In this sermon, the speaker discusses the decline of our nation in terms of education and the arts. They attribute this decline to the abomination that creates desolation and self-will. The speaker emphasizes the importance of gifts and ministries as means to an end, rather than an end in themselves. They also highlight the concept of work as a curse, but emphasize that God created us to play and enjoy what we do. The sermon references various Bible verses, including Psalm 98, to emphasize the joy and celebration that should be present in our worship. The speaker warns against distractions and urges listeners to stay focused on their calling and not allow anyone to take their crown. The sermon concludes with a reminder to press forward and continue striving towards the mark, just as the apostle Paul did.

Lord, we do praise you for your wonderful goodness, Lord. Thank you for our many, many blessings, Lord. Appreciate so much your goodness. Thank you, Lord, for that Josephson's had a good meeting, Lord. Bring them back safely. Pray your hand will be on Larry and he'll know the mind of the Lord in the morning. That's what he's to do. Pray you'll heal everyone that was in a rear-end accident, Lord, each one. Keep your hand on the youngsters as they go to Angelus Temple. We're needy people, Lord. We call on you for help and protection and all these things. And every other burden that's represented here, Lord, let you hear the cries of your people. Lord, as we proceed tonight, we give the word to you, Lord. You know the hearts that are here. You know what needs to be said, needs to be perceived. And we ask you, Father, in Jesus' name, through your Holy Spirit, to teach each of us in Jesus' name. Amen. All right. We're ready for Eddie's dramatic words. Can everyone see that? All right. Probably, I'll bet Kerry and Julie can't see it. Can you see it okay? Pretty near. All right. 28th of July, 1998, tape 4144, The Will and Christ in You. Recommended reading the eternal purpose of God. Beginning in Exodus 15, 17 and continuing through Stephen's defense before the high priest in Acts chapter 7, God's eternal plan has focused mainly on one pursuit. What is he in search of? And what is his great need? And Eddie, what does that mean, The Will and Christ in You? What does that mean? Oh, that's the name of the tape. Well, we'll let the people on the tape figure that one out. All right. What is God's great need? God has a need. What is it? God, the Bible, starting in Exodus 15, 19, as it begins to talk about a dwelling place for God, a house for God, in my Father's house. The accent is on God's house, which is not heaven. There's no place in the Bible called God's house, heaven. God's house is Christ and what else? In the great house of God. Any question about that so far? God's house is Christ. That's where God dwells. Heaven is what? God's throne. Christ is God's house. And when he said in my Father's house, there are many rooms. It is speaking of the members of his body. Yes? Yeah, heaven is a spiritual realm. The reason we say it's God's throne is because that's what the Bible says. Isaiah 66, heaven is my throne. And that's what the Bible says. Now, God is moving his throne into the hearts of his people. And we see that in Revelation, speaking of the holy city, we'll go into that later maybe. The throne of God and of the Lamb are in it. And of course, the holy city is on the earth. So the throne of God is moving from heaven. Heaven will not be the throne of God. In Revelation 21, it says the throne of God and of the Lamb are in the holy city. You could say, well, then heaven's in the holy city. There'd be nothing wrong with that. Jeremiah, the third chapter says, Jerusalem shall be called the throne of God. And so it is God's intention to bring together heaven and earth. What could be better than heaven? Heaven come to earth. And that's what the Bible teaches. It was on the earth in the beginning, to a certain extent in paradise. We lost it. Getting it back is always hard after you lose something that you're given. But you can't keep it till you get it twice. Any other questions? Okay. In moving past Pentecost towards Tabernacles. Oh, I see Mark, where he's coming from. He's a quiller, that guy. The key issue is your will. All of God's creatures, you won't believe what is true. All of God's creatures were created to play. Angels, man, and puppy dogs. And Satan was created to play. And everything was cool until Satan decided to enjoy himself outside of God's will. And that's when destruction comes. And so Satan lost the ability to play and the right to play. And he can never play again. That's why he envies us, because God is bringing us to the place where we'll have the right to play and the ability to play. And Satan can never play again. All he can do is destroy. He can't play with a child, all he can do is debauch it. And so he's very envious. We lost the right to play in Eden. See, the Adam and Eve were playing. To play is when you enjoy what you're doing. To work is when you're doing something that you wish you were doing something else. And Adam and Eve loved what they were doing. When I taught school, I loved it. I would have thought if I'd had a million dollars in the bank, I would have been there every September to meet a new class, because it was play. But we have to earn the right to play and then the ability to play, because we lost that. And when Adam was put out into the garden, the curse on him was work. You're going to work, buddy. No more playing. You're going to work. That was a curse. But God created us all to play, and children show us that. And they lead us into the kingdom. A little child shall lead them. And children and puppy dogs know what it's all about. But we're on a cursed earth. But the day will come when what we were created to do, what we enjoy doing, we'll be doing forever. Yes, question? Can they be in more than one place at a time? They can be in more than one place at a time, yes. He has the ability of multiple presence. And so does Christ, and so will we, because we'll always be at God's right hand. They will be in many other places. That's a function of the spirit realm. It's not constrained by space-time continuum that we are. Are there any other questions? Yes. Revealing of the sons of God, and that's why the creation is groaning, so that they can be brought into the liberty of the freedom of the children of God. You want to read a wonderful psalm about what life is supposed to be like? This is a psalm about play. It's a 98th psalm. Do you like to play? Puppies like to play. Our pup likes to play. She'd rather play than do anything. Play with her sock. Oh Lord. You'd think it was worth a million dollars the way she grabs that sock. But see, she knows what life is supposed to be. Psalm 98. Sing to the Lord a new song for he has done marvelous things. His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him. The Lord has made his salvation known and revealed his righteousness to the nations. He has remembered his love and his faithfulness to the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of