The Importance of the Vision That God Has Given Us

Today's sermon is around that as well. I've entitled the sermon, The Importance of the Vision God has Given Has.

Now, this is important for us to understand because that's exactly what Satan wants you and I not to understand.

You see, because Christmas in a way is a, let's just call a spider-spy, a perversion of the Day of Trumpets and a focus into a new world to come, which will be a millennium, which in a sense, New Year is also a pagan celebration because it turns your focus onto the wrong thing and deviates from the true vision of God's plan. Now, when I was, let's call it, yeah, a late teenager, my brother, elder brother, he's passed away, he's died today with cancer, but my brother, he used to be a marksman, in other words, he used to do target shooting as a sport. And when I was in the residence at school in South Africa, I was away from home since I was 16 years old, and then during the vacations, I would go for about two or three weeks back to Mozambique. That time, the town was called Lorenzo Marx, today is called Maputo. But anyway, I'll go there, and my brother, he had a capability of organizing the championships when I'd be down there, but I never did target shooting. So he would teach me how to do target shooting, and he would, for those two weeks that I was there, he would teach me, and right at the end of that period, they would have the championship once a year, and with his teaching, I never practiced anything, but his teaching would be good enough to make me actually be the junior champion in target shooting. And one of the things he taught me was how to aim. Minor detail, isn't it? I mean, if you want to hit the target, you better aim, right? It makes sense, doesn't it? So what it is, is you need to focus on the target, and yeah, there's things you need to do, like breathing. You don't want to be breathing and shoot, and then your rifle moves all over because you breathe. He says you breathe in, and then you breathe out, and then you hold your breath, you aim, and then you shoot, and then you breathe again. But that way, you're focused on the target. Now, this was just for sports, but it taught me a big lesson that you and I need to focus on our goal, our target, our vision. In a simple way, you all drive, right? You all drive a car, or a bicycle, or a motorcycle, or whatever it is. And you know for you to drive properly, you don't look just in front of the car. You've got to look far away where you're going so that you stay on the road. You've got to look far away. You've got to have vision. You've got to see where you're going.

Reverend, this is exactly what Satan does not want you to have about your purpose. Why are you born? What is your purpose in life? You want to distract you from the real purpose to focus on something like, ho ho ho, happy happy Christmas Christmas, the presents under the tree, and whatever it is. Oh, you know, the little baby Jesus, and all the other things, instead of focusing on the true vision for you and I of the kingdom of God. And so he's created this whole emotional thing, which people say, come on, what's wrong in giving presents?

Oh, isn't that tree so beautiful? Well, there's nothing wrong in giving gifts. There's nothing wrong in having a beautiful tree. The problem is the meaning behind it. And the defocusing, the deliberately intentional defocusing from God's plan.

You see, successful people have a vision. To me, one of the most successful inventors of recent times was Thomas Edison. Particularly because I was by profession, I learned to be an electrician and things like that, even though I never practiced it when I got a job, because I got a job at IBM, and therefore I was not really an electrician. But I basically learned to trade to be an electrician. So I always thought of Thomas Edison as a man with amazing vision, because he realized that he could have a lamp, an incandescent lamp, and he tried so many options to make that incandescent lamp. As he quotes, this was somewhere in the years between 1878 to 1880, so it's like 140 years ago or so. He tried over 6,000, over 6,000 different vegetable groves and different things to make a filament that would succeed. Now think about it. Let's say his success was on the 6,001. Do you know what that means? He had 6,000 failures. He had 6,000 failures. Now, if you and I are working on something and you fail three or four times, or you fail ten times, you're probably going to give up.

And our Christian life, many times, how many times we try, but we fail. But look at Thomas Edison. He tried 6,000 times, and those 6,000 times was failures. He could have given up, but he didn't. You see, because he had a vision. He had a vision. You and I need to internalize our vision. Why you and I are born. Now you understand why Satan wants you to not see that vision by creating something that is going to focus you in the wrong direction.

So let's look today, brethren, at that vision. And we're going to start by looking at Psalms Chapter 8, Verses 3. Psalms Chapter 8, Verses 3 to 8.

