Gift From the Father of Lights

Thank you, Mr. Aaron, because we call our staff a camp by various names. Mr. by your first name if you're not married, and Mr. and Mrs. by your last name, Mr. or Ms. and how many of you served at High Sierra this year? We were all together for a week or so as a staff and campers, and it's great to see you again. How many of you are serving at another United Youth Camp this year, besides High Sierra?

How many of you are campers this year? All right. Very good. It's a really wonderful opportunity that we have, and this year's theme was, become like our Heavenly Father. And it gave us five days of messages to look at, examine, and then interpret how we and how our teams and the staff together, all of us, can try to be more like our Heavenly Father. It was really a wonderful camp. I asked several people as I was videotaping and doing other things there what they thought of camp, and several said it was the very best camp ever. Even though it was the fourth year of a drought, the lake had shrunk down, the trees, some were dying, it wasn't about those things.

It was about being together and really pursuing the things that make us family of God. So it was a very wonderful time, and we certainly did appreciate all the help and effort that went on there at camp. My wife Mary and I are glad to be back in town here for a few days. I'm working remotely these days on various projects with leadership training, mentoring, some projects for the whole Mofa so I can do that pretty much from anywhere. So we chose this opportunity after camp to come here and be able to see you and family.

It's very nice to be here with you today. I'd like to say greetings to those of you who are on the web. Joining us today, I know several from various places. No one less important than Rio and Courtney Knudsen say, who are at the Birthing Center. And contractions I hear are about four minutes apart. So let's continue to remember them and our prayers and also give thanks for others who are in that process somewhere.

And maybe still others needing our prayers to be in that process. Life is a wonderful thing that we're able to pass along. And those of you ladies who have that ability, that God-given ability and the blessing, it's really something to be admired and cherish. A free gift for you. Ever heard that before? How much of the snail mail you get says, free gift, free offer. It might be free cruise to the Bahamas.

It's only like 25 miles. It kind of sounds really exciting if you don't really know your geography well. Three nights lodging if you attend a 90-minute meeting and get upsold for $20,000 membership. Free dinner if you attend our sales meeting. Fan messages. You won! This company, this store, here's your thing. It's waiting for you. You know, Mr. Humdungu from Nigeria died and left me $30,000,000,000, and I'm trying to find somebody to give it to. Somebody gave you your name. You won't click here. Well, as we've come to learn, nothing is free, as the saying goes. Nothing is really free, and people are out there to exploit and try to take opportunity to get into our personal files, get into bank accounts, get into any type of money that we might have and transfer it into their pockets.

More importantly, I think we've come to learn and distrust things that are called gifts. They're often, too often, let's say, fraudulent, or there's some connection, there's some tactic that might even defraud us if we're not careful. Well, here we are on God's Holy Sabbath, and here we are really celebrating an ultimate gift of God, which is His Kingdom, from something that we really could do nothing for or towards on our own, because we didn't even exist. God had to create this as an idea first and then roll it out and then put us in as part of a plan, part of an opportunity, part of those that He would like to raise up and glorify into His divine children.

I'd like to tell you about some gifts today. Some good gifts. Some really good gifts. These are gifts that are available. They're not to be confused with some gifts that are sort of done to you. You know, call from banks, sorry you have a million dollars in your account, there's nothing we can do about it, it's just there. It's not that kind of thing. It's not done to you. It's made available to us. You won't find them on the internet. You won't find them in your spam file. But they are there if you and I, as individuals, want to pursue them.

We can't really do it as a group. We have to come to desire and pursue these gifts and ultimately use these gifts as tools. I've been by our own volition, by our own choice, by our own will, by our own desire to come to embrace them and see them as something that are good tools to ultimately accomplish a purpose.

Today I'd like to talk about good gifts. The Bible says every good gift and every perfect gift, the word perfect there, referring to something that totally fulfills its purpose. A gift that is an excellent tool, one that really, really does the job to its complete fullness and intent. All of these things it says, these gifts are from above and come down from the Father of lights.

So we look to our Heavenly Father, if we look to our Heavenly Father, as our Father, as the one we want to be like, as the one we strive to be like and desire to be part of this family. It will give us gifts in the form of tools, assistance, help to fulfill that privilege, that opportunity, that goal He lays out for us and that He has for us, of becoming part of this divine family.

There's a lot of choices involved. There's a lot of effort involved. Today I'd like to ask, what are the good and perfect gifts? And where do they come from? And who are the lights? The lights that God is the Father of? Let's explore these today.

