Children, Part 2

I'd like to give you the children's prayer outline. The children's prayer outline goes like this. Your will be done on earth in my life as it is in heaven. You might have thought, little children, you are a child of God, and your parents want you to do their will, just as that will is accomplished within the head of the family. Little children are very, very precious. When we think of a little child, as one was blessed here today, we think of that life. Oftentimes, grandparents have more opportunity to stare into the eyes and look at the features and just marvel at this precious little life. Dad and mom haven't had that kind of time because the baby came and life was upheaval and they had to make a room and haven't had much sleep and they're changing diapers and trying to work and all these things. But the grandparents show up for a short time and they really can look at these incredible little features and watch this little personality in a unique way. Little children are special, but spiritual children like you are millions of times more special to our parents in heaven, to God the Father, to the Mother New Jerusalem in type that's in heaven. We are so much more precious to the one who designed, created us, had the ultimate purpose, have given themselves totally and continue to give themselves totally to us as this process continues. In Ephesians 6, verses 1-3, there's a passage that follows the type of marriage in 5. In chapter 5, Jesus talks about husbands like Jesus Christ, wives like the church, husbands and wives, and Christ gave himself for the church like husbands should the wives. All the way on down. Paul says at the end, now this I'm talking about is a connection between Christ and the church. And then he starts in the next breath, there were no chapters in the original scroll, he says, children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right. This really comes back to what is said in the model of prayer. Children do the will of your Father which is in heaven. Children obey your parents. Israel, children of God, the children of Israel obey the Lord.

You and I are sons and daughters of God and we are called to obey God. And so it is with the physical family of children obey your parents in the Lord with the spiritual children, which are much more precious in the sight of God than just human babies. In verse 2 it says, honor your father and your mother. What does God tell us to do? Love God with all your heart, soul, and might. A commandment. We are to honor God, honor his name, put him first in our life, keep the Sabbath, then honor your father and your mother in tight, just like your spiritual parents were to honor our physical parents. And it says this is the first commandment with promise. With a promise.

If we obey God as little children, we'll live long on the land. That was God's promise to the children of Israel. If we obey spiritual parents as spiritual children, we will live long in our spiritual heritage in the promised land. Notice verse 3, so that it may be well with you and that you may live long on the earth.

There's a physical earth now. There will be a new heavens and a new earth that we want to live long on as the spiritual children of God. But, you know, not all little children grow up to be family.

That's a sad reality today. Families are under great pressure to disintegrate from all directions. It is almost a miracle anymore if a family goes all the way till death do us part. The family remains sort of the beaver-cleaver type of a structured family. In fact, it's been under attack for so long that right after the video series, TV series of the 60s, was out for a while, it began to be belittled.

And it's still belittled today. Yes, the family is under attack, and children don't normally grow up to be with family. Same with spiritual. Spiritual children don't always stay in the family. The family doesn't always stay together. Some children decide to opt out. It's the way it was with the spiritual children of Israel. We read, for instance, in Deuteronomy 21, in verse 18 through 21, if a man has a son who is stubborn and rebels, who will not obey his father's voice or his mother's voice.

Now, let's stop right there and think about that. Yeah, we can imagine this son, this kid, this teenager, this young rebel, and he won't obey his parents. Or it can be John Elliot. If God has a son who is stubborn and rebels, who will not obey his father's voice or his mother's voice, see what happens? When they have chastened him, even when they have chastened him, God chastens us as children. God directs us. He loves us. He wants us to be in the family. If he will not listen to them, dropping down to verse 21, then all the men of his city shall stone him with stone so that he dies.

And that parallels what happens if we will not obey the voice of God. If we close our ears, we won't hear, and we won't follow and do the will of our Father in heaven. Then we, too, will be gathered and we will be dispatched. We know that that is part of prophecy. Last time in this series of being children of our new Father, we saw in God is Calling Children that God has offered you a connection to a vine, the vine.

