God's Two Great Works

Well, it's my pleasure to introduce today for the main message the pastor of the Cleveland United Church of God, Mr. Greg Thomas.

Happy Saturday, brethren! Great to see all of you with us today, and I appreciate the invitation to talk with all of you. What a beautiful building! This is the detailed work. It's incredible and it's very inspiring. I heard somewhere where this church has the fourth oldest pastor in the state of Ohio. I may have misunderstood that, but something close to that. He just asked me to leave. I'm just teasing, of course. Mr. Watson and I are about the same age. We go way back to the early 70s. We were originally in the same church area. We were in the same spokesman's club together. We performed in the same church band in the 70s, so we have a long-time relationship. And again, I appreciate the invitation. What a pleasure it is to be here celebrating the Sabbath with God's people in this congregation. Well, today I would like to discuss two great works that God is presently involved in. These works are so important to him that he's been involved in them for thousands of years. Most people on earth don't even know what God is doing in this world. They don't realize that God is doing significant things on this small planet. And these things include two great works that God is involved in. These are works that he and Jesus Christ are passionate about, and it's my hope. And my prayer that we can become as excited and as zealous as Jesus Christ and God the Father about these works. So let's find out what these two great works are today, and let's find out why they are important. So let's begin with his first great work. If you'll turn to Genesis with me, Genesis 2, beginning in verse 8, we'll go there. And begin to learn about this first great work and why it became necessary. Genesis 2 and verse 8.

And evil. So we see here that God establishes a garden. This was a small sample of what he intended to do over the entire face of the earth, and indeed what he will yet someday. God created the first man, and he placed him in this paradise. And he intended for Adam and Eve and their descendants to live lives abundantly. Finally, we're told that there were two trees that were placed in the garden. They offered opposite choices. They not only were literal trees, but they're a metaphor for choice of give or get, for the choice of living a life of service and living a life of faith and obedience to God, or living a life of selfish desires and simply trying to please ourselves. And he would use these choices as an opportunity to shape and mold mankind's character so that we could be transformed eventually and trained for God's family. However, Adam was lonely. He needed an intimate companion, and he needed a friend, someone who was just like him. Let's drop down to verse 20 here. So Adam gave names to all cattle and birds of the air and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper compatible to him. And the Lord God caused to deep sleep to fall on Adam, and as he slept he took one of his ribs, took a part of his body from his side, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord had taken from the man he made into a woman. And he brought her to the man, and Adam said, This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. So God created a perfect companion for man, and her name was Eve. She wasn't taken from his foot so that he could walk all over her for the rest of her life. She wasn't taken from his head so that she could control and dominate him. She was taken from his side to be a life partner, to be someone who would always be there with him, to encourage him, to counsel him, to support him as a life partner. Adam and Eve were able to enjoy two wonderful gifts on that Sabbath after creation. A direct personal relationship with the Creator God who was there and walked in the garden, and a beautiful paradise. And we have to always remember that the garden was intended to be a down payment on what God wanted to do across the entire earth, and perhaps even across the universe. So regrettably, they sinned, and that sin removed the gifts and the blessings that they had in their lives. Let's take a look at chapter 3 now and continue this story as we begin to look at the purpose and why God's first great work is important. Genesis 3, verse 6.

