. Praying. Getting up early in the morning. Praying. Going to church early on Sunday. Way before the Sunday school started. Praying. Praying. Praying. Praying. Never quitting. That's why I'm here. If I hadn't have done that. And just said okay. And just taught the Sunday school. Come in at 9.30. And started the Sunday school at quarter ten. I wouldn't be here. I got there at six. From my class at quarter ten. Six. When I was a school principal. It's a demanding job. It doesn't just happen. The Lord doesn't come knocking on your bedroom window. And saying hey I've called you to Brazil. You have to pray. It's one thing about God. He doesn't like to use people. That he has to drag them. And explain it to them. And listen to their belly aching. And everything. He'll look around to find somebody that's ready to go. Not over anxious. Not rushing out in enthusiasm. But a polished tool. Kept polished. Kept oil. Kept in the place where it's supposed to be. So the Lord doesn't have to wrench the social milieu. To get them to move. Let me tell you. It's easy to serve God when you're being used. It's easy to pray. Read your Bible. Keep bread out for Jesus. It's not that easy when you're not being used. When year after year goes by. And you're busy in secular work. And you're not being used. It is very difficult. To pray like you're the greatest apostle on earth. And not be used. And I went through that for years. Years. It's easy when you're in the grand parade. All excited. But boy, the years are boring. Waiting. Worrying and waiting. Figuring you'll be dead and that'll be it. And still get up and push the envelope. Pray. Seeking God. Faith. Dedication. Discipline. And you can't slack off. There's no slacking off. I remember one famous piano player said, When I go one day without practicing, I know it. I know it. When I go two days, my disciples know it. When I go three days without practicing, the audience knows it. You're going to be a master pianist. You're with it all the time. Or a master ice skater. You're with it all the time. Or swimmer. Or whatever it may be. And if you want to be transformed from the Adamic nature to a life-giving spirit, start now. And don't quit. And don't say, I'm too old. If you're breathing, you're not too old. And you're not too young. God wants you to. And I say be good. And I'll probably be pushing this Sunday. I don't know whether I will or not, but I may. It's much on my heart. We're at a place now where we need, we've got, like he said, Dennis said, we've got men trained in the house. People trained in the house. And those people trained in the house need to be before God. Even though your actual ministry may be 15 years from now. You start now. You say, God, I'm ready. Just give the word. Audrey and I lived like that for years. You give the word, Lord. We're ready to go. We're not married to the world. We're ready to go. And when the Lord spoke, we went. And lost a lot of money from the California State Teachers Retirement System. A lot of money. All the matching funds. When God said go, this little church over there got down to one member and the Foursquare closed it. We had no idea this was going on. But God said go. We came at just the right time because there was older ministers that wanted to use that little church for a retirement church. And there was pressure on the local superintendent to give in to them. Let them have it. He said, I want that church to go. So we never went anywhere. And so he heard us come into town. Walter Miller told him I was a Bible teacher. He came to us. And I'd never been in a Foursquare church in my life. I don't think you had either. Had you, Audrey? Right. But we'd never been in a Foursquare church. Never. And he came and said, would you pastor this church? And if we hadn't have come right when God said. I know a man in the Assemblies of God. One year before retirement, the Lord told him to leave and go minister. And would there be a temptation that say to the Lord, just let me wait a year and then I won't have to trust other people for support? See? That isn't the way God does. When God says go, he doesn't mean, well, let's think about it. No, let's talk about it and argue about it. And I'll explain all my reasons to you and everything else. He doesn't want to do that. When he says go, he means go. But you don't go when he doesn't tell you to go. When you say go, you don't go charging off in your zeal. So what's the answer? Prayer. And you pray. You tell the Lord, I'm ready to go. I'm a man training in the house, a person training in the house. I'm ready to go. Where's that nation, Lord? Where's that group of people that you're going to give me? Where are they? And he'll tell you what that will do. That will lift you up from the petty squabbles of life. You won't be worrying anymore about friction with people. You won't be worrying about the rising cost of power. You won't be worried about the election. You won't be worried about anything else because you'll be lifted up because you're praying to God to use. You realize all this other stuff is just riffles. It doesn't mean anything. God will lift you above this. You begin to pray for the nation. You begin to pray for other countries. Get involved in this. All this other stuff that goes on. It's in the paper. They're all like yo-yos. Newspapers are like a yo-yo. It's up and down, up and down. They have to have something to sell papers. And what does the average Christian do? Goes up and down with paper. Oh, it's going to be a horse race. Gore and Bush doesn't mean a thing. God will put in who he wants and his will will be done. The Bible says promotion comes neither from the East nor from the West. God sets up one, puts down another. I'm not telling you not to vote. I'm just telling you what the Bible says. God will have his way. Get your mind on what's important. Get your mind on what's important. The kingdom of God. Christ. Fruit for his table. God's got out there people. There's fruit for his table. And he'll show you if you'll