Jesus Christ is the vine. We saw in that that God the Father is directly involved in that. They are producing children that are to bear fruit. The fruit begins as little infant kind of berry things that are not useful or usable, but the goal is for rich, full, mature fruit that remains, that doesn't, isn't cast. It remains on the vine and is there for the harvest. That's one of many analogies that we talked about last time.

So today we talked about that connection that we had to the vine. Now, let's see what you need to be doing on that vine. What you and I need to be doing in preparation for our judgment, for the harvest, for the selection. The title of the sermon today is part two, become a child of your new Father.

Become a child of your new Father. It's one thing to have the opportunity. Now we're going to talk about seizing that opportunity and developing into the child that God is looking for. What's your baptism date? Do you remember it? Can you remember about when it was? How many years ago? You might check your the label on your Good News magazine. It may well be your baptism date if you were baptized after the United Church of God began.

If not, if we have your former record, it still may be your baptism date, or it may be simply the date that you first subscribed. But I'll bet if you look on that, it's a few years old. It's been around a while, perhaps.

You might have been attending church for some time. What should you, the baby, growing inside, if we use that analogy, heading for a full term and then delivery, what should the baby look like by now? You know, should we be still just an egg that's kind of doubling in size? How long have we been in the church? Have we really been feeding off the umbilical cord? Have we been feeding off the vine? Have we been eating the bread? Have we been receiving the God's Holy Spirit and developing? Or has it sort of been available? You know what I'm saying? But we've been a little preoccupied with something else. What should the baby look like by now?

Some of you are not baptized yet, and yet, at the same time, you have God's Holy Spirit working with you. That is why you are here. That's why you understand. That's why you're different than the other kids your age. It's because God's Spirit is working with you. He's opening your eyes and your ears to understand.

And you are changing. You are growing and getting ready to begin to be on that vine or the many types of analogies that the Bible uses. You've been feeding on the Holy Spirit, the bread of life, for how many years?

You've been developing spiritual fruit. Those grapes, the wheat, the barley, the wheat, those little kernels should be filling up, swelling up, many of them. You've been maturing as sons and daughters. Children of God, we are called in other analogies, in actuality in the Bible. We've been maturing for that number of years. So how much of the old man is still visible? How much do we still look like what we did when we started? How are we transitioning? How much are we transitioning? How well are we transitioning? It says in Ephesians chapter 5 that there are certain things that we should have progressed away from that should no longer even be any association in our lives with. For instance, it says, these things, let it not even be named among you as fitting for saints. For saints. We should have moved to a certain degree, depending on how long we've been and how much we've been nourished and how hungry we are, how reliant we are, how desirous we are.

We should have moved to a certain degree away from things that are not to be named among us or as fitting for saints. Another question is how much of the new man or the new woman, the new person, the spiritual person, the child of God, how much do we look like that?

I asked this of myself and I am critical of myself and never, even just like Paul, he says, I do not pretend to have apprehended. I do not tell you that I have made it. I'm somehow perfect.

And that's what we need to be. We need to be looking at ourselves, using Christ's view of us, and seeking a better, more mature body, as it were, as a child of his. It says in 1 Peter 3 and 4, let it be the hidden person of the heart with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit.

There's a statement of Peter towards the ladies that can help us understand that we are to be growing away from things we shouldn't be associated with, and to this incorruptible beauty, internal, vaginal and quiet spirit of godliness, wisdom from above.

Let's go to John chapter 5 and see how important this growth process is for us. That we can't just say, oh, I'm in the true church. Oh, let me show you the literature here. This is true. This is the best around.

I know about everything that there is to know.