In the sermon entitled, Gifts from the Father of Lights. In some ways, that title and the words there, and what I just quoted from James, are a little not so clear. Gifts? What are they? Perfect gifts? Father of lights? What is this all about? Well, it's very important for you and me to come to understand this.

It's very important for us to come to trust and desire them and to participate in order to ultimately fulfill why God called us now, why He created this. Light refers to glory. It refers to an element of the God family, something that God is, that God possesses. A brightness, a glory that would chill us. It would overwhelm us in the physical in some way.

If we saw, if we could see the Spirit ground, we somehow were impacted by the brightness. It's described in various ways in the Bible, but it's an element. In Ezekiel 1, verse 27, we see a vision, or a description from a vision, of what God looks like. Look here in Ezekiel 1, verse 27.

In Ezekiel 1, verse 28, we see the appearance of fire with brightness all around. He's seen things in trying to describe it, having never even seen a light bulb or a strobe light. Nothing like an atom or a nuclear weapon went off with such brightness. He's describing these things as colors, as you might hold up a stone, a colored stone, or see a rainbow. He's trying to describe the color of God. But what is bright here? What is the light that is actually emanating from God? It is part of what God is. It's a wonderful thing. It's an element of the family of God. Verse 28, like the appearance of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the brightness all around it. This was the appearance of the lightness of the glory or the brightness of God. It's a naturally, once again, of a god-making. Go back to John 1, verse 1. John 1, verse 1 is one of the very first beginning elements of time, as described here. It says, in the beginning was the Logos, translated Word. And the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Here was the one who would become Jesus Christ, and he and the Father both contained this brightness. Go back to Revelation 22. In chapter 21, and going into chapter 22, you'll see the brightness of God is so bright that in New Jerusalem, there is no sun or moon. There's no need for any other light because their brightness just fills that kingdom.

So God is called the Father of lights in James. We have an opportunity then to be called and given gifts from the Father of lights. The word Father means the originator, the author, the one from whom certain things come. Be it a child or family or thoughts, or the Father of lights, he is the one who will ultimately be the Father of a family that is light, as we shall see. Now, Jesus began his life much like you and me. He began his life as an impregnated egg. We often don't think of him in that form. Let's go back to Luke chapter 1 and verse 35. In Luke 1 and verse 35, the angel answered and said to Mary, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the highest will overshadow you. Therefore also, that the Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.

There was a time when the second God in heaven was a fertilized egg, according to the Scripture. When the Holy Spirit, when the Father through the Holy Spirit impregnated a physical egg, and he became the Father, and he said, He will be called the Son of God, not the Son of a man, but the Son of God. And that egg began to go through the process and ultimately resulted in a baby, a baby boy. We, as humans, are very different than God. And yet, he was the first of the first fruits. He was the one who came and lived first. He showed us the way, he showed us the example. He needed gifts. The Father of lights was also his Father. He was the Son of the Father. He said in John 5 and verse 30, later on, I of myself can do nothing. The whole point of this is, the gifts that come down, all good and fully fulfilled gifts, come down from the Father of lights. And they are for a purpose, which we shall see. And we need them, just as Jesus Christ himself needed those gifts. He needed a help. He had the Holy Spirit. He had the Father. Just as you and I today need a help. In Luke 2 and verse 40, it says, And the child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom. And it says, the Charisse of God was upon him. That's the Greek word translated, grace. The grace of God was upon him. Obviously, it would indicate there that it would be good for everyone to do a study on Charisse and to understand what that Greek word means. And the main elements of that word, because he is the first one, chronologically, in the New Testament, to receive the Charisse, the grace of God, being upon him. That is gifts of God. That is help from God. That is influence from God. If you notice, just here, the child grew and he was strong in spirit. That came from God. He had the help for him. He was filled with wisdom. The wisdom from above. That came from God. And God's graciousness and all the help that God gives was upon him. Once again, in James it says, every good and perfect gift is from above. It comes from the Father. It comes from the originator of light. In Matthew 17, verse 4, we see another interaction here with the Father and the Son. It's interesting to notice how this is described. Matthew 17, verse 4, during the transfiguration, as it's called, when before the disciples and in a vision, the disciples saw him in his brightness and his glory. And as this began, in Matthew 17, verse 4, as he was speaking, behold a bright cloud overshadowed him. Overshadowed Jesus and the apostles, a bright cloud. This is the Father, the brightness of the Father. I don't know how bright a cloud it was, but it says a bright cloud overshadowed him. And suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear him.