God. Our God. Shout for joy to the Lord. All these music. Make music to the Lord before the Lord. But Michael didn't. She had a problem with that. She says, oh, you're making a scene out of yourself. But he had God's heart and he knows what the Lord likes. Let the sea resound and everything in it. Let the rivers clap their hands. Nature is inanimate now, but I think it was intended to be animate. Let the mountains sing together for joy. I know in the great revival that they heard the trees that would be in the jungle between Nagaland and Burma. They heard the trees singing and they didn't need lights at night because God lighted up the campground and about 70% of the people became Christians in Nagaland. But the world outside doesn't know about it. They kind of protect Nagaland. Let the mountains sing together for joy. Let them sing before the Lord. For he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity. So his coming is one of judgment, but the judgment produces joy and play. When you're singing and clapping your hands, that's not work, it shouldn't be. It should be play. So I'm using play to mean doing what you were created to do that you enjoy most doing in God's will. That's play. And we were created to play. Hallelujah. In this right hand are pleasures forever. Any questions? The issue is will. And that's where Satan fell. See, he played all the day long with all his pipes and everything. He was a one-man band, Satan was. His pipes were created in him. And he was playing, rejoicing, praising, as all the angels were. They loved to sing for joy, the sons of God do. And he set his will against God. At that moment, he couldn't play any longer. He's lost forever the ability to play. Everything he touches withers and dies. That's a horrible curse. He'll never be redeemed. He can never be redeemed. He has been cursed with his own self-will and he cannot escape it. If you persevere with your will against God, that can happen to you. Or to me, we can be cursed with the inability to surrender our will to God. So when you have the chance to give your will over to the Lord, do it. It's a blessing. Blessed are those who die in the Lord from henceforth, that is from the time that Antichrist begins to get on the rise. Man begins to love himself. Antichrist is a personification, self-will. It's what he is. Human will. I am God. New Age teaching. That's the curse. And in that day, he says, blessed are the Lord who die in the Lord from henceforth. And you see that arising. Oh, and stubbornness from me. I rejoice into thy will, O God, ye that are lost within my heart. And until you do that, you cannot move past Pentecost into Tabernacle. That's the key. You can get saved and retain your self-will. You can speak in tongues and retain your self-will. But you can't go past that and become the house of God until you're willing to carry your cross. And the cross is the engine of destruction that destroys your self-will. Because the cross makes you do what you don't want to do. And if you run around your cross, you're opening yourself to deception because you love not the truth. God himself will deceive you. And you'll never be able to play. We all want to play. That's what we want to do. But see, people play outside of God's will and they destroy their bodies and their families and everything else. Okay? Any questions? Questions. Tribulation destroys your self-will depending on how you... If you blame other people for it, don't work. If you run hither and thither trying to escape God's hand and betray your integrity and those who trust in you, doesn't work. If you take your tribulation and say, okay, Lord, I'll take the joys of the day, but I'm not going to try to make... I'm not going to try to lift the curse and make this earth heaven. I'm not going to do that. That's how people mess up, is they try to make this present earth heaven. And to do that, you've got to betray those who trust in you and betray your integrity. And God looks for integrity. Always looks for integrity. So tribulation will do the job for you, depending on how you take it. If you blame the tools God uses, blame people, blame, blame, blame. It's useless. It's a waste of time. Your sufferings do you no good. If you keep trying to escape them by escaping your contracts, no good. We like to use the expression, you take the hit. You do what is right. In every situation, whether it's pleasant or unpleasant, you do, you pray to feel what is right and you do what is right. You don't keep looking for ways to avoid pain, because it's pain that is producing the crucifixion of your will. And that's what you want. You want to be in God's will. You want a delight to do His will. And the cross, that's why God, that's why we have the cross. And the personal cross of the believer is so our will will be crucified, not my will, but yours be done. Christ, that was the original sin, was disobeying God. Abraham then was tested on that line and finally Christ in Gethsemane. That was a supreme test of will. Let this cup pass from me, nevertheless not my will, but yours be done. And if he hadn't have said that, we'd all be lost. Everything hinged on that statement. And that was a fearful cup he drank. None of us in here could drink that cup. Not like the Son of God, the sins of the world, but he drank it. And we'll all have our cup, depending on how high a rank we've been predestined to in the Kingdom. The place that's been prepared for us, the marks set before us. And the higher that is, the more bitter the cup will be. But there's no other way. God does not trust people with great authority when there's any trace of self-will in them. And you can see the reason for that. Otherwise we'd have Star Wars. Yes, Larry? We're on our way home and I'm listening to the radio at a prison station, a local one. And they were preparing a righteousness and democracy. And in a way that's a worse wickedness because it operates at a deeper level. The sins, the lusts of the flesh and all are alien to our personality. But self-will is an original sin that comes from within us. And it's the sin of antichrist that's far more destructive than drunkenness and murder and these other things. That's the problem with our government today. It's not so that all the leaders want to go out and murder people like Paul Potter or something. It's a deeper wickedness at this self-will. It's a terrible thing because you can't get a hold of it. People can't recognize. In fact, it's espoused as being an ideal, a person in control. Of course, of course. And that's why Jesus said, I wish you were cold or hot because you get those people in the middle who are self-will but not wicked. And you don't know what to do with them. And you can't understand why things are destroyed. But see, the abomination that creates desolation is antichrist in the holy place. And antichrist is the man of lawlessness. That is the man who seeks his own way. Satan is the incarnation of lying and lust and all these other things. But it all came about because of self-will. The other sins are the product of self-will. They're all traceable to self-will. When