Fitting Stones for God's Temple

Thank you very much to all the Austs, doctors and otherwise. It's very good to be here with you again, including with my favorite babysitters since I was a young child. And Mrs. Mary Ann Aust, as a teenager, age 14, first started babysitting me. And she and my brothers, my two older brothers, had such a great time with her. It was awesome. She was the best at coming up with games and putting up with three boys who were kind of mischievous at times. But we've all been in the church for some years. Many of us have been in the church for many years. I just celebrated my 76th feast, and I'm not even that old, because I went to the feast, my first feast, when I was two weeks old, so I got to claim an extra one there.

But you know, we can be in God's church for a long time. And as we are here, we begin to sort of maybe take for granted our place in God's church. We can assume that we will always be here, that things will go well. But if we're not careful, we forget that Jesus Christ talked about winds that will blow, that storms will come, floods will rage. And there needs to be a link, an anchor to a foundation in Jesus Christ, which is a rock, something solid, that we need to absolutely be not only attached to, but committed to. The Church of God is considered a building, a building that stands, stands through all of it. And I'm sure you know the analogies in Scripture, some of those Jesus Christ gave, some the Apostle Paul gave, some the Apostle Peter gave. And we are to be part of this building that will never fall, never fail, and will always stand. It's a spiritual building. If we go to 1 Peter 2 and verse 4, we see the Apostle Peter speak to us as a committed part of this building. Not somebody who just drifted in, oh, this kind of sounded nice. Yeah, I put up with some of the people, but the ideals are good, and I'm looking forward to Christ's Second Coming. There's not a whole lot of anchorage in that, the thinking at that level. So the Bible wants us to dig deep, wants to really become committed. Jesus Christ speaks to us, and God the Father, through this word, about being their devoted children, sons and daughters of a family that cannot be separated, cannot be pulled out of that family. And so in 1 Peter 2 and verse 4, it says, Coming to him. Now we have come today to God. We have assembled as we were commanded. But here we are. We are coming to him, notice, as to a living stone, rejected by men, indeed rejected by men. But this stone was chosen by God and is precious. So there is something that will never be moved. This is something that the ages previously in the future are grounded on. This is the kingdom. This is the rulership of God, God the Father and Jesus Christ. So we have come to this immovable thing. And then verse 5, it says, you also, here's an identity that you and I need to really commit to. As living stones, not living oranges or living cucumbers or something that, you know, can be made into something else, but also something just as stable, a living stones, and are being built up a spiritual house. So something God makes is going to be permanent. It's well engineered. It's been designed. This was envisioned before the foundation of the world. And you were chosen from the beginning to be part of this spiritual house, a holy or godly priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices. That means giving up of ourselves. We're fully committed in sacrificing, in loving, in serving, in giving, and in putting self in our own wants and desires, secondary to God and others. So spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. So, wow, why are you here today? Why am I here today? Who am I today?

How committed am I to this? Do we just see it as, oh yeah, this is a nice place to go, good future, good for the family, whatever. Or is this us? A committed stone into the house of God.

In verse 9 it says, but you are a chosen generation. God chose you. And it's hard for me to wrap my mind around this. It has been. I'm getting there. I'm doing better.

But you are a chosen generation. God has chosen you now to be in this body, to be in this temple, a royal priesthood, a holy, godly nation, his own special people. He is committed to you. Jesus said, I've died for you. I will never leave you or forsake you. I will go through this in-time work that I've given to you, and I will be with you always. Wow. Have I determined, really, where I am and who I am and identified to that level and say in return, yes, I am there at that level with you, and I will never leave or forsake you. And I am fully committed, and I don't know exactly what you want, but like Abraham, I'll give it all up. I'll give everything up. I'll give my societal involvement and my business connections. I'll give up my family relationships. I'll give up my status in this society. And, here, and I will go basically wherever you say into some other place. I'll even give my own son up in a way that doesn't seem quite like what you would ask, human sacrifice. But, yes, I am committed. So it says here that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, who were once not a people but are now the people of God. Sometimes we don't see God.

