God's Eternal Inheritance

Well, happy Sabbath once again! Yesterday, actually, I had the opportunity to visit a nursing home with one of our beloved brethren whose brother is in a nursing home. And it wasn't my first experience in a nursing home. I thought I would spend just a few seconds telling you my first experience of being at a nursing home. It was probably in the early 1960s. I don't think I was even 10 years old yet. And my cousin wanted to visit his grandma. She was known as Grandma Shafer. So we went to visit Grandma Shafer, and it is an experience that I will never forget. I will never forget the sights. I will never forget the sounds. I will never forget the smells of being in a very crude nursing home in the early 1960s. It was a profound experience in my life to see how basically people were warehoused by our culture in preparation to die.

Another thing that really struck me is my cousin brought her a gift, and she was so excited with this gift. This is going to give you an example of the cultural change shift that's occurred since then. My cousin brought her a gift that she was all excited about. The gift was a couple of packs of camel's cigarettes. You would have thought that we just handed her a $5,000 bill. She was so excited. Of course, virtually everyone there smoked at the nursing home. What I'll never forget about that experience, and I was reminded of it again yesterday, is that they're not happy places. We're housing people who are preparing to die. Yesterday I saw some individuals who were just faced out on the table and never lifted their head up, never looked up. Other people were on oxygen tanks, in wheelchairs. They are not happy environments. As a matter of fact, it's very easy if you work in that kind of an environment or even visit it. It's very easy to get discouraged, because indeed, if there is no God, human beings are a pretty hopeless lot.

But the good news is that there is a God. And as we ponder the beginning of another holy day season this year, I think it's very important for us to realize that God has revealed to us, His people, a step-by-step plan that is a plan of hope. It's a plan of hope for each and everyone who has ever lived. And if you want to know what that step-by-step plan is all about, you basically can sum it up in one word. You can sum it up in the word family, because God is creating a family.

And all of His holy days reflect the fact that God has been creating a family.

He created humankind with the potential to become part of His family. He created you specifically to become part of His family. Let's go to Genesis chapter 1 and verse 25 and take a look at a scripture here that is certainly true, that God created us according to His image, His own image. And in the image of God, He created male and female. That's certainly true, but it's really a metaphor for something much deeper than that God originally intended beyond just the creation of Adam and Eve. So we'll go to Genesis chapter 1 and verse 25. So God is in the creation process. It says, And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. So He's very pleased with the stages of the creation process as each day goes by. He's creating and adding to the creation, and He's very pleased. It was good. Then God said, Let us make man an hour image according to our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in His own image. In the image of God, He created Him male and female. He created them. Then God blessed them and said to them, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves on the earth. So it says here that God created male and female in His image and said, Get at it. I'm building a family. I want lots of males and females to be in this world, this world that's very good that I have just created because that's part of my plan is what God was saying here. The fact that God created Adam and Eve in His physical likeness and the likeness of Himself, you know, hair and nose, a face, is simply a metaphor and a goal to mold individuals ultimately into His spiritual likeness. That's why Paul could say in Romans chapter 8 and verse 29, he said, For whom He foreknew, in other words, those whom He appointed in advance, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son. So what he did here in Genesis 1, the physical likeness and the like, the mental capacity to create the design which are God-like, which we uniquely have as human beings, beyond that, God had something much deeper in mind from the very beginning, and that was that those whom He would call could literally be conformed to not just a mere physical likeness or a mental capacity, but into the image of His Son, an image of righteousness, an image of immortality, an image of glory, because that has been part of God's plan from the very beginning. It says, again, I'll just be reading here from verse 29 of Romans 8, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn of many brethren. So as we begin to think about the Holy Days this year and the coming up of the Passover and the days of unletting, we should always keep in mind what it's really all about, what that unraveling plan that we live through each year is really all about. What it is really all about is the fact that God is building a family, and He called you in this lifetime, at this point in history, to be part of that family.

We should always keep that in mind because God wants a family that's going to honor Him, a family that's going to love Him, and a family that's going to share eternity with Him.

He's doing it all in measured stages. It has begun with firstfruits. You and I are those firstfruits.