you get to self-will crucified, the other things fall off like acorns off a tree. Are there any other questions? Yes? Yes, it's the mind. That's why Revelation 20 verse 4 talks about those who are beheaded. It's this thing up here that is the problem. God did not give us a mind to direct our paths. He gave us a mind to comprehend him and his law. And when we use it to direct our paths, we're not righteous. He says, commit thy way unto him in all thy ways. Acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. That's the way that God meant to live. That's what it means to live by faith, is to commit your way to God and make every decision in him. When you make your decisions out of your own planning, your own agendas, your own passions, your own desires, then that's why God gives us the cross to kill that thing. So we learn in every, every area of life from the tiniest to the greatest to say, Lord, what is your will in this? Lord, where do you lead? And you keep that constant communion with Jesus, constant communion with Jesus. That's what it means to be led of the Spirit. It doesn't mean to be led by prophecy. It means to keep in a constant awareness of sensitivity to the Lord's will. And that takes some doing. You don't learn that in a minute. Whoa! There's a lot of traps along the way, from passivity to religious dynamism, you know, slaying your bull like you were murdering a man and so on, and everything in between. It takes a lot of experience to learn to walk and yield it to God's will. A lot of experience. Derek, how's it going? Are we here yet? Yeah, she's the one. All right, that's good news. Thank you, Jesus, for a healthy baby. Bless her. Any other questions? Yes? You can tell by the wages, John the Baptist said. That's part of the crucified life. The old man doesn't like that one. That takes prayer and the cross. Are we all set? Mother, are we there yet? Anthony? If he gives place to the devil, and he'll die physically anyway, but he could die beforehand if he doesn't judge himself, the Bible says. But Satan doesn't have I didn't mean so much that it's touching people. I just meant in every endeavor where people are led of the Lord, whether it's in education, whether it's in finance, whether it's in the arts and sciences and technology, in any area of human activity that is touched by self-will. That's why our nation, why everything, the arts and everything, education has such a hard time. It's because antichrist is the abomination that creates desolation. Our public school used to be top, top, top of the line. They have crumbled because in many areas there are still good teachers and still good kids, but in many areas there's a blight on the thing that comes from self-will. Okay, now I'd like to put up the simple, what it is, it's a sequence of means and ends, and this will be important to you, Martine, and others that are teaching other people, a sequence of means and ends. All right, now we'll talk first about gifts and ministries. Now, those are not an end in themselves, they are a means to an end. Where are the gifts and ministries discussed? In Ephesians 4, I'm saying this so it'll be on the tape in case people listen to this. And there it tells us that the gifts and ministries, building up the members of the body to the stature of the fullness of Christ, I'll just put fullness of Christ, that's the purpose of gifts and ministries. When I say means, I mean the way you get there. The purpose of all the gifts and ministries given to the body of Christ by the ascended Christ are for the purpose of listening for him. Any problems so far? That's the first in the sequence. Yes, the purpose of tongues is that Christ might grow in you. The purpose of the apostle is that Christ might grow in you. The purpose of the prophet is that Christ, all these gifts, this is Ephesians 4, that grace is given to us for the work of the ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ. And even the evangelist is given for this reason, although the evangelist takes the raw material and brings it into the church. And then all the other ministries build it to maturity. That's the purpose of ministry, till we all come to the unity of the faith, the knowledge of the Son of God. Any questions about that? Means and ends are very important. Yes? What about marriage? Marriages? Miracles. Yes, miracles are signs that attract people to God. That's the purpose of miracles, it's to be attractive. Miracles are signs, this is where God is, go this way, this is where God is. And the purpose of that is to build up the body. Everything is to build, because God has a purpose for the body. See, that's the thing. But first the body has to be built. God's purposes cannot be fulfilled in us while we are immature. Cannot be done. So, the first sequence of means and ends is gifts and ministries and their purpose is to build us to the stature of the fullness of Christ. Alright, then we take that, the mature, ah, yeah, I should have Benny doing this. Christ. Bringing us to the fullness of Christ is a means to another end. And what does that end? A dwelling place for God. And what scripture would you use for that? Yes? But there's one that ties the two together. Do you remember what it is? Ephesians 2 is one, but there's one that ties the gifts together with the dwelling place of God. Do you remember it? 68. And Paul was quoting, in Ephesians the fourth chapter, when he said, you have ascended on high, you give gifts for men. He was quoting from Psalm 68. But then Psalm 68 tells you why he's giving those gifts. What verse is it, Benny? Verse 18. Someone read that. The gifts and ministries. See, Paul was quoting from that. He was quoting from that Psalm. But he gives us the purpose for it. It's the dwelling of God, or the house of God. Much, ah, the house of God, building a house for God, starts back in Exodus, as I said, and then it's brought through, it's brought through, um, when we talk about Ephesians, and where Acts 7, where Stephen said, what is the house that you build me, and so on. But do you know where the climax is? The last two chapters of the Bible are describing the house of God. The holy city is the house of God. So, gifts and ministries are means to an end, and that end is to bring each Christian to maturity. Okay? The purpose of bringing each Christian to maturity is to make a dwelling place for God. Now, the dwelling place of God, I told you it was going to be a sequence of means and ends. The dwelling place of God becomes a means to another end. Yes, it's because the Father and Christ want to be able to live among people and love them and bless them, and they can't do it without a house. And that's the purpose of building the house of God. So it's that, I'll just put God, but it's God and Christ, well I did put God and Christ, God and Christ dwell among people. Now if you turn in your Bible to Revelation 21, Revelation 21 and 22 describe the dwelling place of God that is constructed by the gifts and ministries. In other words, speaking in tongues isn't a sign that you're one of them. There's a purpose behind it. All right, now if you're looking at Revelation 21, the last two chapters of Revelation tell us where God is going and what the end product of everything is. Does that make sense to you? That the last two chapters should tell you what all the rest are about? Kind of the climax of the book. All right, now here you're seeing the house of God in operation. