[Mr. Ben Light] For millennia, man has wrestled with answers to the big questions of life. When you think about the various questions that face us as humans, you know, as we looked up in the night sky, we observed the stars. We observed the planets. We observe this earth, the creation that is on it. Scientists and philosophers and thinkers alike, they have pontificated, they have considered, they've debated they've discussed. Frequently, they've gone round and round and round and round, and they often come away no closer to the answer at the end than when they started.

Some of these questions that we talk about, these big questions of life, is there a God? If there is, who and what is He? Has He communicated with His creation? What is man? Why are we here? What is our purpose? What is our destiny?

You know, these existential types of questions, they've challenged us to dig to the core of who and what we are. And as we dig to the core of who and what we are, we draw conclusions relating to our existence, based on the answer that we come up with. On one hand, if man is a cosmic accident, if there's nothing beyond this life, then as Paul alludes to in 1 Corinthians 15:32, "Let us eat and drink for tomorrow, we die." And that is certainly one path that man has taken in this life. Removing God from the picture, defining morality based on their own personal and societal mores, and living their life as such.

However, if we believe that God exists, and if we believe that He's provided a revelation to His creation, then the question that we need to start sorting out and we need to be able to sort out is why? Why has He created us? For what purpose? For what reason? What is our destiny? And has He provided us guidance toward that destiny?

And for many of you that were first-generation Christians, these were questions that you had to sort out. These were things that you had to work through and that you had to deal with before you came to an acceptance and an understanding of the truth of God. These were questions that you had to answer in a very real way before you made the commitment to live this way of life and you accepted the truth of God.

For those of us who are second or third, or possibly even later generation questions, the answers to these things were provided to you largely in the manner in which Timothy received His instruction. They were instructed by your family, through your upbringing, generationally down the line. But for those that received the truth in that particular fashion, there are questions that we too, must answer. Conclusions that we must come to within our own hearts as we kind of consider the covenant that God expects us to enter into as a part of His creation.

Before we move into the next stage of our calling, so to speak, there are things upon which we all must be settled. You know, unfortunately, for a number of young people that have grown up in the church, they've never fully answered these questions for themselves when they've gone to university or they've gone to college. And they are confronted in that place with a very different worldview than the one that they've been exposed to in their formative years. And they struggle to answer those questions. And unfortunately, over the years, we've seen a number of youth depart the path, depart the way, some temporarily, but some occasionally for good.

Brethren the answers to these questions that we look at in life when we consider these existential things, they're critical. They're critical questions. And as parents, we need to be having the dialogue with our children on these topics regularly. You know, as I've often done leading up to the Sabbath going into the camp season, we've taken the time congregationally to examine the camp theme for the year to kind of take a look at what it is that our kids are going to be looking through as the week goes on. And you know, the joke that I've often made is "What's good for the goslings is good for the geese," right? They say, "What's good for the goose is good for the gander." Well, it works, and what's good for the goslings is also good for the geese.

So today, what we're going to do in the time we have left in the second split is we're going to take about a 30,000-foot overview of our theme for this week that we're going to be starting Sunday, on the theme for camp this year, which is "Becoming sons and daughters of God." And that'll serve as the title for the message today as well "Becoming sons and daughters of God." You know, the inspiration for the theme comes largely from Paul's writings. You know, you see Paul frequently brings this concept up throughout many of his epistles. Brings up these ideas of sonship and adoption and you know, the family of God. He really brings these things to fore in his writings but as with most concepts in Scripture, there are threads of this built throughout, in so many different places.

Let's turn over to the book of John today to begin as we consider kind of this idea of meeting the family and getting to know the family members involved here. John 1, and we'll go ahead and pick it up here in the first part of John 1. We've talked about this before, John's gospel is not one of the Synoptic Gospels, it means he often describes events from a different point of view. He often describes events in a different way. He includes some events that are not included by the other gospel writers, and he leaves some events out that are not...you know, that are included by those gospel writers. And that's led some scholars to kind of question the authenticity, so to speak, of his writings. But in reality, when you take a look at why and what that was written, and the reasons why it was written, it makes perfect sense.