show any interest in the situation. Amen. And Dennis is right on the money. Right on the money. We've had, I think, fairly good teaching here. There's a lot of people who've never heard it. And I don't even dream it exists. And they might be for you. And I've told you, I guess, for a decade or more, the only inheritance worth having is people. And you might pick yourself up a couple hundred people. Bring them into eternity. You know what Paul said? What is my joy in rejoicing in the day of the Lord? Isn't it you? Tony might pick himself up a few Greeks. On the other hand, he might send Tony to Turkey. Just to be sure that the flesh does him glory. Knockout. That would take the power of God. For sure. But it would be something if you reconcile those two nations, wouldn't it? It would be something. It would be something. And you know, we don't know it, but there are a lot of born-again Arab Christians. We just don't hear about them. But there's a lot of them. And there's Christians, there's Jewish Christians and Arab Christians praying together. You never see that in the paper. See, you don't see the really important stuff unless you get praying and get involved. You're just living on this fleshly, shallow stuff that goes on in our culture. You're getting to see where God's really doing things with people. Unless you're willing to pray and say, Lord, here am I. Send me. Some of us, I think, are pretty close to God saying, okay, you're right. Let's do it. But you have to wait because you're being drawn on the Lord's bow. He moves it up toward the enemy like this. And he draws. Boy, you feel like you're going to crack. Well, let this thing go. Don't worry. His timing is perfect. And when he's ready for you, with Audrey and me, I was 50 when God finally said, go. 50 years old. What a time to start, Pastor. So, stay there until he lets the arrow fly and it goes straight into the heart of the king's enemies. See, I'm getting old. Oh, big deal. Jesus ministered for three years and changed the history of the world and never left a little area around Jerusalem. No, don't worry about it. You're too old. Maybe you're old enough not to have manners. Tony? Pastor, you teach that we're in the church age right now and a thousand years to the kingdom age. And you also teach that the kingdom, the church age, is the time of preparation of the body of Christ. Now, in that church age that we're in right now, preparation of the body of Christ, does that include going on to the nations and we've heard from Dennis and we've preached that. But what's, what there remains, what are we supposed to do then in the, what will be the thrust in the millennium or the kingdom age? The thrust in that age will be the nation per se. The entire nation that is left alive. What we're going out now for is to find the elect. If you'll read in the book of Acts, you'll see three, at least three references to the fact that they were not going out to save Corinth. They were not going out to save Ephesus. You'll find that the Lord directed them where to go and where not to go. And you remember, I think it was either Corinth or Thessalonica that the Lord said to him, stay here, I have many people in this city. He didn't say stay here and save the city. He said, I have many people. In another place, he says in Acts, as many as were ordained, the life believed. So you see, that's what I meant by food for the master's table. Out there in the nations, he has members of his elect, people that he's called, that have been called from the foundation of the world to be sons of God. Members of the church. And when you go out there, the Spirit of the Lord will lead you to the elect, to the people that God has elected. But when you get into the kingdom age, you get into the whole nation. Now, you see, in the Great Commission, it says, go and make disciples of the nations. But it doesn't mean the whole nation, because you won't see that in the book of Acts. They never disciple the whole nation. It means you make disciples out from the nations. You go into Greece, you make up some disciples. You go into Turkey, you make some disciples. You go into Arabia, you make some disciples. See, that's where the elect, that's where the Spirit of God has to lead you. They tried to go into a couple of places, the apostles did, and the Spirit didn't let them. And you'll find this, if you read this carefully in the book of Acts, you'll see what was done was the calling out of the church, out from the nations. Yes? Okay, so for that matter, okay, now I understand it. It makes sense. So for that matter, let's take the jail ministry, for example. Would that be considered a nation going into the jails and trying to pick out dots of lead, like you said, out of the, or to whomsoever will. Would that be considered going into? Yes, because the word nation, as it's used in the New Testament, does not mean a nation like we have today. They didn't exist at that time. There was only the Roman Empire. There were no nations. And when he said, go into every nation, it has to do with the meaning of the Greek word. And it means people with a common, commonality. It could be a hundred people, with a head, with a head man, with a chief. It could be a hundred people. See, when we think of a nation, we think of the nations as they are today. They didn't exist then. And so I would say, yes, a jail would be a nation in that sense. It's a homogeneous group of people. The nations did not exist. There was only the great Roman Empire. There were no nations. So it's any group of people that the Lord calls you to. You go out there and you minister to them. And by the Lord, the Lord will tell you where to go. The Lord, boy, we've heard some interesting stories about this. There was one old lady, the Lord called her to Africa. She didn't realize she was going to get there. She went down to the train station and somebody handed her a ticket. An old lady. She went there and got in Africa and sat down under a tree and got out her Bible, started