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I don't think that means a sea of water, that'd be a terrible earth without water. But in Revelation 13 where it says Antichrist comes out of the sea, it doesn't mean out of water. Sea there means the mass of people without Christ. It's just a mass, it's an undifferentiated mass. And in the new world there will be no person who does not have a portion of Christ. Because Ephesians 1.23 I think says Christ will fill all in all. So he will be in every person. And I believe that's what it means there's no more sea. Remember the prophet said the wicked are as the sea. The sea can be blown here and there by wicked men. And that's what I think God means. It'd be terrible to have no more. In fact, if there was no more, I'd ask the father to make one because I like seas. I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem coming down, out of the holy city is. What do you think it is? You remember that Ephesians said it relates Christ to the church as husband and wife? Huh? Would you believe me if I said the church is the wife of the lamb? If I told you the church, the Christian church is the wife of the lamb, would you believe me? Or do we have to research that out? I am familiar with that term the wife of the lamb, the marriage of the lamb has come. The church is the wife of the lamb. Not of the lion, by the way, but of the lamb. Because we're married to Christ by eating the Passover lamb. We're married to Christ by eating him and he's the lamb of God. So the marriage is never the marriage of Christ or the marriage of the lion. It's always the marriage of the lamb, never anything else in the scripture. The marriage of the lamb. Now if you'll notice in verse nine, one of the angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plates came and said to me, come I will show you the bride, the wife of the lamb. I'm going to show you the bride. And he carried me away in the spirit to a mountain great and high and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem. And also in verse two, it says I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God prepared as a bride. So I think you'll agree with me that it lays clearly in the scripture that the new Jerusalem is the bride of the lamb. And we know that the bride of the lamb is the church from Ephesians the fifth chapter. Hardly any Bible students ever have any problem with that. Okay. That's set easy with you. And God's purposes are all in his church. So we see one amazing thing right there that our eternal destiny is not heaven. It is the earth. Exactly. Even during the thousand year kingdom age, Jesus is on the earth and we're with him so that no time is heaven, the eternal home of the saints. Now that understanding is not widespread, but it's picking up speed because people are challenging the idea. In fact, one brother, brother Martin, who is broke as usual, aren't you? He said to his friends, the pastors down in Tijuana, I'll give you a thousand dollars. If you can show me in the Bible, where heaven is the eternal home of the Christian. And what was that about shoes? I don't believe your shoes. He said, I'll eat your shoes. Well, they're beginning to the leaders and they're saying, yeah, that's right. That's right. They were going to underline all the things that were wrong and they couldn't find anything to underline. So now they're getting more, uh, sympatico, more sympatico. He told him there's going to be a new earth. He has been in the Bible all the time. It's in the Spanish Bible all the time. And they're just dawn on him. There's going to be a new earth. That's one of the biggest traditions in Christianity that we're going to have. Whatever. Emma Lee. Yes. Um, I have a problem between church and the bride only because the church, as I understand it, are people who definitely believe in Christ, um, but have not really either has started or not started, uh, making themselves rid of the bride. Let me give you a different terms because any Bible scholar, uh, could take the ground out from under you very quickly. Uh, because Jesus said upon this rock, I'll build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Let me give you a different terms. You're talking about the difference between religion and Christianity. Our churches today, our Christian churches are filled with religious people, but they're not Christians. They have never taken up their cross and follow Jesus. See in the Bible, the word Christian means disciple. And to be a disciple, you have to take up your cross and follow Jesus. That's what Jesus said. And so, um, the distinction is not between the church, church and the bride. The distinction is because the church, uh, Christian people comprise the church beyond all question. Uh, the problem is that in our churches, we have multitudes of religious people who have never really contacted Jesus. They're not serving Jesus. They, they may have come in, made a profession of faith in the atonement, may have spoken in tongues and prophesied. They may minister, they may lead souls to Christ. They may do all these things and they don't know Jesus. And we see that where the Lord said in that day, I will, that you will say to me in my name, uh, I cast out devils, I work miracles and I did all these things. And he said, I never knew you. I never knew you. And yet you had done all this in my name. So in America, we have multitudes of religious people. But if I were to say to them, you must take up your cross and follow Jesus. You must commit every decision to him and forget about choosing your own way. They would turn me off so fast. Emily would be the greatest backdoor revival in history. They have no intention of making Jesus Lord. They're trying to make Jesus savior without making him their personal Lord. And if you don't believe me, go to any church that you know and ask some of the people, say, is Jesus your absolute Lord? Are you really doing his will? And you'll hear all kinds of hedging and fudging. Well, no one can do his will. As long as we're in the world, we have to sin and just say, well, are you bearing your cross after Jesus? And that's when they'll change the conversation. And until a person comes before God and said, Lord Jesus Christ, I accept you as my savior and my master and your religious person. So we have made a Christianity, just as the Jews made a religion out of Judaism, but neither Judaism nor Christianity is a religion. People make it a religion, but it actually is a personal encounter with the living God. And until that personal encounter comes, you're just a religious person. You're not bearing your cross. You're off into the world, into this and that in the world and living life. No one could tell the difference from the world, except that you go to church