I mean, I never have. But we see other people, don't we? And we see other society. We see other buildings and other structures. And even the apostles were pretty impressed with Herod's temple. It took over 40 years to build. But Jesus wasn't that impressed with that stone structure. And he said, you know, that can be torn down. It's got something else to build. So the question that is, how committed am I? How committed is my building block in the spiritual temple of God? And when tested, how well does it fit in that temple? How well does it fit? Is it a fitting stone? The title of this split sermon is fitting stones for God's temple. Stones that fit, that are fitting for God's temple. How much am I working on being committed to being that living spiritual stone in the temple of God? Now, Jesus said, many are called and few are chosen.

Few. Few indicates a small number. So look around. Why isn't this room filled? Why aren't we renting convention centers all through this city? Then you might ask, why are we not where everyone else is today? Why are we here? And why aren't we there? As we just read, God has chosen and placed and called and said, you are here. I have to ask myself, well, how strongly am I here? You know, we've been through some wins through the church of various things down through time. You know, in 70-some years, we've seen a lot. We've seen a lot of comings and goings and politics and splits and other groups. And these things continue. People kind of waft in with other ideas and others kind of look at that through a human lens and say, oh, that sounds kind of nice. You know, what about us? How solid? How anchored am I? How here for good? Not in a corporate body, but in the body of Christ, in the spiritual family of God, as a son, as a daughter, as a betrothed bride. You know, how committed am I?

I remember when I was a young man and a young lady fell in love with me. I could not believe her commitment. From that time to now, she just holds my hand. And she wants to be with me, and she wants to help. Now, I think of myself in relationship to Jesus Christ in the Church. Do I have that kind of commitment that a bride would have for her husband? All in, all in with herself, with her life, with her name, with her body, with her children, with her serving.

Wow! Am I there? At the hotel, they serve eggs and turkey sausage. That's pretty good for breakfast.

Eggs and turkey sausage. Now, there's two components for that, as they say. The old joke goes.

The chicken is associated with breakfast. It donates some eggs. The turkey is committed.

It is the sausage. So, how much like a turkey am I in this relationship? Jesus Christ is committed. He's given his life. He gives his time. The Father is given his only Son. Am I associated?

Have I come along as, oh, this looks nice?

All in materials are being built into a temple that will never fall apart, never disintegrate. You know, the family of God is a permanent thing. When we think of society around us, there's a lot of glitz, but when you look at the buildings, they're cracking. They're leaking.

When you look at in the news and you look at the societies, you look at the governments, you look at the economic and political structures, there's serious stressors and cracks forming. And people are wondering if it's going to hold together. And its whole foundation is built on a, well, a Babylonian system who, in the Daniel image, has a lot of glitz, a lot of gold, a lot of flash. Looks like it's really strong, but its foundation is miry clay. If you've been in gumbo and you kind of stick to it and there's no depth to it, you can sink in it, you can throw in some iron pieces in there, but what do you really have? What do you really have? And that is not going to stand. In advance of social earthquakes, Jesus talked about various things that were coming on his house and on yours and my part of this house.

But that house will stand through hurricane winds, through tornado winds, through flooding, through anything, even through fire. We see some of the things happening in the world today and floods. And it's good for us to look at that and look at a spiritual type of that and say, how about us? How about us on the temple of God? In Ephesians 2 and verse 19, the Apostle Paul now will speak to us. Ephesians 2 and verse 19, where he says, now therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. I don't tend to think, I think of God as up in heaven and Jesus Christ, you know, they're in the heavenly realm and I'm a human being, and that is true.

But here he's saying there's more of a connection than you see with your eyes. Do you feel this? You are members of the household of God, actual literal brothers with Jesus Christ, if we're linked with him. We are sons of God the Father, daughters of God the Father, a bride of Jesus. This is how they see it. And not only that, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Jesus Christ, you won't find any more committed people in Scripture than the prophets.

I mean, walk through the shoes of the prophets, the apostles. Look at what they did, what they accomplished, and what their commitment level was. And Jesus Christ himself, look at what his commitment has been from the designing stage, from the creating stage, from the toleration of all humanity has done to him through the life that he led on earth and forging through that, and his continued committal to even those who sinned against him, tortured him to death. Verse 21, "'In whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.'" So these stones individually have to be fitted.