Well, that's great. You bet you do, because you're associated with the true god, his truth in his word, and he has true shepherds that are feeding as he inspires. And so, yes, we have those things, and even I have those things. But like Paul said, if I speak those things but don't do them, you know, it's nothing. It's nothing. So he says here, Jesus says here in John 5, 28, do not marvel at this, for the hour is coming in which all who are in the grave shall hear his voice. There is a judgment coming, and everybody is going to participate at some point in time. Now, there is a process we find back in 1 Corinthians 15. First fruits, Jesus Christ came up first. Next will be those who are Christ at his coming. Revelation chapter 20 and verse 5 says that after the first fruits resurrection, the rest of the dead will not live again until the end of the thousand years. And then verse 12, 11, 12, we see that the rest of the dead come up. So there is this process. And then in verse 13, there is another resurrection to life for a judgment physically and spiritually, but also physically that when everything is burned up and dissolved, they will be part of that. And so the hour is coming in which all who are in the grave shall hear his voice. And they shall come forth those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have practiced evil to the resurrection of condemnation. Now, as we know, Jesus Christ is the one who bears the responsibility of determining who lives eternally and who dies for all of eternity. And he has to make that decision. That's why he's saying this.

He's saying, this is on my mind. This is on my mind. So what can you and I do, and what should you and I do during this growth phase that we have? We're all attached to the vine. We're all berries. We're all in, say, the mother's womb and, you know, kind of look like a, I don't know, something like that at some point. Are we happy with that? You know, it kind of looks like it has a nerdy little head on it. And maybe something looks kind of like an eye. Are we happy with that? Or do we don't grow up to a full baby? A real child of God? One that comes out and daddy in heaven says, yes, there's my son, there's my daughter, and welcome into the family. Of course, that's just a bad analogy. It's not even a biblical one, but I've just kind of given it to you.

It'd be more like, you know, humans who mature spiritually into teenagers and young adults at some point, and the doors open, and come on in, you're now family. Inherit what the family has. Or, like Jesus says, we're a bunch of grapes. Come on into the harvest, or we're a bunch of wheat kernels. Come on into the bushel, and we'll blow away the chaff and burn it. Whatever analogy you like, the Father is the vine dresser. Let's go to John chapter 15, verse 1. And He is the one, ultimately, that we pray to, the Holy Spirit emanates from, that the heavenly or spiritual gifts come from, concerning ears that are open, eyes that can see, repentance, faith.

In John chapter 15, verse 1, I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine dresser.

So let's look at this analogy here. This is the team. This is the parents. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, the Father takes away. And every branch that bears fruit, He prunes that it may bear more fruit. God the Father isn't indirectly involved at all. He is directly involved with you and I. Again, we pray to Him. He gives us spiritual gifts that we need. His Son is directly involved as the head of the church. The Father is very involved and very loving and can't wait for us to join the family. He loves us so much that He gave us His only begotten Son. Now, He says here, every branch that bears fruit, He prunes that it may bear more fruit. That might be associated with correcting. But every branch that's bearing fruit, you get in there and you take off the wild shoots that are just drawing off nourishment. They don't mean anything to the fruit. You trim it and it sends more of the good stuff down to the grapes and the grapes grow.

He wants us to be productive and grow to be like the vine, what the vine is. It's all about the grapes in this analogy. Verse 6, if anyone does not abide in Me, now the term abide means to dwell, to live in, to remain, you know. That's what this is about. Verse 6, anyone does not continue with, dwell, remain in Me. He is cast out as a branch in His withered. Now, think about that. God doesn't come along and trim branches. We just saw that. He comes along and says, if somebody does not abide in Me as He is cast out, a cast out branch is something that is cast. It's like fruit. You ever go by a tree and you look on the ground and see all these little branches laying around? Those are cast. Something's no longer useful. And these are cast out. Now, if you and I say, I don't need the branch, I don't need to abide in this branch. If anyone does not abide in Me, that's a choice here, not from God, a choice here, then He is cast out as a branch. And what happens? He's off the tree and it withers. It doesn't grow. He says, well, I don't need to be here. I can go over here. I can go over there. I can do it this way. I can do it that way. I have a better idea.

I'm upset with this pruning and trimming and this correction. I don't want it. I've been offended or my selfishness, my vanity has been pricked. I'm going to go somewhere else and I'll be fine. But what happens? It withers. It's cut off from the branch. Remember what Jesus said? Every branch in verse 2 that does not bear fruit, He takes away.