And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord and among the trees of the garden. So sadly we read here that Adam and Eve sinned, and that began the human suffering and alienation from God that we've witnessed generation after generation to our very day, including the kind of situations and the kind of sin that Mr. Watson was talking about just a few moments ago in our world. But I want you to notice that God had an intimate, a close relationship with them. He walked, and he talked with them in the garden. That's what he originally intended. He even made them durable clothes out of animal skins. That's in verse 21, something that would be more permanent to cover their sense of shame, their sense of guilt. And these animal skins, mentioned in verse 21, of course, had to be killed to remove their hides from their bodies, and that means their blood was shed. And their blood was shed to provide a covering for Adam and Eve to cover their shame. And that pictured God's desire in the future when the blood of Jesus Christ would cover the sins of all humanity when Jesus Christ would be our Savior. So from that point on, God's first great work began, and her first great work was to restore what had been lost in the Garden of Eden. God's presence and a beautiful paradise of abundance and peace that God intended for each and every individual who has ever been born. God wanted to offer hope that he would once again provide a reconciliation to mankind and a restoration of his kingdom in a peaceful paradise on earth, and that God's presence would once again be there. He started to prepare the world for that kingdom, to restore what was lost in Eden, and that was all lost due to sin. So where have we come to today? We need that encouraging message of God's first great work, which of course is the preaching of the Gospel. A recent nationwide British poll revealed that 89% of British youth ages 16 to 29, that's 9 out of 10, believe that their lives have no meaning or purpose. So we live in a world today, even in Western nations, with all this abundance, technology, plenty of food to eat, government programs to protect us from disasters and from various things, and people still are not happy. Their lives are empty. Their lives lack value because they have no relationship with God. They do not understand what God is doing on this earth. So that restoration, that reconciliation that God looks forward to, we call the Gospel, was made possible by God himself. The Father sent Jesus Christ to this earth to live a perfect life and to become the Passover sacrifice. Again, this is what we call in the Church of God, God's first great work. In our church culture, we typically refer to it as the work, don't we? This is the message that Jesus Christ preached. It's the message that the early church preached. It's the message that we continue to preach today. As Jesus stated in John chapter 4 and verse 34, he said, My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Jesus is saying, what sustains me? What gives me energy, purpose, zeal, is to finish the work that the Father has given me to do. And he passed on that baton to us. Our work is a little different than his. His work was to be a savior. Our work is to complete the great commission that he gave us. Let's take a look at a few scriptures in the book of Luke here to understand more about the role of Jesus Christ and this first great work that God is performing on earth. Luke chapter 1, if you'll turn with me there, Luke chapter 1 and we'll go to verse 31.

This is Luke chapter 1, beginning in verse 31. The angel speaking to Mary. Mary was clearly told that her son's name would be God, his salvation. That's what Jesus means. That's the Greek form of Joshua, or Yeshua. And it means God is salvation. Jesus Christ himself, who is part of the Godhead, came down to earth and became a sacrifice for us. Shed his blood and made it possible for us to have salvation. The name can also mean Savior. He would be the Son of God and reign over a kingdom that would never end. Let's go now to chapter 9 in Luke, Luke chapter 9 verses 1 and 2. See the commission he gave his 12 disciples.

Luke chapter 9 verses 1 and 2. Then he called his 12 disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases. He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. I want you to notice the message that Jesus sent his disciples to preach. They had the ability, a wonderful ability to heal spiritually, even take care of the difficulty or problems of demons, and to heal people physically. Their encouraging message and the power they demonstrated was just a sample of what God would do, what would occur in his future kingdom. A time when all the world will be healed, a time when all dark forces, demonic forces will be in a bonnameless pit and no longer able to influence the world as it does today. Chapter 10 of Luke. Let's take a look at another scripture here. So we saw the message that Jesus had. We saw the message he gave his disciples. Here's a message he gives to 70 others also. After these things, the Lord appointed 70 others also and sent them two by two before his face in every city and place where he himself was about to go. Then he said to them, The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers to his harvest. Go your way, behold, I send you as lambs among wolves. It's a very dangerous world out there. He said you have to be careful, you have to be wise, you have to be gentle, but you have to be very wise to the ways of this world. And their message was to go out and proclaim a very powerful, life-changing gospel. Verse 9, dropping down to verse 9, And heal the sick there, and say to them, The kingdom of God has come near to you. So what is this first great work that God is doing on this earth? It's the good news of that coming kingdom of God. Let's go to Mark chapter 1 and verse 13, and see where Jesus himself proclaimed the message, that Great Commission, that you and I are continuing today, here in the 21st century. Mark chapter 1 and verse 13, if you'll turn there with me. It says, And he was there in the wilderness forty days tempted by Satan, and was with the wild beast, and the angels ministered to him. Now, after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand, repent, and believe the gospel. This is an example of Jesus Christ himself, the first thing that he begins doing, after he is confronted and overcome Satan the devil, as he begins to proclaim that powerful, life-changing message of the good news of God's kingdom. This has been the Great Commission of the church for almost two thousand years. Jesus clearly gave his church this commission when he told us in Matthew chapter 28 and verse 19, Go therefore, and make disciples of all 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, and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the age, and at end of the age is the end of humans attempting to rule themselves. This is the age of man, just before the coming of Jesus Christ. Let's quickly take a look at a couple of scriptures in the book of Acts and see where the early disciples continued this first great work that God is doing on this earth. Acts chapter 8 and verse 12.