And then after a time when the kingdom of God is established, there will be later fruits. The very fact that there's something called firstfruits means that there have to be fruits that come later on, secondfruits or thirdfruits. So God is working in stages. Let's take a look at James chapter 1 and verse 17 and see what James says about our calling and about what God has done for us.

James chapter 1 and verse 17. If you'll turn there with me.

James chapter 1 and verse 17. James writes, Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. God is consistent when God makes promises. Those promises are 100% guaranteed. There's no variation or shadow of turning with God. When he says it, it's a done deal. Verse 18. Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures. So we have the privilege to be called first in God's stages of creating a family. He revealed to us, He took the blinders off, and He gave us the ability to understand His will and to understand the truth of God and all the things that we hold so dear, the doctrines and teachings that we hold so dear. And the fact that He's calling firstfruits is pictured by the first few holy days which represent individual salvation, beginning with the Passover. And the Passover, we acknowledge the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, is our personal Savior. And it reminds us of the commitment we made in baptism. Then we go on to the days of unleavened bread, the sanctification of our lives. We work diligently through God's Spirit and through His blessings to remove sin out of our lives. We do our part.

We can't be perfect. We're incapable of being perfect because we're human and we're limited, but we do our part in removing sin out of our lives. And then there's the day of Pentecost, which pictures literally God giving the gift of the Holy Spirit to His Church. The latter holy days represent God's plan for the latter fruits of humanity after the return of Jesus Christ, beginning, pictured with the Feast of Trumpets, which literally pictures the return of Jesus Christ back to this earth. Then it becomes a universal focus on the latter fruits and all prophetically that God will do with that period of time. But the early holy days focus on the first fruits. They focus on you. They focus on me and how God is working with us to make us part of His family. Let's go to Ephesians chapter one and verse three. Ephesians chapter one and verse three.

So are we a bother to God? Does He sometimes have days when He shakes His head and says, what did I start here? Oh, they're out of control. They're bad. They're evil. I repent to the fact that I ever made them. Why did I want a family to begin with? I should have just gotten a bigger TV set. Does God sometimes feel that way? We'll allow Paul to tell us. He said, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing. Now, we don't have every physical blessing. Some of us struggle financially. Some of us are struggling with our own health, right? Or the health of our loved ones. Some of us are struggling with job issues, relationship issues. But you know what we do have? We have every spiritual blessing. God has called us.

We've been forgiven. He's opened our minds to His way of life. He's given us access to go to the throne of grace and build a relationship, a loving intimate relationship with God. So He's given us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. And Christ right now is our high priest and our mediator up in the heavens. Verse 4, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ Himself according to the good pleasure of His will. So is God frustrated at us? Does He have some days where He just wonders why He even created humanity? No.

We can't do anything that surprises God. He did it because He wanted a family. And even the process of what we're going through to prepare us to be in that family is good pleasure of His will.

So God isn't mad at us. God is mad about us. He loves us and He wants us to be in His family.

Let's continue here in verse 6, to the praise and to the glory of His grace by which He has made us accepted in the beloved. So we're not rejected. We're not evil in God's eyes.

We're not bad in God's eyes. He's made us accepted in the beloved because we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior. Because His righteousness dwells in us. God is very pleased with us. Verse 7, in Him we have redemption through His blood, speaking of Christ, of course, and forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace, which He made to abound towards us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure. There it is again, which He proposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times, He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth in Him. So when all is said and done, when all the prophecies fulfilled, when all the holy days and the plan of God is completed, and you're in the new heavens and the new earth, everything is going to be gathered together in one and all things in Christ. That is the ultimate conclusion of this process that you and I are in right now. God planned to have a family long before the earth was created. He wants a family, not because He's lonely, not because He needs a family, but because being a God of love, He wants to share everything that He has. The Father wants to adopt us as His children, and He is pleased, happy to do so, happy to have us as His sons and His daughters. Your life and the acceptance of your calling brings pleasure to God. And it all begins with what is pictured by the Passover, that we'll be talking about more and more during the next few weeks. The Passover Course pictures redemption to the blood of the Lamb and forgiveness. Very beautiful ceremony that we will all share together as the local Cleveland family in just a short period of time. So what is it that gives us the right to call God our Father and Jesus Christ our brother? What is it that prompts Him to call us His children? What made that possible? How do we dare refer to God as our Father? How can He call us and look down upon us in loving compassion and say, these are my children, these are my offspring whom I love? Well, let's go to John chapter 1 and verse 10.