But every branch that bears fruit, He prunes. We need to be attached to Him. Verse 4, abide in me and I in you because a branch of itself cannot bear fruit. We can't do it without God.

You know, sometimes we think as humans that we are just so brilliant. And to a degree, we are. If we give God the credit for it, we are rather brilliant. But if we don't give God the credit for it, but take credit for ourselves, then we're like Nebuchadnezzar. Oh, look how brilliant I am! And all God has to do is pull one little miracle, the Spirit in man, and boom! We're on the ground eating grass. So just being human, a living soul, which is a living thinking being, is a gift of God, let alone the Holy Spirit on top of that, whereby we can understand spiritual things and grow. All of this comes from God. So yes, bring it on. Bring on the inspiration. Bring on the ability to do it. Keep giving God the credit because we cannot do anything over ourselves unless it abides in the vine. Neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine. You are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit. For without me, you can do nothing. If we ever get the big head or if we ever get the independent mindset and pull out and stop doing what he says to do, we become useless. The goal here is much fruit, not just the little nodules, not these little green looking berries on a grapevine. Have you ever seen a grapevine that's just loaded with beautiful grapes? I don't mean out in the field where they grow them production style. It's so clinical. But maybe in Italy. I remember in Italy, we were over there for the feast one time, and to get to our little apartment or condo or something at the feast. We had to go up some stairs and over the top was a grapevine and hanging down on each side with big old things of grape, big fat juicy grapes. It was just beautiful.

That kind of grape. That is a wonderful thing. But at some point back earlier in the year, those weren't beautiful grapes. Somebody had to plant that vine and train it to grow up and there's little green things and they had to trim it off the stairs and later we come along and we see the fruit. The goal is much fruit, lots of grapes, that remains. If you look on the ground under a fruit tree, what do you see? You see old peaches and plums and apples. You see grapefruit. See all whatever you're growing, you'll see old nuts, things that didn't make it all the way that we're cast. We're not to be cast fruit. God wants us to remain. It says in verse 8, By this my father is glorified, that you bear much fruit.

So you will be my disciples. You'll be like me because he bears much fruit. And as the father loved me, I also have loved you, abide in my love. Now we begin to find out what this is all about. See, it's one thing to say, okay, let's all go bear fruit. But what is that? God has a mindset of agape. As the father, verse 9, has agape-ed me, I also have agape-ed you, you dwell in my agape. That's the attachment. That's the vine. It's the mentality of God through the Holy Spirit.

Whenever we detach from that and say, you know what, I don't really want to sacrifice and serve like God did, take all this time out of my busy day and stop and help somebody else and help somebody else grow and develop, then we detach ourselves from living in his agape. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my agape. You will be attached to the vine. The father will fill you with the Holy Spirit. You will grow into children of agape mindset.

Keep my commandments. You will dwell in my love. You will remain in my love. You will be there in that agape mindset. Just as I have kept my father's commandments and abide, I dwell in his agape.

Verse 12, this is my commandment that you agape one another as I have agape'd you. You know, it keeps coming back to this. You can say, I don't want to hear about agape. I don't want to hear about love anymore. I want to hear about something new. Well, guess what? You're interested in the wrong family. You don't want to hear about love and agape and obeying commandments and doing the will of the father and being an obedient children and developing into a child of God because that's why we're here. That's why you're created in his image. That's why you're growing up into his likeness. Or you can cast yourself off and say, I don't want this. This is not my kind of family.

I'd rather be children or a child of a different father. My father the devil. That old friend that made me feel good when I got my own way. That's a choice we have.

Now, imagine a big fat cluster of grapes and you're that big fat cluster of grapes just oozing with sweetness and beauty and red and the summer sun is kind of moving through them and it's a pake on the other side. It's beautiful. You'd have to imagine that because I'm not that and neither are you. That's the goal. See, we're somewhere... Remember when we were baptized and we've been growing towards that? That's the goal. That's where we're headed.