But when they believed Philip, as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized. You see, the kingdom of God includes a message about who that king is, what he did to qualify as king, the fact that he's not simply a king, he's also a savior. He's also the one who came down to earth to live a perfect life, to shed his blood, to become the ultimate fulfillment of the Passover. That is part of the gospel message of what is the kingdom of God. See, that Paul preached the same message in Acts chapter 28 and verse 30. It says, then Paul dwelt two whole years in his own rented house and received all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things that concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence. No one forbidding him. So again here, Paul taught a complete gospel about the kingdom and the king who makes that kingdom possible, who shed his blood so that forgiveness and salvation would be possible for all humanity. Well, brethren, I could go on and on in the book of Acts about how Paul and Peter and others repeatedly spoke about the gospel of the message and preached the gospel. I believe that all of us solidly understand our commission and are calling to preach the gospel message to the ends of the earth as God gives us the resources and the opportunity to do so. So that's God's great work. We understand that. I think most of us understand the phrase, the work, which we have referred to the role of the church in preaching the great commission for many, many years. Now, I would like to move on and discuss God's second great work. Sometimes this work in the past has been a little bit distorted with negativity, has been put down by some because they didn't appreciate the positive message and the strength that is behind God's second great work. This second great work that God is doing is near and dear to his heart. The death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ made both of these great works possible, particularly this second work. So let's talk about it for a little while. If you turn with me to Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 1. God's second great work. Ephesians chapter 1 beginning in verse 1.

Paul writes here, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God to the saints who are an Ephesus and faithful in Christ Jesus, Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. 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 free destined, that word just simply means having determined beforehand, so having determined beforehand us to adoption as his sons by Jesus Christ to himself. So Paul is revealing here and helping us to understand the mystery that God's role, his second great work, involves him taking you as an individual and molding you and transforming you so that you can be adopted into his literal family. Continuing, us as adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will. You see, you're not a mistake. You're not an accident. When we do things wrong, when we make mistakes, God doesn't say, wow, I sure wish I hadn't called that person. Wow, I got my hands full with this one. God doesn't say that at all. It's his good pleasure to grow his children, to watch them change, to even see them stumble and rise up again and continue doing the right things. The good pleasure of his will to the praise of the glory of his grace by which he made us accepted in the beloved. You see, we're accepted in Jesus Christ because Jesus Christ is our older brother. We're being adopted into the family of God. We are there because of God's pleasure to bring us into his family, and we are accepted, not rejected, not always on just a hangnail of falling away or going into the lake of fire. We are accepted in the beloved. Verse 7, in him we have redemption, through his blood and the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace, which he made to abound towards us in all wisdom and prudence. Verse 9, having made known to us the mystery of his will, Paul just told us, it's that God is taking mere human beings, and he's called them because that was his plan millennia ago, and he's changing them and transforming them and adopting them into his family. They give him pleasure. They are accepted, and all of this is according to his will. Let's continue here. Break it up here in verse 7 again. In him we have redemption through his blood and forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace, which his will, according to the good pleasure, there's that word again, which he proposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth in him. So we have, sometimes we have angst and we have discouragement that we may be in different fellowships at times, that we may be doing different things. Paul encourages us to help us to know that in the fullness of times, when the time is right, that God is going to bring all of his people back together again in one in Jesus Christ. Let's continue here now in verse 11.