They have to fit. They have to be fitting, and they have to fit. And so really, the whole Bible talks to us about how to develop this mindset of the family to where we fit. Each one individual, every one of us has a different personality, different traits, different talents.

Great! Celebrate that. Different view, different look. Great! Appreciate that. You know, God created you as you are. Put that with God's Holy Spirit, and look at the diverse complexity that God has in this building. No two stones alike, but everyone is unique and precious. But all godly, fit together, grows into a holy, godly temple in the Lord. Am I committed to that? In verse 22, "'In whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.'" You know, we just finished celebrating an annual round of God's feasts, his festivals, and they proclaim his plan of salvation for everyone.

It's all about God and we and the kingdom of God and his family. And we just demonstrated our conviction to that plan and our place in that plan because you and I are represented in every one of those things—forgiveness of Jesus Christ and then his living stones, his bride that is cleaning herself through the days of unleavened bread. She will be celebrated and cleaned in white through God's Holy Spirit and his law being internalized in her and being readied for harvest and then being raised when he returns.

We're part of that second coming of Jesus Christ where they're certainly witnessing Satan the Devil's evil and also assisting the establishment of Jesus Christ's rule and the outflow of God's—the knowledge of God and the way of God as teachers throughout the Millennial period. And they're assisting him on the white throne as his bride, doing some assistance during the second resurrection. And then we read of the bride again in Revelation chapter 22 as part of that that capital city, New Jerusalem, and our involvement there at the Godhead level. God is committed to you and me, and we need to be committed as well, going back to him.

You know, there's opposition to that. All the apostles, the prophets, everybody's faced opposition. Jesus Christ has you and I will be hated by all nations, the Bible says.

There's a physical example in Nehemiah chapter 6 and verse 1 about the opposition, and it's interesting how the outsiders viewed this. Let's go to Nehemiah and chapter 6, and we'll begin in verse 1. Now as they came back to rebuild the temple, it says in verse 1, now it happened that Sanblat and Tobiah, Geshim and the Arab and the rest of our enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall. So here is a structure rebuilding a wall with stones, and that there were no breaks left in it.

It's interesting how this structure is being built and it's together. There's no breaks in it.

In verse 15, and so the wall was finished. In verse 16, it happened when all our enemies heard of it, and all the nations around us saw these things, that they were very disinheartened in their own eyes, for they perceived that this work was done by our God. There's no other structure on the face of the earth like the Church of God. Nothing. Look at all civilizations, look at all gods, look at all religions, look at all ideas. There's nothing like the Church of God that starts with repentance and humility, and a humility that looks to God as you give the answers, you give the directions, you show the way, and let's do this for the love and service of God and everyone.

It'll work for everyone. Nothing like that. And people, wherever we go, even when we attend the feast, even gatherings where we come and maybe rent a building or a hotel or whatever, hold a summer camp, they say, something's special about you people. Something, you know, we've never seen this in any other group. We love to have you back. You are really special people, but you're weird. You know? Nobody else could come up with us. We couldn't ourselves. We couldn't ourselves.

And so what's obvious to outsiders, and maybe even to other family members, is that we need to build with God's direction, God's mind, totally reliant upon Him, put away our own ideas and our own thoughts, and really cast those things aside and trust God. Trust God and those who are directing and leading that He has placed, according to Ephesians 4.11, placed in the church that He works through.

We need to trust the design and the architecture of the master builder, the architect.

Jesus says, of us, and really our building or buildings, a little bit different in Matthew 7, in verse 24, He says, Therefore, whoever hears the sayings of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock. Now, Jesus is the wise man. He is building his house, and it's being built on the rock. That's one way of looking at this. Individually, perhaps we could say we each have individual houses, according to this parable, or we could say we're part of that house. But notice, and the rain descended, the floods came, the winds blew and beat on that house, and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. We know that the house of God is built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone. That chief cornerstone is the first thing that's laid, and from it all the other angles and all the other building then coincides with that stone. So it's very important that you and I are building and being a part of something that it will not fail. But everyone who hears these sayings of mine in verse 26 and does not do them, ah, see you can be associated but not committed.

