In this sermon, the speaker shares a story about a family gathering where the children learned about God's ways. He emphasizes the importance of being faithful in both small and big things, as it determines whether God will entrust us with true riches. The speaker also discusses the need to know God's voice and His plan for our lives, especially for young people who may be struggling. He concludes by highlighting the significance of Jesus' sacrifice and the importance of bearing witness to the truth in our lives.

It's good to be here with you folks and fellowship together. And, you know, I remember saying one time, well, you can go to these big churches, but I'm not criticizing the church for its size, you know, but I said, is there a real fellowship sitting there looking at somebody's neck in front of you? It's a communication, it's a fellowship, it's a sharing one with another. And in the Lord, and there's value, there's profit in that, by the Lord are able to give a word or do something that will edify the rest of the body. And so we certainly believe that God is working in the body of Christ and that He will yet have that image that He has desired, a people, sons and daughters of the Most High God, made in the image of Jesus. That's a big order, I know. But that's God's plan, that He would conform us to the image of His Son. And I know you start talking like that, well, leave me out of it, I could never do that. And I thought, now what if when that dump of clay was there in the ground and God was forming it, if it had a voice, God, what are you doing? Well, I'm making a man in my image. God, you can't do that to me. And we're just that lump of clay. Can't God form us in His image if He could take a lump of clay and make that lump of clay to have life and cause us to rise up in His image? And it was made in the image of God. He lost that image, He forfeited it, but God didn't give up His plan because one man failed. So, God planned in the fullness of time to bring forth another man in His image, in a far higher degree of God's image than the first Adam was. So that God's intention is to have a race of people on this earth like the Lord Jesus. Oh, that sounds so awful, doesn't it? Doesn't it seem strange, you and I, that because we were born of Adam's race, we grew up to be sinners, defiled and unclean, sweet and innocent as these little children are? Somehow if they're born in Adam and they come to maturity in Adam, they're going to be sinners. Why? Because they were born in Adam who sinned. You believe that? Well, then if we believe that, can we not believe that if the second Adam, the last Adam, came to earth to learn obedience here on earth by the things that he suffered and was perfected? Not that he had sinned before, but perfection doesn't relate to sin. It relates to growth and to maturity. And Jesus had to come to earth to learn obedience. Well, was He disobeyed? No. But up there, there's no place to learn obedience. He was Lord of all. And down into the realm of man in the form of fallen human nature, not taking his sins, but taking that nature, he might learn obedience in that realm. People think we're going to die and go to heaven and be perfect. Jesus came from heaven to earth to learn obedience, that He might be perfected through sufferings here in the earth, walking in a body such as we have, yet without sin. And so it's not strange, and yet it seems strange to the church when we talk about God bringing forth the people in the image of Jesus, in His likeness. People say sometimes, you know, forget that far-off stuff, you know, just get down to the simplicity of the gospel. Well, I can't make it any simpler than that. And if I go down there to Cranbrook and buy seeds, and I get that seed and it says radishes, I expect if I plant that in the ground, it's going to bring forth radish, because the seed is radish. Does that sound strange? Well then, if God Most High took upon Himself the form of man that came into the earth to be a seed, that would drop into the ground, God's intention was that from that seed they would arise in the fullness of God's intention. Another one like Jesus, a man in His image. So it's very simple really, isn't it? But I think we think it is complicated, because somehow our minds by nature have not been renewed to comprehend. The things of God. And only by the Spirit of wisdom and revelation that God gives, lays upon us, infuses within us, only by that Spirit of wisdom and revelation can we really come to understand and see and believe the things of the Spirit. But the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God, but for their foolishness unto Him. Foolishness unto Him. So what does God do? By renewing grace, by the redemption that's in Christ Jesus, He draws us to Himself, gives us the experience of new birth, and puts His Spirit upon us, that by that Spirit within us we might be able to understand and comprehend the things of the Spirit. The natural man can. Only the Spirit of God within us can unfold to us the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven. So we thank the Lord that He is taking away the veil from our hearts and minds, that we might see Him. The only thing that hinders us from seeing Jesus is that veil of the flesh. And the fact is that when Jesus died on the cross, the veil of the temple tore asunder from the top to the bottom, it says. I know there was an earthquake, but if it was the earthquake that did it, well, it would seemingly start tearing from the bottom up, but God spoke from Heaven and His Word came down and cut that veil from the top to the bottom. And as one pointed out, it was probably around the time of the evening sacrifice when that priest would be standing there, you know, before the veil, and suddenly it just tore asunder. Yet it wasn't slain, but why not? In olden times, if they stood there before God and the veil was there, if they went in behind that veil, they'd