So Paul is reminding us because we were the first to believe that God has sealed us. He's given us his Holy Spirit. That's spiritual. That's the same spirit that resides in the Father and the Son, and they make their home within us. And that's a guarantee of our inheritance as adopted sons and daughters in the family of God. There's no ifs, ands, or buts about it. All we need to do is our part, certainly, and that is to remain faithful, to cling to God's way of life, to maintain a close and intimate relationship with God. And as we do that, that is a guarantee of our inheritance because we have been sealed, hermetically sealed, through the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. Paul makes a lot of rich and wonderful statements in this paragraph of Scripture. We were chosen from the foundation of the world because we bring God pleasure. We are here. God is using you. He's working with you. He called you according to His will, not by some random lottery, not by accident. He has given us the gift of the Holy Spirit as a guarantee of our eternal inheritance as His adopted children. What Paul is saying here is that you, too, are God's great work, your life, and what God is doing in you is part of God's great work. Let's turn one more chapter back. Chapter 2, we'll pick it up here in verse 4. Chapter 2 and verse 4.

But once that happens, we are alive together with Christ. By grace, He says, you have been saved and raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. For save, for by grace you have been saved through faith, and not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Our good works can't save us. All the good things that we do don't save us. They're a byproduct of conversion. The good works that we have are simply a byproduct of God working in us through the fruit of His Holy Spirit. Let's pick it up now here in verse 9.

You see, God is doing a great work in you, individually, in your own life. And that's so important for us to understand and appreciate. We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, to change, to grow, to be transformed, and to do good things, righteous things, holy things, for which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. So again, you see, you too are one of God's great works. His second great work is what He's doing in your life, to prepare you for His family. What Paul is reminding us here is that God is working out something wonderful in our lives. Sure, we make mistakes. We may see or experience some pretty terrible things in our lives. But even through those situations, God is always present using those experiences to change and cultivate growth within us. If we love God and are called according to His purpose, everything that we experience, the good and the bad, the joyful and the painful, help to transform us into the likeness of Jesus Christ. When you are a child of God, nothing is wasted in your life. Nothing in your life, even the mistakes that we have made, even the tragedies that have occurred to us, nothing in your life is wasted when you're a child of God. Even painful events and experiences are part of God's grand purpose to get you where you need to be, to grow to the point and to the level that God desires in your own life. Our Heavenly Father has an individual personal development plan for your life. And your development plan is a little different than my development plan, and it's a little different than the development plan of the person sitting next to you, because you have a different background. You grew up in a different culture in the United States, a different family. You have different experiences, so God has a unique and individual personal development plan for your life that He's working through every day. We may not notice it. We may not understand it, but God has a great and a wonderful plan. I'm going to read verse 10 here from the New Century Version, which is another translation. God has made us what we are, meaning God is working with us, transforming us through everything that we experience, because we are His workmanship. God has made us what we are. In Christ Jesus, God made us to do good works, which God planned in advance for us to live our lives doing. Oh, yeah, brethren, we experience many trials and problems. We all have our own individual cross to bear in this life. For some of us, it's financial issues. For some of us, it's marriage problems. Or it might be a job, lack of a job opportunity, career problems, child-rearing problems, health problems, other problems. We all, as individuals, have our own cross to bear. But what sets us apart, if we understand that we are part of God's great work, what sets us apart and allows us to grow through these experiences is attitude. Realizing that the goal isn't to make us bitter, it's to make us better. It's to help us to take our lives to another level. The longer I live, the more I realize that indeed attitude is everything. And if our attitudes are right, even a negative event can be transformative for us. If we ask ourselves, what can I learn from this? What can I learn from this to teach others not to make the same mistake that I did? What can I learn from this to reinforce that it was painful and I certainly don't want this to ever happen to me again? So what can I learn from this experience, this opportunity? What does God tell us about ourselves after our conversion? How does He define the process of what He's doing within each and every one of our lives, His second great work, when we are converted? Well, let's go to 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 17 and see what the Apostle Paul tells us here. 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 17.