During the later years of John's life, the church was experiencing a number of challenges. You know, there were Gnostic teachings that were beginning to run rampant. You know, you had questions about the divinity of Christ, you had questions about the crucifixion of Christ. You know, a number of questions about Christ Himself, and all the different things that they experienced during the time when the apostles were with him. And realistically, John was there. He was there in person. And by the time his gospel was written, John was the last one alive, really, who was to that degree. You know, these other individuals had written, they had recorded their things and as people and time had gone on and they began asking questions and beginning to question some of the things in those accounts, some of what John wrote was setting the record straight, and ensuring that people understood all of the different aspects of what was there. You know, John writes his gospel in that way. He addresses a number of the challenges that were taking place at that point in time. He addresses a number of the issues that were coming up both in that gospel as well as in his epistles. John 1:1, you know, interestingly, as we kind of see, some of these things, these are still issues that we face 2000 years later, in the modern era of the church. 

John 1:1, "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." 

John helps to establish our understanding of the God family with a single passage of scripture. And again, there's threads throughout. There's threads throughout. It's not all based solely on this one passage, but they're, you know, from this particular section from John 1:1, we see that there are two divine beings. There is God whom Christ revealed as the Father in his time here in his ministry. And there was the Word, who in the remainder of that passage, in John 1 is identified as the Divine Being which became Jesus Christ.

You know, John establishes that the Word existed from the beginning and he establishes that the Word was with God and that the Word was God. John establishes existence, he establishes relationship, and he establishes identity of the God family. He also establishes, as the account continues, the role of the Word and creation. John says it is through Him that all was created God the Father, as the architect, so to speak, the designer of the process, and Christ as the builder. The Word as the builder, the one who is doing the act of creating as he is instructed. We see that through Him, the world, the universe, and all that is in it, was created. John talks about how the Word came to His own creation, and they didn't know Him. They rejected Him, they ultimately put him to death.

John 1:12-13 Says, "But as many received him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name." Verse 13, "Who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." 

Not of the flesh, not of the will of the flesh, not of the will of man but of God. The verb that's used for the word for born here comes from the Greek word “Gennao.” And you've heard that word before. It's sometimes translated born, it's sometimes translated, begotten. And in this sense, it's talking about how these individuals who have accepted Jesus Christ as Messiah, who have listened to His words, they were given the right to become children of God, to be begotten as children of God. Born not of blood, not of the will of the flesh, not of the will of man, not physically begotten as children are begotten today, but begotten spiritually, by the Spirit of God. And as they grow and they develop, they become children of God. John makes it clear as we continue in this account in verse 14, you want to go ahead and turn there. 

John 1:14 and John 1:18 He says, "The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace, and of truth." So he makes it clear who this individual is, he identifies this individual, but John goes on one step further in verse 18 stating that “No one has seen God at any time.” He says, “The only begotten son, who is in the bosom of the Father, has declared Him." 

We see the Apostle Paul corroborate this, he says he being that Israel interacted with in the wilderness, the rock upon which they relied upon which they drank from, was Christ. Was the word. Christ Himself upholds this in Matthew 11:27 stating, "No one knows the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him."

So we see an establishment of two beings, one family, one unity. In Genesis 1:26, you don't need to turn there, you can if you'd like if you're faster than me, get there. Genesis 1:26, we see that mankind was built and made in the image of God, was made in the image of God. So what is our Father, like? No one has seen Him at any time, what is our Father like? We know we're built in the image of our Father. We can assume that He's similar to us structurally, assume that He's got a head, two arms, two legs, you know.

We can assume that we share similar characteristics. We see in scripture that God can become angry. God can become sad. God laughs. God has a sense of humor. You know, He does all these things without sin. You know, as we saw the example of Jesus Christ in the New Testament, Christ was saddened by grief to tears. He was angry to the point of flipping over tables when the house of His Father was defiled. He laughed. He made jokes, He made wordplay, He made puns. These are all characteristics of our family that we share, as future parts of that family.