be smitten except one day a year, on the day of atonement. And here that veil was rented. He survived. Why? Because there was no glory there. God rent the veil to show them that the glory was no longer there. But symbolizing also that the veil was really the flesh that God was tearing. It was the flesh, that human nature that we have, that God was tearing asunder. When God completes that work of tearing His veil, which we carry around with us, the mind of man, the mind of the flesh, when God completes that work and tears that veil, we can't help but thank Him. We thank the Lord for every good thing He is doing His people, for every good thing He has done. But why can't we not lift our sights a little to thank Him for the good things which He has yet to do, which is far beyond anything we've seen yet. God did not exhaust all His treasures of wisdom and knowledge and the beauty of His presence back in the early days of the church, or when we're born again, when we give our hearts to the Lord. He still has much to be revealed. You say, you're going to tell us about some of those things? Well, I am a little. Things that I feel the Lord has shown me by His Spirit. Things that I feel I've seen by the Spirit. But no matter how much I tell you, be it little or much, in the opinion of people, the Apostle Paul says, The eye has not seen, ear has not heard, neither has entered into the hearts of men the things that God has prepared for them that love Him. I remember that was a quotation I learned early in life, because going to Sunday school and church, and people who testified, they'd be given an opportunity to say a word, they'd be given their testimony. You'd hear that scripture. Eye hath not seen, or ear heard, neither hath entered into the hearts of men the things that God has prepared for them that love Him. And they stopped there. But it goes on. But God has revealed them unto us by His Spirit. The things that I haven't seen or even heard, God has revealed them unto us by His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God. Why does God put His Spirit within you? We thank the Lord for renewing us by His Spirit, and then baptizing us with His Spirit. What for? To search out those depths in God. Oh, I know that He gives us ministry, He enables us to get words from His heart. He perhaps lay hands on the sick that they might be healed, or perhaps to prophesy. But the Spirit of God is here to search out the depths of God. We might come to know Him. Oh, you say, I know Him. I spoke like this one time in, well, it was a big church in Calvary. I think I only spoke there once. But some of the young people afterwards were saying, well, how do they know we know God? We know God. And I was saying they didn't know God a little, but I mean, they know so very little. Paul, having ministered powerfully by the Spirit for, I don't know, 20, 25 years, I've never figured it out. Writing to the Philippians, what does he say? Oh, that I might know Him. Well, Paul, you know Him as I knew God one percent of the way you know Him. But having done many of those wonderful works that we read of in the book of Acts, but the Spirit. He says, oh, that I might know Him and the fellowship of His sufferings and the power of His resurrection. We only know Him according to our capacity to know Him, which is very limited. So what does God do? He puts His Spirit in our hearts, that by His Spirit within us, if we'll let Him search us out, He'll search out the, yes, the hidden things of the heart and make them manifest, and He might deal with that and be done with that. But the Spirit is there to search out the depths of God, that we might come to know Him as He really is. So God has much to do yet in all of us. Came across a little poem in 1 John, chapter 2, I think. You know there's a little poem in there? John says, A new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in Him and in you? Which thing is true in Him and in you? You mean what's true in Jesus is to be true in you and I? That's the new commandment. Oh, I can't obey that. Don't you know that the new commandment isn't something we obey really? The new commandment is that working of God in our hearts and lives is what causes us to obey, causes us to walk with Him. That's why so often you'll read in the Old Testament, Cause me to know you, O Lord. Moses said, didn't Moses know God? The Lord, He said, lead me in your way. Cause me to walk in your way that I might come to know you. Because no matter how much we have walked with God or how long, Oh, there's so much yet we know. We know so little about this God of whom we speak. He came to reveal Himself in Jesus. And Jesus is the revelation of God the Father in the earth. God who spoke in sundry times and in diverse matters, we're told, in the Old Testament, Paul writing to the Hebrews, He spoke in diverse matters, in the Old Testament, past the least last days spoken of to us in this time. And a Greek scholar pointed out it and said, in his sundries, he said, in sun. In other words, he spoke through angels, through dreams and visions, through prophets. But now his speech in the earth is in sun. Not just in any sun, but that's how he speaks. By becoming a son of God in the earth. That's the voice of God in the earth. That's how he's spoken in these last days, by his son. His son is that voice of God, in other words. Even as John wrote in what we call the Gospel of John. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. And the Word was God. The same as in the beginning, with God. And then he goes on to say, And the Word became flesh, and dropped alive. So God's whole intention, his thought, his mind, his heart, his knowledge, his wisdom, was all in that Word that God spoke in his son. That Jesus was that spoken Word of God. He was the Word of God. He was the revelation of God. What is your Word? Is it not? You have a thought, you have something in mind that you want to convey, and sometimes it's hard to convey, but you find the right word and you say it, and so it reveals what was in your heart and mind. So our Lord Jesus coming to earth, was the revelation of the Father. Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing. I think it was Wesley that wrote it. Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing. God's heart, his mind, his intention, hidden in God, and now spoken forth in flesh. The Word made flesh and dwelling amongst, and we beheld his glory. The glories of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Oh, if he had only stayed here these 2,000 years, wouldn't it have been wonderful? I used to think when I was younger, you know, we really missed a lot, being born in this generation. You know, we missed a lot. If we had just been there when Jesus came, how wonderful that we were there in the land of Israel, and we'd come to know Jesus. And of course, that was childish thinking. Because in the fullness of time, I came to understand that God had something better in mind than him staying here these 2,000 years. Oh, perhaps visiting Canada once. Oh, once every 10 years, you know. Because if he was going to visit all men, he'd be busy all the time going here and there. God had something better. He was just taken up into the heavens and glorified at God's right hand, that he might send forth his Spirit in the earth to dwell in each one of us. That the Spirit of Jesus himself. I know another comforter, because he comes in a different manner. He comes this time in the Spirit to dwell in his people. And Jesus said, that's better, that he just stayed here and there. Not comprehending, not having very little comprehension of the purpose of Jesus' coming. They were totally dismayed and disappointed and puzzled and bewildered when Jesus said, now I'm going away. But he said, if that knocks your heart, be troubled. It is expedient for you. I don't read the Living Bible much or those new translations too much. I refer to them once in a while. But this version says something. It is expedient for you. It is better for you. It is to your advantage. It's for your benefit that I'm going away. But Jesus, you came here. Now you want to go away. How can it benefit us if you're going away? Because he said, if I don't go away, the Holy Spirit cannot come in and dwell in you. But if I be part of the Father, I will pray to the Father and he will send the Spirit to abide within you. And when he comes, he'll lead you into all truth. Because he will not speak out from himself, but he'll only speak what he hears. And he will show you things to come. And Jesus is pleased to have it that way. That he who was one manifest Son of God on the earth, the one on whom the Father lived and dwelt and took up his habitation, in this man, in this Lord Jesus, he came not to stay here these two thousand years and go around preaching the gospel to the kingdom all over the earth, but to minister for three, three and a half years and died. And he'd already revealed that to some of his disciples when some of the people came down to keep the feast in Jerusalem and they heard about Jesus and the wonderful miracles he performed and they came to Philip, I think it was, and Andrew, and they said, we want to see this Jesus. So they go and tell him. He might come down with one wish to keep the feast here and they would like to see him. And I puzzled over Jesus' answer for all the many years. And have you ever puzzled over some of the things Jesus said? And you go and ask somebody, what does Jesus mean? Well, that might be helpful, but we have to be ready for his answer. And Jesus said, in answer to that request, we'd like you to come to Greece. We've come here to see how we'd love to have you up where we live. Jesus said a word back to them except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die that abideth alone, but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. But that isn't what they wanted to know. They wanted him to come and talk to them. I know, but that was his answer. And God will answer your questions, but maybe not the way you would like him to answer. He'll answer your questions in due course, but not the way you would like. So we say, Lord, I want to go all the way with you. I mean, I'm not making fun of that. I mean, certainly I hope that's the desire of all of you. I certainly appreciate this opportunity to come here and minister to God's people and all you young people. Hopefully to encourage you a little along the way. Hopefully to give you a new vision, new expectation, because there's none to be found in this world. And it might not be long before we'll see such devastation going on in our country and many parts of the earth. Such devastation that we think, God, where are you? But the psalmist David, he beheld something that was very tremendous. When he said, One time, though, the earth be removed and the mountains cast into the depths of the sea and the waves would roar, roll around because of the disasters taking place. That sounds like an atomic bomb, doesn't it? Earth removed, the mountains cast into the sea. The next line, there is a river. The streams shall make glad the city of our God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High. Let's have this fixed in our hearts that no matter what happens, our hope is in our God who rides upon the storm, who causes the storm to happen because God's plan is to bring down all the wisdom of man in this world. To reveal it as it really is. Foolishness in the sight of God. He's going to bring it down to nothing in the day of the Lord. And that day could be so close. We don't know. And so it might give us a little sense of fear and what's going to happen if those things happen. But God wants to assure us that He's talking about the day of the Lord, which He says is a day of darkness and blackness to those who don't know Him. But He never calls it the night of the Lord. You know