Paul reminds us that God is doing something very transformative. He's sweeping out the old and He's creating something new. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, He's a new creation. You see, something is starting all over again. It's brand new. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things. And if we understand the purpose of our conversion, it's a process and as time goes on, we realize more and more that God doesn't want part of me.

He doesn't want me one day out of seven. He doesn't want me an hour a day. God wants to make all things new in my life. He wants me wholehearted and dedicated to growth and creating change in my life. I'm going to read these verses from the translation God's Word for today.

Whoever is a believer in Christ is a new creation. The old way of living has disappeared. A new way of living has come into existence. So when we were converted, for many of us it was quite a number of decades ago when we were first converted, we began a lifelong process to become a new creation. But what's new about us? Well, when we received God's Spirit, we acquired a fresh added dimension, a spiritual dimension. We became a unique spiritual being with a fresh attitude and a new approach to life, hopefully a new purpose and a new direction asking for God to guide us each and every day.

The old way of life that was selfish and destructive is intended to disappear. We made a commitment to change our lifestyles and to follow Jesus Christ. Paul himself even used the phrase in Romans 6 and 4 that after baptism we should walk in the newness of life. It's intended to be our lifestyle, to be changing. We can experience this newness with every brand new day.

When we go before the throne of grace, we refresh and ask for the needs for that day. Give us this day our daily bread. Help me, Lord, to get through this day and I'll come back tomorrow and I'll ask you for the same thing all over again. After all, you've only given me this day.

Tomorrow isn't promised. It's not here yet. I'm not in it yet. So each and every new day can bring newness into our lives. I'm reminded of the hymn, one of my favorite ones, Great is Thy Faithfulness. One of the lines says, morning by morning, new mercies I see. Again, one of my favorite hymns.

Now, what isn't new is the carnal human nature that we retain throughout the rest of our physical life. The old man, that old self that we have, has a tendency because we're still physical, we're still carnal, we're still fleshly, still can raise himself or herself up and can cause us some stresses and some challenges. Even though we have God's Spirit in our new creation, we still have the capacity and the inclination to sin. But we are instructed by God to use the gift of His Holy Spirit to work.

Remember, we are His workmanship to work at growing and changing ourselves for the rest of our physical lives. And this process is God's workmanship going inside each and every one of us. The carnal self and the spiritual self will always be opposed within us. They will always be in conflict. Our carnal fleshly self and the spiritual self that God has given us through the gift of His Holy Spirit, they'll always be fighting against one another. And we need to understand that. But our carnality is intended to be resistance training. You know, if you wanted to bulk up and you wanted to build muscle, what you would do is you would take weights, and through the resistance of that weight, what's known as resistance training, you would build up strength and endurance in your physical muscles.

Well, God allows us to have and retain our carnal human nature as a resistance training for that tremendous Spirit, that Holy Spirit that He's given us to transform our lives, to take ourselves to a whole new level. Let's take a look at Galatians 6 and verse 15. If you'll turn there with me. Galatians 6 and verse 15. For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision availed anything, but a new creation. So He's telling us that the main thing about being a disciple are not endless debates on unimportant issues and subjects which people allow to divide them.

The main issue is that we have now become a new creation, and that should change everything in our lives. It should change how we view our very purpose of being on this earth, especially when we understand and know that God is doing a great work in your life. In context, circumcision is a physical act. God always desired a circumcision of the heart, the right attitude, far more than the physical circumcision of cutting off a small piece of flesh. That's just a physical act. Paul is saying that the spiritual attributes of being a new creature, a new creation, is what's really important. So what can we say about this relationship?

If God is doing a great work in your life, what can we say about this relationship now that you've become a new creation? How can God do a work in our lives? John, chapter 15, verse 10, let's see what some of the words of Jesus were. John, chapter 15, verse 10.

