Transcript for:
Romans 8:19,27 -Sons Of God- Pastor Rick Beaudry 2023-07-02

Romans 8, 14 through 27. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, and if children then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waits for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to a vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who has subjected the same in hope. Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now, and not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption to wit, the redemption of our body. For we are saved by hope, but hope that is seen is not hope, for what a man sees, why does he yet hope for? But if we hope for that which we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. Likewise the Spirit also helps our infirmities. For we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. Father, thank you so much for your holy word. Thank you, Lord, that we are not walking in darkness, that we are children of light walking in the light, and your word is a light unto our path. Lord, we pray that you would illumine our heart, that you would shine bright within our hearts, that you would reveal yourself unto us, that we would be transformed in the image of your Son. Lord, we pray that we go away from here encouraged and built up and strengthened and have great confidence in you, that you're on the throne, you're in control, that everything's happening according to plan, and we need not fear. We need not cower in fear and compromise with this world, but Lord, stand bold. Stand bold against evil, to expose the evil by shining the light of your word. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Would you please be seated? Paul describes the life of the Spirit as being sons of God. Sonship, I want you to, as we go through this, sonship speaks of four things. Number one, our exalted position. When it speaks of you and I being a son, it speaks of you and I as heirs, joint heirs with Jesus Christ. Now, you are born into the kingdom of God, Nicodemus, you must be born again. So you're born into the kingdom, you don't join the church, you're born into the church. The church is the body of Christ. And you're born in, in that your body and soul, when you're born again, you become body, soul, and spirit. The spirit dwells within you. Now that's a child, but adoption speaks of sonship, as we're going to see here. So we're sons of God from the standpoint as being joint heirs with Jesus. Verse 14, for as many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God, which means to be led, to be willing, to cooperate. So if you're led by the spirit, you're the sons of God. God led Philip down to Gaza, which is desert. God gave him a progressive revelation, Philip, leave Jerusalem, leave the party, leave the state of Washington from that awesome church and move to Texas where it's desert, you know, move to desert. Why would I leave the revival in Bremerton, Lord? Why would I go to Texas, you know, well, it's a red state now. So he, he, he, uh, he obeys the Lord. So progressive revelation, you, you have one word from the Lord, leave where you're at. So he obeys when he gets to Gaza, which is desert. There's an Ethiopian sitting on a, on a, on a camel reading the scroll. And now the Holy Spirit gives him step two, go near. So he's going to go near. And then he finds out what the guy's reading. The guy's reading the Isaiah 53. How can I know except somebody, you know, teach me, boy, now he's, now he's entered in. He's been given an open door that no man can shut. And so he's, he's sharing Christ with the guy, Hey, there's water there. Let's be baptized and all. Then he's raptured. He's raptured there from, to Zotus, you know, what a wonderful thing for Philip in his obedience step-by-step with the Lord. But then there's another guy named Jonah. Jonah go to Nineveh, tell the people of Nineveh that, uh, they got 40 days and they're going to perish. Well, Lord, I'm a Patriot. I'm a Jewish Patriot. And those Ninevites, I hate Ninevites. And if I go and tell them that you're gracious and kind and merciful and willing to forgive their sins, all the Patriots in America are going to hate me, you know, and, uh, I'm not going, I'm not going to do it. I need you to just wipe them out 40 days and you're going to perish. He's an angry prophet. And so, you know what he does? He gets on a boat and he heads towards Tarshish, but he's a very unwilling prophet. He's not being led by the spirit, is he? Now, which way you want to go? You want God to make you willing? You want God to prepare a fish, a great fish? You want to cruise around in a fish for three days? Feel like you're in hell? How much pain do you want God to apply to get you willing, you know, to be led of the spirit? So you know the story, Jonah, uh, he was finally willing when he got regurgitated onto the, onto the shore. The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, all right, let's do this. And so he went through begrudgingly and nobody in the time of Jesus, uh, said that Jesus reminded them of Jonah, not even, um, he's great, prolific, one of the greatest evangelists in the Bible. The entire city of Nineveh repented, including the animals, dust and ashes, God gave them a reprieve. America, you can have a reprieve. A reprieve means God will hold back his judgment. A hundred years, you want a hundred years? The Ninevites got over a hundred years before God finally judged them. Why? Because they repented at the preaching of Jonah and Jesus said, hey, a greater than Jonah's here and you guys won't repent. You guys won't listen to me, to the, to his own nation. And so both led, both eventually willing, um, the apostle Paul was kicking against the goads. The apostle Paul was resisting the Holy Spirit when he was Saul of Tarsus. The face of Stephen shining like that of an angel just haunted Paul as, as Stephen was being, you know, stoned to death and such. And so the Lord Jesus speaks to Saul, you know, on the road to Damascus at 12 noon, a kind of glory of God shining brighter than the sun, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? We're out the Lord. I'm Jesus whom you're persecuting. Can you continue to kick against the goads? You're being goaded. You're kicking your flank. You're kicking against the Holy Spirit, not wanting to listen or yield to the Holy Spirit, a painful means to get the attention of the apostle Paul. He was resisting the love of God. It's the kindness of God that leads us to repentance. In Psalm 32 verse eight, David said, I'll instruct thee and teach thee in the way that which thou shall go. I will guide thee with mine eye. This is the Lord speaking to David. Psalm 32, Psalm 38, Psalm 51 is David's repentant songs. When he sinned with Bathsheba, when he sinned with Uriah, when he did wrong and he covered it up for a year and God mercifully sent Nathan the prophet to say, David, you're the man. David wrote these Psalms so that you and I could learn from him. And so God's saying, I'll instruct thee and teach you the way you should go. I'll guide you with mine eye. Be in prayer, be in sync, be abiding in me and I'll guide your life moment by moment. Don't be like the horse. Don't be like a stubborn donkey. Don't be like a mule where I have to put a bit in its mouth and in order to go left, I got to give you pain on the left side. I got to give you pain on the right side. I don't want to lead you through pain, but I will. Pain's a good, a good way to catch our attention, but much better to be in sync with what the Lord's wanting to do. And lest he come near to us with the, you know, we're going to go out to the woodshed there, Rick. So God wants us to willingly cooperate. So he won't have to use pain to guide us. Verse 15, in case any of you are in pain right now, in case any of you are resisting the Holy Spirit, quenching the Holy Spirit, give up, say uncle, yield to the Lord. He wants to guide you by his spirit. Verse 15, for you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear. So he's not a child abuser. You're not subject unto God's wrath. All these folks that want to go through the tribulation period, they're calling you and I wimps. They're calling you and I escape artists. You know, we want to escape the tribulation period. And they're such studs, you know, they're such, yeah, right. The strongest in the tribulation period, the globalists are in their bunkers crying out, trying to hide from the wrath of the Lamb, you know. There's no place to hide. The only escape is Jesus. Of course I want Jesus as an escape. I mean, I'm not the kind of guy that goes to the dentist and say, hey, I'm a stud. Get that drill and start drilling. I don't need no