Now, this is the one who said, I of myself can do nothing, but he did great things. But he said, as I hear, I speak, as I see, I judge. He had the Father giving him gifts, and the result was the Father said, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. This is working out really, really well. He couldn't do it on his own. We see right from this verse, God the Father was the Father of the light of this world. Jesus said, I am the light of the world. His Father came in brightness in the cloud and said, this is my Son. He was the Father of that light. In John chapter 8 and verse 12, Jesus' words were these, I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness. So he will give light to the path. If we follow him, he will provide light in darkness, and we will not walk in darkness, but have the light of light. The light of light. That is a wonderful gift that you and I have from the Father. He is the Son who provides us with the light of light. That shows us the path in which we have to walk. Notice he didn't say, sit in darkness, but walk in darkness. So the Father gave fitting gifts to the light of Jesus Christ, the light of the world. And through Jesus Christ, we have received and do receive gifts. Or light. Or us. Gifts that help us. Follow the same example. Live the same way. Many of those things that we read, even when he was a child, come to us. Holy Spirit, the lead God's graciousness, the various elements that are involved in that Greek word, charese.

But he says to us, without need, you can do nothing. That's from John 15.5. We need to realize that. We have to have those gifts, just like he had to have those gifts. You were once an egg for life. And you were once a baby. And you were once a young child. And as we grow and as we are called, we need to follow in his steps. We need to follow him, emulate him, become like him. Just as he points us to becoming like our Father. It requires help from God. So what are we supposed to be doing? What are the gifts? What are we supposed to be... Are we waiting on Jesus to do it for us? Or God the Father to do it for us? Did he give us some kind of a grace path where we don't have to do anything? We're just spending on autopilot salvation?

That certainly wasn't the case with Jesus, was it? He set us a great example that we should follow. Many times he was persecuted, was crucified. And he said, you don't go through the same thing. Paul said, you know, the way that he was crucified and reviled is something you were called to. You do it too. We actually need the same gifts that he had in his life, don't we? He also was blessed. We received the same blessing. He was protected. We'll receive the same protection. There's a whole package of this conversion process that we're called to that we need to walk. And we need the gifts. We need them all. We need to use them. To some people, toolboxes, if you're guys, toolboxes are how to cool the toolboxes. Red, shiny, little chrome wheels. But to a mechanic, it's not about the box. It's not even about the tools. It's about the work, the fixing, the making, the creating, the building, the repairing, the... It's about that. It's about the final product. And that's what you and I are called to. Not to wear some badge, not to be in some cloak.

Not to have some honor in this life, but to be coming sons of our fathers. How did Jesus Christ do it? Well, let's go to James chapter 1 and verse 17 and 18. And let's read about the Father of Life. The Father of Life who gives gifts. James 1, 17. Every good gift and every perfect gift.

I remember at campus here, Mr. Dowd, who is the camp director at ICR, was talking about this word perfect. And he did it very well to the teens. He brought out some tools. And each one of the tools did a different thing. But each one, he said, this is my favorite tool. And this is my favorite tool. And these really do good work. I really like these tools. Now, you might say, is it a perfect tool? Well, it depends on how you define perfect. But when it says a perfect gift, it's the tool that really totally fits the job or the purpose for which it was created. It's an excellent tool. It's really an excellent tool. And so, these gifts are excellent gifts. They're good. And they come down. They're not gifts in heaven. They're from heaven. They come down from the Father of Lights. Plural, I'm single. Father of Lights. He is light. His Son is light. Jesus Christ is cholesterol.

With whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. Of His own will, He's brought us forth by the Word of Truth. The Word of Truth is His Son. The Logos of Truth. He is Truth. And He brings us forth with the spoken Word of the Logos and through the Prophets and through the Apostles. We have that today in written form as well. And He brings us forth by the help of the Word, the Logos, His mind, His knowledge, through the Spirit, from the Father, from the Son, through the Bible. These are our tools. Some of our tools. That we might be a kind of first fruits of His creatures. That's pretty exciting. See the point here? Creatures is the goal. First fruits is the type. That's the order. Tools or gifts is that we might be. So we have received the gifts and the tools that we might be, that for which this whole creation is filed. It's important that we appreciate and understand what those tools are. In John chapter 15, from the words of Jesus Christ Himself, John 15 will begin in verse 4 and read through verse 8. John 15 verse 4, A thigh in me, a dwell in me. That's a focus right there. You're going to walk the path with me. You're going to follow me. You're going to live in me. Don't live in other things. Don't live in other concepts. Don't buy your philosophies from elsewhere. Don't be like the lay of the sea and get your hot water from seven miles that way and your cold water from seven miles that way. No, I'm right here. Buy it from me. You know, the 24 karat gold, the pure gold. That's what He wants us to do. And so He says right here, We're going to do this together.