teaching. Pretty soon the kids come around. She had herself a Sunday school, just following the Spirit of the Lord. Oh, there are many instances of this kind of thing happening in church history. You do what the Lord tells you. Andrew had a... Andrew, do you want to tell about that experience that you had about the three boys on the bench? That's the real stuff, Andrew. Say it so they can hear you on the tape. It was a Friday night that the women's retreat started. And I was going up to Bill Holland's house. I had to... They had a problem at one of the stores. They called me. I had to go out the other home. And so I was late getting there. So I left. And then I told them, make a U-turn. I'll show you where to go. And I did. And I got blocked down. They said, turn into Circle K. So I turned into Circle K. When I turned in, I saw three young guys, about 14 years old, somewhere in Spain. Now tell me, would you have done that? See, you know, obviously you can go into error in this kind of thing if you're not careful. But it's a day when we need to be alert. And, you know, if something like that comes to you, pray carefully. Say, Lord, if this is you, direct me. If not, get me out of here. You know, you have to be prayerful. You can't be foolish. But all this kind of thing, boy, you read the history of Pentecost. This is, you know, people were going over to countries and speaking in the languages that they'd never learned. And see, there's been a dry time. And I think it's so that God did not want to bless the order as it was then. He wanted people to go on to further work in sanctification so that when he blessed them and used them, they wouldn't repeat the old errors of making money from the ministry and seeking preeminence and all the corruption that went on. Yes, Emily. I can tell you a quick story how I got to your church. This was back in 1979. My husband was invited by another gentleman, you know him, the same one Barbara Duncan, that used to be there, to a teaching, a scripture teaching out on Waring Road, which is way east on Highway 8. And Barbara called me up and said, Emily, why don't we go with the fellas and we'll have dinner? I said, fine. Got there, Paul Dillinger was teaching. Of course, I didn't know any of these things at all. And while I was sitting listening to Paul, the Lord said to me, just very simply, I want you to ask that man where he goes to church because I want you to go to church there. Now, you can expect things like that. And the Christian life, when it comes to ministry, is a romance. I mean, it's an adventure. I think it was Amy Carmichael walking on the water at midnight. Be expecting. You know, look up to the Lord. Don't expect everything to be humdrum. This is a wonderful day we're living in. Expect the Lord to lead you. And as I say, pick out some nation, if you have to twirl a globe around and do this. Just pick out something and pray for them. That can't hurt. And God will guide you. You can't steer a ship when it's anchored in the harbor. You can't steer it. Once it's in there and in the harbor, you cannot steer it. To steer a ship, you have to get it out in the water and moving before the rudder will work. And it's the same way with people. You have to kind of keep yourself bronky. You can't just stagnate and sit and say, well, Lord, if you want me to do anything, just blast me out of here. And yet, you've got that balance. You don't rush out in enthusiasm. There's a balance there. And it takes a lot of prayer and a lot of self-control. But if you don't do anything, nothing will happen. As I said, I wouldn't be here. I was very involved in public school work and being a member now where I'm a resource person, consultant, and so on, and this kind of thing, teaching. I was teaching up in Santa Cruz Extension for the University of California and so on. A lot of interesting things going. It was easy. And I could teach Sunday school. Say, why am I? I'm such a good Christian. I go to church on Sunday and teach Sunday school. That isn't enough. Let's present your body a living sacrifice. We've got to get with it. And when you do, the Lord will help you. He will make it interesting and wonderful. It isn't all just examining your navel like we do around here so much. But as I said, God wants us to be ready. He says, men trained in this house. He wants us to be free from the world, doing practically, you know, defensively, taking care of our families, but not absorbed into the American high-level economic push right now where people are making millions. The average person is making millions. It means nothing. It means absolutely less than nothing. What it is, is that it robs us of our crown. It takes our crown because we're giving time, strength, and attention to things that are perishing. And God wants the sin out of us. He doesn't want the devil in us. And so we have to confess these things and renounce them and the Holy Spirit helps us. But the main one, the main key that God is working on today is finding people who will stay in the place where God puts them. Praying each day for what they want. Praying each day to be released. Praying for their heart's desire but yet not not breaking out of God's prison. Staying where God put them because that's where the saints are made. And we stay there till death. We stay there until the soul, that soulish enthusiasm, because that doesn't go anywhere in the gospel. People don't get life from our soulish enthusiasm. They don't get life until we're willing to carry our cross and take the sufferings of Christ with good cheer and then God raises us up and it's in that overflow that people live. It's in the overflow. We're brought down to death and then God raises us up but He gives more than we need and it goes out to others. And that's the only way you can bring life to people. That's the only way you can become a life-giving spirit. You don't get it by studying a commentary. You know the world today needs information, it's true, but more than that, the world, the darkness is so great