that? The day of the Lord is never called the night of the Lord. It's the day of the Lord. Because God is a God of light. And therefore as we consider the awesome things coming upon the earth, the Apostle Paul says, therefore put on the armor of God. Put on the breastplate of faith and of love. And for a hell not the hope of salvation. I don't go around criticizing people's doctrines per se. But this doctrine, oh, we're going to miss it all. I know trouble is coming. God will get us out of here. It's not right. We're appointed unto trouble. The church all through church history has been a persecuted people. Whenever they walked with God, whenever they really know Him, they were persecuted. We thank the Lord for the little measure we know Him. But when we come to know Him, and when the commandment that was true in Jesus is true in us, that the same life that is in Jesus is in us, the same word that was in Jesus is in us, don't you worry. We'll be persecuted. Because light cannot subsist with darkness. Darkness cannot subsist in the light. One or the other. The light either extinguishes the darkness, or if there's not enough light there, the darkness will overwhelm it. But Jesus came as the light of the world. And when He went away to glory, He said, You're the light of the world. Oh Jesus, I thought You were. I'm going away. My spirit is coming to dwell in You, to take up its habitation within You, that You might be the light of the world. You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. I'm not too much for what they call dispensationalism, although it's a key teaching in most Bible schools. Not denying that there were certain dispensations, but there's no place that I can find where, if you're in this dispensation, this is all you're going to change. You come to the next dispensation, then you can get a little more. Try to read where He's not. He walked with God way back there, early part of the book of Genesis. He walked with God. We're told when He was 65 years of age, He walked with God, and He walked with God for 300 years, and God took Him. People say, well, you know, He got so righteous, so perfect, God just had to get Him out of this evil world. Nonsense. Before He was translated, He had this testimony that He pleased God. Before He was translated. Why do people think that if you get the fullness of love, and you come to the maturity of Jesus, and you're walking in the perfections of the Lord Jesus, oh, I've got to get them out of that earthquake. Can't leave them. God wants that kind of people here in the earth. Heaven's full of love and truth and righteousness. Jesus came to earth to bring heaven down to earth. Literally? Yes, literally. That's why from the time He ministered on earth until this day, every Sunday morning in May of the church, He'll be saying, Lord, Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. You say, when I get to heaven, I'll do God's will in perfection. God wants us here. Jesus came to earth that given the earth, He might do the will of God in perfection. And be perfected through sufferance. Come to maturity through sufferance. We want to be like Jesus, but when we see the pathway, we're trying to, well, I saw that film, Passion. It made things look very real. But I couldn't help but realize that just looking at the picture that was manufactured to portray the reality of what Jesus suffered, it does not really change the heart. When Paul came to Galatia, filled with the Spirit, anointed with the Spirit of God, he said, when I preached Christ among you Galatians, you saw Jesus Christ evidently portrayed before you. Because the Spirit came to reveal Jesus. When the Spirit takes up His habitation in us, if He desires, we're His habitation. Where nothing else can live, nothing vile can live, no darkness can be there. I'm telling you, there'll be an impact made in this world. For which Jesus came and died and rose again and ascended. That as a high priest upon the throne He might produce His seed in the earth. The seed of Christ Himself reproduced in the earth. That's what the earth is waiting for. The earth is waiting for that, groaning for that. All creation is groaning. We don't understand. They don't understand. Paul says they're groaning. As in birth time, waiting for the manifestation of God's sons. The untaken away of the veil of God's people. Earth's waiting for that. For you and I are still somehow secluded behind that veil of the flesh. Creation is waiting for the day when God will take away that veil. And they'll see Jesus revealed in multitudes of people in the earth. And the manifestation of the sons of God is nothing less than that. The manifestation of the sons of God is the manifestation of the Son of God Himself revealed in mortal flesh. I don't doubt that through the centuries we've had a taste of that from time to time. That God would bring a people a step closer to Himself. God would reveal Himself mightily. He's done it all through church history. And there have been great revivals because of God doing that. And then in another generation or two the glory of that revival would sort of fade away and darkness would settle down again among God's people. But the structure of the church would carry on. Heedless of the fact that the glory had departed. Not realizing the glory had gone. But God did this to our fathers a way back there. A hundred years ago, five hundred years ago. And left us this glorious heritage. There's no heritage from the Father that's worth cherishing. If it is not the heritage of a living Jesus walking in the midst of His people. That's the heritage that God left us. And that's the only heritage we should desire. Jesus Himself coming forth and manifesting Himself in His people. Taking up His habitation within us. I think it was Augustine that said one time that man was made man was made to find his home in God. And man can never be satisfied until he finds that habitation in God. As I read