It's not the reality, though. You and I need to realize that we are hard little green nodules. They don't taste very good. We're a bunch of immature grapes. We're growing. We're heading towards that. So the purpose of the physical is that God desires children. Paul says in Acts 17, verse 29, therefore, since we are the offspring of God, God desires children. He calls us the offspring of God. We are like the vine. We are like the family. We are like Jesus Christ. We are like the light. We're like the salt. We are becoming more and more like that.

The Bible talks about being born again. Again, the Greek words there are ganeo-anothin. It's not born again. It's engendered from above. The lifeline coming to you and me, be it an umbilical cord, be it a grapevine, being at the shoot of wheat, being at the parent, the father, child relationship, whatever analogy we use, that is the source. That is the source. It's engendered from above. If we like that father rather than the one from below, that's demonic, then we will grow. Let's notice in 1 Peter 1 and verse 22 how this works. 1 Peter 1 and verse 22.

Now, today I could be telling you all about end-time events and telling you all the politics and what's wrong in the world and how things are going to go down and all this stuff. It's fine to do that at times, and we do that. Those things will take care of themselves.

This won't. If we do this, we can have confidence through anything that we will be in the right place at the right time and we'll be ready to stand and receive the judgment when it comes. So, my love for you is that you are fully developed to the place where God wants you to be when your life finishes. Peter says in 1 Peter 1 and verse 22, Since you have purified your lives in obeying the truth through the Spirit in the sincere agape of the brethren, whoa, let's just hold on right there, he's talking to maturing children, growing grapes, developing wheat, lambs that are growing into mature sheep, sincere agape love of the brethren, backing up through the Holy Spirit, backing up obeying the truth, backing up, purifying your souls or your lives. This is fruit that is developing well.

He says, since you have done that, now he says, agape one another fervently with a pure heart. Oh, there's more! There's trimming! There's pruning! Yes, fruit is growing. It's developing. But since you've come and matured this far, now agape one another fervently with a pure heart, not with some selfish motivation or whatever. Having been born again. Okay, now we know it's not born again. Having been engendered from above. This is what we do as the children of God, you see, we have a father. Not of corruptible seed, not of our family lineage here, but of incorruptible seed through the logos of God. Not the word, the written word of God, the logos of God, Jesus Christ, who lives and abides forever.

Hmm. That, that's where we're headed. That's what we're supposed to be doing. We are linked to God through the written word of the logos, through the the actual word of the logos, through the logos living in us, through the logos being our bread of life. I mean, it's all about Jesus Christ giving himself in many different ways for us and the Father as well. What are we supposed to do? Let's go back to Matthew chapter 5 and verse 42 through 48, because here Jesus tells us how we should look as children. Ask the question, how's the baby looking? You've been around for a while. Some of you kids have been growing for a while. You've been in the church for a while. You teens are serving in the church. You young adults, some of you are up here preaching. We've been around for a while. Some of you have been in the church many years. Some of you have helped teach and mentor others in the church. But from God's standpoint, how are we looking? How are we developing? How mature is the baby? Are the kids of God? Notice what Jesus says here in Matthew chapter 5 and verse 42. Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you, do not turn away. Well, there's one thing that you can compare to see how well you are growing, how well the fruit is developing. Verse 43, you've heard that it was said of old, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy, but I say to you, agape your enemies. Oh, this is a senior level class, it would seem, for some of the older kids in the God family. By now, you should have stepped up to agape your enemies, blessing those who curse you, doing good, as we'll hear about next sermon, to those who hate you, hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use and persecute you. Now, why all these things? Verse 45, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. You're growing! You're on your way! This is what a child of God looks like, in part.

This is what the God family looks like, in part.

For he makes the sun to rise on the evil and on the good, he sends rain on the just of the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Don't even people who are out to get their own personal gain do those things.