that the world needs people moving among them who have life in themselves. Information. Not just how to accept Christ, but who actually from their personalities are giving out life. And that can only come as we stay in the Lord's prison and He brings us down to death. And then when He raises us up, there's that superabundant life, it comes out and it blesses us and it blesses other people. Now that's a hard way to live. I mean, I'm still learning, and you're learning, and you're nothing unless God is leading you. I can't even think anymore. I go to think of something I can't remember and then I just wait and the Lord brings it to my mind. The Bible says we have the mind of Christ. And God wants us to live by His life. And that means we're not living by our own life. And that takes a lot of faith and a lot of patience and a lot of willingness to give over what we are to the Lord. But the result is other people live. Other people live and it makes it worthwhile. And He gives us enough joy. We have enough joy to get by. But boy, I'm telling you it's something to just wait and live by the life of Christ. But anyway, everyone at his level. Okay, so the paradise that is coming to the world will come through people who are able to manage it. Who will go through the earth and in the spirit of Christ will lift the curse. Lift the bondage from people. Make it possible for the wolf to lie down with the lamb. See, it's not just going to happen. It's going to happen through the church. Through the manifestations of the Romans 8 says this. The manifestation of the sons of God that will set the creation free and release the curse and the frustration. That's why we're going through what we're going through. And the rewards will be enormous like Paul says. I don't count the sufferings of this time worthy to be compared with the glory. Exceeding glory. So we're just a few more patient steps. A few more willingness to say not my will but thine be done. And the first thing you know we'll be there. The older you get the more time telescopes. The quicker it goes. You just turn around and see like no time at all. I'm 65. Now I'm 75. I don't know where the time went. It just gets faster and faster and faster. So be a good sheriff. A few more patient steps and you'll be there. And God will give you grace along the way and make it interesting and worthwhile. Boy, you've got to mind your business. You can't get distracted with the American way of life or death for one second because it will rob you of your crown. Then you've got all eternity to wish that you'd been more diligent, had more faith. Okay. Now the last one there is all things of the new creation. Of course that's Revelation 21.7. And of course there's this sums it all up. I mean this sums up the whole banana, the whole ranch, the whole inheritance. And notice he who overcomes will inherit all this. And King James says we'll inherit all things. But I like that inherit all this because it means all that's portrayed in Revelation 21 and 22. And it doesn't say that God's going to give you that. What does it say? You're going to inherit it. See, an inheritance is different from someone. Inheritance has to do with the family. Has to do with the heirs of your will. It isn't like you went down the street and gave somebody something. There's a family kind of thing implicit in that. And so we're sons of God. So we inherit. And God is pleased to be our God and we're God's sons. We inherit everything in Revelation 21 and 22. It belongs to us. But what is a stipulation? And what does it mean to overcome? It means that right now I'm sure today you were tested in one of the three areas I mentioned. Either in finding your survival and security in the world or in some passion of your flesh or in doing something questioning God about something He wants you to do and you're not all that happy about doing it. One of those three. And if you can look up to God and say I went your way in this instance you are an overcomer. If on the other hand you did not go God's way you're not overcoming. You're being overcome by the world or by the loss of your flesh or by your self-will. So right now you either are overcoming or you're being overcome. It's as simple as that. And see the trick is to die in Christ. That is to die as an overcomer. The dead in Christ shall rise. So you never know when the whistle is going to blow. So you can't say well when I get older I'll overcome. It doesn't work that way. Look at little Devin. We almost lost him at eight years old. Didn't happen to anybody. So we don't have any time. If we're breathing the time is now. So you deal with what God is dealing with you about right now. Whether it's survival in the world or whether it's some passion of your flesh or whether it's your self-will and your unwillingness to do what God is requiring. You either are overcoming or you're being overcome. And if you are overcoming you will inherit inherit all the things described in Revelation 21 and 22. Alright let's go on now to 1 Corinthians 3. I love this passage. 1 Corinthians 3 verses 21 through 23. 1 Corinthians 3 verses 21 through 23. Yes. Well, how are you sure whether you're winning the fight or not? If you're being overcome you're not overcoming. In other words, being an overcomer is not a state that you reach. It has to do with your daily life. Now let's say that you've been doing a real good in the Lord and then you hit a bump in the road. What's going to happen to anybody? Well, you don't feel well I've slid all the way down to the base of Mount Zion and I have to climb up again. You go to the Lord you just tell Him Lord I hit a bump in the road I'm sorry, I repent what I did was not worthy of me you confess it denounce it renounce it and draw near to God and He will restore you. He wants to restore you. Now, if we could go through life without hitting a bump in the road we wouldn't even need Jesus. More than that we would begin to get the idea that we had saved ourselves. You know, we wouldn't we'd be real