Jesus Christ could not do it unless He had the Father.

It required the Father all the way through. It also requires Him for you and me. I am the vine, you are the branches, He who abides in me, and I am Him bears much fruit. Notice this. For without me, you can do nothing. Just like without the Father, He could do nothing. We're all in this together. What do we need? We need the same tools. That's what we need. We're really fighting the same adversary, the same the devil, the same one He fought.

We're after the same essential goal, and that is to become like our Heavenly Father with the reward of being in the kingdom and their family. The goal is to become like God. The tools help us grow and become like our Father as we read in James. In verse 6, there's something that we need to understand.

He mentions this often. He is not popular. He wasn't popular. If anyone that's not in the eye of the me, he is cast out as a branch, is withered, they gather them and throw them into the fire of inner karma. That's a reality. So it's important for us then to realize, I need these gifts.

I also need to use these gifts. And these gifts need to be used for a product that God is developing, and that product is you and me. You and me. Otherwise, the God family has decided that going forward, others won't exist, other mindsets, other byproducts of this won't exist. He says here, if you abide in me, this is positive, and my words abide in me. Not someone else's words, not someone else's words about his words. His words. We had a general conference of elders conference a few weeks, months ago, and it was, Labor in the Word, right here, this.

And this is a very, very, very, very important book. It's the only inspired book. It is God-breathed. We need to look nowhere else. We need to spend our time. We need to be able to understand from childhood, as Timothy had been taught by his mother and grandmother, the Holy Scriptures that can make man wise to salvation. We need that. So he says here, you abide in me, and my words abide in me.

You will ask what you desire. What will you desire? We will ask, help me become that thing for which you have created me and died for, given your son for. That's what we'll ask for. You will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. You can be guaranteed, Father, correct me. Father, direct me. Father, forgive me. Father, help me to be like you. Help me today to love and serve and give. Help me to resist temptation.

And those things will be done for you. That's what he's about. In verse 8, by this my father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, because that is the fruit. The fruit is that we ask those things, and he comes through with those things, and we then have the fruit of the Holy Spirit, which is agape, love, joy, harmony, and all the other elements, and we are becoming sons of our Father.

And he is glorified by that. A wonderful thing we really see and embrace, and put our noses to the work, and do that work. Rather than thinking, oh, we're in a club, or we're in the group, or we're in the church, and it's doing what it needs to be doing, therefore I can sit here and enjoy this riot to the Disneyland kingdom, the Magic Kingdom.

And at some point, we'll pull it in the station, we'll all get off, and we'll have done the work. Well, that's the work right there, is that we bear fruit. And God says it's a good word, and he wants to help us in that word. In 1 Corinthians 15, verse 20, it says, But now Christ has risen from the dead, and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. In verse 23, but each one in his own order, Christ the first fruits, and afterward, notice these words, those who are Christ, have come.

But let's not just insert mining in there, oh yeah, I'm one of the group. It's just sort of an automatic order thing. He's first, now we're next. He says, those who are Christ, that makes me stop and ask myself, am I one of Christ?