John chapter 1 and verse 10, this is a scripture we looked at under a different context a few weeks ago, but now we'll look at it today regarding how we can be the children of God. John chapter 1 and verse 10. You may recall this scripture here referring to Jesus Christ as the Word.

John chapter 1 and verse 10, it says, He, speaking of the Word of Jesus Christ, was in the world and the world was made through Him and the world did not know Him. He came to His own and His own did not receive Him. So as we mentioned, His own Jewish people did not accept Him as the Christ, as the prophesied Messiah. Verse 12, but as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Now that's a pretty profound scripture.

Of course, we know that to receive Christ, to believe in His name means to repent, and it means to make a commitment to becoming a lifelong disciple. To believe in His name means more than just saying a few simple words, attending a church on the Sabbath day, or witnessing to others. It means total commitment, not just a fad, not just something you go through in life for a brief period of time, not just a short-term presence of showing up at a church. It means total commitment.

I think I've told you the story before of the chicken and the pig that were walking down the street, and they saw this sign, Egg McMuffin Sandwich, eggs and Canadian bacon. And the chicken says, oh look, look, I'm in every Egg McMuffin Sandwich in the world! The pig said, well, big deal. He said, that's easy for you. For you, it's just a contribution. For me, it's total commitment.

And that's what Jesus Christ wants from us. He doesn't want a contribution. The chicken's only giving eggs. The pig got slaughtered. It was a total commitment for the pig. Jesus Christ doesn't want tokenism from us. He doesn't want us just to give a contribution of our time in our lives. He wants total commitment. He said in Luke 9, verse 61, an individual was attracted to the message of Christ. And he said, Lord, I will follow you, but first let me go and bid farewell to all that are in my house. I like your message. I want to become your disciple, but there's something else that I need to do first. And Jesus said to him, no one having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. So making a contribution isn't good enough.

Being present for a short period of time isn't good enough. Jesus Christ is looking for people who have total commitment. And that's what it meant in John when it said that he gave the right to become the children of God to those who believe in his name. They believe it to the point that they're willing not just to live, but to die for their Lord and for what they believe for the Gospel. Are we that committed? Let's take a look now at Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 15. Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 15.

Paul writing again to the church at Ephesus. Therefore, I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers. Do we give thanks for each other? Do we love each other? Do we make mention of each other in our prayers? And we know someone's struggling with an issue or a problem or something going on in their life. Are we doing that? Are we giving thanks for each and every one whom God has called? Or are we spending too much time judging all of their issues and their problems? It's hard to be thankful and to be judging people at the same time. They're contradictions in emotions. Verse 18, continuing here, I'll pick it up in verse 17.

The God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power towards us who believe according to the working of his mighty power. God wants us to understand what is behind our calling. It's the hope of God's calling, the rich inheritance that God has for us. God wants us to be hopeful and encouraged by something that he's offering us. And what is it that he's offering us? He's offering us an inheritance. I'm going to read verses 18 and 19 through another translation, God's word for today.

It says, then you will have a deeper insight. You will know the confidence that he calls you to have and the glorious wealth that God's people will inherit. You will also know the unlimited greatness of his power as it works with might and strength for us, the believers.

So God is building a family and God called you to be part of his first fruits. He dropped the blindness from our eyes. He opened up our hearts and minds to understand his way of life. We responded to the preaching of the gospel. And God says, because you've done that, I have something very important for you. I have an inheritance for you. So I wanted to take a few minutes to talk about what that inheritance is. What does the inheritance from God include for those of us who are first fruits? Let's take a look at some of the things it includes. The first thing it includes is that we get to share eternal life with God. Again, we get to share eternal life with God. We'll see that in 1 Thessalonians 4 and verse 16. If you'll turn there with me. 1 Thessalonians 4 and verse 16. Share eternal life with God. Paul wrote, for the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout and with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God. We know, of course, that his return will occur, symbolized on the Feast of Trumpets itself. Continuing in, the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. So Jesus Christ returns, comes descending out of the clouds. Those who are dead in Christ will rise from their graves first and meet him. Paul, who believed that he would still be alive at that time, said, then those that remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Thus shall we always be with the Lord. And of course, we know from Zachariot chapter 14 and verse 4 that from that point on, Jesus Christ will descend to earth and his feet will be upon the Mount of Olives. Continuing in verse 18, therefore comfort one another with these words. Jesus Christ is our Savior, and spiritually he's our superior elder brother. We'll have the privilege of sharing eternity with him. It says here in the scripture that we shall always be with the Lord. We get to share eternal life with God.