Psalm 8, Verses 3 to 8. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you've ordained, what is man that you're mindful of him? And the subtle man that you should that you're visiting. For you made him that's man lower than angels and you've crowned him with honor and glory. Our vision is to be crowned with glory and honor. You have made him mankind to have dominion over the works of your hands. You have put all things under his feet. All things are under our feet. Well, like I explained, look at what we can do with Zoom and technology today. It's amazing. God has given us that creative power that is a gift from God. But what you and I can do today physically is, between inverted commas, peanuts, compared to what you and I will be able to do in the world tomorrow as spirit beings.

The most powerful, the most intelligent, the most the wisest human being, and you can put different names onto those people, on earth are nothing compared to what we will be as spirit beings in the world tomorrow and beyond in the kingdom of God. So, brethren, God has a great plan. Now, we know in Genesis 1 says, let us make man in our image, right? So, we are made in our image. But ultimately, the ultimate image is still to come at a resurrection. You see, this is just a temporary image. The ultimate image will be when will be really sons and daughters of God in the kingdom of God. Now, in Daniel, Daniel describes it in Daniel chapter 12 verses 2 and 3, when he's talking about a time of trouble and that Michael will rise up and then he says, and every one of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake. It was we all resurrect. Everyone, good and bad, will resurrect. Why? Because Christ brought us back from death and Christ's life brought everyone back from death. Good and bad. We all will resurrect. Oh, as it says, some to eternal life, everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And some will end up in the lake of fire. But they all will resurrect.

Look at verse 3. Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars, forever and ever. Brethren, you and I will have glory.

Glory.

Now, it's a thing that maybe we don't speak too much about because, oh well, you know, I'm shy of saying we will be glorious. But that's what it says here. You and I don't have to be ashamed of speaking the truth. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 2. Because, brethren, what I'm trying to paint the picture in your mind is what is our vision. In 1 Corinthians chapter 2, verse 7 through 9. But we speak to the wisdom of God in a mystery. Brethren, this is a mystery. I am trying to expound to you this mystery that has been hidden, that has not been revealed, and which Satan does not want you to grasp and understand how? By creating pagan annual Holy Days. By creating pagan annual Holy Days. Starting from Easter Sunday, which is pagan, to a misunderstanding of Pentecost, to a pagan holiday like Christmas, or a pagan holiday like New Year's. They're all pagan, because they all defocus you from God's plan. So, my purpose today is for us to understand clearly what is God's plan for you and I, which is a mystery to the world. They don't get it. Why? Because they don't keep God's Holy Days. And as you and I keep God's Holy Days, year after year, regularly one year after another, we start understanding it better. Year after year, you get to understand it better. As you let one year go by and you don't keep it, or you just stay at home and just let it down, amazing how you start forgetting it. I've seen it, and many of you have seen it in many others. We cannot, we cannot, even for just one year, stop keeping God's Holy Days, because it has a negative effect of pulling you down into Satan's world. So, continue reading in verse 7. This is the hidden wisdom of God ordained before the ages for our glory. You see, this mystery has been hidden. We only now understand it to some degree, but this is for our glory. There's nothing wrong with visualizing to having the vision, to having under the understanding that our target in life, our end result in life, is going to be glory.

For, verse 8, for which none of the rulers of this age knew, for had they known, they would have not crucified the Lord of glory, which is Christ, but that is written in verse 9, I has not seen, hear nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.

What God has prepared for us is beyond human understanding. You can only get it with God's Holy Spirit, as it says. God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. Only God's Holy Spirit can open our minds to grasp it. Mankind does not see it. Full stop. That's why I like Ryan Mention, his Somanette. You know, you go, friends of yours, you go to work and they say to you, why don't you keep this? You know, it's a time of feasting, a happy time.

Why? What's wrong with you? They don't get it. They'll get it one day when God calls them. So I'm not speaking bad of them, please. I'm not speaking bad of our co-workers and friends and other people that don't get it. But you and I must not be dragged onto that, let's call it, pit, a bus of lack of understanding, because God through His Spirit is giving us a special understanding of the glory to come. So I'm not criticizing any of those people, brethren, please. But I'm trying to help you understand that what God has for us, the vision that He has for you and I, is so far bigger than we can't even visualize it, but for God's mercy and His Spirit.