Humanity as part of God's children, we have the capability to think, we have the capability to plan. We can write beautiful music. You know, we can build bridges. I can't, people can. Okay, let's make that very clear. Other people can build bridges. But we have the capability of doing these things. We have the ability to code software programs, computer programs, all of those things. These are special things that man has been provided that the rest of God's creation has not. These are things which set us as mankind apart from the rest of the creation. Man is special because we are made in His likeness. That is why man is special. That is why man has been given the...we have the potential to become His children. And as such, we're working to become more like our Father, we're working to become more like our elder brother and the characteristics of this family that we've been brought into.

1 John 4:8 tells us that God is love. God is love that is one of His characteristics, one of His many characteristics. But God is love. And it is upon that primary characteristic of love that God's family is built. John wrote that “God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son, that those who believe in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Paul writes that “God desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” And it's this incredible love that enables us to become a part of His family.

Let's go over to Ephesians 2, Mr. Miller turned over here earlier today. Let's go to Ephesians 2 and we'll revisit a couple of the passages that he went through, he kind of was in the front and the back and we're going to grab the center spot here. Ephesians 2, you know, the book of Ephesians, as Mr. Miller outlined today, it begins by outlining the grace of the creation...the grace that the creation has essentially received as a result of the love that God has for it. You know, Ephesians 2, if you kind of look and skim through here from verse 1 on you see this love that is being poured out upon this creation by its creator.

Ephesians 2:4-7 says, "But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses made us alive together with Christ." In parentheses, he says, "By grace, you have been saved." And verse 6, "Raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus." In the first part of verse 7, there gives us some timing of this. "In the ages to come, He might show us the exceeding riches of His grace, in His kindness towards us in Christ Jesus." 

God's great love for us made us alive together with Christ while we were dead in our trespasses. While we deserved everything that we earned His grace and His love is what enables us to be able to live, to be raised up in the ages to come to sit in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Why would He do this? Why would He do this? Because He's a loving Father. And because we are His children. There are times when our children disobey. Those of you who have been parents, you may have a specific time in your mind. I mean, that's right. That did happen. I remember that. There are times when our children go contrary to the instructions that we have provided them. There are times when they can be maybe we might say a wee bit irritating just a little bit right? At times. Those of you that are parents, you know, a wee bit irritating it's about two steps down from like, DEFCON 4, right?

But whether you're mildly irritated, whether you're maybe a little bit frustrated because they're not listening and they're not hearing, or maybe you're at DEFCON 4, I don't know, it doesn't stop the love that you hold for your kids. It doesn't. You may be temporarily frustrated, you may be temporarily upset at what's going on but you still love your kids. That love transcends the challenges, it transcends the disappointments, it transcends the heartbreak and to some degree, it transcends life itself. You know, those of you that have kids of your own, think back to the moment when they entered the world. Have you ever seen anything so beautiful? Truly, anything so beautiful in your life? Will, you ever experience a moment as beautiful again? I've heard grandkids are pretty cool. So I've heard that. It's an incredible moment when you experience the birth of your children.

How does God feel about us, when he experiences the birth of His children, when they have been begotten spiritually, when they have become a part of his family, with the deposit of His Spirit in them at the covenant of baptism? Remember, we're made in the image of God, you know, we experience many of the characteristics that He exhibits. Think about the way that He feels in that moment. It's got to be incredible.

Romans 8, go ahead and turn over to Romans 8. Romans 8, is an incredible passage in that early on, you know, Paul establishes the concept of the familial connection to God the Father to our elder brother, Jesus Christ, provided we allow ourselves to be led by His Spirit. As you get further down into the passage, though, you start to see an outline of God's love for His family. Now, I'm going to read this in the New Living Translation most of the time, I'm New King James Version only. But the New Living Translation, I think, has a little bit more descriptive language here. And I think it helps to kind of provide a...kind of bring it alive a little bit. So this is in the New Living. So for those of you that may have it, you'll be able to read along, for those in the New King James, you'll kind of see the differences between the New King James and the New Living Translation. Romans 8:35 and we'll go ahead and read down through verse 39. Again, thinking about the great love that God holds for His family and holds for His children. 