cute about it but down in our heart we'd figure you know, I was pretty good and these other people are not really that great but I've been pretty good. If you feel that way the Lord will have to take you through something to show you that salvation is of the Lord. That's why David said in thy sight only did I sin that you might be justified. It's not an invitation to sin don't go out and sin to prove that God is the Savior. You'll have enough problems without creating any. Okay? But when you hit a bump in the road and then God restores you now there were some men who were restored over the weekend Saturday because Dennis kept preaching on and on and on and on about that God loves you and will restore you. He's not out to say oh I caught you now you did it now you've lost the whole thing. That is not the way God is looking at things. When He sees you stumbling that's a wonderful chance for His grace and power to lift you up and then you have to run and take hold of it be forgiven and then you have to get up on your hind legs and go on as though you'd never sinned. There's two temptations there one is not to confess it just to go down hill spiral down and the other one is after you have made it right then to carry it around with you. And say oh I'm unworthy I'll quit the ministry I'll do this because I really bond and everything. And that is a no no God is not pleased with that. When God says He forgives you and cleanses you from all unrighteousness then you have got to take hold of that and not pretend that that isn't true. And that's very important and some people have an enormous problem with that. They just can't believe that God would forgive them. Well that turns off the power of the presence of God because you're not doing what He said. He said confess your sins and God is faithful and righteous to forgive your sin and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. And if you go around after this and oh I'm not worthy I've sinned and now look what I've done and all this and blah blah blah blah blah you're going against the word of God. And He can't deal with it. And I told you before how I was feeling all that self pity for myself and the horses of war were going by. I told that to one of the brothers at the retreat because he was having that very problem and here comes this horse with no rider and I knew I was supposed to get up on it and I'm saying oh not me I'm not worthy go on I was in your group once go on I'll pray for you and the Lord was waiting for me to get over my self pity. And if you don't think that wasn't hard to get up on that horse you just don't understand self pity because it's delicious to nourish that in your bosom how you know terrible you are. And I mean I had to swallow my pride because that self pity is an inverted pride. And I had to swallow my pride and get up on that and boy that was hard. But if I hadn't of I don't know where I'd have been today because the Lord doesn't fool around and he doesn't want soldiers in his army who don't believe him. And when he says he'll cleanse you from all unrighteousness that's precisely what he means. And you don't go on there telling everybody what a sinner you are and everything and letting the devil beat you over the head with it. You take your forgiveness you stand up and you go on with God and God honors that. The problem is that thing that's been preached so much that it has gone too far over to where people say well I can sin but God will forgive me. See no that's not right either. You have to do the best you can. If you're doing the best you can and you stumble then you don't waste time. You go to God when because stumbling a lot of times comes from deception you're deceived you didn't realize and then you come to yourself and you realize what I did was wrong. Okay you make it right you have to make restitution you look to the Lord for grace and wisdom to do that. You don't just charge around and confess things that gravel other people and grind them under the ground because you want to get rid of the conviction. You have to live with it confess it to God make restitution as he directs and then that's all you can do and God's word says I'll forgive you go on from there and then you're an overcomer. But if you sit around saying oh you know what I did is so terrible God can never forgive it and no I'm not worthy to be a deacon or whatever you are and blah blah blah and all this that's not an overcomer. That's someone that doesn't believe God. That's someone that's trying to save themselves trying to show God how worthy they are. Whereas what God wants you to know is salvation is of the Lord and when you mess up go back to the Lord and get yourself saved. That's what an overcomer is. Simple as that. If you get knocked down don't stay there. The last man standing up on the canvas wins. Get up again and God will help you. He loves that. He knows we're a bunch of sinners. He knows our foolishness and our shortcomings. God understands that. He's not amazed when we do some stupid thing. He just wants us to find out that we can't save ourselves to get right Go to God and when we do that we're a stronger person than we were before and better able to help other people. It's just like once you get the chicken pox then you're immune. I mean there's an advantage to getting chicken pox. Then after that you're immune. Well, the same way it works in the Christian life. Every mistake you make if you handle it correctly becomes a stepping stone and makes you a stronger Christian better able to minister to other people. Does that make sense to you? Boy, did we hear that Saturday. Two good messages Saturday. Sunday they were good but they were short because there were those prophecies and other things but Saturday we had two 60 minute at least messages solid and fruitful. So, I want to be sure to get those tapes. Alright, now. Alright, 1 Corinthians 3 21 through 23 So then, no more boasting about men. All things are yours. Whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or look