on Sunday and maybe talk in tongues and sing hymns. That doesn't make a Christian. Making a Christian is when you come to Jesus and lay down your life. And until you do that, you're not a Christian. I know that sounds hard because the standard in America has slipped so badly. Church. And this is taught clearly in type and in Revelation 19. There's a first fruits of the church. This is very clear from the type. And that first, every one of God's elect, his Israel, his true Israel, Jews and Gentiles, the one seed of Abraham. This is the seed of Abraham. Every true Christian that belongs to Christ is this one seed of Abraham. And the distinction that you're making is between the seed of Abraham and the religious people who call themselves Christians. And they don't know the difference. They don't know the difference, but that's the difference. But you don't want to make a distinction between the church and the bride, because you can easily get shot down on that one. Your concept is correct. It's just the terminology. Just call them religious people instead of church, and you'll be fine. Yes? Is it not the religious structure? Babylon is Christianity. That's Babylon. It's Christianity. The false prophet is self-willed Christians. Antichrist is self-willed in the political realm. The false prophet is self-willed in the spiritual realm. In the institutional realm. But they're all self-willed. And none of it is of God. But the bride is in there. The bride is in Babylon. Remember it says in Revelation about 18, it says the voice of the bridegroom, because you become a priest. So man-directed, man-centered Christianity, institutional Christianity, shall finally, finally, not now, but someday, God will call all of his true seed of Abraham, all of the true people of Jesus Christ, out of the institution. And when that happens, there'll be nothing left but demons. But you see, it says about Babylon, the blood of the... And so wherever, especially in the Christian religion, that's what Satan is after. Not the Buddhists and the rest. What he's after, the one significant religion in the world is Christianity. And so Satan is after, and every time God moves, those people will start to gossip and slander. Every time. So when you hear Christians gossiping and slandering other Christians, you can just say, that person is self-willed. Because see, Satan has found an entrance to their self-will. Satan is the accuser of the brothers. Yes? This verse over here, the bride of the Lamb coming down from heaven, when they meet the Lord in the air and then they come down to the earth... Here we are in Revelation 21... Oh no, oh no, no, no, that's in Revelation 19. No, this is after the thousand-year kingdom age, what we call the millennium. This is, this is, this is after the present heaven and earth have passed away. No, the other one is Revelation 19, where it says, you know, it says that's the first fruits of the marriage, the marriage of the first fruits, and then the army comes, Antichrist destroyed and all that, and then Christ sets up his kingdom and rules for a thousand years. Then, then the rebellion, then the earth and heaven flee from the face of God, there's a great white throne judgment, and then you come to this. Okay, so this is the, this is after the thousand-year kingdom. Yes, okay, and after the white throne of judgment. The cover on the left is the first resurrection. Yeah, yeah, you don't see any marriage cover here. Okay, see, no. Yes, Emily? What is your understanding on having to do the same topic that we're talking about in Revelation 22 verse 15? To get into the second, he's teaching the pastors in Antioch, and they're coming around. They've even called me a man of God, if you can believe that. Now, the first major difference in your thinking that we raised tonight was that our eternal destiny is not heaven. Our eternal destiny is to become a part of the new Jerusalem, and to descend on the earth. Okay, any problem with that so far? That's our eternal, we're looking at our eternal destiny here. This is where it's all going. It's all going to the earth. It's coming out of the spirit realm into the earth. God made the earth. It's a better realm than the spirit realm, actually. It's a better realm. That's why Satan came down here so quick. All right, now, here's the second major one, and it's this one that gives God's people the most problem, and Emily gave us a launching pad into it. If you can get this, you'll not understand the kingdom of God until you understand this fact. Are you ready? Ta-da! You have your seats belt fastened? Okay. The reason that God is setting his dwelling place on the earth in the form of, and notice it's called Jerusalem. Isn't that interesting? See, because God, it's the song of Moses and the Lamb. It's all one. The seed of Abraham is all one from the time of the first hero of faith mentioned is Abel, see, and so God's move is not relegated to our period of Christianity. It's one whole. It's one whole. It includes the prophets. It includes Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It's all one whole, but God's intentions are always toward Israel and Jerusalem, and the only way we can become a part of God's plan is becoming part of Israel and Jerusalem. That's the only way. We have to become Jews, in other words. Not culturally, but in the sense of being married to the main Jew, who is Jesus Christ, because God's plan always is with Israel. In fact, the new covenant cannot be made with a Gentile. It can only be Israel, and we only can partake of it by becoming part of Israel, by becoming part of Jesus Christ, who is the one seed of Abraham, and of course Paul teaches this clearly, founded on the names of the apostles and the foundation of the wall. Now, here's where we come to the problem that people have, which is an enormous one. These are not, are you ready? These are not the only saved people. There are nations out there, nations of people. Until you understand that, you won't understand the kingdom at all. How many have ever heard the expression, we're going to rule and reign with Christ? Well, change that one to, we're going to rule with Christ or reign with Christ, because it's a redundant expression and it drives me nuts. All right, we're going to... Now, Jesus does not permit us to rule over one another. He said, one is your master, even Christ. Call no man your father. One is your master, even Christ. Is that right? Then who are we going to rule? That's the archangel up there getting ready to blow his... We would have no inheritance if there were no people. The people are Christ's inheritance and we are co-heirs. Now, that may not mean much to you, but let me tell you something. The day will come when you will see that the only inheritance worth having is people. I know we talk about mansions and diamonds and golden slippers and harps and all, which mean absolutely nothing. It is people that is the only thing worth inheriting. We were created to be the dwelling place of God. This is true of every member of the church, every member of the seed of Abraham. We were created to be the presence