Romans 8:35-39 Says, "Can anything ever separate us from Christ's love or from God's love? Does it mean He no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted or hungry or destitute or in danger or threatened with death? As the Scriptures say, ‘For your sake, we are killed every day, we are being slaughtered like sheep.’" Says, "No, despite all of these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us." Again, that love that God provided us in providing His son on our behalf. "And I'm convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love. Neither death, nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow. Not even the powers of hell the grave can separate us from God's love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below, indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord."

The family of God is a family that is built on love. It is a family that is founded on love, love for God, love for our fellow man. And it's ultimately this characteristic that we're learning to emulate and to grow, and to develop in our own lives as God works with each and every one of us, through our calling. You know, loving people can be hard, can be very challenging. It is what we are called to become and what we're called to do.

You know, as we mentioned when we started today, there are times in our lives in which we have to come to terms with the questions that we began with. There are times in which we have to be settled in our belief of God's existence, in the revelation of His word that He has provided us, and ultimately, with the calling that we're being offered. And that calling can come in a variety of means. Now, that calling can come in a variety of means.

I love hearing people's stories about how they came to the truth. I love talking with some of the members that have been around for some time as to how they've come into the truth and how they've learned about things. You know, you hear stories all the time about these just random occurrences where, you know, some guy goes and buys an old cassette tape at Goodwill, because he wanted to record something off the radio. And it turns out, there's a "World Tomorrow" program on it. And he's like, "Well, this is interesting, I'll listen to this." And then, "Oh, I should get that newspaper. I should do this." And pretty soon they're in the church, you know.

I think my favorite story that I've ever heard was a guy that was racing a train. And I may have said this story already once before, so I apologize if you've heard it twice. He was racing a train to get ahead of it in a pretty souped-up hot car. And he decided that he was going to cut in front of it at the next railroad, you know, embankment, which by the way, children, is very unwise, do not do this. But they sped along got ahead of it turned really fast. Wow! You know, like "Starsky and Hutch" in the air. The car lands really hard, the radio changes stations. Well, change the stations to "The World Tomorrow" program. And he continued listening to it, ultimately got a booklet and there it was, that was his calling. That was his opportunity, you know.

Mr. Sexton, actually, we were up at the counselor training for Northwest yesterday. And he let me know, there's a woman in the Portland area actually who just happened to have "Beyond Today Magazine" accidentally delivered to her address. It was supposed to be delivered to somebody near them or something, she went to go find the address, it didn't actually exist and so she just read it. He just baptized her this last week. So those sorts of things still take place, people's callings come in a variety of different ways. You know, for many of you, you had your own stories of how those things take place. Some of us that were, you know, grew up in the church, that calling came as a result of the faith of our parents, as we see outlined in 2 Corinthians 7.

But for all of us, regardless of how that calling came, we have to answer the call. We have to pick the phone up, so to speak. Once we've been convicted of God's existence, once we've been convicted of the inerrancy of His Word, that He's calling us to become a part of his family, that requires a conscious choice now for us to receive God's Spirit through baptism, through the laying on of hands so that we can be begotten to the family of God. Again, as we saw earlier in John 1:13, those that were begotten not of blood or a physical will, but begotten of the Spirit of God. That spirit is a necessary component in the process. It can't be done without it.