And see that that relationship with God, the fact that He's doing a work in us, is intended to be intimate and close. We read earlier that we are intended the adopted sons, and that's good. That makes us brethren with Jesus Christ. But you know what? Some people who are related rarely talk to each other. I know siblings who rarely talk to each other. I know siblings who refuse to talk to each other. So Jesus is saying, not only am I the firstborn of many, but here's the kind of relationship that the Father and I want to have with you.

John, chapter 15, verse 10, if you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you that my joy may remain in you and that your joy may be full.

So the first thing he says is, I want you to be joyful. Sometimes I tease my own congregation about people whom I believe, before they come to church, must suck on lemons all morning. Because they walk into church, they're grouchy, their face is distorted like it's the most difficult life that anyone has ever lived in human history.

And I'm under such a tremendous burden, and it looks like they've been sucking on lemons since they woke up Sabbath morning. That is not what God wants. God wants us to experience joy, the kind of joy that Jesus Christ had, and not just a little bit of joy. He says that your joy may be full. I tell people that that is one of the fruit of the Spirit that someone can tell if you have ten feet away.

The other fruit of the Spirit, you have to talk to a person for a while to discern if they have kindness or love or some of the other qualities. But joy, you can sense if someone has ten feet away just by looking at their countenance, looking at their face, looking how they react to people when they talk to them. First of all, this is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this. And to lay down one's life for his friends, you are my friends. You're not just simply brethren. You're deeper than that. You are my friend. I love you. I want to spend time with you every day.

I want to share in your life. You are my friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing. But I have called you friends. For all things that I heard from my father I've made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit. That's that transformation when we are a new creation that's occurring in our lives as a byproduct of being new, of being spiritually focused and spiritually minded.

That you go and bear fruit and your fruit should remain. That whatever you ask the Father in my name, He may give you these things. I command you that you love one another. I want you to notice how much Jesus Christ loves us. Not only did He give His life for us, He offers us the same degree of joy that He had. And that is one of the fruit of God's Spirit and something that we should cry out for.

It's something we should work very hard to develop in our lives. He also calls us His friends because we are intended to have a special, intimate relationship with Him. It goes far beyond a master-slave do-this-do-that type of relationship. It's a friendship. It includes an intimacy. It includes a sharing of knowledge and sharing of existences.

We are both brethren and close friends of Jesus Christ. God, who sees the beginning from the end of time, planned in advance to call us in this lifetime for a great reason. We have been called to be His friends and to produce good works to reflect His glory. And He is working in your life, each and every moment, every day, to mold us into something new, into something that's better.

When you receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, you live in the light of eternity. You see, this God's Spirit is eternal. And when He gives us that gift, we live in the light of eternity. This means, from that point on, that nothing in your life is wasted. Not a single experience, good or bad, is wasted. Even the mistakes that we've made and the negative things that we've experienced can make us spiritually mature, wiser, more forgiving of others, more compassionate by those negative things that we've endured and that we've gone through in our lives.

Again, nothing from that point on is wasted. It's all part of God's personal development plan that He has for you, which is His second great work. Psalm 37, verse 23. Psalm 37, verse 23. See what the psalmist reminds us here about how God works with and loves the people whom He has chosen. Psalm 37, verse 23. First, I'll read from the New King James Version. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.

You see, they're not by accident. God does all. He did this all. Now what am I going to do? He made that mistake. She said that. Oh, I wasn't expecting that. No, that's not how God works at all. For all, He is God. Why should it be any shock to us that if He's the Alpha and the Omega and He knows the beginning from the end, that He may also know what happens in between the beginning and the end?

The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and He delights in His way. Though He fall, He shall not be utterly cast down, for He upholds Him with His hand. When you're a child of God and God is doing His second great work in your life, He delights in you. He delights in your life, even beyond the mistakes that we make. He's there for us as we stumble. He holds our hand. When my grandchildren were very small, I used to love as they were learning to walk, to hold their hand and help them walk. And sometimes, being little children, they would stumble. And they would have fallen down.