that one time I said in the exact wording I thought, yes, that's true. God made us to be a home for God. But by the same token God made us in His image and is remaking us in that image which was lost that He might find His habitation in us. Oh, you say, God doesn't need a habitation. He certainly does. You say, oh, He fills the heavens sets His habitation home. God said, Heaven is my throne. Earth is my footstool. Where is the house that you will build unto me? And where is the place of my rest? Hath not my house made all these things? They thought they had that foolish thought that because God had ordained this temple that they were building a house for God. And even Solomon who built it said, Oh, God, shall man build any temple wherein you can dwell? Solomon said, he knew it wasn't a house for God. But he said, let it be a place where your name will rest. That your people, perhaps in the days to come will find themselves in adversity or perhaps taken off to a strange land or in trouble. May it be, God, that they will turn towards this temple where you put your name and seek you earnestly and pray and hear their prayer. It's just to be a house of prayer. And Jesus made that clear. God, this is not God's temple. It's a house of prayer for all nations. And so God says, where is that house you're going to build for me? You know, it's sort of, well, I'm not criticizing what they did, but you go down the street and you see this church building built for the glory of God. Glory of God. And where's the house that you're going to build for him? Well, God is building a house for himself. God wants to take up his habitation in you and I in such a dimension of his presence that it will be known in the heavens and eventually in the earth where God dwells. Where does God dwell? Heaven's my throne. Earth's my footstool. Where are you going to build me something? But, he said, to this man will I look. Even him who is poor and of a contrite spirit. And that trumps up my word. Thus saith the High and Holy One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy, I dwell in the high and holy place. Ah, but with him also who is poor and of a contrite spirit and trembles at my word. He dwells in the high and holy place and with this one who is humble and contrite of heart and trembles, oh, that God would restore that fear of God to his people. Wherever I may hear God speaking to me, I'll think of that king. I forget which one it was. The temple had been left desolate for a long time and God put in his heart to have the priests go in and cleanse the temple of it and they found the book. They found the priest read it to the king. You mean God said this and we're not doing what he said? Walking away from him rather than drawing closer to him? It's filled with fear because of it. God can speak clearly from heaven and today there's hardly any fear of God anymore. It's not always going to be that way. God is preparing sons of the earth, sons and daughters of the Most High in whom he will dwell in such an emphatic way in such a depth of his presence that as they move around amongst men the fear of God will be projected. The fear of God. You say, well, I don't want God's love. I don't want his fear. Well, you won't have much of his love until you really fear him. Because they're almost synonymous. Jesus was one who loved righteousness and hated iniquity. He said, I do always those things that please the Father. And because he loved the Father so much he feared him with a holy fear. And God is yet to restore that to the church. When he has a people in whom God is dwelling in fullness and walking with him and obeying him, once again the fear of God will rest upon his people. A holy fear that causes you to love him so much. He won't do anything that would be displeasing to you. That kind of fear. A fear that you love him so much that you fear that you might do something that would displease him. Malachi cries out and he says, If I'm a master, where's the respect? If I'm a father, where's my fear? Where's the fear? If you call me father, where's that holy fear that you should have? True love. True love for God causes you to love him so much you fear to do anything that would be displeasing. When God's glory was manifested in the early church, we're told that a great fear came upon the people. And no man dared join themselves to the assembly of the people of God. Unless they went there looking for God, desiring God to change them. No man dared join themselves to that. No advertising, if they ever come to this church, we've got everything home for them. We've got a great group of young people, we've got an orchestra and a choir and all the programs come to our church. I'm telling you, they would not go to that church that was filled with the fears and power of God unless their hearts were seeking Him. They're not going there. I'm talking about what God's going to yet do. He's given us a taste of it in times past. He's going to do it again in greater glory, greater manifestation than was there in the early church. Isaiah gives a prophecy that I could never understand until recent years. He says, In that day the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun. Oh, you see, that would be awesome. The light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun. And the light of the sun shall shine seven times brighter. If that literally happened, we'd be burnt. God is going to do that in the spirit that truly our own nature might be burnt. But it speaks of God's people. The moon reflects the glory of the sun. It has no light of its own, but it reflects the glory of the sun. And on that day, the moon, the church, will shine with the brightness of the sun of righteousness. But you say, now you're taking away the glory of Jesus. You think you're going to be like him and shine as brightly as he does. What was it, if we could only understand that God puts his glory on his people, that it might