at that. Look at that. Are you looking at it or is it sliding by you? Or the world or life or death or the present or the future. Whoa. All are yours. Inheritance. All are yours. And you are of Christ or belong to Christ and Christ is of God or belongs to God. That's the hierarchy in the kingdom. There's the Father and then Christ the Saints and everything else. That's the hierarchy. The Father is on top under Him is Christ under Christ the Saints under the Saints is Paul Apollos Cephas the world life death the present the present the future. Isn't that neat? What more can you inherit? That's everything. Oh praise the Lord. Are you making it? I have a few minutes left. I'd like to switch gears now. Are there any questions about the inheritance? We saw the six things of the inheritance and we are joint heirs with Christ and these are all His inheritance. And we are joint heirs co-heirs with Christ. Everything. The whole thing. All the works of God's hands. Huh? Okay, look at everything going on in the world. All these things are going on in the Middle East in Peru in the Persian Gulf. All of this is to bring forth the sons of God in the image of Christ. All things work together for good. Even blowing a hole in the destroyer. Everything works together. See, we're only looking at remember I taught you about the group. The world lives in the group image. God doesn't live in the group image. See, when it comes to blowing a hole in the destroyer what God was interested in is how that impacted on each person in there. The people that maybe prayed at the last minute. The people that prayed for their buddies. The people that dedicated their lives to Christ because they were spared. The loved ones. See, the world can only see the group image. There's a hole blown in the destroyer. That isn't where the action is. God used that to work in his church. See, there was a lot of relatives undoubtedly many of them Christians. Now we see there's going to be more warships blown up. You see how God will use that threat to cause the loved ones of the sailors to get serious with God. That's why people say, oh, Gore gets elected. Oh, Bush gets elected. God will have the man elected who will produce the kind of interaction among people that God wants. Until things get bad enough, the Christians aren't going to wake up to the fact that hell is coming over the television and is knocking on their door. They'll go on with the sitcoms and the other things and the double entendres and the innuendos and all the rest of it. Ha ha, everything. Well, that's the world. We're in the world until they have the sun out there on some ship in the Persian Gulf. Then remember, maybe I better pray. Maybe I better turn off this television and pray. That's where God is. Not in this other stuff. The newspaper isn't telling you what's going on. What's going on is the interaction with people and the Lord. And that's why the present is ours. It doesn't belong to the devil. Everything he does brings forth the sons of God. The future is ours. Everything else is ours. Death is ours. Life is ours. The world can't be broken. So you have nothing to worry about except the Lord. He's the only problem you got. Jesus is your only problem. What will you do with Jesus who is called Christ? Ha ha ha. Sure. The whole thing. The birth pangs of the creation that bring forth the kingdom of God. And without that if America was to go for six months without any trouble this whole country would be one great Bacchanalian rebel of adultery and lust and man-boy relationships and everything else. It's only the pressure of tragedy that brings any kind of a semblance of godliness to our country. Yes, Emily. There was a pastor that came on the 700 Club which of course is the club with Pat Robertson about four days ago. And he said that the Lord had told him in his church I would pray this way. Lord, give us the leader that's going to accomplish your will. That's what I pray. Give us a leader that's going to accomplish your will. Yeah. I just take that out of man's hand altogether. Not second-guess God. Give us a leader that's going to accomplish your will. Yes, you just happen to have a reader under your tongue. I know you, Emily. Don't think I don't. Don't think I don't. She just happens to have a reader under her tongue. She's all ready to play the sax. All right. Everyone to his calling. All right. I've got a couple of minutes now. And I don't want to waste God's time. If you're ready now, I want to move to another subject and we'll probably be elaborating this Sunday I would guess. All right. It's in Ezekiel 45 verse 10. Now, that can't be right. Well, where have I been? Try 45.10. I'll tell you if that's the right one or not. Ezekiel 45.10. Somebody tell me what it says. That's it. That's it. 45.10. You are to use accurate scales, an accurate ephah, and an accurate bat. Now, these are all, of course, having to do with selling, grain, wine, oil, and so on. These are standards of measure. All right. And God impressed this on me tonight. I said, Lord, should I skip over this? And the Lord said, no. No. He said, we're talking now the subject is honesty and integrity. And God says, my people must, I'm telling you what God told me in my office, my people must have integrity. See, now our nation is coming up awful short in the integrity. We're becoming a nation of pragmatists. In other words, if it works, it works like one of the big leaders in this power thing said, well, some people are the winners and some are the losers, meaning the power company was making a big profit and so the common people were being hurt. Well, he says, some are the winners and some are the losers. That's pragmatism. Whatever works. There's no integrity there. There's no honesty. There's nothing there. And we're becoming, our politicians, too many of them, I think, are becoming people without integrity, without honesty. The end justifies the means. And God does not want that in his church. He wants every trace of that out of church. Every trace