of God among mankind. That's why we were created. That's the purpose of the church. Now, the promise to Abraham was, listen, in thy seed. And according to Galatians 3, the seed is singular and it's Christ and everyone who belongs to Christ. That's in the third chapter of Galatians. Seed. You are the singular seed of Abraham because God sees you only as being part of Jesus Christ. Okay so far? Now, listen to the promise. In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. Whoa. The word church is a Greek term and it means called out. Now, what we were called out from is the world. You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you. You are not of the world as I am not of the world. John 17. Okay, now why were we chosen out of the world? The assumption made today is that we were chosen out of the world to be saved and go to heaven. That is not why we were called out of the world. We were called out of the world to be the dwelling place of God so that God could live among people. Now, until you understand that, you will not understand the kingdom and a lot of stuff won't make sense to you. For example, that we are a royal priesthood. Well, whom do we serve? If we're a royal priesthood, whom do we serve? Not one another because Christ forbade that. There's only one mediator between God and us and that's the man Christ Jesus. Then, for whom do we mediate? Yeah, I said, where are they? Matthew 25. You see, the sheep nations. How did they become sheep nations? By having Christ's brothers. And what does God say to them? This is critical, critical. Jesus said to them in Matthew 25, to the sheep nations, not to his brothers, but to the sheep nations, enter into the kingdom prepared for you. So the kingdom is prepared for the nations of people. And we were called out to be God's way of getting to them. The church is the kingdom. The kingdom of God is God in Christ, in the saints, governing mankind. And that is why God deals with you endlessly, watching every nuance of your response to every pressure. It's not so you can lay on a couch and retire in heaven. That's ridiculous. God is a businessman. We see that in the parable of the talents. You knew I was an austere man, that I gather where I haven't put anything down, where I haven't even sowed. In other words, buddy, I want product and you didn't give it to me. So go out there where the lights aren't on. God is a businessman and he doesn't spend your lifetime listening to all your screaming and kicking and bawling and unbelief so that you can retire in your mansion in heaven. It's because he has people, maybe trillions of them, this is a bigger plan than you might imagine, that will take their knowledge of God from you. If you think that's an exaggeration, go out and look up in the sky and see how much real estate there is there. I said trillions. Of the increase of his government and of peace, there should be no end. So naturally God is going to deal with you and push you and pull you night and day, day and night, because, and the degree to which you experience this fine needlework, Psalm 45, depends on the place in the kingdom prepared for you. There's a place prepared for you. It may involve many people. It may involve a few. It may be that your place will be to stand in the presence of God and do nothing forever. You say, I couldn't stand that. You could if you were in the presence of Almighty. You'll feel no pain. It'll be a state of total bliss forever. God is God. Maybe he'll be a commander in his army and when the white war stageons descend, that you go and you're shouting for the battle, but maybe you don't have the temperament for that. And so God isn't going to have you there to be a general, okay? Maybe you're going to be a general teacher. There's been a lot of children aborted that have never had a chance to even have a mother, much less to go to school. Going to need somebody to be a mother to them, to teach them. There's millions of them come out of the United States alone. There's all kinds of needs and God cannot touch them because he's an awesome spirit. So he's created you. He's teaching you, training you. Now you can get off the bus, make no mistake, and somebody will be given your talent. Don't ever kid yourself. God is stern, God is strict. His standards are strict. Now you can make it, but you can't make it and fool around. You can make it. There's no power in heaven or earth that can take you out of your father's hand except yourself by being distracted, by allowing someone to take your crown, someone to talk you out of it. It can happen and it does happen. And I've seen it happen. You're going to lose it. That's why Paul said, I pressed toward the mark, the old guy, just before he died. All this work, the work of the apostle performed, he says, I don't count that I'm there. He was in Rome, writing to the Philippians I should say. He's in Rome, in the barracks, the preaching of the Lord always. I'm pressing, I'm pressing, and it'll take nothing less. Get to make up your mind. You can do it. All the power in heaven and earth is at your disposal. But the enemy is crafty and he'll play with your mind. You've got to be careful. Now you say, but I'm not persuaded yet because I still would rather sit on my couch and play my harp. Anyway, I never heard of such a thing. There's people up there that are not part of the church, that are not lost. True. Now if you look at Revelation 21, you'll see verse 3, and I heard a loud voice from the throne. They never whisper up there. They're always yelling. They're always yelling. Well, you see, there's a distinction between the dwelling of God and men. Okay? Who's the dwelling of God? The saints. We saw that in Ephesians 2. You're being built for a dwelling place of God. Well then, who are the men? That's a generic term. Well, somebody who's not part of the dwelling place, obviously. Now let's see if there's anything else in this chapter that indicates there's other dudes out there. First of all, Emily pointed to some of them. And what they're saying, Emily, you see these people are just human out there. They're not glorified saints with Christ in them to the fullest. They have a measure. They have a portion of God, as I said. But they're being ruled by the saints. And what God is saying, until you get your act straightened up, you can't come in here and partake of the tree of life. Don't forget, we're going to be ruling with a rod of iron. Which indicates that there's going to be resistance. Don't think all these people are going to flop over and say, oh, tell me what to do. They're going to be just like we were, hopefully, past tense. Stubborn, resistant, rebellious, unbelieving. And you're going to be loving these people and working with them with irresistible power. And God is saying, I will not have any more rebellions. I will not have anything of this in my city. This is a holy city. And that's it. Period. The rest are on the outside. They're either in the lake of fire or going to end up there if they don't cut the mustard. Because the lake of fire has control, authority over all immorality. Even when it's