I'm associated with this. It's nice, but not do it. He will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. That's what society is built on. And the rain descended, the floods came, the winds blew and beat on that house, and it fell, and great was its fall. You know, houses that are built, sorry, but along a seashore on sand, and they're glitzy, and they want the first view, the prime view, and it's all about that house. It's not built, it's not really built around community, is it? It's not really built with serving in mind. And so, I use that as an example, not that it's wrong to have a beachfront house, but it's sitting out there, and great was its fall.

And it's sad to see these structures, very expensive structures, all around the coastlines of North America being eaten up and falling down.

If we're not careful, this rock of Jesus Christ that is built on, people might assume, say, the church is very solid, you know, the church of God is very solid, but if we're not committed pieces, what are we? Well, we're really kind of sandstone, you know.

You take a rock, what is sand? Well, some sand can be shells, but some sand is just granite rock that breaks apart. If you go to any mountain, you'll see at the base of a mountain it kind of slopes out, doesn't it? Because the rocks up there have been cracking and crumbling. The water gets in them, and then the freezing temperature expands and breaks it, and they're continually falling down. You'll see at the base of any mountain kind of a slump that goes out.

And if we're not careful, if we're not really connected to Jesus Christ, really not connected to each other, we'll become sand. We're to be one body.

And in Romans chapter 15 and verse 5, the Apostle Paul here is finding that the wonderful church members aren't always fully connected. Haven't we seen that in our own experience?

And will we be that? Romans chapter 15 beginning in verse 5. Now may the God of patience, or patient endurance is another translatable word here, or perseverance. God perseveres. May the God of perseverance and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another according to Jesus Christ. We can't just be fracturing and breaking off, but like-minded that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of Jesus Christ. Therefore, verse 7, receive one another. Oftentimes, instead of being living stone of love attached to all the other stones around, that's what a wall is. That's what a building is. Very connected, not just by ourself, but very connected to those around.

Sometimes we can start to kind of have little fissures and fractures, and we can remember little things that others did to us. And, ooh, those things kind of hurt, and we'll build those up and we'll exonerate ourselves from not having a relationship, from not receiving one another. We'll say, but I have a reason. I have a good reason, justifiable reason.

Well, Christ received us, and we gave Him the biggest reason of all, not to love us. We hurt Him so bad from the beginning of creation and will to the end of the human experience, along with what He was tortured to death by, from us, and yet He forgives us, right? He forgives us. In 1 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 11, we come to the quality of stones, if we want to sort of use that analogy in association with what Paul is saying here. First Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 11. And I'm talking to myself today. Sorry if I'm embarrassing myself to you, but bear with me. I'm imperfect. But he says here, For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ, who is love. He and God the Father are love, and forgiveness, and extending good and pleasant gifts and opportunities to us. Now, if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, and precious stone, well, that's good. That's what our block should be. It should be something that is enduring. You know, gold doesn't tarnish. It doesn't degrade. It doesn't oxidize. You don't say, oh, I found this hole in the ground. It used to be gold. No, gold is gold. You know, silver. He talks about silver and precious stones. You know, these diamonds, sometimes they have rings with gems in them. Those things don't go away. They don't rot. That's the kind of thing that we could build with. Or, going on, he says, wood. You know, America doesn't have many buildings that go back in history a long time because we tend to build things quickly out of wood.

And our old, old wooden structures tended to catch fire, and cities burned up, and we just don't have much. But hay, hay is very flammable and straw. That stuff doesn't last, and it's certainly not going to endure the lake of fire. But those things are real quick and easy, aren't they? You could build something really fast, maybe with some wood and hay, wrap it together with some string.

But what's the quality of my stone? And I examine myself, and I think, you know what?

I think I've not focused on this enough. It says, verse 13, each one's work will become clear for the day, there's a day of the Lord coming that Peter talks about in 2 Peter chapter 3, beginning in verse 9, which the heavens will be on fire, right? And the earth, and it'll burn up and dissolve things. So it'll be revealed by fire, and the fire will test each one's work of what sort it was. I assume he's talking there about people will be either brought into God's eternal kingdom with eternal life or, as we read in Revelation chapter 20, the end of the chapter there, it's going to be burned up, the second death. It's vital for each stone, then, to be fitting in God's temple. If we continue on in verse 16, do you not know that you are the temple of God?