And even when and if we're geographically separated, we will be one with him in spirit. Even when Jesus walked on this earth and he was geographically separated from the Father, the Father was in heaven and was total spirit. Jesus Christ was walking on earth. But yet he could say the Father and I are one. And how could he say that? Because even though they might be geographically separated in a physical realm and the Father in the spiritual realm, they shared the same spirit. And Jesus knew totally the will of his Father, and they were one. So we will always be with the Lord, sharing eternal life with God, no matter what assignment we may have, no matter what we may be doing, we will be one in the family of God and sharing eternal life with God.

So that's number one. Number two is freedom from pain and suffering. I thought of this particularly yesterday, again, being in a nursing home. Freedom from pain and suffering. Let's go to Revelation chapter 21 and verse 3. Revelation 21 and verse 3. John was inspired with what he saw. He said, and I heard a loud voice from heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with man, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his papal. Why do we observe something called the Feast of Tabernacles? Because the tabernacle is a very important part of the Bible.

And we have to be careful with that. We have to be careful with that. We have to be careful with that. Everything is going to be separate. Something called the Feast of Tabernacles. Because the tabernacle is a metaphor for a time when God himself is coming and making his headquarters on this earth. God himself will tabernacle with men. That's one of the reasons we continue to observe the Feast of Tabernacles. As the immortal children of God, we will be blessed to experience this before the rest of the inhabitants of the earth.

I want you to picture living for eternity free from pain and suffering, living with abundant energy, no longer living with any sense of power, but with a sense of love. Free from pain and suffering, living with abundant energy, no longer living with any sense of guilt for the past or shame, no sense of sorrow, no physical or mental pain or stress like we experience today in this physical life, no aging process, no decline in our health, no need for sleep.

One third of our lives are consumed in just our bodies physically trying to restore itself so they can become conscious again the next day and function. That's all gone. That's not necessary anymore. Watching friends and loved ones grow old and die will be a thing of the past. So the second thing we gain from that inheritance, of course, being part of having eternal life and sharing it with God, is a freedom from guilt and shame, from pain, from suffering. Freedom from being tired. The third thing that we receive as part of that inheritance is we shall be like Christ Jesus in character and quality.

Again, we shall be like Christ Jesus in character and quality. If you'll turn to 1 John chapter 3 with me, we'll see how John spoke about this. 1 John chapter 3, beginning in verse 1. Again, we shall be like Christ Jesus in character and quality. 1 John chapter 3 in verse 1. Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God.

Therefore the world does not know us because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are the children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. It's hard in human terms to describe what glory is like. So it has not yet been determined 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, and everyone who has this hope in Him purifies Himself just as He is pure.

So again, brethren, we don't know exactly what role the Father will assign us in the family of God. No human language can adequately describe what the glorified Jesus Christ will look like. It would just be so shallow in an utterance of human terms, but we can be sure of two things. Number one, that we'll be like Him in character and quality because we will fully share the same spirit.

Right now we're human, and God gave us some of His Holy Spirit that is connected with our human minds. But we are physical, we are human, we are carnal, we are limited. Then all of that humanity, all that carnality will be gone, and we will fully be able to share the Spirit with Jesus Christ and with God the Father. So that's number one. We'll be like Him in character and quality as we will fully share the same spirit.

Number two, we'll be able to behold His majesty and full glory because we will be like Him. What a wonderful inheritance. What a wonderful promise. That because we responded to the Gospel, because we are the first fruits of God, that we can enjoy the benefits and the blessings that God wants to give us through that inheritance.