Their legs were flailing in the air, but they didn't because grandpa had them by their hand. And I didn't let them stumble. I didn't let them be cast down. And God does the same thing with us. I'm going to read this from the translation of God's Word for today. A person's steps are directed by the Lord. Notice, directed. And the Lord delights in His way, and when He falls down, He will not be thrown down head first, because the Lord holds on to His hand.

So you see, brethren, that when our hearts are right and we live God's way of life, we give Him delight. Even when we sin and stumble, God is willing to hear our repentance. He's there to cushion the impact of our errors.

We worship a God of second chances who is quick to forgive us when we fall short and sometimes break His law. He loves us and He's quick to forgive. And He even wants to cushion the blows that we bring upon ourselves because of the things that we do. So how can we become a new creature and achieve God's best for us? Well, becoming a new creature means that we begin to look at everything from God's point of view. And that's transformative. Begin to look at everything that happens in your life and everything that happens in this world, not from our carnal human perspective, but what is God doing here?

You see, God looks at the purpose of your life through three dimensions. Physical life is a test, physical life is a trust, and physical life is a temporary assignment. First of all, it's a test. God gives us His Spirit when He's called us, and we get that resistance training every day. Our carnal, fleshly human nature wants to do its thing, wants its way. And the spiritual side that God has given us through the gift of His Holy Spirit says, no, you don't want to do that. It's going to be painful if you say that. It's not good if you think that.

It's going to cause you problems if you do that. Don't do that. And through that process, that resistance training, life is a test. And that's what God intended it to be. Secondly, life is a trust. We are responsible for certain things. We are responsible for obedience to God's law. We are responsible to use that awesome power of God's Holy Spirit as a coach, as a tool to help transform our lives and develop the fruit of that Spirit. And again, when we overcome a negative trait or something else going on in our lives that are negative, there's a void.

We need to fill that void with something positive. We need to fill that void with a fruit of God's Spirit. We are responsible for our lives. We are responsible for the decisions that we make. So again, life is a trust. And then this physical life is a temporary assignment. This physical life is simply the preface of a long book. God wants you, He wants His children, to live forever. To live immortality.

Right? And this physical life is just the preface of the book of life of eternity. It's very important because what we do in this preface is laying the groundwork for everything that goes on for all eternity. So I don't want to downplay the importance of the preface. But we need to realize that no matter how faithful we are, no matter how many good things we do, eventually we will grow old and die.

But it's not over when that happens. That just ended the preface. At the second return of Jesus Christ to this earth, at that trumpet blast, His children will be raised from this earth and be transformed. For eternity. And transformed into the rest of the time of our existence. Please understand that your Heavenly Father is your biggest supporter. He always has been.

He has great favor for you. You're not a mistake. You're not an embarrassment to God. He believes in you even more than you believe in yourself. God wants to use you. He loves you. And He wants to help you to grow and be in His family in spite of our weaknesses and our challenges. Our last scripture today, Romans chapter 8 and verse 28. If you'll turn there with me.

Romans chapter 8 and verse 28. Paul was inspired to write in his epistle to the Romans. And we know, this is true, of everyone whom God is performing His second great work in their lives. We know that all things work together. You mean the bad stuff, Mr. Thomas? He says all things. You mean the big mistakes I made? He says all things. You mean the things that I'm really ashamed of, that I'm regretful of, that I resent myself for doing?

He says all things work together. It's part of God's plan for our lives. And though we may do those things, God uses those experiences of our free choice and the decisions that we make. He's not shocked by them, I might add, but He uses those things as an opportunity for us to take our lives, our existence, our character to a different level toward spirituality. We know that all things work together for good to those who love God and who are called according to His purpose, for whom He already decided He was going to call.

He also predestined, again, that means determined beforehand, to be conformed to the image of His Son. That's what it's all about. That's what the resistance training is all about. That's what the problems and the trials and the difficulties that we experience, that we don't like, that may be very difficult. That's what it's all about, to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.