And then he says, verse 48, Therefore, we're going to summarize all that we've talked about so far. Therefore, you shall be perfect just as your Father in heaven is perfect. Don't get lost on the word perfect. You could say, you shall be complete. You shall be mature. You shall grow up, in other words, like your Father in heaven is. You shall reach that status that God intends you to reach in being like him in your human life.

God loves, and God serves. He loves and serves all.

He loves and serves and gives without partiality.

It's what agape is. It's what the agape mindset does.

In Ephesians chapter 5, in the first two verses, Paul says, Therefore, be followers of God as dear children. Just like in Matthew, Jesus said, Be like your Father in heaven.

Paul says, Be followers of God as dear children.

See what this is? This isn't about getting your salvation by keeping some laws or doing some works. This is buy-in. This is becoming like Daddy.

This is becoming like our elder brother. This is becoming family. This is the mindset of agape and becoming dear children by following what our parents do. It's interesting how little children grow up to be like their parents. Sometimes, one of the parents will be a little dorky. Let's be honest.

Parent is some dorky. A little kid grows up. You think, this kid, he won't do that. Kid grows up and you're dorky. Just like, how do you do that? Well, you know, I'm like my parents. I'm like my parents. I say that thing my parents do. I do that thing my parents do. I don't know. That's what we're doing. Now, the world will look at you and say, You're dorks! You're not like the rest of us. You've got parents that are odd.

Granted, we do. They're odd compared to the world. But we see that as really sweet and precious and something that's adorable and something to... well, that's family, you know? Don't mess with family. That's family. Be followers of God as dear children. Verse 2, and walk in agape.

It's always about the family mindset. If we want to use agape, and I do, as the mindset, the type of love that the God family has, and philia as the type of human kind of carnal love that we have, and eros as the type of maybe romantic love that you would have in a relationship, well then, if you reserve agape, which isn't exactly the case, biblically in all cases, but to a large part it does fit very, very well, if you reserve agape to the type of love that God has, then that is something that is unique. It's not human. It can only come down the vine. It can only come down the umbilical cord. That's what we grow on. Walk in agape, as Christ also has agape'd us and given himself for us as an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. And what does John tell us to do? Well, Christ offered and sacrificed himself, therefore we ought to sacrifice our lives for the brethren. That's something special. It's something odd that our family does. It's a unique thing. Let's go to 1 John chapter 3 and verse 1, because John, who is often called the apostle of love, he was a dear friend of Jesus. Jesus loves everyone, but he was endeared to John, it seems, probably because John reflected back so much of what that family mindset was, it felt more like family around John than some people. You know what I'm saying? John probably showed more agape sort of reflected from God's Spirit than some of the other disciples did, especially one that was digging in the money, you know, spinning on himself and betraying. And, you know, he kind of feels like home when you're here on earth. And John really does express this so well. In 1 John chapter 3 and verse 1, he said, Behold what manner of agape the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called children of God! Exclamation point.

Wow! If you think about that for a minute, and really let it sink in that you are about to step in to the divine family. It could be any time. It could be when you walk out and a meteor hits you. It could be when you're sleeping and you have a heart attack. As a person in another congregation had just, what was it, last night or the night before or the day before or something, didn't feel well, got in a chair and said, I'll call you back in a minute. Boom! Out! Gone! It just can happen. Or you could live all the way till Christ returns and go through a lot of things. We don't know. But we are now called the children of God in his eyes. He sees us as children. This is the one of the analogies that's not an analogy. This isn't grapes. This isn't wheat. This isn't sheep. This isn't some of the other things. This is reality. We are actually, literally, created in the image of God. And we're developing his likeness now. And he calls us sons and daughters now. We are called the children of God. Therefore, the world does not know us because it did not know him. Verse 11, whoever abides in him—remember the grape vine, the branch, abiding, dwelling, persevering, continuing—whoever perseveres and continues in him does not practice sin. You should have the word practice there. That's not that you don't sin. It's that you don't practice sin as a way of life. Whoever practices sin has neither seen him or known him. If that's your mindset, you've got a different God. Still, we all had that at one time. Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous just as he is righteous. And what is righteousness? Keeping the commandments. What is the commandments? A gapeh God with your heart, soul, and might. A gapeh your neighbor as yourself. Once again, the mindset. Tap to God. Receiving that. Growing. It's a two-way street. It's an abiding. It's a living in. It's a dwelling in. Family unity. Christ is in the temple as the chief cornerstone. We are lively stones in that temple. We are his body. We are in his body. We are together. Verse 8. He who practices sins is of the devil. For the devil is sin from the beginning.