You are. All of us are this temple of God. And that the Spirit of God dwells in you.

If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are. When we think about temples and how God feels about them, if we go back to John chapter 2 and verse 14, let's see how Jesus felt even about the physical temple. John chapter 2 and verse 14. Because this takes us into a view of how God views this temple. Now, I might think, well, my stone in the temple is good enough. I kind of wedge it in there. Maybe it's not perfect, but you know, it's what I've given it. Well, let's see how he feels about things that are involved in his temple. John chapter 2 and verse 14. And Jesus went up to Jerusalem, verse 12, and he found in the temple. Now, this is his father's house. This is the temple. He found those who sold oxen and sheep and doves and money changers doing business. And when he had made a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple. He got rid of that, drove them out of the temple.

If we go down a little while, let's go down. He says in verse 16, he said to those, take these things away, take them away. Do not make my father's house a house of merchandise.

Then his disciples remembered it was written, zeal for your house has eaten me up.

Verse 19, Jesus said to them, you can destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.

And he was speaking, verse 21, of the temple of his body, the body of Christ.

The body of Christ. He is building. He is building a temple. And what does he want that temple to be like? If we go to Ephesians chapter 5, these are, I'm not telling you anything new today, I'm just rehearsing this with you, maybe with a little different focus. Permit me to share a little bit closer focus here, trying to be more dedicated, devoted, as we heard in the first message today. In chapter 5 and verse 25, husbands love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her. Notice that he might sanctify and cleanse her. He wants those impurities out, just like he wanted the things out of the temple. In his body, he wants every stone to be spiritual and holy, to cleanse her with the washing of water by the Word. That he might present her to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, no defects. But that she should be holy and godly without blemish. So I think of my stone in the temple. What am I doing with that stone? This is what he wants. This is what he wants. When we think about some of the things that Jesus Christ wants, he wants us all to be one. In John chapter 17 and verse 17, he says, sanctify them by your truth. Oh, great. We have the truth, and we talk about the truth, and we appreciate the truth. Your Word is truth. We are sanctified not only by having God's Word and living God's Word, but if you capitalize the W, I think it is in the King James Version, Jesus is truth. He says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. So all of this comes together in God and his Son Jesus Christ. They are truth. Am I truth? How truthful am I?

He says, verse 20, I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their Word. So here's their Word, and here's you and me, the ones who believe in him through their Word, that they all may be one. Okay, and let me look at my stone again here. Is it out in the yard? Is it running around? Is it cracked? Is it twisted sideways? Is it trying to move up somewhere, go somewhere else? Or is it one? One. Totally one. As they all may be one, as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. And the glory which you gave me I have given them, that they may be one just as we are one.

That's not enough. Verse 23, I am them, you and me, and that they may be made perfect in one.

How are you and I doing in oneness with the body of Christ? Not just the corporation, the corporate entity that we find ourselves in, but how are we with the body of Christ? Are we forgiving? Are we setting aside? Are we saying, yes, there were sins committed? Yes, to individuals? Yes, that person harmed me? But it's nothing like what we've done to God and Jesus Christ who forgave us and said, if you forgive others, I'll forgive you. But if you don't, I won't forgive you. And if we're not forgiven, guess where we'll be? We won't be in the body. So again, some of these things are difficult. And I know we have excuses, but yeah, but you don't know what happened to me. You know, you don't know how I was hurt. You know what? You don't know what they did. You don't know how bad it was.

Let's go to Matthew 6 and verse 14. That would be elevating our hurts above God, the Father's hurt.

I think it didn't hurt him to see his son have to go through what he went through and watch it in agony as his son cried out for, Father, you know, help me. I think that wasn't hard.

Along with the model prayer outline that we like, don't forget the next verse.

For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

So, in Matthew chapter 5 and verse 44, just a little earlier than that, he said, love your enemies. Ooh. But enemies hurt me. Enemies are against me. Love them with agape love. Bless those who curse you, defame you, you know, treat you so badly that you miss out on opportunities because you were defamed. Your character got assassinated. You're branded for life. Bless them. Do good to those who hate you and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you that you may be a good brick in the wall of the temple. Oh, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. It's his building. Remember? That's the family structure. That's who they are.