Look at Ephesians chapter 3. Ephesians chapter 3. We read in verse 9. It's talking about the riches of Christ and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery. So Yah is a mystery. The mystery that we're going to be sons and daughters of God in glory. It's a mystery which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God. In other words, in God the Father has hidden it. And God the Father created all things through Christ.

So all things were created through Christ. To the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the Lord. Be made known to the church, to the principalities and the powers in heavenly places. So they might be made known now to even angels because they themselves did not even grasp it fully. They themselves did not even grasp it fully. According to the eternal purpose, what is God's eternal purpose? That He's accomplishing in Christ Jesus our Lord.

And what is that purpose? It's for us to be sons and daughters of God, to follow Christ, to be brothers of Christ with His same glory. And therefore with this we have boldness and access to confidence through faith in Him. So this purpose is amazing. Angels didn't even get it. For instance, in 1st Peter chapter 1 verse 10 through 12, it says that they desire to see it, and they didn't see it, and they look at us to be able to grasp it.

So let's understand a little bit more what is this purpose of God for us. In Acts 17 verse 28 and 29, it says, For in Him we live and move, and have our being, as also some of our own poets have said, For we are also His offspring. We are Gods of spring. Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the divine nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by the art of man's devising.

Brethren, we are to have the same quality of being, like offspring, the word there in Greek is genes. It's the same genus, the same genes as God. So we're going to have the same nature as God. We're going to have that divine nature in glory because we are His offspring. We are of His genes. Now, of God's genes? Do we get it? Now, we need to dig a little bit deeper into that.

Let's look at 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 17. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 17. We have read this so many times, but maybe we haven't read it from this thinking, because in 2 Corinthians 5 verse 17 says, therefore, if anyone is Christ, He's a new creation.

Oh, how can we so easily spiritualize this away? Which is, I'm not saying it's wrong to say, well, we are a new creation, we are a new person, but we are more than that. We are really, literally, a new creation because we have been re-begotten. We have been re-conceived. We have been re-fertilized with God's Holy Spirit to be His true children to have His genes, because think of it, God's Holy Spirit is like God's genes, and God's genes get mixed with us, get fertilized with the ovum, the egg, which is the spirit of man in man, and the two get together, and we are a new creation. So, I know that we quite often just think, oh well, we're a new man, we're going to put on new man. Yes, we are, but it's more than just controlling our thoughts to be clean. We are literally a new creation. Look at the next chapter, chapter 6 in 2 Corinthians, chapter 6, verse 18, right at the end of the chapter. It says, I'll be a father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters. Brother, this is literal. It is literal. We are sons and daughters of God, says the Lord Almighty. Therefore, the next verse. Don't stop there. Always read the next verse. Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us clean ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Because we have this goal, this vision, let us do our part to aim carefully to that vision. Like I remember, like shooting, you gotta watch your moves, your breathing, etc. Watch all things. We have to do the same thing. We gotta watch ourselves so that we don't miss the target.

Therefore, with that in mind, we have scriptures like in Ephesians chapter 4, which you know very well. Ephesians chapter 4, which talks about putting on the new man. Look at verse 22. Ephesians chapter 4 verse 22. That you put off concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to deceitful lust, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new man.

Yes, we need to control our thoughts, get the wrong thoughts out, but indeed, we have a new quote-unquote between inverted commas, spiritual genetic code in us, which is called za'ulisprat. And that deep spiritual DNA in us, which is merged with our spiritual DNA, which is the spirit of man in man, we are now a new man. And we need to use god's za'ulisprat. We must not quench it. We must allow it to work with us so that we can be a changed person.