Novocaine, you know. You know, I'll chomp on a stick, you know. No, I want them to knock me out, man. I want them to put me out. I'm not one of those women, you know, they're going to have a baby and do it natural with no drugs. I'm like, put all the drugs you got, man. Knock me out, you know. And so the Lord's not a child abuser, but you receive the spirit of adoption, there we go, whereby we cry Abba Father. The Abba Father is in the Aramaic and it speaks of daddy papa. I like being papa to my grandkids. My children, when they were growing up, they called me dad or daddy, you know. Great, you know, Abba Father. And so John 3, 7 said, born again child. You must be born again. So you're born as a child and then later there's sonship. The adoption, be in place as an adult son and inducted into manhood with all of the privileges. So what this means is that you're no longer an orphan. You're born into the family, but adoption is illustrating that we're joint heirs with Jesus, that all that Jesus has, you know, inherited, that he's a joint heir and that it's gonna be divided up to all of us. All of us are gonna share in all that he's purchased with his blood as creator and as our redeemer and new heaven, new earth, all of it, you and I get to be a part of all of it as adopted sons. So Julius Caesar, he's adopted in Roman law, he adopted a guy named Octavius, a child, a son that was named Octavius. Octavius was going to receive the Roman empire as a result of it being bequeathed to him as an heir, a joint heir with Julius Caesar. Octavius later became known as Augustus, Caesar Augustus. Now, my favorite movie to watch on Sunday afternoons after church is Judah Ben-Hur. David and I used to always go over to my house after church when he's alive to my house and after we'd eat and we'd take a nap before the evening service and we'd put Judah Ben-Hur on or Christian movies and stuff. And I love Judah Ben-Hur, it's my favorite movie and there's an illustration there of what we're talking about, a lot of different illustrations than that. One of them is being an under rower and Paul talks about that we're not exalted, we're an under rower. Well, an under rower is number 41. 41 is Charlton Heston and he's chained to the oar. Well, Quirinius or Quintus Arius is the captain of that ship, that Roman ship of battle. And you know the story, 41 was there and it's a death sentence. The only reason he's alive is to row for Rome and he was a Marcellus, you know, sold him out like a Judas or like a Pence, he was sold out. And, but there was nothing he could do, there was no justice or whatever, but God in his handiwork, God in his sovereignty over Judah Ben-Hur's life, the chains were taken off, the ship sunk and Judah Ben-Hur saved the life of Quintus Arius. And then, you know, he had no rights, no inheritance, nothing, he came from very wealthy Jewish family, he lost it all. And now he comes into the room where Marcellus is and he takes his signet ring and he puts it there, who's this, you know? And so he has full rights of citizenship and nothing Marcellus or anybody can do to him as Quintus Arius made him an adopted son and I love the chariot races, you know, I love it. So pretty cool. All right, so Abba, Aramaic, Papa, term of endearment, intimacy, relationship, speaks of God chose you, he adopted you. So I was adopted. Sometimes you're stuck with the kids that come out of your wife's womb, right? You're stuck with them. But other times, you can choose somebody to adopt. You make the choice. I'm gonna choose this child to adopt, you know? And that's how I roll. My dad adopted me when I was four years old, gave me his name. He chose to adopt three children that my mom had by three different men. Who would do that? Who would do that? Who would take that on? And then work two, three jobs to provide for a family and then they had a fourth child, Larry, my dad's son, but provide 12 years for me, at least, 12 years there as he's married to my mom, she went on to be married several times more, but the closest thing I had to normal, you know? All that kind of stuff, but I mean, hardworking old school guy, didn't know Jesus. Neither of them knew Jesus, but I still bear his name. Ralph Beaudry adopted me. I was not aborted. My mom had me when she was 15. I wasn't put into an orphanage. I wasn't bled out by the globalists with their pedophilia and their adrenochrome and all that stuff. The Lord preserved me, protected me. My mom was a wonderful mom. And my dad, a great dad. We knew right and wrong and that sort of thing. And so I just thank the Lord. I thank the Lord that he didn't leave you and I as orphans, that we were in bondage. We were chained to sin like number 41. We had no rights and the Lord sent Jesus to redeem us, to purchase us. And the father has adopted us as sons. He's made us joint heirs with his son. Verse 16, the spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. So never left of the orphans. We belong. I know that you and I, many of us have been rejected. Some of you have been rejected by your fathers, by your mothers, brothers, sisters, family members, friends, maybe a husband or a wife at times. And if you're a pastor, man, you just, you can't even keep track of how many people rejected you. The list just is endless, endless. And it's just the way it is. Jesus said, if they've hated me, they're gonna hate you. And you go through a lot of people, whole lot of people. And I could commit adultery and you guys would love me. But if I tell you the truth, you're gonna leave here angry. That's how it rolls. That's how it happens. People can't handle the truth. They get so angry, angry, because he's telling the truth again. They wanna hear fables. They wanna hear soft things. They wanna hear smooth things. They wanna hear, they want me to lie to them and assuage them in their sin. They wanna be able to sin without anybody convicting them with the word of God. And your church will grow. But if you have the audacity to stand on the pulpit and tell the truth, Paul said in Galatians 1 verse 10, if I seek to persuade men that I'm not a minister of God, I'm here to please God, not men, right? And that's what we do. And so you've evaluated it, but I'm never going to be the popular guy and I don't want to be the King Saul. I don't want to be the popular guy. I want to be who Jesus has called me to be and not to compromise or water down the gospel, water down the word of God. But one thing assured of, I only need one person to love me and that's my heavenly father. And he choosing me, he saving me, he adopting me is enough for me, more than enough for me. His opinion of me is the only opinion that matters. And once you get to that point, you're going to have a boldness to proclaim the truth and you don't care. You're not involved in political, you know, popularity contests and likes on Facebook. Oh, they like me and all that. You don't care about that. All you care about is that Jesus loves you, that God loves you, that God's called you, that he has a plan and a purpose for your life. And ask yourself this when you're mistreated. I always tell Kathy this. Kathy, how was Jesus treated? Okay. How was the apostles treated? How were the prophets treated? Jesus told you if they killed the prophets, if they've mistreated me, they're going to mistreat you. So don't think it's strange. Don't think it weird when simply all you do is tell the truth and they hate you. That's it. I didn't beat their kids. I didn't beat anybody. I didn't do a criminal act. All I did was tell the truth. And boy, the hatred that comes out because people hate to hear the truth. And in that meeting I had the other day, one of the fascinating things is everybody's an expert on all topics. They can't keep their mouth shut. Everybody's got a dream and a vision. Everybody's got a YouTube thing. Shut up. I'm giving you the word of God, okay? Give me a second. I've done this a while. You don't need to keep interrupting me. But it's just amazing. Why am I even here? Oh, pastors don't vote. Christians don't vote. So I got to sit here and listen to that. So I asked the guy, you going to church on Sunday? Christians don't want to attend church. Churches are empty. Well, I might, I might. I don't know. Well, every time you go to church, it's a vote for Jesus. What do you mean by that? He's a king, he's sovereign. He's of authority. He's in control. You got to look to him first. Seek first the kingdom of God, his righteousness. All these other things be added. And you're just chasing your tail with these political corrections you're trying. It's a spiritual problem. Get the people into church. Get the pastors teaching the word and listen. Apply the word, quit, run around. Like, it's feelings. It's not feelings. It's not your opinion. It's not your dream or vision. You have to substantiate everything that comes out of your mouth with the word of God. You get it? Ah, more people hate me because after all he doesn't have a degree. He's not Dr. Rick. Well, it's the word of God. The authority is the word of God. I'm not the authority. It's the word of God's the authority. You're fighting against God if you don't like what the word of God has to say, period. So, not left as orphans. So I don't worry about rejections, what I'm trying to get at. I know that I know that I know that I'm a child of the father. In John 8, 39, the Pharisee said, Abraham is our father. And Jesus said unto them, if you're Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham. You're of your father the devil and the lust of your father you will do. These are the religious leaders. And Jesus called them out. And then these guys said, we're not born of fornication. Oh, is that a dig? Is that a dig, dude? Are you saying that I'm born of fornication? Are you saying that Mary and Joseph had sex before marriage? That I was born of fornication? You throwing that in my face? Is that why Mary at the wedding at Cana Galilee said, hey, it's been 30 years. 