Verse 9. Whoever has been born of God, he who has been engendered of God. We haven't been born yet, have we? You know, one symbolism I've used is we're still in the womb. Another is we're children, but we're in the flesh. We haven't been actually transferred into the spirit family of God.

Whoever has been engendered of God does not practice sin. For God's seed remains in him, and he cannot practice sin because he has been, not born of, engendered by God.

So as long as we have that link, sin would be repugnant to us. It gets more and more repugnant to us. The more we grow, the more we mature, the more our mindset switches over to agape, the more we hate this selfish, thoughtless, you know, mindset we see in the world today that's just trashing relationships and trashing the earth.

In this, the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest. Uh-oh. Yes, we are children, and God is calling children. But we are to be children of a new father, and here comes a choice.

Children of God and children of the devil. Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not agape his brother. For this is the message that you heard from the beginning that we should agape one another. God is also the God of literal children in an absolute literal sense, that of spirit being children. Look in verse 2. Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when he is revealed, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. So the literal children will take place, and God will dwell with us as sons and daughters, and we will dwell with him, and we will be like him. Let's go to Hebrews 2 and verse 10. Hebrews 2 and verse 10. We're going to find that this is no analogy whatsoever. This is the reality of the God family. God is calling children. God is developing children. God will have children. Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 10. For it was fitting for him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. So we're talking about the Father here. It says, for it was fitting for him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things. It was fitting for him, and bringing you and me to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. This is a big, big deal to the God family. We are to be made glorified. Glory often refers to the brightness of God, to the glory that is so bright, to the power and the amazing light that is put off. We are now called lights of the world, but I don't know. I went in the room the other night and turned the light off, and I was pretty dark in there.

We're starting to shine as lights in a dark world, in a spiritual sense, but he's bringing many sons to actual brightness, to God family, not just status, but composure, composition.

We don't know what we're going to be like, but we know we're going to be like him, is what John says.

Now, our Heavenly Father encourages strong relationships within his family, both now and forever. It's not just you on a vine over there by yourself. It's not just you as a stock of wheat out in a field or a sheep wandering around somewhere, or a child. God is calling children, and he's calling grapes, and he's calling lots of wheat plants, and he has a whole body with many parts and a temple with many stones. His children have relationships and always will. Let's go to Luke 11, verse 9. As we take this message with us and apply it individually, we also need to apply it collectively so that no one is left behind. This isn't a, hey, I'm going to get the kingdom of God, you know? I hope you make it. That's not good enough. That wasn't good enough for Jesus Christ. He died for all of us, and then he partners with us through the Holy Spirit, he and the Father, and they will never leave us or forsake us. We need to do that for each other as well. On God's part, he says in Luke 11.9, I say to you, ask, and it shall be given you. Seek and you shall find, knock, and it shall be opened to you. And he talks about what it's like to be a parent and be asked for things. We drop down to verse 13. If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him? It's about the Holy Spirit. That's the gifts. That's what he wants to give us. He wants to attach us and grow us into what he is. And we must love our neighbor as ourself. It's not an individual thing. It's not good for me to be in the kingdom and you not to be there. It's not good for you to be in the kingdom and me not to be there. And sometimes we have to go and encourage and help. We have to sometimes challenge each other. We have to correct one another. And I'm just an inspired mouthpiece. It doesn't make me a spiritual giant. I'm your brother. You're my brother or sister. We are in this together, and it's not fitting that any of us don't grow and mature. So we need to encourage and help one another.