Number four, something else that we will inherit. We will share in God's glory. Romans 8 and verse 16. If you'll turn there, Romans 8 and verse 16, we will share in God's glory.

What's the difference between what we see in the world today, in the world of politics and celebrity and athletes, and a lot of what we see in the world today and what God will give us? Well, in the world today, people live for one goal.

It's to promote themselves. It's to claw their way to the top. It's to stomp on whoever they need to in order to receive preeminence, to gain great wealth, to have power, to have influence in the world. That's the world we live in today. In contrast, God says that your inheritance is... I'm going to give you all those things. You don't have to fight for it. You don't have to claw your way to the top. You don't have to stomp on somebody to receive glory and the things that I have prepared for you. I'm giving it to you as a gift, as a reward, because you're my child, because you're my son, because you're my daughter.

Romans 8, verse 16, the Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, and if children then heirs. Heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ. So we are the inheritors of God the Father, and the joint inheritors of everything that he has along with Jesus Christ. If indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified together, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

What does it mean to be an heir of God and the joint heir with Christ? The problem with the word glory is it seems nebulous to us, doesn't it? Glory, you hear the word glory, glory, glory. What does that mean? You hear it so many times, it kind of loses its punch. It loses its impact. So I thought I would do, and what I would do is give you some words in English that are synonyms of the word glory, because that's part of our inheritance. It's said here that God is going to give us glory.

So I'd like to give you some synonyms in English language that are the same as glory. Renown, fame, prestige, honor, distinction, eminence, acclaim, praise, magnificence, splendor, grandeur, majesty, greatness, nobility. So does that add a little more than just the bland word glory? Using the word glory all the time? As a verb, it means to take pleasure in, to revel in, to rejoice in, to delight in something.

That's part of our inheritance. This is what God is offering His first fruits. It's part of our inheritance. We will share in God's glory. These qualities and traits are what the Father has planned to give the children of God as part of our inheritance. The fifth thing is part of our inheritance. We'll be rewarded with fulfilling positions of excellence. We're familiar with the parable of the talents. I'm just going to look at a few verses here. It's not my intent today to explain the full and rich meaning of the parable of the talents, just to point out a few things that Jesus Christ said to two of the servants within the parable.

Matthew 25 and verse 19. And after a long time, the Lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them. So He who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, Lord, you have delivered to me five talents. Look, I've gained five talents more besides them.

So you gave me something. You gave me a gift. I opened up that gift. I opened up those opportunities. And I grew. And here's the answer. And the Lord said to him, well done, good and faithful servant, you were faithful over a few things.

I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord. Verse 22. He also had received two talents came and said, Lord, you delivered to me two talents and I've gained two talents besides them. And the Lord said to him, in other words, He said, you gave me some gifts. He gave me some abilities and they grew. I made them better, more effective. I used them.

I made a difference in people's lives. I made a difference in my own life. The growth that I did, the things that I did to serve others. And the Lord said to him, well done, good and faithful servant, you have been faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord.

And there was one other person in this parable, the third person. He was condemned for his sloth and indifference. He was received. He was given a gift. He was given some wonderful things. He never opened up that gift. He never used them. So unfortunately, he's under condemnation in this parable. I'd like to read to you verse 21 from the new century version.

It says, the Master answered, you did well. You are a good and loyal servant. Because you were loyal in small things, I will let you care for much greater things. Come and share my joy with me.

You see, God will place us in roles that were well suited for. Rules in which we are preparing now in our life's experiences.

God isn't going to make us square pegs in a round hole. Everything we experience in life, good the bad, is for a purpose. God uses it to hone us, to teach us, to help us to grow, because he's doing a work in us. He's not only doing a great work of preaching the gospel. He's doing a work in your life.

And every experience that you've ever been through, no matter how painful, no matter how difficult, he is used to get you where he wants you to go.

He's used those experiences to prepare you for where you will be serving and what you will be doing within his family, within his kingdom.

It says in Revelation 5 and verse 9, it says, in a sang a new song, saying, You were worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation. And you have made us kings and priests to our God, and we shall reign on earth.

So again, God is preparing you and I for specific responsibilities in his kingdom. We don't know exactly what they are, but they will be a perfect fit for our training, for our temperament, for our personal likes.