Sometimes I think there's a tendency to postpone the commitment, sometimes there's a tendency to maybe put it off until we've got our life sorted. And the reality is, baptism is the first step on a lifelong road of course corrects, of consistent change and consistent, oh, this isn't what I need to be doing over here, you know, over here. It's a lifelong set of course corrects. So we have to be settled in the crucial stuff, we do have to be settled in those things. We have to have a heart that's willing to change when we see places where change needs to be made. But God's Spirit fills in the gaps in our lives, completing us and helping us to be strengthened to take on the transformation that God desires of us.

Again, He created us to be a part of His family, that's our sole purpose for existence, is to be a part of His family. But we also recognize as we look around in the world around us today, not everyone is called in this life. Not everyone is called in this life. When we look around the world today, we see the pain and the suffering, the consequences of a world that is living in sin that is living apart from God's way in absence of His loving guidance. And honestly, it's really hard to watch. It's really hard to watch when you turn the news on and you see all these, you know, horrible things that take place. It is such a challenge to see. It's such a challenge to accept that there are some in this life that have not been called. It's sins causing consequences, difficulties but not impacting the judgment, from Christ at this time, that's hard to see sometimes.

On the other hand, those of us that are called today who have been given this opportunity either by choice of God or by birth, you know, it's our time for judgment. This is our time to be living this way of life. We're being evaluated, we're being expected to grow, to develop, to progress toward the standard of Christ, we sin, we need to repent. They sin, they don't necessarily know better. They're not going to be judged on it until they've had the opportunity to have their eyes opened. 2 Corinthians 4. 2 Corinthians 4, we'll go ahead and pick it up in verses 3 and 4. 

2 Corinthians 4:3-4 says, "For even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe less the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is in the image of God should shine on them."

And those of us who have eyes that are open at this time, have a greater responsibility and a greater expectation than those who are blind. And it's hard to see, it's hard to watch as this world goes down a path to destruction. It's very challenging to see. But we recognize God's plan is perfect. God's plan has a time for everyone, a perfect time for everyone, that they can make the decision.

2 Peter 3 talks about how He's not slack concerning his promise. He's not slack concerning his promise, he's long-suffering towards us. He's not desiring that anyone should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And for many, that time of repentance will be the second resurrection. That will.

So we talk about our calling, when we consider our calling, and we consider kind of how God has worked with us do we answer the phone, or do we let the call go to voicemail? You know, as God is reaching out to us, and, you know, spurring us on to study and to prayer, do we answer the phone or do we let it go to voicemail? You know, how are we interacting in that way? How are we building that calling? Because what is that, that answering the call look like? It looks like building a relationship with God through prayer and through study. In hearing His words, in talking with Him, it looks like allowing God's Spirit to lead us in accordance with His will.

And it might mean that we don't always get what we want. I don't know about you, that's a frequent theme in my life, I don't always get what I want. I get what God needs from me. That's what I get, I get what I need. That's what God takes care of is what I need. Answering that call means we're obedient. We're holy children. That we're allowing His spirit to change who we are to become more like Him, kind of pruning away the parts of our lives that don't look like our Father and elder brother. It looks like us working diligently. It's working diligently in our lives, to follow Him to add faith and love and to endeavor to connect and to gather together with others that believe the same way that we do and like-mindedness.

Of course, part of that process includes repenting of our sins and committing to God and baptism so we can receive His Spirit to become a part of His family, again, adding another spiritually begotten child of God to the fold. We are created to be a part of His family and to go through these steps as we fulfill the aspects of that creation, the purpose for which we are here. Now, as we grow and we develop we have the opportunity to interact with, we have opportunity to spend time with other members of God's Ecclesia, of His family, those He has called in this life. One of the benefits of family spending time together and enjoying one another's company.

You know, I've told you guys this before I grew up in a pretty small family, it was just four of us. It was my dad, my mom, my sister, and I. And we didn't have any cousins that were near us, family was a little estranged. My dad's side was completely estranged. There was no real connection there. But on my mom's side, there was a couple of an uncle with a couple of cousins and I maybe saw them three or four times before 18, maybe, maybe. So we're not particularly close. But, you know, when I got married to Shannon, I inherited a new family and a much larger family, ultimately. You know, I suddenly had three other siblings, I suddenly had another set of parents. I had as those siblings got married and I now had a bunch of in-laws, or as we jokingly refer to ourselves, outlaws. Had nieces and nephews. And all of a sudden, the family I didn't have I now had.