Remember, Jesus Christ's ultimate goal that he has for you is in John 17, where he says in verse 3, And this is eternal life, that they may know you. He's speaking to the Father. This is eternal life that they may know you, Father, the only true God, and that they may know Jesus Christ, whom you sent.

Everything of eternal life from that standpoint, we often think of it as, hey, nice body, lots of power, get to live forever, it's cool, shine in the dark, et cetera, et cetera. From God's perspective, this is eternal life that they know us and that we know them. It's relationships. Verse 21, that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they may be one in us.

In verse 22, and that the glory which you gave me I have given them, that they may be one, just as we are one.

Verse 24, Father, I desire that they also whom you gave me may be with me where I am. See? It's about togetherness. It's all about togetherness. That's what eternal life is from the agape mindset. Now, from the human mindset, it's what can I get?

Who's going to be the greatest up there? What will we be doing? To God, it's about agape. That's the ultimate goal. Now, we have choices and consequences. I have a choice of submitting to my Father in heaven or a choice of submitting to my Father the devil. Jesus Christ speaks of both of these. John speaks of both of these, as we've read. Let's go to Hebrews 12, verses 5 through 9. Hebrews 12, beginning in verse 5. Paul's here speaking to baptized church members who were Jews, who had come from the covenant that God had with Israel and transitioned into the new covenant. And he says here, Hebrews 12, verse 5, in this better covenant, have you forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as two sons? My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by him, for whom the Lord loves, he chastens and scourges every son whom he receives. Now, this is conditional to some degree on how hard-headed I am. You know, some kids, you just explain some to them, they break out in tears and they comply. Others, you can pound on them, you can yell at them, and they're not on the vine. The answer is no. They're hard-heads, and they go through a tougher time.

Verse 7, whatever you get, if you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons, for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, or you do not receive chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate. You're not on the vine, you're not in the family, you are not sons. Verse 9, furthermore, we've had human fathers who corrected us and we paid them respect, shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the father of spirits and live? Subjection. Obeying God, submitting, being corrected and changing. That's what our daily life should begin with. Praying to God, asking for inspiration, recognizing the family, desiring to do his will, and then saying, forgive me as I forgive others who trespass against me. Actually, that's not quite it. Forgive us as we forgive those who transgress against us. It's a package, it's a family, it's a group.

And we need to be repenting and overcoming. So in conclusion, our goal in life is to become godly children of our Father in Heaven. That's what we're tapped to. That's what his desire for us is. That's what we should be focused on. We shouldn't have any other concern, but obeying God and trying to grow and develop that spiritual fruit, grow and develop into children who are like our Father in Heaven. Strive to be more like family. He wants you more than anything. He has a goal for you to be in that family forever, to participate in that family, to be one with the Elohim family of God, as it's called in the Hebrew. Strive to be more like your Father in Heaven.

Have the mind of Christ towards God and fellow man. Trust him like your parent. Copy him, imitate him. Grow with eagerness. Desire to grow up. Let's finish by reading 1 John 4 verses 4 through 7. 1 John 4 beginning in verse 4.

You are of God, little children. What an incredible statement. You have been around how long? You've been associated and knowledgeable of God and perhaps baptized and growing for how long?

You are of God, little children, and you have overcome the world because he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world, be it a human or a spirit being.

They are of the world. Therefore, he speaks as of the world, and the world hears them. Or they speak as of the world. The world hears them. But verse 6, after he calls us, you are of God, little children, he says, we are of God. He knows.

He who knows, God hears us. He who is not of God does not hear us. This is a la cosa nostra, to put it in Sicilian. It's a family thing. If you are of the family, you are going to hear it. It's going to make sense. If you are not of the family, it's not going to make sense. By this, we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. Beloved, here it is. Let us agape one another, for agape is of God. And everyone who agapes is engendered by God and knows God. So God is fathering children. So strive to be a little child that is maturing and growing up and one day will be welcomed with an open door into the literal family of God.