And then we read scriptures like Romans 8, which you also know very well, Romans 8 verse 16 and 17. Romans 8 verse 16 and 17. And the spirit itself bears witness with our spirit. In other words, god's za'ulisprat, which we received of the baptism and the laying on our vans, the promise from the Father, we received god's za'ulisprat, bears witness with our spirit, which is the spirit of man in man, because they now have joined and we have become a new spiritual babe in Christ. And he says that we are the children of God. You see, once god's za'ulisprat merges with our spirit, it is a conception. You know, in physical terms, when there is a conception of a little baby in a mother's womb, that is an analogy you read in Romans, or the physical tell us about the divine things of God that we don't even understand. So there we are. This is an example that there is a reconception, there is a re-fertilization, there is a re-impregnation, there is a new inception like in pregnancy, but a spiritual one when you and I receive god's za'ulisprat. So when we read there in verse 17, and if children then heirs of God, and joint heirs of Christ. It's two different things, brethren. Ears of God and joint heirs of Christ. Joint heirs of Christ, that means we're going to inherit what Christ's going to inherit with him. But heirs of God is also the subtle implication that we are going to inherit his DNA, his divine nature, his kind, his glory. Obviously much lower, much lower, but we're going to be of the same kind of being, spirit beings that will be like him and will see him like he is. That is our vision, brethren. And if we have this vision, we are going to strive to make sure we don't miss the target.

First Peter, turn with me please to First Peter chapter 1 verse 3 and 4. First Peter chapter 1 verse 3 and 4. Guys, a scripture that is often misunderstood, but look at it. First Peter chapter 1 verse 3 and 4. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mercy has begotten as a gain. Has begotten as a gain. Now the word begotten is an old word in English, maybe as reconceived as a gain, or has re-fertilized as a gain, or has been through a new reinception as in pregnancy, as begotten as a gain. You and I have been begotten the first time physically when our physical dad begot us or fertilized us in our physical mother's womb. For us to be begotten again, we are now begotten by the spiritual seed of the Father, the Holy Spirit, and that seed has merged with the spiritual ovum of us, which is the spirit of man in man. And therefore we now become a new spiritual baby, in other words, in the womb, which is the mother, which is the church, until we are changed to spirit beings. But we are growing in the mother's womb, which is the church, and therefore we have been begotten again to a living hope. A hope means because it's something in the future. The hope is when we will be a spirit being through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Because He resurrected, He has opened up the way for us to also receive that inheritance. Verse 4, to an inheritance, incorruptible and undefined, which does not fade away, reserved in heaven for us, because it's reserved when we will be resurrected, will become like Christ is, a spirit being.

So brethren, this is so encouraging for us to have this vision. It is so encouraging. Look a little bit further in the same chapter. In the same chapter, 1st Peter chapter 1 verse 22.

It says, since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth. So brethren, it is so important that we stick to the truth. We're by the truth through God's Holy Spirit in sincere love. We're going to have truth in love. Truth in love. Sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with that pure heart, having been, as it should be translated, begotten again, because it's the same word, anagonal, as it is in verse 3. You see, it's the same Greek word, anagonal, as it is in verse 3. So have we been begotten again? We've been re-fertilized or reconceived, not of corruptible seed, because when you and I were conceived the first time from our physical dad, that seed, which we call sperm, is corruptible, because if you live around it will die. But it has life temporarily, but it is corruptible. But we have been begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible. This incorruptible seed is God's early spirit, in which we received through the word of God, yes we received because this was the promise of the Father that we would receive, which lives and abides forever. This is the promise of the Father. He's the word of God. He says, you will receive that. You will become my children, and we receive it that way. So we have here a very encouraging promise, the incorruptible seed that begets us a second time. And look at verse 25. But the word of the Lord endures forever. Now this is the word by which the gospel was preached to you. Brethren, this gospel is this good news, this understanding of this mystery that you and I are going to be children of God is a blessing. It's an amazing vision. Put it another way. God's Holy Spirit is the agent of spiritual conception.

Look also in 1 John chapter 3 verse 9. 1 John chapter 3 verse 9.

And he reads, whoever has been ganal, which means begotten of God, ganal, begotten means conceived of God, does not sin, for his seed, that's God's seed. Now the word for seed, Yah, in Greek, is sperma, from which we get the English word sperm. The very Bible, God's word, is Yah, using the word sperma for God's seed, which is Holy Spirit. So the Holy Spirit has got many attributes, many characteristics, and one of them is to beget us a shtron of God. That's why the God's Holy Spirit is in us, because we have now, between inverted commas, his spiritual DNA. So continue reading here in verse 9. For his seed remains in him, in us, and he cannot sin. We don't want to be living in a world of sin. We want to be living the right way. In other words, we don't desire that. We don't want to do that. So we don't live in the practice of sin, as some Bible versions put it, because we don't want to be practiced. We want to live in a new way, because we have been begotten of God, the now of God. So the point here, brethren, is that we have not yet, we have not yet been born of God. We'll be born of God at the resurrection.