And you can look back at what he has written, what he said, some of what we just read a while ago, are we really Christ? Because, you know, there are others, aren't there? There are others. You know, the parable they gave of the sower in the soil, seed was cast about, and that seed landed on different types of soils. The tools were there, but some didn't use it. Some said, oh, this is great, now try the loaves. Okay, that's enough. I can use that in the holy days now, so I'm good at that point. You know, others said, oh, this is great, I'll keep the sabbath in the holy days, but hey, this is kind of good to add to, and we'll throw in some other holy days and things, and in fact, we'll just come up with a whole bunch of stuff, and off they went. There's many things that the seed and the tools can do. It's not the tool. It's not the tool chest. It's what is done with the tools. Who at Christ is coming. Let's go to 1 John 5 and verse 18. 1 John 5, verse 18, through the end of the chapter. We know that whoever is born of God is engendered from God. God is his Father. He's the originator. He's the author of that individual's growth and fruit. This person does not sin as a way of life. He's fighting the fight. He's wrestling. But he who has been born of God, he is, again, born. You could say engendered. He's of the mindset. He's authored. He's of the mind of God. He is taking those tools, and he's becoming godly. He keeps himself. And the wicked one does not touch him. Why? Because we're off limits? No, not at all. He keeps himself. And the wicked one is not able to get him. As you know in the modern prayer outline, daily, Jesus encourages us to pray, keep us from being tempted, and deliver us, unhook us, deliver us from somehow the devil. So he doesn't get us, but there's a fight going on there. There's a wrestling that's going on. But he doesn't succeed. He doesn't touch any. We know that we are of God. Oh, these are the ones of Christ. These are the ones who are Christ. That will be first fruits of His coming. We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. And we know that the Son of God has come and given us an understanding that we may know Him who is true, and we are giving Him who is true. In His Son Jesus Christ, this is the true God and the eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. The word idols there in players is translated or defined as a false God. Keep yourselves from other philosophies, other gods, other false things. But the true, verse 20, He who is true, Him who is true, and His Son Jesus Christ, really, really have to be about the truth and living it.

Jesus Christ was given gifts from the Father of the lights. Let's see this in Romans chapter 1, verses 1-4. Romans chapter 1, verse 1, Paul, servant of Jesus Christ, called to the end apostles, separated to the gospel of God, which he promised before through his prophets in the holy scriptures. Scriptures, through this economy, send up God and Father here at the end of verse 1. The gospel of God, which God promised through his prophets in the holy scriptures concerning his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead, through whom we have received. God's grace, his graciousness, his power, his conversion process, and all the things that go into the word, the gifts of God, for obedience to the faith among all nations for his name. We are called to obey and to receive those gifts. Just like Jesus Christ did, he was born and he came through a resurrection to power. We also, now, in verse 5, receive these things. Verse 6, among whom you are also the call of Jesus Christ. Going on. Verse 8, verse 8, I thank my God, that's the Father, through Jesus Christ, for all of you, that your faith is spoken up throughout the world. That's a gift of God. That's one of the gifts that comes down from above, the faith of God. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit, in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I may mention of you always in my prayer. In verse 11, for I long to see that I may impart to you some spiritual gift so that you may be established. That is, that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith, both of you and me. These are gifts that God places. He calls us, he enables us, he encourages us, he develops this trust. Paul was one who received gifts from God, beginning with blindness, which was a terrific gift. It was one that stopped him, one that made, that humbled him, and that gave him a focus that when he received repentance and faith in the Holy Spirit, he was able then to have the courage to go forward.

Verse 16, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God's salvation. The gospel, you see, is a gift that you and I have that is power to eternal life. Eternal life. For everyone who believes, for the Jew first, and also for the Greek, for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, that just shall live by faith. And these are good things, and these are good gifts, and they apply both to the Son and to us. But, verse 18, the wrath of God refers a lot to the lake of fire. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of man who suppressed the truth in unrighteousness. There's always that. We don't want to go there. One of the greatest blessings you'll read of the first verse is Revelation 21.6, where it says, Those who are in the first resurrection, the second death will have no power. The wrath of God will have no power. That's what God wants for you. He doesn't want us to go through the great tribulation. Jesus said that's the worst of times. He does not want to see us at all impacted in a negative way by Satan the devil in this life. So, he can keep him away from us. God is a Father who gives good gifts, and if we use his tools, life is good. It is really, really good. But if we don't, well, then we can kind of muddle through him. We can muddle through, and if we're not careful, we end up wondering why Jesus is there. When the Son of Man comes, we'll even find faith on earth. That shouldn't be the case with us. Let's look at Ephesians 1. We'll look at Romans 1. Let's go to Ephesians 1.

Again in verse 1, to the same two-word Ephesus, in faithful to Christ Jesus. Once again, great miscarries to you, and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Right there is a lot of things, including, if you examine that term, you will find it included in there in a big way. Faith, repentance, forgiveness, baptism of the Holy Spirit, and God leading us as a helper to perform the works of righteousness. We can't do that on our own. No person can do that on our own. But if we want that, that's there from our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed then be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Do we like those blessings? Are we using those blessings, those gifts from God? We have been predestined, verse 5, to adoption as sons by Christ Jesus to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will. In verse 7, in Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sin, according to the riches of His grace. Once again, there's a process involved there. You can take our book, The Road to Eternal Life, the process of conversion. You can see that all those elements there that God feeds into us. This process that ends up with us and His family. But it's a process that we have to be involved in. We have to work towards. In verse 8, which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to the good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ. And you and I have a fabulous opportunity. In verse 11, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance.