There are hundreds of different opportunities in governance within his kingdom. Management, organization, leadership.

There will be many, many religious offices in each and every day by the things we experience.

God is preparing us for a time when he will give us the perfect role that is right for us.

So again, number five, the fifth thing we receive as part of our inheritance as promised to us is we will be rewarded with fulfilling positions of excellence.

Number six, part of the inheritance as promised to us, a family of innumerable brothers and sisters.

A family of innumerable brothers and sisters. Hebrews 2 and verse 10.

Hebrews 2 and verse 10. A family of innumerable brothers and sisters.

The book of Hebrews says here in chapter 2, beginning in 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.

As part of God's plan, it's fitting for him because that's what he wanted all along.

He's been working on this before the foundation of the world to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. Indeed, Jesus Christ was. For both he who sanctifies, that's referring to Christ, and those who are being sanctified, that's us, are all of one for which reason he, speaking of Jesus, is not ashamed to call them brethren.

Jesus Christ is not ashamed to look down on you.

In spite of your flaws and our weaknesses and all the things that go through our minds and our personal struggles, he is not ashamed to look down on us, to look down on you, to look down on me and say, That's my brother down there. That's my sister down there.

Still a work in progress. Still a lot of stuff around that construction site.

A lot of rubbish around that construction site. But you know what? That's my brother. That's my sister.

Very powerful scripture. Let's continue. And it says here, verse 12, saying, I will declare your name to my brethren, and in the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to you, and again I will put my trust in him, and again here I am, and the children whom God has given me. So Jesus Christ, again, is not ashamed to call us, his spiritual brothers and sisters.

Let's take a look at a better translation, verses 10 through 13. I'm going to read this now from the new international version.

It says, quote, in bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering, both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy, are of the same family.

We're all part of the family of God. That was his goal from the very beginning, continuing in the scripture.

So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. He says, I will declare your name to my brothers in the presence of the congregation, and will sing your praises, and again I will put my trust in him, and again he says, here I am, and the children God has given me.

So another part of our inheritance includes many, many new brothers and sisters, most of whom we've never even had the privilege of meeting before.

On the first day of unleavened bread, when we meet together with some individuals from the Church of God International, we'll have an opportunity to meet some of our spiritual brothers and sisters, those whom God has given his Holy Spirit to for the first time. We'll have that opportunity.

Matthew 12, verse 48.

They came to Jesus and they said, your mother and your brothers are outside. They'd like to talk to you. They're waiting for you.

And it says here, but he answered and said to the one who told him, he said, who is my mother and who are my brothers? And he stretched out his hand towards his disciples and said, here are my mother and my brothers, for whoever does the will of my Father in Heaven is my brother and sister and mother.

We're all family. He's our elder brother. We are brothers and sisters together.

He doesn't say whoever is perfect is my mother and my brothers.

He says whoever does the will of the Father, we're a work in progress.

And I might add that our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ are also a work in progress, and that's why we need to be so patient with one another. You know, our earthly families are gifts from God, but the truth is that our earthly families are fragile and they're physically temporary.

Our physical families can be strained by distance. They can be broken by divorce.

Eventually, they can be broken by aging, eventual death.

But our spiritual family is a more permanent bond than blood relationships.

Our relationship with other believers will last for an eternity.

So it's very, very important that we pray for one another, and that we realize that one of the things of inheritance that God gives us is a family of innumerable brothers and sisters, and we need to spend time with them as we can, and we need to pray for them. We need to love them.

That is so important to God and so important to us fulfilling our inheritance.

Let's go to 1 Corinthians 12 and verse 12. 1 Corinthians 12 and verse 12.

As we begin to think about the Passover, I think this is an important scripture that reminds us of the one spirit that we all have that is represented by a commitment that we all made at our baptisms.

1 Corinthians 12 and verse 12.

Paul wrote to the congregation at Corinth, For as the body is one and as many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.

For by one spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and have all been made to drink into one spirit, For in fact the body is not one member but many.

The connection that the different members of the body have is that we were all baptized into that one body.

Doesn't matter what our skin color was. Doesn't matter whether we came from broken families or nuclear families.