That you may be sons of your Father in heaven.

I think the Apostle Paul set a great example. In 2 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 10, in 1 Corinthians there was an issue that happened and it sort of polarized some members in a wrong way. Paul corrected that. Polarized them probably against him in some way. And notice how Paul came back with this in 2 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 10. He says, Now whom you forgive anything I also forgive. Wow. That's how you become a living stone in the loving temple of God. Whom you forgive anything I also forgive. Because unity, oneness, is the objective. For indeed I have forgiven anything. I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ, lest Satan should take advantage of us. Ah. See, if Satan comes in and says, Oh, that wasn't fair. What happened to you? That wasn't right. You're not going to justify that, are you? You're not going to forgive people. You're not going to have a bonding here. No, let's make some sand out of this. Let's break these walls down. It's hard, isn't it? And I just have to, as you do, have to look personally and see how do we apply these things and how can we be together? When we think of the work of God, as we wrap this up, I like to go to Isaiah chapter 52 and verse 7. When we think of what we are doing here as agents of God, Jesus has assigned us a commission to go into all the world and to teach all nations to observe what He commands. Teach Him to be in the new covenant, essentially. That's what He came and taught, repentance. He taught obedience. The apostles have filled the New Testament with repentance and obedience to God and becoming godly in Christlike. Isaiah 52 verse 7, How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of Him who brings glad tidings or good news, who proclaims peace, peace. Peace in the New Testament has an interesting word. It's E-R-E-I-R-E-N-E. And one of the definitions, I believe it's in Thayer's, uses the term harmony. I mention this fairly frequently, intentionally, because harmony is hard to do. Harmony is a whole bunch of different people, different voices, different instruments. No two are alike. Many of them singing, playing different notes, and it's chaos until it's not.

And when it's harmonized, it's the most beautiful thing. It's one sound of many voices. And God is bringing one body together of many parts from every nation, tribe, and tongue. And demographic. What a wonderful thing. Proclaiming peace, who brings glad tidings of good things. Everything of God is good things. You think of gospel. Think of good news. Creation and creation of humanity, and salvation and eternal life, and everything in between. It's all good. And we bring glad tidings of good things who proclaim salvation. That's what we're doing. We're proclaiming salvation and showing the way in all of our efforts locally, personally, in media, in ministry, everything. We're proclaiming salvation who says to Zion, your God reigns. Your God reigns.

So in conclusion, we've looked at this interesting temple, this body, and we see how it's constructed. It's different than you and I would construct things. But we've not only been invited, we have committed ourselves through baptism, through the one opportunity we have for eternal life.

We've committed ourselves to being a son and daughter of God, to being a bride of Jesus Christ.

We are committed. And he says here in 1 Peter chapter 3 and verse 8, Finally, all of you, finally, finally, all of us be of one mind.

Let's put away anything that would fracture, anything that doesn't just glue us together to our Father, to God, to Jesus Christ, to each other, having compassion for one another.

Love as brothers. Have you identified that now? We're brothers, we're sisters. Be tenderhearted, be courteous. Not returning evil for evil. Yes, there's been some evil, but put that away.

But on the contrary, blessing, blessing one another, praying for one another, rejoicing, knowing that you were called to this. That's our calling. That you might inherit a blessing, the greatest blessing that could ever come. Wow! Serving right with the Godhead in the kingdom of heaven. Verse 11, let him turn away from evil and do good. That's what I'm endeavoring to do. That's what God's Spirit is giving me a little kick and saying, work a little harder there, John. You know, raise the bar, kick it up a notch. There's some tough times coming. We can see the cracks in civilization. We know there are things, there's pressures. We know that there's other spirits that would like to do some things. Fine. Buck it up. Get tough. Get committed. Know who you are. Let's do this. Knowing you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing at the first resurrection. Let him turn away from evil and do good. Let him seek peace, that harmony, and pursue it. Pursue it like you were after something. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are open to their prayers. So, brethren, brothers, sisters, we have this wonderful privilege at this time of having that identity in God's eyes.

Let's really double down and have a personal conviction with that identity. Let's have God stir up the zeal in us for becoming more like Him and being a part of that building that is a fitting, a fitting living stone in the temple of Almighty God.