in us. You're not free from the danger of the lake of fire until you get the immorality out of you. The lying out of you. Because God has given the lake of fire authority over those things. And it's suspended while we're following Christ and under the blood. But ultimately, it either gets out of us or we go into it. Because God's word cannot be broken. All liars, if they don't get separated from their lying, will end up in the lake of fire because it has authority over lying. It has authority over Satan, you see, because he's a liar. It has authority. And so these people will have to be taught. And they'll be taken on field trips, according to Isaiah 66. And they'll look at the people that have transgressed against God. Where the worm is eternal, it never dies. It's continually feeding on an immortal body which they're in. Can you picture anything so horrible? Where the worm never dies. Once they're raised from the dead, the wicked raised from the dead and animated by spirit life, they can't decompose like organic life. So the worm feeds on them. Where the worm never dies. That's a horrible thing. And so people will be taken on field trips to look at that. They'll go forth and look on those who have transgressed against me. Last verse of Isaiah 66. See, a little field trip for the kids, just in case they had a better idea. Would it help a lot of us today if we could go and look at that thing, wouldn't it? Boy, would that tune us up? That's a major tune up. But let's see if this follows now. Verse 22. I did not see a temple in the city because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb aren't in the temple. There's no churches there. It's one great church. The city itself is the temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God gives it light and the Lamb is its light. You wouldn't want to be up in heaven then, would you? With all this on the earth? I guess I'll be left up there as an angel. Because we want to be where the glory of God is, right? Amen to that. Alright, now look at the next verse. It's interesting. The nations will walk by its light. Now I ask you, are those lost nations or saved nations? They're not very well lost, are they? They're saved nations. Well, didn't Jesus say about us, you are the light of the world? And do you know what He was talking about? He didn't just mean we were going to glow like an incandescent bulb. He meant that because we have become new creations in Christ, the world will see moral behavior. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works. We have no light. See, the light of that city is twofold. It's actual light and it's also moral light. And the purpose of the church is to be an example. You see that in 1 Peter, the second chapter, it says in the day of visitation that the Gentiles will glorify God because of your behavior. I just about have time to show you that in Isaiah 62. And by the way, I was tempted to say Chiz. You know, you can get the guy out of the classroom, but you can't get the classroom out of the guy, I'll tell you. Isaiah 62, and I know Julie probably thinks it's all this overgrown Chiz. Now, now listen, listen, Isaiah chapter 60, 61, and 62 describe the church and the nations as separate entities. Those three chapters. Isaiah 60, 61, and 62 describe the church and the saved nations as different entities. Those three chapters. Now look at 62. For Zion's sake, Zion we know in Hebrews 12, we've come unto Zion. Zion is another word for Christ's head and body. Zion, what do you need, Martin? It's on the tape. It'll be on the tape. You get the tape. Translate it into Spanish and play it for your friends. 600 scriptural traditions. Excellent. Alright, now, what we're talking about is the church and the nations, saved nations, the lost nations are not here, they're in the lake of fire, okay? The church and the saved nations as two different entities. That's what people have a tremendous time. Once you grasp that, the kingdom will just be so plain to you, you'll say, where in the world have I been all these years? Alright, now look, for Zion's sake, Zion, I just told you what Zion is, what is it? You are coming to Mount Zion, Hebrews 12, and the church of the firstborn. Isaiah 12, Hebrews 12. Zion is Christ's head and body, okay? For Zion's sake, I will not keep silent. For Jerusalem's sake, I will not remain quiet. Look at this, remember, it's the New Jerusalem. Now look, till her righteousness shines out like the dawn. Righteousness, it means righteous behavior. Her salvation, like a blazing torch. The nations will see your righteousness. Now until God, you remember in Ephesians 2.10, you remember it says we're saved by grace that we might walk, that we might do the works before ordained that we should walk in them? Ephesians 2.10, that's why we're saved by grace, that we should do the works that were before ordained that we should walk in them. See, in heaven before the rebellion, there was no righteousness because there was no such thing as sin. Where there's no sin, there's no righteousness. I don't know if you've grasped that or not, but righteousness, by definition, is the opposite of sin, okay? So everybody didn't know there was such a thing, because all they'd ever known was kindness, so they had no name for it. It was just what they were. But when sin came, you had to have a name for righteousness, kindness. This is what God wants. You don't need a taxonomy, a set of terms. You didn't need that before sin came. And so the angels and Satan all had no taxonomy. So what God has been creating has been a taxonomy. Well, you can call it a law, you can call it whatever you want to, but God is saying, these are the behaviors I approve of. And he gave them names. Love and joy and peace and gentleness and patience and temperance. These are things. See, these were not known in heaven because they always did these things, so they had no name for them. Now God has given them a name and given their opposite a name. Patience, impatience, joy and misery, love and hatred. He's given, and this is his basis for judgment. These are the works that God has before created that he should walk in them. He is making us kind and loving and joyous and patient. So we become a living taxonomy so that people can understand. These are the works that God, beforehand, because you can't speak out in a vacuum. He couldn't say to mankind, be kind. So he is making us to portray the kind of behavior that God approves of. Do you see that? And now the nations are in a complete moral soup. But in the church, God is beginning to teach us his taxonomy of behavior. We're becoming aware, hey, that's what Diane calls exes. Here I've been impatient all the time with my husband. I never realized that. All the time we're faithful. Or to my wife, I've been cruel to my wife. I didn't realize of this behavior and I've got a name for it. And so this isn't happening in the world. They're in a drunken stupor as far as behavior is concerned. But God now is awakening the Pentecostal church because he's saying, look, this is what the blood and spirit mean. It's I want to develop in you a light, a