Doesn't matter what kind of background we had, a good education, a poor education, blue collar, white collar, it doesn't matter, and none of that matters at all.

What really matters is a fact, is that we have all been baptized into one body.

And that's very powerful, that's very important, and that's symbolized by baptism itself.

You may remember that Jesus gave his church a commission in Matthew 28, verse 19. He said, Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you. He said, And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of this age.

It's all about that baptism. That's how that inheritance begins.

And sure enough, no coincidence, soon the Holy Days will be upon us. And what will we be talking about? We will be talking about our annual reminder during the Passover of the commitment we made at baptism, of repentance, and we'll be examining our lives, and we'll be looking at our hearts and our minds, and we'll be analyzing how far we've come. And maybe some of the changes we yet need to make to continue to grow, to continue to develop more of the mind of Jesus Christ. Baptism pictures our inclusion to God's family. You know, I wear a wedding ring. This wedding ring that I don't think I have had off for decades is a commitment I made to my wife many years ago.

It represents my inclusion into a marriage covenant. And in a similar way, baptism is a symbol of the commitment we make to God. It's our inclusion into the covenant we have becoming the children of God. In baptism, we openly state, I am not ashamed to be part of God's family.

That's what we declare to those who are watching us and watching the process of baptism. We state publicly, I am not ashamed to be part of God's family. Let's take a look at one final scripture today. 1 Peter 1 and verse 3. 1 Peter 1 and verse 3.

Peter wrote, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. You know what I saw that very, as a 10-year-old boy, that very first visit I ever had to a nursing home, and I looked into those people's eyes, and I looked into Grandma Shafer's eyes, whose biggest thrill of the week was to receive two packs of cigarettes. What I saw yesterday as I looked across the room and saw a lot of people's eyes, what I remember most is that look of hopelessness. It's like Groundhog Day every day. There you are trapped in a wheelchair, trapped in a facility, the drone of a TV groaning in the background, you know what daytime television's like anyway, television for the brain dead. Day after day, no hope, not going to get any better, not going to feel any better, not ever going to be young again. The best of your life is behind you, and you're just counting the minutes and the days until you die. And that person who was here a week ago isn't here anymore, and they wield someone else in, and you're wondering how long are they going to last, or am I next? You can just see the hopelessness that's in their eyes. But, brethren, I'm here to tell you that there is hope, and that hope that God has is revealed in His holy days. And it's a hope for the firstfruits, it's a hope for the latterfruits, it's a hope for each and every human being who has ever lived. And continuing here in verse 4, it says, "...to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you." Jesus Christ possesses that inheritance right now, and He's bringing it back with Him.

And on that day when we change from mortality to immortality, we will receive the fullness of that inheritance. So it's reserved in heaven for us, in the person of Jesus Christ, who will return to this earth and give us our reward. Verse 5, "...who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a short while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials." Have you been grieved by various trials? I know I have. The last few years I've had cancer. My wife had cancer. I could mention other things that I've certainly gone through. I know a number of you have had many sore trials over the last couple of years. And what's the purpose of that? Verse 7, "...that the genuineness of your faith..." How genuine is your faith? You know how you find out? When you go through the crucible. You know how you find out how genuine your faith is? When you endure, no matter how difficult the trial is. You keep coming to Sabbath services. You keep serving. You keep giving. You keep praying. You keep studying God's Word. In spite of the difficulties, in spite of the challenges, in spite of the trials, "...that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love." So, brethren, as we approach another Holy Day season, let us remember that it is God's plan to add children to His family. And not just us, but even those people sitting in nursing homes who, many have no hope, are trying to figure out what happened to their lives, how the years went by so fast. They're trying to figure out if there's any meaning to all of this, as they're sitting there in their final days in a facility that smells, that isn't a very happy or cheery environment, and day after day after monotonous day seems to go by and nothing changes except people come and go. People show up, people disappear, and they wonder when their turn is. We worship a God of hope. We worship a God who even plans on having them in His family. It wasn't their turn. It wasn't their time to be a first fruit. But God hasn't forgotten them. He's got a plan. And you and I will be able to share in the latter part of that plan, as the children and the sons and daughters of Jesus Christ. May God speed up. That day, truly, Thy kingdom come. Have a wonderful Sabbath.