30 years of listening to all the whispers, all the gossips. They ran out of wine. Do something, son. Hey, what is that to me? Is it my time to come out? Is it my time to show him? He turns the water to wine at a wedding at Cana Galilee, a couple miles from Nazareth. All the people are wondering, who is it? Isn't he just the carpenter's son? He goes on to do all sorts of miracles and such and they still don't believe. A prophet is not without honor except among his own kindred. His own brothers didn't believe in him until after the resurrection. You can see in John 7. They thought he lost his mind. The people of Nazareth, isn't this the carpenter's son? Aren't his brothers and sisters here, Mary and Joseph and all? They didn't, he was in the world. The world was made by him. The world knew him not. He came unto his own. His own received him not. I come in my father's name, he said in John 5, and you receive me not. Another shall come in his own name, the Antichrist, him you will receive. Crazy, just crazy. Who's your father? Who's your daddy? How do you know? 1 John 4, 13. Hereby know we, here's how you can know, that we dwell in him and he in us because he has given us of his spirit. You have the Holy Spirit living and dwelling within you. And the Holy Spirit bears witness with your spirit that you're a child of God. And the illustration of Ephesians 1 is that you actually have an engagement ring on your finger. You're not married yet. The wedding hasn't taken place, but you're engaged. You're marked. You're marked out by the Holy Spirit as belonging to Jesus Christ. You are the bride of Christ and you've got oil. You're ready to go. You're watching, you're ready. We've been sealed by the Holy Spirit. Verse 16, the spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. Verse 17, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. So joint heirs, as I said, we share in all that Jesus has inherited. Now, one thing about inheritance is you gotta wait. A whole lot of kids are in a hurry so they want to put grandma in a home to seize the assets, right? We're just in a hurry. We don't want to be bothered. We want at the assets as soon as we can. Whole lot of ugliness takes place when the love of money kicks in. And others of us, others of you, you're patient. You know it's there. It's the living trust. You're gonna get it eventually. But she might outlive me. Well, you gotta wait. You and I gotta wait, you know? We don't have the inheritance now. I can't lie to you and tell you you're gonna have your best life now. You may be a pauper. You may be suffering. You may be going through gruesome, gruesome things. But I know up ahead, I can tell you that he's gone to prepare a place for you. And if he's gone to prepare a place for you, that he's gonna come again and receive you unto himself that where he is there, you may be also, right? And if in six days he made all this, just think what it's gonna look like, right? Whole planet's for surfers, man. It's gonna be incredible. Just waves galore, wave machine, wave machine. Fishermen, man, the best fish, everything, man. Food, no bugs, no bugs. So along the way, Satan wants to compromise you and let you know, hey, you don't need to suffer. You don't need to go by way of the cross. You can have the crown without the cross. You can have your best life now. So Jesus, if you'll bow down and worship me, I'll give you all these kingdoms of the world. Jesus, you don't need to go by way of the cross. Jesus, you can have the crown right now. You can be king of this world, but I'm the God of this world. See, the unholy trinity, Satan envisions he's delusional in that he's gonna be a God the Father and that his seed of the woman, you know, in Genesis 3.15, the seed of the serpent's gonna be his Antichrist. And then the false prophet is unholy, you know, Holy Spirit. And so Jesus, hey, I'll give you all the kingdoms of the world. Jesus didn't refute the fact that Satan, as he usurped the authority that Adam had, our first Adam, to have dominion over the earth. When Adam sinned, he forfeited that dominion. And the little G God of this world, the prince of the power of the air, the serpent took usurping that authority. Jesus didn't refute that he didn't have that authority in the present dispensation. But one day it's coming to an end. He said he saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning, you know, down to the earth. And so one day Satan's gonna be thrust out of heaven. He won't be able to accuse us before God in Revelation chapter 12, day and night, using the letter of the law to accuse us. But we have an advocate where the Father Jesus is there. So no cross, no crown. Jesus said, it is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve. So Jesus went to the scripture to refute the lies and the temptation of the wicked one, teaching you and I that, hey, you hungry? 40 days of no eating? If you are the son of God, command that these stones be made bread. It is written, again, it is written. That's where you need to go. How can you go there if you don't know the word? How can you know the word if your pastor doesn't teach you? How can you learn the word if you aren't a disciple? If you're not one that's reading the word of God, hiding God's word away in your heart that you might not sin. Jesus said, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Not just the written word, but the logos word. I mean, the rhema word, the logos, the written, the rhema, the spoken word. It may be okay for you to move to Hawaii. And I wanna go too. And there's nothing in the word that says you can't move to Hawaii. But in my spirit, God says, Rick, you're in my will here in Kitsap County. You're in my will. So for me, because I have a rhema, I have the Lord speaking to my heart, confirming every day, every moment, every week that I'm in his will. And that's where I wanna be, Lord, in your will. I could go to paradise in Hawaii and wind up being depressed and suicidal like so many that do go there because I'm out of God's will. I don't wanna be anywhere but in God's will. I wanna hear the word of God. I wanna be in that place where his peace guides me. And so no shortcut, not gonna take me up on the temple and be a circus performer, the dog and pony show, and jump off of there. And then Satan quotes the scripture, Psalm 91. He'll give his angels charge over you unless you dash your foot against the stone. It is written, thou shall not tempt the Lord thy God. Don't tempt him. All right, I'll slow down a little bit. I'll slow down. All right. Okay, all right. So boring. All right. Peter's offer. Peter's offer of a shortcut. Peter cuts off the ear of Malchus in the garden of Gethsemane. He's saying, Jesus, we'll take up arms. We'll take up arms. We'll usher you in. We'll make you king right now. Right now, Jesus, we'll take up arms. And Jesus takes Malchus' ear and puts it back on there. And he says, don't you know that I can call down 12 legions of angels? You know, Peter, if I want to. A legion of angels, 6,000. One angel killed 185,000 of Ben-Hadad's Syrian troops there, right? 