In verse 12, who first trusted in Christ. Where do we get trust in Christ? Where do we get these inheritances from? They're not automatic.

In verse 13, in whom you also trusted after you heard the word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation, in whom you also had believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. So here come the gifts from the Lord, which is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

I received emails working with United Church God East Africa from people in various parts of the world, quite often from East Africa, received one recently from an individual who writes from an island country, the Indian Ocean, and he is beginning to receive gifts. It's always exciting when God opens minds and the gifts start to be given. They're opportunities, they're tools by which a person can be converted, be changed.

He writes, I'm 50 years of age and I work as a primary school teacher in the village of Namo-Hokanen. But I've just signed up on the UCG website. I very much appreciate the UCG message and I intend to attend Saturday services here on the island. Please inform me about the address and the time of the services. I very much intend to obey God as I am convinced there is no other right way than Him. His intention now is to obey God. He has been given a gift of understanding with the Holy Spirit. He is getting set up and he continues in this desire and direction to be given the gift of repentance, which he probably indicates he already is beginning to have, which will be followed by the gift of baptism, the forgiveness of all his sins, and then the Holy Spirit, the helper, to further eliminate understanding and also to give direction to his life and help him to grow into being a child of God.

Sadly, we don't have a congregation on his island yet. There is another lady that is written from that island as well, my wife and I hope to visit him in the coming months. Here you and I are. We've been in the church for a while. We're not quite like them, many of us. We've been around. Here we are today. Maybe we've had a difficult week. Did you come here to hear about the solace that's in Jesus? Did you come here to hear about that it's time to kick back a little bit and take it easy? It's been a long week. It's been a long life. It's been a long, long walk. They came to hope to hear, don't sweat it. We've found an easier way. The devil's on vacation. Relax, you're in.

It's kind of like long distance running. I've got to tell you this story because it's something I've been involved in most of my life. Long distance running, people say, oh, long distance running. That looks interesting. I think I'll do that, too. I think I'll go out and I'll run races. When you're in training, you see the newbies come and they want to join in. It's always enjoyable to watch because kind of in their minds, it's like this. A long distance race means you get out and you run a long distance and then you cross the finish line and if you're first, you win. It kind of looks like that.

And so they start running and they run, run, run, run, run. They run, run, run, run. They have a day, they have a night and you say, I'm your runner. We're not a runner and we all run and people in their own run and then the big day of the race comes.

And it's always fun to watch them show up for the race after they run, run, run, run, run more than you ran, maybe. And then they run around the track and usually try to get in front. If you're too long distance race with the person in front, everyone, I don't remember. But somebody would get up there and say, all I have to do is be out in front.

I'm high girls, I'm in front, and I know these day that you guys and at some point they fall apart. You know, there's more to it. You can be confident that you're going to win because you're a runner. You can be confident that you're going to be in the kingdom because you're in the church and you're a runner. And you're also running. And I'm also running. It's also fun to kind of watch runners who don't really know what they're doing sound fun. But you know, as one, you're trying to win the race, you know what's going to happen at the end.

And they faster than you. They can run faster than you. But they can't serve. In general. And you and I aren't called to finish third. You and I aren't called to jump in here and have some experience only to show up and have Jesus say, I don't know you. Or have you tell me I don't know you. This is a very real possibility if we're not actually using the tools, the gifts from above, and actually participating the way our coach from above teaches. You see, it's about coaching.

Running actually does have a whole philosophy to it. And a coach, one who leads and guides and tells you how to train, is very, very important. Jesus' message was not to sort of get in a draft, hang out, let somebody else pull you a bomb, or stay with the pack, let somebody else carry you.

That won't win the race. Jesus' message was repent, the Kingdom of God is at hand. His message was watch. Watch you therefore. He was saying, pay attention. Pay attention to the detail, like the Apostle Paul. When you're in the race, you really run it in a way that you condition yourself, and you train, and you have direction, and you have coaching, so that you're going to receive that crown.

That's the important thing. The process of conversion, again, wonderful gifts. But, with a trainer and effort, they're very effective. They're never easy. They're never easy. It's not about being easy, it's about being effective. Satan is a deceiver. He's a liar. There's a tree of knowledge of good and evil.