So we are the many brethren of Jesus Christ, and we are also His friends. I might add, verse 30, Moreover, whom He predestined, these He also called, whom He called, these He also justified, and whom He justified, these He also glorified. What shall we say then to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? So again, in conclusion, I want to repeat what I stated earlier, and that is, Paul is saying that God is working out something wonderful in your life.

Yes, we all make mistakes, and we may witness, we may experience some terrible things, but even through those situations, God is always present during those situations, trying to cultivate change and growth in us no matter what we're going through. If we love God and are called according to His purpose, everything that we experience, good, bad, help to transform us into the likeness of Jesus Christ.

When you're a child of God, nothing in your life, no experience, is wasted. Even the painful events and experiences are part of a grand purpose that God has for your life. Have you made some mistakes? Sure you have. I have as well. Then use the experience to strengthen others, to caution others. Don't do that, because I did that, and here's what happened to me.

Here are the consequences of saying those kinds of things, of doing those kinds of things, of thinking those kinds of things. Use the experience to strengthen others, to learn from it, to teach others from it, and it will never be wasted. In the New Testament Greek, there's a word for disciple that's math etes, that's the Greek word for disciple, and it means learner.

And we are all learners. Nothing in your life or in your experiences is wasted. Everything that we go through is an opportunity to learn from. God intends every experience, good, bad, happy, and sad to be part of the process to mold us into His image. And here's the key. Here's how God can do that. God looks at us, and He sees the future.

He doesn't see the past. He looks beyond the present. When God looks at you, He sees you not simply as the limited and troubled souls that we are today. He sees our potential. He sees what we can be. He sees us from the prism of what we shall be. He knows that we are living construction sites, and our lives are messy. For many years, I worked in the construction industry, and when a building is being created, there's junk everywhere. Virtually every trade has remnants, packages, and pieces, and parts of what they were working with laying all over the place.

I'd been in buildings where the grand opening was going to be like 8 o'clock that night, and at 5 o'clock, the place was trashed, and people were frantically working to clean it up because they knew the public would come in at 8 o'clock. That's similar to our lives. There may be a lot of messiness going on in our lives right now, but we are a living construction site because God is doing a great work in you. Have faith and continue to grow and change, and I guarantee you that you'll be ready for your grand opening at the second coming of Jesus Christ.

If you're saying to yourself, you know, Mr. Thomas, I understand your message today. I wish that I could have gone back, and I wish I could change things, and I wish I could be a better disciple. Looking over my life, I wish I could be a better child of God that I might have been more diligent the last 10-20 years of my life. I wish I could have done some things differently. And if you're saying that to yourself right now, I want to remind you of an ancient Chinese proverb, and here's the ancient Chinese proverb.

The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is today. So it's not too late. We can use that powerful gift that God has given us and grow and transform ourselves more abundantly than we ever have before. In closing, brethren, you're part of the future. Your life and the work that God is doing in you is part of the hope of the world. Jesus Christ is training, tested, and committed, brethren, to serve as kings and priests in the wonderful world to come.

That first great work, the message of that Gospel, of that kingdom of God on this earth, the fruit that God desires in us is the result of our daily lives, even the seemingly mundane routine things God is using as part of His personal development plan for us. Most people in this world have questions. Here are some questions that I often hear. Is there a God? What's God's will? What's the purpose of human existence? You know what the answer to those questions are? The answer to those questions are you.

And what God is doing in your life, your life, God's second great work, is the answer to those questions. So, brethren, support the Church of God. Never cease to be zealous about His two great words. First, He has commissioned His Church to preach the good news, and that's an encouraging, positive message about the coming kingdom of God in this world. It's a remarkable message about a coming kingdom that's going to change the world.

And the King who shed His blood that made that kingdom possible, and because of that shed blood, offers everyone, ultimately, forgiveness and salvation, making that possible for all humanity. And secondly, never, ever forget that God is also doing a great work in you. Have a wonderful Sabbath day.