And it's kind of interesting how God works. It's been an incredible blessing and a wonderful experience is kind of those bricks have been laid in this new house, you know, with family that we have at this time. And there are times, you know, we don't always perfectly get along. There are times we disagree. You know, unfortunately, in much of the world conflict is the norm it seems like in most families these days. I can't tell you how many people I've talked to, that have told me, "Oh, we don't talk to that side of the family. You know, we don't discuss, we don't even visit with that person or this person." Or, you know, conflict, unfortunately, is the norm it seems like for most families these days. But you know, as family of God, we're called to work through the challenges that we face because we recognize we are family. Ephesians 2:19, Paul addresses the family of God here and talks about what it is that God's doing with that particular family. What He's working through, and what He's doing with those individuals that He has called. Ephesians 2:19. Can't get to the page that has 2. There it is. 

Ephesians 2:19-22 says, "Now, therefore, you're no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. Having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone. In whom the whole building being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit."

You know, this kind of echoes the words of the Apostle Peter, in 1 Peter 2, he talks to the brethren as living stones being put together into a spiritual house. Being fitted together, being aligned with that chief cornerstone. Now, we've mentioned this before, I think it's worth revisiting. You know, many of you have done masonry work, I'm not great with masonry. But some of you have seen like dry stack masonry, where you have very precisely cut stones, very precise leveling, very precise procedures to ensure that those walls fit together really tightly along those very precisely cut edges. And when those walls are stacked together, you don't even need mortar, because the stones themselves are holding the other stones in place. And as those things if they're nice and tight, and you've got other layers over the top, and everything's level, everything's in place the way that it should be, that wall is going to hold for an incredibly long time.

I'll give you a case in point. When Herod rebuilt the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, you know, at the early part of the swap over from B.C to A.D, when that was rebuilt initially, the large Temple Mount that Herod put together, there are some dry stack stones in that Temple Mount that are still there. They're huge, I mean, they're large stones that form the foundation of the mount itself. But there are some of those that are still there in that place 2000 plus years later, with the edges still aligned, still together. That wall is still standing in the places where the Romans didn't end up pushing it down and pulling stone from stone. There are a few of those places that are still there.

You know, when you look at the way the temple was built, when you look at Solomon's instructions, initially, you see that it was, you know, stones were to be quarried off-site. They were to be quarried very carefully, very precisely so they could be brought on site and they could be put in place. The cornerstone was set, the whole thing was leveled, every stone was based off of that cornerstone in the same level in the same orientation. And those stones were ultimately dry stacked in those areas.

You know, our characteristics as members of the family of God line up to that chief cornerstone when we're, you know, we might say leveled or plumb, whatever term you want to use. You know, those are the tools I don't have plumb, level, which one goes which way. But when you have those things in place, and they're aligned to that chief cornerstone, when we're all angled so that the row of stones that comes off of it aligns perfectly with the alignment of that chief cornerstone, we have stones being held in place so they're not wiggling out of alignment with the other stones, the foundation of that spiritual building is sound and it's unshakable.

God is building a living temple. He's building a spiritual building of His Ecclesia. We recognize as it kind of insinuates here in Ephesians 2 as well today, God's Spirit dwells in His people. Today, God's Spirit dwells in His people. The place we talk about, sometimes we talk about the feast, the place where God places His name, that's where God's people are gathered. It's ultimately where God's people are gathered. God's presence is among us today, in this place, because His people are gathered in this place. And we talk about the way the stones are fit together in our families, if they're fit together spiritually as well in our physical families, those stones are fitted together and they are incapable of supporting the rest of that spiritual temple if they're not. If that foundation is not in place, it's really challenging to keep the building together.