reflect him, not reflect us, not reflect our glory, but crush our glory, bring it to ashes, that that glory he puts upon us might bring down to his glory. And that's the way it was in the early days. God put all that glory upon him. And every time he did anything, spoke anything, performed miracles, he was always quick to let that glory go right back to the Father. So that he took that position and incarnation, he took that position as one who could do nothing. You say, well he could do anything. Jesus, when he came to earth, took the position voluntarily, knowingly, that as a son of God, coming to dwell in the midst of man, I won't be able to do anything. I can do nothing of myself. He took that position. That he might be a pattern for you and I. We know we can't do anything. So we want his gifts and his power so we can do things that he did. But Jesus had all that power and glory, but he said, I can't do anything of myself, because he took that position of a servant that I can't do anything except the Father shows me. And so when we hear the prophecy, the thing that David gave way back there in the Old Testament, speaking of the sacrifices of the temple. David was a prophet, and if you read the Psalms very often, you'll see how he was really speaking prophetically of Jesus. And this was one of those times where he said, sacrifice and offering, thou wouldst not. But they were offering sacrifices and offering according to the law of Moses. God ordained it. But David was speaking prophetically at the time that would come when God would say, I'm tired of all that. It's finished. I don't want any more of your sacrifices. Sacrifice and offering, thou wouldst not. His body. In burnt offering and in sacrifices for sin, thou hast had no pleasure. And yet we read how that God many times when a man came to him with the lamb or the bullock and offered it to God as a burnt offering, that God smelled the sweet, sunny, savor. But it was only because that offering, that bullock, that lamb spoke of the true sacrifice that was yet to be revealed. Because that heart man was right and sought God, God accepted that lamb or that bullock because the time would come when his own son would become the supreme sacrifice. So by revelation, God showed through with that. Sacrifice and offering, thou wouldst not. His body is now prepared for me. In burnt offering and in sacrifice for sin, thou hast had no pleasure. Therefore said I in the volume of the book that is written of me, I come to do thy will, O God. So instead of sacrifices, burnt offerings and sin offerings and meal offerings and all the rest of them, here was one who would come in the fullness of time saying, Father, I'm here with you. Do thy will, O God. The apostle Paul takes that up right into the Hebrews and says, by that will, by that desire, by that will that Jesus declared he would do, we are sanctified by the offering of the body of Jesus once more. And so God never had any real pleasure in any of those things, any of the works that God's people presented to him in his past, except that if their hearts were right, then he accepted it in view of the ultimate sacrifice that was yet to come. And so having finished the work of redemption, he said, I'm not going to stay here much longer. I won't be here much longer. Their hearts were saddened because, Jesus, you came here to set up a kingdom, didn't you? Not understanding it, yes, he came to establish a kingdom, but that his kingdom was not of this world only. Not in the case of taking over the resources of the earth and the oil and the silver and the gold and all the resources of the nations. No, he didn't come to take over that kind of a kingdom. Jesus said, my kingdom is not of this world. He was accused before Pilate for being another king. They thought, well, he says he's a king, and there's no king but Caesar. And so they said, Pilate, if you let him go, then very well, the emperor will hear about it and you'll be in trouble. So he said to Jesus, are you a king, huh? He hasn't did it for a while, but he said clearly, yes, I'm a king. For this cause came I into the world. For this cause was I born. For this cause came I into the world. Now I bear witness to the truth. That's the kingdom he came to establish in your life and mine. In us, it's in Jesus. If it doesn't happen, his sacrifice was in vain. All the parishioners over here, I say the same. It's in vain that if that seed doesn't sprout and bring forth after its kind, then you planted it in vain. Did you not? But God saw the fruit of his sacrifice because it was a sacrifice of a total obedience before him, where in coming to earth he would be not a king, but a bondsman. Took the form of a servant, literally a bondsman, that he might learn obedience here on the earth, prove himself the perfect son of God, son of man, be that seed that goes to the ground in the fullness of time, there it comes forth the harvest. God's waiting for that harvest still. And like the Moravian Brethren used to say, who knew these truths so perfectly, persecuted for it. You and I come to know the truth and in the depth that God wants us to know the truth and walk in the truth, don't you worry. You won't have to go looking for persecution. Persecution will come. It will be there. For as many as will live godly in Christ, Jesus shall suffer persecution. Oh, you say we've got freedom in this country. I know, do you know why? We're not righteous enough, we're not holy enough, we're not a people that are walking as Jesus walked on the earth. When that happens, we'll be persecuted the same as Jesus was. You can't avoid it. There's a simple reason. If darkness comes around and there's a light there, one or two things are going to happen. If the light isn't powerful enough, the darkness will extinguish it. But the light of Jesus will expel the darkness no matter how dark it is. This world is getting pretty dark. It's all according to prophecy. When he