of politicking out of his church. Every trace of nepotism, that is, favoring relatives out of his church. He wants all dishonesty out of his church with money. Every form of lying God wants out of his church. He cannot work with a church that does not have absolute integrity. He cannot work with a person that does not have absolute integrity. If there's any darkness, any willingness in us to con, to lie, to evade in order to accomplish an objective, God will not honor that thing. We must be simple. We must say what we mean and mean what we say and no foolishness. Alright, this is the subject now. We're going on to the subject of honesty as part of the image of Christ. We know that God has absolute integrity. We know that Christ has absolute integrity. And we're being made in his image. Alright, Leviticus 19.36 We won't be much longer. Alright, we've gone to the, could you hear me out there? We've gone to the subject of integrity. Alright, Leviticus 19.36 Use honest scales and honest weights and honest ephah and honest hen. That again, the hen and the ephah are measures of, and ephah was about, you could figure, as I remember, was a bushel. It was a measure of grain. It was about a bushel. Ephah was about a bushel. A hen was a measure of wine. Maybe a gallon of wine, whatever it was. I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt. And 35, do not use dishonest standards when measuring length, weight, or quantity. This is the image of Christ. He wants absolute honesty. Of course, in American business, it is, in so many instances, there are invitations, I even see it, I won't tell you what grocery store we go to. We went to another store of the same branch. Another branch of the same store, I should say. Because time after time, you would find things that were marked in such a way that it misleads you. You got to the cash register and say, oh no, that isn't what it was. Well, the sign was on it. Well, the sign moved over. It happened too much to be chance in this particular store. And also, in the paper, about a week ago, from California, the people that do the weights and measures came out and they checked on the, you know how when we go through the cash register, it electronically records the price of the item. They found instance after instance of where the customers were being overcharged by those electronic scanners. And most of the stuff, we assume, it's going to be honest, but it was in the paper. I mean, I guess all the major suppliers of groceries and things do that so you've got to watch carefully because the scanners, it didn't say that any time that they found one instance in the customer's favor, it was always in the store's favor. Now, you know, if it was just a random thing, it would be half one way and half the other. And when it all goes in the store's favor, then that's deliberate. And I've noticed in the store where we go, I like a certain kind of skin cream that I use for shaving, and then they have the store brand against the popular, I use the popular brand, the regular brand, I've been used to it, it's been in the market a long time. Then they have the store brand, exact same colors on the jar. And if you don't watch what you're doing, you grab the store one. It's deliberate. It's a deliberate fraud. It's deliberate deception. And the $99.99 I've talked about and all that. So we are, our country is given, in business, the idea is let the buyer beware. Caveat inter, let the buyer beware. And if it works and they buy it and you make a few bucks, that's business. God will not honor that. That's pragmatism. God will not honor that, that the end justifies the means. We have to be scrupulously honest. I personally believe that a businessman can succeed being scrupulously honest. He doesn't have to lie and be dishonest to succeed. But we have to keep telling ourselves that because our culture is constantly pressing us with this thing that you know, expect it because that's the way they are. Expect it because that's the way the politicians are. Expect them to embellish. Expect them to do this. God doesn't do that. He does not embellish. Imagine Jesus Christ embellishing to sell the gospel. It's the image of Christ, people. It's the image of Christ. We've got to get out of this. We're Americans. We're cheap. We've got to get us out of this. Look at all these, look at the problem they had in the Olympics with people taking these steroids. Now carefully they have to watch them because they'll do it. If they can get away with it, they'll cheat. It's like everybody does it, so what's the big deal? It's a big deal with God. It's a big deal with God. Better to lose and do it honestly than to win and cheat because God will not accept it. Wow. That's the image of Christ. Would Jesus cheat? Huh? We're calling him in his image. Would he cheat? If he were an athlete, would he cheat? Would Jesus cheat? Would he cheat someone with money? Would he cheat? If he were a businessman, would he cheat? Would God cheat? What would happen? So we have to learn to get through life being honest. Honest, eh? You know, it used to be a big thing when I was growing up. Everybody's mother wanted to be a president and what they'd always tell us was that George Washington's mother said, who chopped down the cherry tree? George could never lie. He would tell the truth. I chopped down the cherry tree. Can you imagine that today? We'd have scorned that. The public would have scorned that. It was ridiculous. They'd say, in the first place, George would have lied and said, Mother, I planted the tree and the Democrats chopped it down. That's the way we're living, people. You've got to understand that. Our nation's one great con. Yes? Our nation is filled with that and we're going to see this in the election. Constant fraud and things going on. Both parties do it. I don't know if the other green party does it, but I'll tell you the two major parties. Whoa! The dirty trick boys. They'll do anything to win that thing. The dirty trick boys. They'll do a lie, everything, and