And it doesn't mean we don't have different opinions each of us have different perspectives. But the core beliefs that we have in common the foundation of the truth that we stand on the love that God has for us, these things, unite us together in the calling that God has provided. And that calling is a calling that enables us to be family forever, to be family forever, not just temporarily, not just in this life, but for eternity. You know, the calling which God has provided us is a calling to eternity in His family, it's a calling and a blessing that extends beyond this physical existence. I think it's one of the most powerful truths and powerful understandings of the Church of God is our understanding of the resurrections. It's one of the most powerful understandings and truths that we have because it is something that most others in the world around us do not have and do not understand.

You know you listen to some people, you ask them what happens after somebody dies, some of the various things you get, they're just, they're hard to listen to. You know, so and so had a rough life, they had a rough upbringing and so they're going to suffer forever in hell because, you know, they died before they could ever learn about Christ, and so forever, they will be tormented. That doesn't sound like the God I know. That doesn't sound like the God I serve. Our understanding of the resurrection is a powerful, powerful understanding, a powerful truth. When you consider that everyone will have their opportunity. Everyone will have their timing, everyone will have their chance to know God and to make the decision. That no one is going to be left out in that sense. Everyone has a time and has a place. It's an incredible aspect of God. Revelation 21, if you want to turn over there. Revelation 21 really evocatively describes the beginning of eternity, the beginning of this long-term family of God, for those who become sons and daughters of God. Revelation 21, and we'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 3. 

Revelation 21:3-7 says, "I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, 'Behold, the tabernacle, the dwelling place of God is with men. He will dwell with them and they shall be His people. God himself will be with them and will be their God.'" Verse 4, "God will wipe away every tear from their eyes, there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, there should be no more pain for the former things have passed away." Verse 5, we see that He who sat on the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new." He said to me, "Write for these words are true and faithful." He said to me, "It is done." Verse 6, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts, He who overcomes shall inherit all these things, and I will be His God, and He shall be my son."

And we see this just evocative description of God's plan, and then what He has in place for the people that He has called, and the people that He is working with people that He will call and will work with. And we see a further description as we go down through this section on the New Jerusalem, talks about how God and the lamb are its temple, they are its light. The Waters of Life proceed from their throne. And for the remainder of eternity, God will dwell with His people.

Brethren, the best is yet to come. The best is yet to come. You know we've had in our lives in this physical existence, we've had moments of beauty. We've had wonderful times, we've had wonderful moments, but the best is yet to come. The best is yet to come. Knowing that we've been called to live forever as resurrected spirit beings helps us to realize that the choices that we make today in our lives, how we act toward one another, how our own personal holiness, they make this indelible mark, so to speak, on eternity.

And whether we help our family, whether we set good examples for others, whether we help the widows and the fatherless, making peace in an argument or, you know, disruption, focusing on helping those in need. If we're doing that to help other people selflessly, we bring a foretaste of the kingdom of God to this earth. And we show love to one another. That's a part of our calling as being children of God, that we will be ambassadors of the characteristics of our family to the world around us. That we will introduce the world, to our Father and to our elder brother through our interactions with them through the way that we interact, the way that we treat one another. Let's go ahead and go back to Romans 8, Romans 8:16. And we'll go ahead and finish here with a final Scripture today, Romans 8:16. Again, we mentioned earlier that, you know, this section talks about the importance of the being heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ as we let God's Spirit dwell on us and lead us. 

Romans 8:16 says, "The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit, that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs."

Children inherit what their father leaves for them. That's a truth in this world as well. Sometimes that's nothing. But sometimes it's something. Children inherit what their father and their mother leave for them, what their family provides for them. And in this case, they would be the heir of that. "If children..." verse 17, that's the point Paul's making. 

Romans 8:17 "If children, then heirs." Then there's an inheritance. "Heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may be glorified together."

What a wonderful promise. What a wonderful opportunity. What an incredible calling. Let us all remain diligent, focused on the process, holding tight to the promises, becoming sons and daughters of God.