It's evil wrapped in good, and the combination doesn't make it. It just doesn't make it. Jesus warns that there's a deception that's coming to the scene, and possible even the very elect. He says, strive to enter the narrow gate. Many seek it. He will find it. See, so, we've got to move beyond our toes.

It's a good race. It's a good pack. It's difficult, it's narrow. All those things, it's fine. It's really good, but we really have to be wanting it. We have to be permitted to it. In doing so, Jesus said to us, you, are the light of the world. See, the Father of Lights brought a son into this world who became the light of the world. And he ran with the Father's help, with all the tools, and did a great job. Now we are called to imitate him. We have the same tools, and we are to run.

And we are to be lights. You are the light of the world. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in Heaven. So, Matthew 5, 14-16.

Here are some crucial gifts from the Father of Lights. Jesus 6, verse 10. Finally, my brethren, be strong and lord in the power of his might. 4, verse 12, we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of his age, spiritual posts of wickedness in heavenly places.

Don't convince yourself, don't be convinced, that somehow this is no slave.

But we have tools. Therefore, if you take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand, this is going to be a wrestling match. This is going to be a fight for the devil. It is. Now, notice a few things here. Rather than this just sort of being a nice definition, notice a few things. Stand, having your waist girded with truth. Truth. And, notice, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, of righteousness. Live your life according to the way Jesus Christ lived his life. Obey him. Do what he says. Do it God's way. Focus on the truth. And do it rightly. Righteousness. Having your feet shot in preparation of the Gospel of peace. Taking the shield of faith, which you will be able to quench all the darts of the wicked one. That faith, you've got to really believe it and trust it. All the way through, during the journey through the valley of shadow of death, so that you won't fear. And you won't be distracted, demoralized by Satan.

These are very, very important things. Paul said, fight a good fight to wrestle and to run so that you may obtain the crown. The victory, so that you can win the race. It's a good thing. A really, really good thing. In Philippians chapter 2, verses 12-16, Philippians chapter 2 verse 12, Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Some deep respect here about this opportunity you have to be in first group.

For it's God who works in you, the Father, to will and to do, for His good pleasure. Verse 15, that he may become blameless and harmless children of God, without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.

Perverse generation, this society affects us, it affects you, it affects me. We can't just drift with it. We can't just sort of be assimilated by it. We can't be a lot that sort of sinks down in Sodom and is not affected by it. We have to shine. We have to be different. Verse 16, holding fast the word of life.

Holding fast the word of life. That's what you and I need to be doing. The goal is to use the Father's fears to become like Him and His Son. What are they? They're light. They are the bright lights. And ultimately, we are to become light then. Let's notice Daniel 12, verses 2 and 3. We wrap this up. Daniel 12.

Beginning in verse 2.

Sodom is about the great tribulation in verse 1. And verse 2. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake. Some to everlasting life. That's the good news. That's what one needs. And there's a reason why they will awake to everlasting life. They use the tools. They really become the children that God wanted them to. And some the shame and everlasting contempt. God always puts that in there.

And it's wrong to read one without the other. That's a constant reminder that we need. But those, verse 3, who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament. Like the brightness of the sun. We will shine like our Father and Son do. Why? Because the Father of lights, the Father of the light of this world, who became the Father of us through His Son in the light of this world, we eventually will become literal lights. And we will shine like the brightness of the firmament. And those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars, will ever and ever. Stars are actually brighter than our sun.

They're bigger. It's a lot of light. It's where we're headed. We...if I can include myself, if...if... I use the tools. If I use the gifts, those perfect, good gifts, that come down from the Father of lights, that He is using to develop us into eternal lights. As Matthew 13, 37 talks about Jesus Christ Himself, tells us that that is... where we're headed, that's where this process ends up. We really work. We do what He says, we're pulling links to and committing with God, the Father in Him.

Notice in Matthew 13, 37, He who shows the good seed is the Son of Man, and the field is the world. The good seeds are the sons of the kingdom. The terrors of the sons of the wicked, one thing. They look similar. We know that, verse 40, the terrors have gathered and burned. Verse 41, The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all things that have been, and those who practice lawlessness, those who be cast in the first of fire, and will be wailing in action, and, hey, why does He put that in there?

It sounds so negative. He doesn't want it to happen to us. Just accept that. And push forward. Verse 43, then the righteous, the right, those who follow the truth and the right, and develop with these gifts from God, the right, the right ones, the righteous, will shine forth as the Son in the kingdom of their Father.