says, Arise and shine for thy light has come, he goes on to say, for darkness shall cover the earth. Gross darkness of people. We're there. But having uttered those words, the light shall arise upon thee and his glory shall be seen upon thee. We're not looking at the dark side of things as we see the darkness approaching. See the glory that comes out of it. Darkness shall cover the earth and gross darkness of people. Light shall arise upon thee and his glory shall be seen upon thee. That's God's intention. The light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be seven times brighter. In the day when God will bind up the breach of his people and heal the stroke of their wounds. God knows the wound that's been inflicted on the church. God knows that wound. Christ knows it. He bore it. Because of that wound that Christ bore, he will yet receive the reward of his sacrifice. So the Moravians had that. That was the keynote of their testimony. May the Lamb receive the reward of his sacrifice. The Lord Jesus, the Lamb that was slain, is going to be rewarded for that sacrifice. What kind of a reward? The reward of God's redeemed people cleansed and purified and made holy and presented to him as a gift from the Father to the Son. You? Me? Yes. No. In the state we're in. But in the state we will be when God has finished the work that he has begun in us. And on that day God will say, this church, I give it to my son as a reward of his sacrifice. He deserves it. He deserves it. You think God's going to... Well, those people can never be perfect. I've tried to work in their hearts for two thousand years and they can't make it. Son, this is the best I can do. I present these people. I know he's got a little bit of sin. This guy's a... That's the best I can do, son. I'm saying, Jesus is going to work in his church and then his church is worthy to be presented to the Son. Made worthy not by our purse, by the working of the Holy Spirit within us. You're going to help us do it. What shall I say? Yield him with all our hearts, minds, souls, spirits. I don't have any heavy weight upon me but just to seek the Lord earnestly. Do his will. Simple as it might be. That's all he requires of you. I've got this ministry to be fulfilled. I've had words of prophecy. I'm going to do this and that. So I want to work on it. I want to get the right setting so that the Lord can fulfill these things that he said he would do in me. And let us not do that because as surely as you and I try to make a prophecy happen, it's going to fail. Well then, what's the prophecy for? I encourage you to draw closer to him and do his will because prophecy falses. I think I have failed. There are many in life to whom God spoke and said, my son this and that. Trying to make it happen or getting weary of waiting on God or whatever, they somehow lose that vision. And those wonderful things that were supposed to happen do not happen. So let us understand this. There's nothing wonderful about any man. And the gift you receive from God is only great because God gave it. There's not any greatness in you and I. God gave it. Therefore to him be all the glory. And the gift he gives us is not just to make us go and do powerful things for God. It's to edify the body of Christ. To help each individual member in the body to come into his inheritance. Like little Caleb, you know, 85 years of age. He comes to Joshua and says, I want that mountain. Remember you and I were in Canaan and God promised us that? Now he says, I've worked these five years I think it was trying to get everybody into their little inheritance in Canaan. The time comes and he says, no. You know, these tribes have got their inheritance and now I want my mountain. So let's not be selfish about this gift God gives, be it great or little. Let's not despise it if we consider it's too small to worry about. For the man who received the one talent is the man who failed not. The man who received five, if he multiplied it, presented ten to his master. The man who got one talent said, why didn't God give him more? Didn't God excuse him? Give him one talent. God said, I'll see the man who might lose this. I'll just hold it for him till he comes back. That's the man that failed God. All he had to do was invest the one and get two. All the man with two talents had to do was invest it and get four. He had five talents. Well, God expected ten from him. And so the man with one got two and then went on investing. He'd have, no time he'd have four. No time he'd have eight. So let's not despise the little gift that God gives. If you feel, well, I don't, you know, I'm nobody, I don't have it. I think every one of us need to search our hearts and say to the Lord, Lord, you put me in the earth for a purpose. Just show me what you want me to do. And then do it. You say, well, that's not great. My brother over there, we grew up in the same church and he's doing mighty things and I want to do mighty things. Well, that's where your heart needs to be burned in the fires of God for aspiring after greatness. Jesus aspired after humility and meekness and doing the Father's will no matter how insignificant it might be. Let our aspirations be simply to do the will of the Father where he has placed us. Faithful is your job. Oh, I don't like this job. God called me a minister. I got credit and I got a book and a minister. I've heard of people doing that but they couldn't get along with their job. He decided, well, I guess God wants me to preach. Listen, God calls those who are busy faithfully doing the work that God gave them to do. God called Moses looking after sheep in the desert of Midian. I don't think he lost the vision but he realized, I can't do it, Lord. It's up to you. I tried. I tried to deliver my people and I started to do it. I goofed and here he was in Midian 40 years later looking after sheep and he saw a burning bush revealing himself. A little grandson. He's got 17 