they'll lie just at the time when the election's over before you can get at the facts and everything. Well, if it worked, it worked. God will not touch that thing. He will not touch it. There's no excuse for it. It's as much sin as homosexuality. It's absolutely as much sin. We make a big noise about homosexuality. Well, it's a sin like any other sin. But so is lying. So is dishonesty. So is a pragmatic approach to life. It's as much a sin as any other sin. The end never justifies the means. God wants the means to be upright and honest. How many times in the gospel have people, oh, the tracts I've read, you know people made them up. And the ministers get up and cry and read these tracts about something that God was supposed to have done. There was this orphan, and they were out alone, and someone gave them a tract, and they got saved, and the angel goes, you know it never happened. And the church members will cry and go on with this. Well, the idea is somebody got saved, it's justified. But it's not justified. It's a lie. You can't save people with a lie. Play on their emotions. It's done all the time. You know what we use the term? Evangelistically speaking. Right. There was ten people there, and you said a hundred. That's evangelistically speaking. Gotta get over that. That's at his day. No more. We'll finish up with this one. Dennis says don't say that. We'll try to do it. Revelation 14.5. We'll get Katie back to bed. I think she's about ready to go to bed now. She did her duty. She came to church. Brooke says, I hope they get out of here early. I'm tired. I want to go home with my hubby. Okay. Revelation 14.5. This is, this is, well, Audrey, that's what I was telling you about. Verse 6. The other angel. Did you ever notice that other angel flying in midair? That's not what I'm talking about. But did you ever notice that? And he had the eternal gospel to proclaim. That's going to happen before the Lord comes. And the eternal gospel is the gospel of the kingdom. Did you ever notice that? That isn't going to be an angel flying around with white wings. The word angel in the Greek means messenger. Nothing more. You can translate that word messenger. It's angelos in the Greek. It means messenger. That's all it means. And you can take your choice. But I don't think it's going to be an angel flying around with white wings with a megaphone saying, Here's the eternal gospel. I don't know whether it'd be one person or another person or a group of people but whatever it will be it's going to happen before the Lord comes. And this midair, I'll have to pray about that. I don't understand the significance of that. But I do know that's a very powerful statement. I've never heard it preached on but I know it has a great meaning in the end time. Alright. Look at verse 5. What is the mark of blamelessness before God? No lie. No lie comes out of their mouth. Honest, just, weights, measures, standards, truth. Did you ever notice that the Ten Commandments, how many know that one of the Ten Commandments says thou shalt not lie? You know that, don't you? How many know that's true? Audrey's shaking her head. All the obedient people raise their hands. For some strange reason it does not say that. That's not one of the Ten Commandments. Honest, it does say it in it does say it in Leviticus 19.11. It does say not to lie in Leviticus 19.11. It's a list of rules. You don't lie, you don't do this, you don't do that, you don't kill the mother animal and the young on the same day and so on like that. And in there it says do not lie. But I can't get into this now. Yes? It does say do not bear false witness. Right. Bearing false witness is just one small aspect of lying. But each one of the Ten Commandments is a universe of behavior. It's a universe. See, gossip is false witness. Each one of those and the rabbis are great at taking those things like that and blowing them up. That's tremendous. Taking the Lord's name in vain false witness. Lying. It's a form of lying. And so lying is so important and so against the nature of God that sin itself is a lie. And I think that's why it's not included as one of the Ten Commandments. It's because it's so much a saint. Remember Jesus said he's a liar and the father of it is whole nature. Everything that he projects and says and does. Adultery is a lie if you start to think about it. Having a God other than the Lord is a lie. So it's so close. It is so much the essence of evil and so much the opposite of God that you can't codify it in one thing. Thou shalt not lie because all of sin is a lie. He does have a rule in there but it's not of this great ten universes of behavior. Isn't that interesting? We would expect it to say it says thou shalt not steal but see stealing is a form of lying isn't it? So it's such a massive sin it gets down see that's why it says they're blameless because their inward nature is pure. There's no darkness in it. There's no lie in it. Just like there's no lie in God. So there's something to shoot for isn't there? Shall we stand? The Father of lights from whom no shadow is cast by turning and God wants us to not cast any shadow by turning but to be right pure. Let's look to the Lord. Father we are your children and we want to be just like you. And you said we want to be both in your likeness and we also want to be in your image. And Father we're talking tonight about image. We're talking about what you are in essence. And Lord I pray that as you do not cast any shadow by turning from what is straight and right make us so that we do not cast any shadow by turning from what is straight and right. Praise your wonderful name. Father we've spoken tonight of your love and your forgiveness and we lay hold on that Lord. We lay hold on it and we accept it and do not go on beating ourselves when you have said we're forgiven. We thank you for that Lord. And I pray for every one of us you'll bless our homes keep us safe on the highway and cause us more in your image tomorrow in Jesus' name. And everyone say Amen.