185,000 killed by one angel. I can call down 12 legions of angels as if he needs angels, right, Peter? I've got armies. Peter, I can just speak the word and these guys are, they're like Raiders of the Lost Ark. They're just melting, right? Do what I want. No man takes my life from me. I willingly lay it down. I have power to lay it down. I have power to take it again. Put up thy sword into the sheath, the cup which my father has given me. Shall I not drink it? What cup? Father, if you're willing, remove this cup from me. Hey, you guys, can you pray with me lest you enter into temptation? Oh, the spirit's willing, but the flesh is weak. The guys are falling asleep. They can't pray. They're gonna enter in temptation. Peter, I'm praying for you that your faith fail not. Peter, get on your knees, get into prayer. But this wrath, that cup is the cup of wrath. The cup of wrath that God's gonna pour out upon his only begotten son. My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from my roaring? At that moment, the sins of the whole world, the wrath of God's being poured out upon Jesus as he's upon the cross. He that knew no sin became sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. There's also a cup of redemption, his blood that was shed on the cross of Calvary to redeem you and I, to pay for your sins and my sins. And in the millennium, a cup of joy, a cup of blessing as we celebrate his kingdom, as we're there with him as the bride of Christ. Heirs of all things, in 1 Chronicles 29, 11, David is transitioning his kingdom and bringing Solomon into the picture. And he's praising the Lord in 1 Chronicles 29, 11. He says, thine, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine. Thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all. And so everything, what do you have that was already given unto you? You're a joint heir with everything. Everything belongs to him. Satan has no ownership over you. He has no ownership over anything. Satan is gonna be maybe the most celebrated prisoner in the lake of fire, but that's it. That's all he gets, the lake of fire for all eternity. So too the false prophet, the beast, and all the wicked dead, all the wicked dead. The only way they can get to hell is to resist God's love. To refuse God's love for a lifetime is the only way you can get into hell. God will make it so difficult for people to get into hell. He will call and call and call, inviting, inviting, inviting. Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden. I'll give you rest. And they'll refuse. And on the day of judgment, of the great white throne judgment, he's gonna ask them, what did you do with my son? Well, I don't know, that Rick Boudreau is such a whack job. I tried to go to church, he made me so mad. He told me that they were gonna force my dog to die. And I believed him. Just crazy excuses people have. God never told you to believe in Rick Boudreau. He never told you to believe in a pastor. Never told you to believe in any system or church or whatever. What can you find wrong with his son? You can't find anything wrong. You can't find anything, anything, nothing wrong. No sin, he's perfect. No, the reason you didn't believe is because your deeds are evil. You love darkness rather than light in John three. You will not believe. It's not an intellectual problem. It's a problem of the will. You will not believe. Are you ready to believe today? Is this your day? Or are you still asleep? You're still dead in your sins. Do you wanna be born again? Do you wanna be a son of God? Do you wanna look future and let go of the world and know that you're a joint heir with Jesus in all that he's made, in all that he's purchased? And he says in Ephesians two, verse seven, that in the ages to come, you're in the church age, he's gonna continue to pour out his kindness upon us in the ages to come. The millennial age, what's after the millennial age of Revelation 20? It's the eternal state, 21 and 22. Read 21 and 22, just kind of an overview, just a glimpse, a little tickle of what he has in store for us. My little grandson, he knows, he goes, Papa, it's okay if I die, get my new glorified body. I can walk through walls. He's stoked, he's excited. He's not holding on to the world. I mean, think of a kid, a superhero mindset. Oh, yeah, that's right, buddy, that's right. So and if children then heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, notice if. That word if means since. It's not like happenstance, like it might happen, since. Since so be that we suffer with him. Yes, we suffer him. That we may be also glorified together. So cross before the crown, no. We're gonna take our cross up, we're gonna follow Jesus day by day. We're willing to suffer. We accounted a rejoicing, a blessing that we're accounted worthy to suffer for his namesake. We go away from the people that are beating us, telling us not to speak in his name anymore, rejoicing that we're accounted worthy to suffer for his namesake. And so we don't wimp out and quiet up and act like, oh, my best life now. What a lie that is. But boy, people wanna hear that, don't they? And they're not prepared for what's coming. A whole lot of suffering's coming. The church in America, the church in the West is an anomaly. Throughout church history, there's never been a period of time where the church has been so incredibly engrossed in pleasure and prosperity. All over the globe presently, Christians are suffering. There's a revival taking place in Iran right now, of people coming to Christ in a time of persecution. People coming to Christ in China in a time of persecution. In a time of prosperity, in a time of pleasure, in Europe, in America, the church is in a decline. People are leaving the church. The church buildings are emptying out. The ones that have people are the ones that preach a prosperity gospel, that preach Trump's coming, you're gonna get all the stuff back. That's what sells. Those who teach prophecy, that teach that things are coming to an end, so to speak, with this present order, and God's coming forth with his new world order, for many, they don't wanna study prophecy. They don't wanna hear that. They've got kids to raise. They've got plans. They've got trips to take. They've got bigger houses to buy. More times at the golf course, and fishing, and surfing, and all this other stuff. And I'm all for it. I want prosperity. I wanna stop it. I wanna slow it. But when I do go through a time of suffering, I have to wrap my head around it and say, why did God allow this in my life? How can God use this? As we get to verse 28, all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to his purpose. How's God gonna turn this together for good? And so I have to look at it from an eternal perspective. And so Jesus' offer, we saw the offer of Satan. We saw the offer of Peter. And we see here with Jesus, whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily in Luke's gospel, and follow me. In Matthew 12, 24, Jesus said, except a corn of wheat fall to the ground and die, you that garden, you got the seed. You're the corn of wheat. You're the corn. Except that corn fall to the ground and die. Rick's gotta die. He's gonna bite alone. But if Rick dies, he's gonna bear much fruit. So if I take my cross up, the cross speaks of death, and I follow Jesus day by day, I've crucified the flesh. I've mortified the deeds of the flesh. I've reckoned the old man dead. And I allow the newness of Christ, the life of the spirit to live through me, my life will bear fruit, spiritual fruit. I'll finally be able to love. I'll finally be able to say, I'm sorry. Please forgive me. I'll even be able at times to love my enemy. I'll be able to forgive him. I'll be able to move on like Corrie Ten Boom was able to move on. How do you do that? Not in the flesh. It's the life of the spirit. God's spirit transforming, changing me. I'm gonna have characteristics that we see in Jesus. Sonship speaks of number one, our exalted position. Secondly, our enlightened perspective. Heaven is our home. Like Abraham and Sarah, they were looking for a city who's builder and maker is God. They weren't gonna settle down in Sodom and Gomorrah. They weren't gonna settle. Are you settling for this world? They said, no way, I'm not settling. I'm gonna be a man and a woman of faith. And my life's gonna bear fruit if you can number my posterity in you, Abram. Your seed and your seed singular, all nations of the earth are gonna be blessed because of Christ. Because of Christ coming through you, many are gonna be spiritual offspring. Many born into the family of God. He says, verse 18, for I reckon, what's that word reckon? I reckon, I'm from Texas, I'm reckon, no. It's an accounting term, right? It's an evaluation. You're evaluating the positive and the negative. So your investment counselor, he's gonna show you investments that are blue chip. He's gonna show you riskier ones. You gotta evaluate where you wanna be at retirement age. You're gonna have to look at your portfolio, what sacrifices you wanna do, how much you wanna save, where you're gonna invest. You're gonna reckon, you're gonna evaluate. He says, for I reckon that the sufferings of this present time, so times involved, are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed, which shall be in the future revealed in us. So a temporal suffering for an eternal glory. Is that a good business investment? What's it profit a man to gain the whole world profit? What's it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what would a man give in exchange for his life? Jesus said, evaluate your eternal destiny. Evaluate where you're going. Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, not upon the earth where moth and rust does corrupt, where thieves break through and steal. But store up for yourselves, invest in heaven. Best way to invest in heaven is to be a child of God. And then be a joint heir. Adopted heir of Jesus and enter into the joy of the Lord. Well done, thou good and faithful servants. You've been faithful over a few things. I'm gonna make you rulers over much. And so Paul's perspective. What's his perspective? 2 Corinthians 4, 17. He said, for our light affliction is but for a moment. And it's working a far more in the eternal weight of glory while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. Do you have an eternal perspective? Paul said this is light affliction, and it's only for a moment. It's a short period of time. Our life is three score and 10, and 10 more by reason of strength. Meaning 60, 70, 80 years if you're strong. Life's a vapor. It's quick, it's over. But eternity, eternity, have you prepared for eternity? And eternity in heaven or eternity in hell? You're an eternal being. You're gonna live somewhere. Gotta serve somebody. Why not prepare for heaven? Why not go through Jesus Christ? So what is light affliction? In 2 Corinthians 11, 24, Paul loves to make a list. He says, five times received I 40 stripes less one. Why 39 stripes? Because if a Jew were to give you 40, over 40, they would get whipped, they would get killed. So they would stop, the lictors would stop at 39 just to make sure somebody miscounted. Five times Paul received that sort of whipping that Jesus received with that kind of nine tails. Now with Jesus, it wasn't ruled by the Jews giving that whipping, it was the Romans so they could keep whipping past 40. They beat him, they beat him like a pinata as I tell my grandkids. They beat him beyond the recognition of a man. His face was so marred more than any man, more than the sons of men. And people cringed from that. And five times Paul said, I received 39 stripes. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. You remember him being stoned? You remember Paul and Barnabas at Lystra? You remember how the people started out saying, it's Mercury and Jupiter have come down to greet us. And they're wanting to make offerings unto them. And Paul says, no, we're men of like passions as ye. Stop, stop, don't worship us, we're just men. Just as the angel told John the beloved, we're just men. Worship Jesus, don't worship angels either. And so, you know the story. They took and they drug Paul out and they stoned him there at Lystra. And everybody's standing around Paul like he's dead. Now I think he was dead because he described a guy, whether in the body or out of the body, caught up to the third heaven. Paul didn't know. And he saw things that were unspeakable, unlawful. And Paul said the Lord gave him a messenger of Satan to buffet him, a suffering, a physical suffering to keep Paul's feet on the ground because lest he be exalted above measure with the visions that he saw, the things he saw, the things he saw, caught up to the third heaven. The first heaven is where the birds fly. The second heaven is we didn't go to the moon. The third heaven is where God's throne is, right? Is it a flat earth, Alan? I don't know. No, just kidding. All right. Third heaven, caught up with the third heaven. Just want to see if you're awake. And so anyway, Paul's there and he stands back up and what's he do? He said, I didn't sign up for this. This is too much suffering. I don't like this. I quit. How many of us has quit? How many of us want to quit? Pastors are quitting at a huge percentage. Churches are closing at a faster pace than ever in America. It's getting harder and harder. Are you ready? Are you, you have endurance? You ready to run the race? You ready to fight the good fight to finish your course? It's one thing to start, it's another to finish. How are you going to finish? Kathy and I want to finish well. We're getting closer and closer to the finish line. We want to finish well. So many of us faint, we quit just short of the finish line. And Paul stands up, he goes, what's he do? He goes right back into Lystra and Derby. The place that rejected him, the place that stoned him. He gets right back in and goes into the city, preaching the gospel. And then he lets the Christians know the truth. That we through much tribulation, not the tribulation, shall enter into the kingdom of God. He didn't candy coat it and act like this will never happen to you. He's saying, count the cost. We through much tribulation will enter into the kingdom of God. In this world, you will have tribulation, Jesus said. But be of good cheer, I've overcome the world. My peace I give unto you. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him from them all. Expect it. We're not going to soft sell the gospel. We're not going to soft sell Christianity. Get as many people to sign up as we can. And then all of a sudden, all hell breaks loose and everybody falls away because they weren't prepared. They weren't challenged with the reality, the cost involved of taking your cross up daily and following Jesus. They weren't ready. We got to get ready. My job is to get you ready for heaven. This light affliction. Three times he was shipwrecked. Perils of men, hunger, thirst, fastings, cold, painfulness, nakedness in prison, labors, death. What a perspective. Moses' perspective. In Hebrews 11, 24, you remember Moses, first 40 years as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. The second 40 being emptied of Egypt. Egypt, the type of the world. As he's tending sheep of Jethro, Prince Midian. And the last 40 years being a deliverer for the children of Israel. Moses drawn forth out of the Nile. And his mom and dad, they put him in an ark with pitch and strategically floated to the daughter of Pharaoh. And his little sister was able to run home and coordinated that mom could nurse him and all. And so a lot of times they'll nurse till they're about four years old. So the formative years there with Jochebed and Amram and in the house there with Miriam, with his sister and Aaron and all. And so then later, he's brilliant in all the schools of Egypt, Stephen said. Eloquent speaker, powerful in the things of the world. Groomed to be the next ruler possibly of all of Egypt. And it says in Hebrews 11, verse 24, he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. Verse 25, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. How many people sell their soul for rock and roll in this life? How many people sell their soul to be popular or wealthy in this life? And he said, you know what? I'm evaluating the temporal versus the eternal. My perspective is such, it's better to suffer affliction with the children of God now than to enjoy the pleasures, the fleeting pleasures of the world, which only last for a season. That's a good evaluation. That's a good way to gain perspective and eternal perspective. It says verse 26, in his value system. What's your value system? If you're gonna vote, you wanna be a value voter. What's that mean? You have examined each candidate and you look for a biblical worldview. You look at, do they believe in the sanctity of life? Do they believe that a man's a man, a woman's a woman? Do they believe, you know, right down the road, biblically speaking, esteeming, you have to esteem the reproach of Christ as greater riches than the treasures in Egypt. So the treasures of Egypt are dangled for them, but the reproach of Christ, the opposite in this lifetime, he chooses, for he had respect on the recompense of the reward. He had respect toward, hey, it's just a light affliction. I'm gonna be with the Lord soon. I'm not gonna give up, you know, eternity for the temporal. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. So how'd he endure? He was looking for Jesus. He was looking for his savior. He endured. Are you enduring by looking for that blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and savior? Is that how you're enduring? Do you know that Jesus is coming again? The doctrine of the rapture is a wonderful doctrine. It's a rapture, it's a doctrine of hope. It's not a doctrine of gloom, you know, doom and gloom as so many try to paint it and such. And it's definitely not a doctrine of wrath, of you're gonna have to suffer the wrath of God of the tribulation period, and then you're gonna be raptured. Definitely, no way, because you're not subject unto his wrath. You're a child of God. You're a son, you're adopted, and you're not appointed to wrath. Jesus' perspective. He said, blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my namesake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad for great is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. You're in good standing. How was Stephen treated? He was stoned. He was stoned for telling the truth in Acts chapter six and seven. Oh, you stiff neck Jews, you know? And they gaped upon him with their teeth and they stoned him and left him for dead. And before he dies, he's looking up to heaven and his face is shining like that of an angel. And Saul of Tarsus is there. They put his coats there and they're watching him and his face is like that of an angel. What did he say? He said he saw Jesus give him a standing ovation. He that seated at the right hand of his father stood up for Stephen and Stephen saw up into heaven. And he saw the face of Jesus shining. And Stephen said, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. Stephen, a standing ovation. That's what I want. I want to hear the Lord say, well done. Well done now, good and faithful servant. You are the biggest church in Kitsap County. Way to go. Ain't gonna happen. He doesn't measure our success in that way. It's simply measured on faithfulness. Are you faithful to what he's called you to do? I think it's much, much harder to be faithful as somebody that's poor and has health problems and pastor in a small church maybe, a single mother. Do you know how hard it is on these single moms, these super women whose husbands have left and they can't find another one? And they don't want one. They don't care anymore because they're super women. They're super moms. They can do everything nowadays. But quietly, they'll tell you, they just can't find a guy. They can't find, the good ones are already taken. I'm already taken. I can't have a harem. If I could marry 10 more, I would, but you know, God, no. I feel so bad for them, I'm taken. So the submarine implosion. I saw where the guy says, I don't want any old white guys to help us. You mean, you don't want guys like Fred here and USS Forrestal that was in a submarine that was sinking and knew technically how to work the ballast and get that thing to gradually go back to surface. You don't want a guy like that? Why? Because he's an old white guy, you know? Well, maybe you should have got a pill from an old black guy that could give you a brain, you know? Dr. Ben Carson's got a pill for you because you're an idiot, you know? Why would you wanna die because of stupidity? That's not a glorious way to die. That's not how I wanna go out because of my own stupidity because I'm going woke and now the sub is broke, you know? Crazy pride, crazy pride, during the month of pride, by the way. And die for a good reason. Be a Christ-like soldier. Have a soldier's death as a gladiator where he said, give me a soldier's death, you know? An honorable death if you're gonna do it, you know? Die like Stephen died, you know? Looking up to Jesus and or like Jim Elliot. He was very, very gifted and intelligent and had a great, great future from the world standpoint ahead of him. And he wants to go to bring the gospel to the Coo Indians. And people are saying, you're a fool. You're a fool to do that. You could be killed. There are headhunters there, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And he said, no man's a fool to give up that which he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose. Perspective, he had perspective. He was willing to sacrifice the temporal for the reward of the eternal. And if one man thereafter, two, three, four, as the family went back and got saved, is it worth it? Is it worth it for a man to lay down his life that others might hear? Verse 19, for the earnest expectation of the creature waits for the manifestation of the sons of God. That earnest expectation is the attitude of a man who scans the horizon with his head thrust forward eagerly. And some commentators would say on his tiptoes for the earnest expectation, on his tiptoes, scanning the horizon, the first sign of the break of glory, looking for that blessed hope, glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Now on the flip side, H.G. Wells says, man who began in a cave behind a windbreak will end in disease-soaked ruins of a slum. That's the perspective of the evolutionist. You just cease to exist. Arnold says, you cease to exist. You just go into the ground and it's over. A cessation of being, annihilation. But Jesus proved that is wrong through the resurrection. Now notice he said, the earnest expectation of the creature, creation, what's creation expecting? All of creation. We're gonna see they're groaning, travailing, waiting for redemption, waiting for the return of Christ. The apostasy is such that pastors refuse to teach prophecy, but all creation awaits his return. Creation is awaiting his return. Creation is groaning, looking for the return of Christ, but pastors won't teach prophecy. They won't teach the second coming of Christ. They won't teach concerning the rapture. They won't teach concerning the nation of Israel in the land. They won't teach all that Jesus taught, all that Daniel taught, all that the Bible teaches concerning the times that we're living in. They don't wanna know. And people want programs and games and game night and concerts, and I love a good outreach concert. I got saved at one, but there's got to be doctrine. There's got to be prophecy, especially in this time. Jesus rebuked his generation because they didn't know the time of his coming. If you'd have just know the time, if you'd have just been a student of prophecy, you'd have known. In Isaiah 65, 17, it says, "'Behold, I create a new heaven and a new earth, and the former shall be remembered, nor come to mind.'" That's what we can expect for the future. Verse 20, "'For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but reason of him who has subjected the same in hope.'" So something's missing. Things are not right. I feel empty. The creature, you as a human being. Pascal said it this way, "'There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every man.'" Solomon said it this way, "'Vanity, vanity, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.'" Mick Jagger said it this way, "'I can't get no satisfaction.'" I can't get no, I can't get no satisfaction. The wine, the women, the song, money, fame, all of it didn't fill the void, didn't fill the emptiness in his heart. Couldn't do it because you were designed by the creator of the universe, you were designed with a God-shaped hole in your heart that only Jesus can fill. And that groaning, that yearning, that wanting to fulfill, that wanting to discover, why did God make me? Why am I here? Where am I going? That's something God placed within your heart by his spirit, drawing you unto himself. One of the things God used in my life in that regard was simply marriage. Watching my mom divorce seven times. I saw families. I saw something I wanted, something that was being taken and ripped from me. I wanted the intimacy of being in love, the two becoming one. And I was an unbeliever, but I understood that intimacy. I understood on the human level, that's the highest form of intimacy. Not messing around with everybody, not in and out of relationships, but till death do we part. But I knew that I didn't have the ability. I didn't have what it takes. I was gonna be just like my mom. And it horrified me. I looked at my friend, Andy. I lived in his house during my last year of high school, so I graduate. And I looked at his mom and dad, the way they laugh. The way they have meals together. The way there wasn't all that yelling and screaming and sheriffs coming and pots thrown and craziness. It was a happy place. They didn't know Jesus, but it's a happy place. There was an evangelistic persuasion that began to persuade me to look to Jesus, to look to him in that yearning. When I was in 11th grade, Mr. Womer, home economics had me write a paper. You know, what do you wanna do? What do you wanna be when you're older? I wanna play second base for the Yankees. No, I didn't say that. I was old enough to know I didn't have