moral light. Jesus is that light and we see his behavior. Let your light so shine before men that they see the good works. It's the good works that are the light. Not something emanating from us, you know, that you can see in the dark. But that you don't become angry. That you're patient. That you're not greedy like Tony says. You suffer yourself to be defrauded. See, that's a light that people can see. And it makes far more of an impact on them than our preaching. That's the light. Now, he says, the nations will see your righteousness. The nations is an entity. Your is talking about Zion, which is Christ. See, the three chapters, 60, 61, and 62, show this clearly. Now look at the last verse of Isaiah 61. I'm talking about showing you two entities here so that you can see that there's two classes of saved people. Saved from destruction. One is the church. The other is the nations. The nations are by far the larger group. They are our inheritance. Look at Isaiah 61, 11. For as the soil makes the sprout come up, and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the sovereign Lord will make righteousness and praise. Now, notice that righteousness comes first. Praise will follow. Psalm 98 follows judgment. The resounding praise, the joy, the playing follows judgment. Judgment must come first. And by judgment, I do not mean punishment. I mean discerning right and wrong, learning the right behavior. That's what judgment is. God wants his people to learn judgment, to learn to distinguish between unrighteous behavior and righteous behavior, and he'll give you the power to practice it. But first we have to identify it. We have to name it. Lord, I have been hateful. I have been unkind. I have been haughty. I have been arrogant. I have been proud. I have been covetous. Until you name the baby, your mouth won't be opened, okay? You've got to name the baby. You've got to name what it is. That's a taxonomy. When God shows you that taxonomy of behavior, then you begin to get the moral light that God wants for the nations. The kingdom prepared for the nations. You are being prepared for the nations. The kingdom prepared for you. Your destiny is to be an interface between God and people. You know, people say, oh, I want to live for God and others. Now you're going to get your chance. It won't be all thought. It'll be reality, okay? Righteousness and praise. See, God is interested in the nations. God so loved the world. God is interested in the nations. And you are bread for the nations. God is making you bread. He doesn't want you half-baked. And if you go back to the beginning of Isaiah 61, you'll see that the Spirit of the Lord is on us. Why do you have to do these things? Now look at, yeah, wait a minute now. Down in verse 10, the purpose of the glory of God on the church is that the church will be oaks of righteousness. A planting of the Lord. That's in Isaiah 61, verse 10. God wants to make you an oak of righteousness. Do you know what the difference is between an oak and an oak in a willow branch? You know, what characterizes an oak? You can't bend it. When the thing is mature, you cannot bend it. I mean, it would take a Sherman tank to knock over a hundred-year-old oak tree. They just don't bend. Oaks of righteousness. King James says trees of righteousness. Not just trees. Some trees bend. Palm trees bend before the wind. And the Chinese put great faith in that. So we should be like a palm tree. The hurricane goes by and then the... Isaiah 61, verse 10. Huh? I just want to see if you're awake. Where's Julia? That's a good trick she can use sometimes. She makes mistakes in the classroom. Kids, I want to see if you're awake. Now, after you become an oak of righteousness, then the job starts. If you look in verse 4. They, referring to the oaks of righteousness, will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated. They will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations. And now we come to the saved nations. Aliens will shepherd your flocks. You're being the oaks of righteousness. Foreigners will work your fields and vineyards. And you will be called priests of the Lord. You will be named ministers of our God. You will feed on the wealth of nations and in their riches you will boast. And I say, what does it say? And the people refer to them as the priests of the Lord. Yeah, you will be called the priests of the Lord. Who will call you the priests of the Lord? The saved nation, not the lost nation. The saved nation. So we see them beyond all. And Isaiah 60 is even more clear. I mean, these three chapters are crystal clear. So there you have it. Voila. Ta-da. Great mystery. And if you don't think it's a great mystery, try it on your friend who has everything. Just say, hey, you know what I learned in church tonight? There's only two groups of saved people in the New Earth. Oh, yeah? Yeah. The church and the saved nation. Oh, uh, you know, have I told you about my latest health extract? It's, uh, what it is is, uh, shark cartilage and sea cucumber. Did you ever have that for breakfast? Oh, that's a going thing. That's good for your joints. Shall we stand? Not Eddie the writer. Eddie writer. He's the one that's doing that. We're on the Internet, you know. You know we're on the Internet. We have a massive site on the Internet. About two thirds of my books are on the Internet. That's a lot of text. Yeah, they're online. You can read them right off the Internet. Now Eddie also has a discipleship course on there and part of that he has a taxonomy of terms there. But he's always looking for more. And so if you think of one, pass it to him and it will appear on the Internet. Say, well, Thompson used such and such a term and this is how he defined it and Eddie missed it. He'll put it on the Internet for you. And if you have email, we send out a free essay every day. It comes on your email in the morning. Seven days a week. That's no big mystery. Get yourself down there. Put down your twelve hundred bucks. Walk out with a four hundred. Well, you should see now what we're into. Which is three hundred thousand churches in the United States all linked together. Yeah, we're on the site up here for the, what's that place called, honey, where they do the welfare work? Up here in North County Interfaith. Yeah, we're on their website and they're linked to us. Oh yeah, that's the way the world is going, Emily. Don't let it pass you by. Get your four hundred megahertz computer while they're cheap and they're down low now. And you can just send me your email address. Here comes the essay every morning. No charge. Well, the archangel Gabriel up there is the one that got us going. That's the webmaster of our church. Eddie Reiter is the editor. Brian is the webmaster. And all I do is show up on time for breakfast with my shark cartilage and sea cucumbers. Amen. Father, we let's just praise the Lord, but they can find Jesus so marvelous. And now, Lord, these people have come. I pray you will bless them. Bless their families. Let the angel of your presence be in their home. Keep them safe on the highway. Awaken them in the morning. Amen.