grandchildren now and his little sister, I don't know, maybe three or four years old came to his dad with a piece of paper and pencil. Daddy, tell me God. Well, how do I explain to you I can't do this? I can't do that. But her little brother was there a couple of years older. He says, here, give me the paper. I'll draw God. And he drew a burning bush. So the little seven they learned at home around the table or gathered together in a meeting like this. They learned a little of the ways of the Lord as they grew up. And may we nurture that and realize that God's hands on them. It's a time when the enemy's out to destroy the home and destroy the family. It's in the age of making great strides. God's going to raise up a true father of ministry in the church. That's going to speak truth to these young people and they're going to hear a verse from the Old Testament. Behold, I send you Elijah the prophet. And he shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children at first. And the hearts of the children to the fathers. Lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. God's going to have a powerful generation in the end time. Men will be very young. You young people, don't be discouraged. Don't be ambitious in the flesh. Just try and do things for God and get to know Him. Right in your own job, be faithful. At home, be faithful. When you're out there in the workplace, be faithful. You're learning obedience. God will be considering your attitude towards your employer. Your associates in the business world. He'll look at all that. All that will give you points. I shouldn't use that word, maybe. It was commended before God. Faithful in that, we just live to be faithful in that. If you're faithless in the unrighteous manner, which concerns all the things of this life, that's wealth, that's riches. If you're unfaithful in that, is God going to commit to you the true riches of heaven? Let's just walk with God. That lays upon you and I responsibility to know His voice well enough that we know what He wants us to do. I know many young people are in trouble. What am I going to do in life? I want to know God's will and God's plan. I remember getting this letter from a younger man. He said, I want you to pray with me that God will reveal to me His plan for my life. Often when I get these letters, suddenly I don't have the answer, but as I sit down to answer them, very often, hopefully, usually, I feel I have a word for them. And I said to this young fellow, I said, now God's not going to... I can't pray that God will show you His plan for your life because God doesn't want to show you His plan. He might give you a little invitation to any degree of onus. Well, I'd like to know why. Well, then I could work on it. That's the problem. And that's why God doesn't show you. You need to work on it. Try and make it happen. So then what do we do? It's very clear. Paul writing to the Romans, I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, not a spurned offering of the lamb, holy, acceptable unto Him, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, which you might prove, so that you may be good, acceptable, and perfectly liberal. Not three different kinds, but it's a growing, it's a maturity. And three speaks of that coming to maturity. Outer court, holy place, holiest of all, you know, writing to your little children, father, young man, there's lots of these triplets there, you know, coming to fullness, coming to maturity. And so that you might know it as a good will of God. You see, but God wants me to, I know, but right now you can do that, which is faith in His sight. If you do what God's committed unto you to do, which you will only know, as you say, Lord, I'm yours, I've committed all to you, then He's faithful to you. God should know. That's good. If you're faithful in that, it'll be as acceptable, according to most versions, quite out of the word, isn't just the way I accept it, but well-pleasing. If you might do that good will of God, as you walk with Him, the will of God will be well-pleasing. Finally, perfect. A word that the church doesn't want to hear, we can't be perfect. Don't talk to me about perfection. God can't make me perfect. I'm telling you, only God can do it. You're not going to do it by going to heaven. Jesus came from heaven to earth to learn obedience. You're here on earth now, and you can learn obedience now. Perfect obedience in God's ultimate plan. So help us, Lord Jesus. We thank You for these precious young people gathered here tonight. We know their hearts are unto You. We know many of them have questions and problems. And that You would lead us in walking in this way, in this wilderness way. We might come to know Your ways. No matter how difficult it might be with some of them, Lord, I pray that great grace will be upon them that You'll overshadow them with Your love and truth and keep Your hands upon them all their days and bring them, Lord, to that place where they love You with all their heart, mind, soul, and spirit and are willing to do anything or nothing, whatever You might put in their hands to do. Guide and direct them, Lord. May great grace be upon them as they fellowship here and take away at this scale from their eyes a veil from their heart that only Your glory might be revealed in them, Lord. The glory which is not to glorify them, but to glorify the Son who goes with Him. For therefore You ascended in heaven and put Your glory upon Your people. You said, The glory which Thou hast given me, I have given to them, that they may be one as Thou fathered in me and I in thee, that they might be one in us that the world might believe that Thou hast sent me and has loved them as Thou has loved me. God, that's a prayer that You uttered that we have a people that were one with You. That the world might know the cause of... Here's a people like Jesus Your hand upon us all. Blessed are we unto their hearts In Jesus' name, I pray.