the talent. All I wanted was to be married. I wanted to be married once and only once. And if you're on your second marriage or third or whatever, it's no slight to you. Just make this one right. You know that. But I didn't know how to do it, but that was a desire the Lord placed within my heart. This desire for intimacy and beyond the marriage, I knew when I came to Christ that I have to be more in love with Jesus than I am Kathy or it won't work. And the Lord separated us, and I got to spend nine months with Jesus and establishing him in my heart as my first love. And with Jesus as my first love, with Jesus as the foundation of my heart and my life, then the Lord brought Kathy in. And then we've been able to, as long as we allow Jesus that place within our hearts of that uppermost, as long as he's Lord, as long as he's the head of the home, things work out. That much I've learned. Only one thing matters. In Philippians 3.10, Paul says that I might know him. One thing, there's only one thing I want, that I might know him. Do you want to know God? That's all that matters, that you know God. He made you so you would know him. He put a God-shaped hole, a vacuum in your heart. He wants you to know him. He wants you to be born again. He wants you to be a son or a daughter. He wants you to be an heir, a joint heir with Christ. That I might know him, the power of his resurrection, the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death, Paul said in Philippians 3.10. In Luke 10.41, Jesus went to Bethany, to the house of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. He used to like to hang out with them. And he went over there to eat, and they weren't serving bugs. Martha was a great cook, and she's cooking. And she's cooking, and she's cleaning, she's doing all sorts of stuff. And Mary, she just went and sat at the feet of Jesus in the living room while the pots and pans are banging in the kitchen there. And Martha's all indignant. She comes in there and says, Jesus, my sister Mary just sitting there not doing anything. I'm doing all the work, you know, and all. And Jesus said to Martha, Martha, only one thing is needful, one thing. And Mary has chosen that better part, to sit at my feet and to listen to my word. You can have a dirty house. You can eat yesterday's food, whatever, you know, there's a time to cook, a time to clean. But the most important thing is your time that you sit at the feet of Jesus, hearing his word. If Jesus shows up at your house, sit at his feet. She's chosen this one thing, Jesus said, this one thing priority-wise, priority that will not be taken from her. David said in Psalm 27, four, one thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. Only one thing matters, God loves me and I'm his son. Verse 21, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. And so Peter's perspective, the world's perishing. In 2 Peter 3, what manner of persons ought you to be if you know that everything in this world's gonna burn? It's just gonna burn, it's all gonna burn. So if you know it's all gonna burn, Peter's saying, his perspective, creation's gonna be dissolved, there's gonna be a new heaven and a new earth, what manner of persons ought you to be? Sonship speaks of our exalted position, our enlightened perspective, and thirdly, our eventual perfection, our blessed hope. Verse 22, for we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now. So like a woman groaning and travailing in childbirth, and as I said earlier, knock me out, just knock me out. Give me all the Novocaine you can, and when my grandkids are going to the dentist, one of the things I do, because I'm like a real, I'm a demon, there's a demon in me, and what I do to them is, oh, you're going to the dentist, and I go, ooh, and they're like, oh, Papa, stop it, stop it, you know? Doesn't everybody hate the sound of a drill? The dentist drill? Wouldn't they have a lot more mileage and a lot more people willing to go be drilled on if they could silence that thing or somehow, you know? And so for me, the way they silence is knock me out, you know, I've never been knocked out, but you know, they do a local, and boy, I can smell the burning flesh, argh, I can smell it all, oh, man, it's brutal, it's brutal. No wonder so many are so unhappy because everyone hates them, you know? So many want to escape, verse 23, and not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves, grown within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. So we've grown, waiting for the fulfillment of our redemption, so he's already died for us, his blood has purchased us, but he hasn't taken possession of that which he purchased with his blood. So in Revelation 5, he's got the title deed to the earth, the title deed that Adam lost, the title deed that Satan had, the title deed that Jesus now has, because he went and he sold all that he had to purchase this field, which is the earth which he created, to purchase you and I, the treasure that was in that field. So he went and he sold all that he had, where blood bought, he has the title deed, the line of the tribe of Judah, he's worthy to open the scroll to loose the seal. But we have to wait, you and I have to wait for that blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. And so he's gonna give us a new glorified body is coming. So I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go to prepare, in my father's house are many mansions, if it weren't so, I'd tell you, I go to prepare a place for you. The mansions, I believe, are the new bodies, the new glorified bodies that are being prepared for you and I, and don't be jealous over my new body, it's, it's, it's, you'll get one too, all right? So a new glorified perfect body, and so we wait knowing the price is his blood, we wait having his seal, his mark of ownership, the Holy Spirit, the firstfruits, verse 24, for we are saved by hope, but hope that is seen is not yet hope, for what a man sees, why does he yet hope for, verse 25, but if we hope for that which we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. So what are we hoping for? What hope saves us? Faith saves me, salvation is by grace through faith alone. So what hope saves me? The hope is the hope of the return of Christ. The hope is being clothed in my new glorified body. I'm waiting for the consummation, the completion of my salvation. The salvation's begun. He saved me from the past penalty of sin. He's saving me in the present tense in Romans six from the power of sin. He's saving me in the future tense, delivering me from the very presence of sin. I'm gonna have a new glorified body, and I'm hoping, and that hope, what is that hope? Not in Trump. That hope is a blessed hope. Oh, how happy a hope, a hope, exciting hope, that blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Sonship speaks of our exalted position, our enlightened perspective, thirdly, our eventual perfection, fourthly and finally, our effectual prayers. Sonship, the help of the Holy Spirit, helps us in praying. Verse 26, likewise, the Spirit also helps our infirmities, our weaknesses, for we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. So creation groans, all creation is groaning, waiting for Jesus to come to reverse the curse. Creation is in a position where it was a whole lot better in the Garden of Eden, and they're waiting for Jesus to come to make the millennium, the thousand-year ruling reign, and they're groaning, travailing, because of the curse upon the planet. We groan because we're in these bodies, these sinful bodies, we have to carry around the old man, we're groaning, we know things aren't right, aren't perfected yet, and the Holy Spirit groans, the paracletus, the one who comes alongside, the comforter mentioned five times, advocate one time in 1 John 2, we have an advocate, so check this out in prayer. We have help in prayer, we have Jesus ever living to make intercession for us, he's a king, he's a priest, a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, and you and I are gonna be kings and priests in the millennial reign of Christ, ruling and reigning with him, and we have the Holy Spirit interceding, we have the Holy Spirit in us, groaning, because prayer reaches a place where we don't have words for it, we don't know quite how to pray, what to pray, and if I'm on wheel of fortune and they say, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, I know it, thy kingdom come, there's a model prayer there, but prayer for you and I, it's not just a rote kind of a prayer, when I was a Catholic, you have to say three our fathers, four herald Marys, and that sort of thing, prayer is communicating with God, prayer is allowing