He who has ears to hear, let him hear. Do I have ears to hear? That's the question. This is his message. He repeats it over and over, all through the, even to the end of the book of Revelation. Once again, and he says, buy from me 24 karat gold, gold, tribe, and fire, only needs gold that has been melted and impurities skinned off.

That's what the conversion process is. Buy it from me, because I counsel of you. This is a good thing. He's not saying it's bad. This lesson to Laodicea is not how people usually paint it. It's not a bad lesson. It's a very, very good lesson. He's saying, don't get this stuff from other sources. Buy it from me. Get the real pure gold. Buy it from me, and you will sit on my throne with me.

Like I overcame, I sat down with my Father on his throne. That's a good thing. That's what we want to do. In conclusion, let's go to 1 Corinthians chapter 9, verse 24. 1 Corinthians chapter 9, verse 24. Here Paul talks about running. Running race. He says, Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the drop? I was once a wannabe runner. I didn't know much about it. I decided I couldn't run short distance, because everybody kept beating me, so I just kept running longer until I got outlasted.

So I was definitely a runner. I was a long distance runner. And that failed every time somebody came to town. They could run longer and faster than I could. Just didn't seem to accomplish much. Then we were given a trainer. In the in-run office, we ran 50 meters of ashes over and over and over.

Ten times in fact. 50 meters, 50 meters, 50 meters, 50 meters. As fast as you could possibly run, you ran 25 meters. Then turn around, and when you got back to the goal post in the middle of the field, you ran the 25 meters coming back.

The other way, as fast as you could ever run in your life. Over and over and over. And by the tenth time you did it, you couldn't walk. You just fell on the ground. But we did this two or three times a week. We did it off campus, where no other runners saw us. You would take us off to other colleges and use their tracks. We would run, I don't know, amazing places. We'd mark it out and we'd run it. We never really understood what was going on. It was a lot of hard work.

What happens is, yes, everybody runs, and it's a long distance. But there are challenges in the route, especially towards the Indians. We look in the Bible, there are some big challenges at the end of time. They really get riled up. And a runner, like Paul says here, they all go out to win. But he says in verse 24, run in such a way that you may obtain it. Everyone who competes for the prize is temperate, moderate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but for we, an imperishable crown. So there's a strategy that comes up here. I've got some wickedness, some spirits in high places unseen.

I've said some things in Christ the same that have hit me and blindside me at various times. I'd better have some extra training here to just go right through those things. I'd better be like Jesus Christ, so that when He was spat upon and made fun of, or when He was tempted and asked to do this or that, or when a spear was pushed inside, or when He was given vinegar, or when they cheered at Him, stripped Him naked, and said horrible things and battered Him around with a crown, He just flew right through those things. Just like at the end of a race, when everybody's had this long race, and you push yourself as hard as you can, and you're coming down, and you're moving around.

And it was... And nobody seems to have any strength left. The guys who were trained off campus, remember, could run 50 meters, the fastest they've ever run in their life, at any time, at the end of any race, or during any race. You always had that training. But it didn't matter who you were up against, as long as you were close by them. It didn't even matter if they were ahead of you. Because you were prepared to do something at the end of the race that was unfought of, unheard of, because you always did it. Every time you trained, you always added that at the end of your race.

You just flew away. Now, you and I have this race, and we're not going to be distracted, we're not going to be dissuaded, we're not going to be defeated. If we really have all the tools, and we have the trust, and we have God, and He's been with us, and we really are becoming the children, but you can't take that out of them. And when all the stuff gets thrown at you, you just drive on through it like it's not even there. 1 Corinthians 9, verse 26, Therefore I run nuts, not with uncertainty.

You and I have to be certain, just like Paul, there is a crown laid up for me. You've got to say that. And for everyone who loves God. And we are going to obtain that crown. God's will is that no one perish, and that you and I obtain that crown. We are not going to get seduced to slow down. We are not going to get seduced to say, Oh, take it easy.

Verse 27, I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest when I preach to others, I myself should become disqualified. Now, brethren, and always in your life, is the time to be alert. Jesus said, Be alert. To be assessing the opponent all the time. To be equipped. To be prepared for the sprints through the fiery trials. Whenever they show up, go right through them, and obtain your crown. And do that while helping others do the same thing.

It's not a solo act. It's not a selfish act. It's a together act. That's why we are a body. That's why we are a church. That's why we are family. That's why we are a father, and we are brothers and sisters. As the way God describes us.

You can do it. Because you have been given the gift for life from the father of life.