the Holy Spirit to communicate through me to the Father, communicating what I need, communicating on my behalf, and then I have Jesus, as I said, ever living to make intercession for me, and some of us, we exercise our prayer language, we pray with words that we don't understand, it's not our native tongue, we utter in our prayer language, we sing in our prayer language, by faith and the Holy Spirit's interpreting for us what it is we're praying, yeah, we're charismatics, believe in the gifts, we're not cessationists, we need help in prayer, James 5, 16, the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much, Galatians 4, verse 6, because ye are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his Son into your heart, crying, Abba, Father, the Holy Spirit's in your heart, crying, Daddy, Papa, Abba, Father, crying out to him, verse 27, and the Father that searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because he, the Spirit, makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God, the Father, so, and he, the Father, that searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because he, the Spirit, makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God, the Father, the Holy Spirit's helping you and I communicate with God the Father in prayer, C.H. Dodd is quoted as saying, prayer is the divine in us, appealing to the divine above us, so God is omniscient, he knows all things, he knows all about you, he knows everything that's going on, the devil's not omniscient, the devil and the AI, the artificial intelligence and all that, they cannot produce prophecy, they might be able to write a Bible, but that Bible will be devoid of prophecy because the devil doesn't know the future, only God, who being omniscient, knowing all things, can predict things with 100% accuracy ahead of time of what's going to happen, and he knows you better than you know yourself, Kathy always says that to me, Rick, I know you better than you know yourself, what's that look on your face, what look? I know what that look is, what are you talking about, there ain't no look, what are you thinking? So the Lord knows though, he knows my heart, he knows our poverty, he knows my weakness, he knows my loneliness, he knows my sickness, he's there with me in all of it, in Jeremiah 29 he says, I know the thoughts that I think towards you, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope, so we're led by the spirit of God into the will of God, so God's will is that you be a child, that he might lavish his love upon you as a son and a daughter, he made you, he saved you, he adopted you, because he loves you, he won't leave you an orphan, you're his son, in 1 John 3 verse 2, beloved, now are we the sons of God, it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is, and he that has this hope, this hope in him, for the return of Christ, purifies himself, in this dispensation right now, there's a purifying persuasion, that I want to be right with God, because he could come at any moment, he could come at any moment, he that has this hope in him, the hope of the rapture is not doom and gloom, it's a purifying hope that Lord, I don't wanna be caught doing something that would shame you, I don't wanna be a part of a scam, or things that aren't true, he that has this hope in him, purifies himself, even as he is pure, in 1 Corinthians 15, 51, Paul says, behold, I show you a mystery, we should not all sleep, but we shall be changed, in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed, for this corruption must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality, that's the rapture, and Jesus, in 1st Thessalonians 4, 16, Paul said, for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first, and we that are alive and remain shall be caught up together in the clouds, and meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord, and so we're looking for that blessed hope, we're looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, that blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and savior, Jesus said, when you see these things begin to come to pass, the birth pangs, the birth pangs, the groaning of the world reaching a place of cataclysm, the birthing of the tribulation period, moving in the direction of the millennium, when you see these things begin to come to pass, look up, for your redemption is drawing nigh, redemption in that you've already been, he's already paid for your sins, but now he's gonna come and take possession of you, and you're gonna enter into that sonship as adopted sons and daughters into your inheritance as joint heirs with Christ, isn't that exciting? Very exciting, looking unto Jesus, the author, and the finisher, the finisher, he's gonna finish, I blow it, but I'm confident of this very thing that he that has begun a good work in me, that he's gonna perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ, he finishes what he gets started, right? And that's the joy and the blessing of resting in him, he said, it is finished to tell us I've paid in full, your redemption draweth nigh, he's gonna come take possession, and he said, pray always that you'd be counted worthy to escape these things and stand before the son of man, location, location, location, I go to prepare a place for you he said, he said, let not your heart be troubled, you believe in God, believe also in me, my father's house are many mansions, bodies, new glorified bodies, right? If it weren't so, I tell you, I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again, that where I am, heaven, he's ascended, he's in heaven, that where I am, there you may be also. Jesus is coming for our bride, his bride, and we're gonna have that marriage ceremony for seven years up there, right? And then we're gonna come back with him, he's gonna come back with 10,000 thousands of his saints, he's gonna destroy the Antichrist with the brightness of his coming, the sword of his mouth at Armageddon, the blood's gonna be as high as the horse's bridle, all the globals can be wiped out, the devil, the false prophet, the beast, all of them thrown into the lake of fire, Jesus wins, and he wants you and I to keep looking up, keep hoping, keep looking up, keep telling people about his coming kingdom, in Jesus' name we pray, let's pray. Father, we thank you for the hope that is ours, nobody can steal that hope, we understand why the devil hates the doctrine of the rapture, we understand why the devil wants people to be hopeless, wants people to try in the flesh, in the arm of the flesh, to deal with a spiritual battle that's taking place that cannot be solved politically or any other way except spiritually, it's by your spirit, it's not by might nor by power, by your spirit, so Father, we take this moment to appeal to you that you would save now, that you would draw the lost unto yourself, that today would be their day of salvation, Father, we pray that you would move and work by the power of your Holy Spirit, that if there's anybody here this morning that doesn't know you, that Father, they'd come to know you, that they'd do that one thing, that one most important thing, they'd be born again, born of the Spirit, that you'd seal them, that you'd give them the signet ring, that you'd mark them as belonging to you, that they'd come to the realization that before the foundation of the earth, Lord, you knew them and you drew them and you wooed them by your love, that this is their day, and while you're praying, is there anybody here this morning, as we make appeal, crying unto God that God would save now, is there anybody here that doesn't know Jesus, Christianity's a relationship, you don't know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you may have been religious, may attend churches, may have done it all your life, but you know within your heart, the Spirit's not bearing witness with your spirit that you're a child of God, there's an emptiness there. Anyone here this morning, God told Nicodemus, a very religious leader, you must be born again, anyone here this morning, just lift your hand up, we wanna lead you in prayer, we don't want you to leave here without Jesus, anyone here? Father, again, we thank you, everything's gonna be okay for us because we have you, because you have us, we love you because you first loved us, no matter what we face this week, no matter what the globalist attempt, attempting to kill Pucci and all that, Lord, we don't fear, you haven't given us the spirit of fear, but a power of love and a sound mind, and Father, we trust in you, that you're sovereign, you're in control, that everything's happening according to plan, why are we surprised? In Jesus' name we pray, amen.