We have been begotten again. We have been reconceived again, now in a spiritual sense. But we are not being turned into spirit beings born again, which will be at the resurrection, or if we're still alive at Christ coming, at the transformation. When Christ comes, we will then be born again, just like Christ, at his resurrection, was born again. That's why it says he was the first born, the first born again. He wasn't the first born physically, because Adam and Eve were in a sense, or their children, were the first. But the first born spiritually, they came from a physical human being to a spirit being that was born as a spirit being, was Christ. So read with me, please, Romans 8 verse 29. Romans 8 verse 29. Romans 8 verse 29.

For whom he did for now, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be, that's Christ, the first born amongst many brethren. Christ was the first born for the first born again, right? The war he has proto-pokos, which is the first born of many brethren. Protos being the first proto, like prototype and things, words that come from proto, the first amendment brethren. So he was the first.

Look at also in Colossians chapter 1.

Colossians chapter 1.

Verse 15. Colossians chapter 1 verse 15. He is the image of the invisible God, the first born over all creation. Christ is the first born over all creation. He was the first that came from a human being and that died and then was born as a spirit being, was the first that went through in that direction from physical to spirit. And to seal it even further, look at verse 18 of the same chapter. Colossians chapter 1 verse 18. And he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning? The first born from the dead. He is the first born from the dead, the first one that is born again from the dead. So clearly again, this word proto-tokos is the first born from the dead and it's pointing to Christ. He is open up the way for us and we're going to follow him.

Revelation chapter 1 verse 5 also talks about the same thing. Revelation chapter 1 verse 5. It says, And from Jesus Christ the faithful witness the first born from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth to him who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. So it is very clear that we will really become sons of God. So our vision is to be children of God, but it's not a kind of a fuzzy thing, spiritualized away. It's real. We ought to be of God's own seed and in other words we'll have his own DNA, which is merging to us, spiritual DNA, which is God's only spirit.

We'll really become sons of God. We are now begotten again. Brethren, if we read at Romans 8 verse 14 through 17, let's make clear that this is not in the sense of being adopted. There's nothing wrong with adoption. It's a lovely act that some have as an outgoing concern for others. And please, I'm not saying anything bad about adoption, but what I'm saying is that an adopted child does not have your DNA. So in Romans 8 verse 14 says, For as many as are led by God's spirit, these are the sons of God. Understand, they are really sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage to fear. And how did we receive it? We receive it through after baptism, through the laying on our vans, and Christ then gives to us his spirit, which precedes God's spirit, which proceeds from the Father. But you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you really received the spirit of sonship. Now the word in Greek is heiochesia, which means placing as sons. Sonship places you as a son. Now adoption also places you as a son. So I'm not saying the translators made a deliberate mistake, but what I'm saying is with God's understanding of what the Holy Spirit does for us, a better understanding for us, for us to grasp the meaning more clearly, a better translation would be the spirit of sonship by whom we cry, Abba, Father. In other words, Daddy. The spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. How does the spirit itself bear witness of our spirit? Because God's Holy Spirit is merged with our spirit, and we become a new being. And if and that it says the spirit itself bears witness of our spirit that we are the children of God. We are the children of God, really the children of God. So that shows what we ought to be. Paul in Hebrews, and I believe Paul wrote Hebrews, I know some people disagree, but I usually say or ask myself, how did Paul convince or what was his thesis to convince the Jews that Christ was the Messiah? I kind of speculate that Paul's thesis to explain to the Jews that Christ was the Messiah is the book of Hebrews. He explains that Christ is the Messiah. And so in Hebrews chapter 2 verse 10, Hebrews chapter 2 verse 10, it shows there the goal of God for us because it says, for it was fitting for him, that's the Father, for whom all things about whom all things in bringing many sons to glory. That is the goal for you and I, that God asked for us to bring many children to glory. Now, you and I know chapters like the faith chapter. What is the faith? Is the hope of things not seen? Is the assurance of what is to come? So that is closely related with hope because hope is your desire to have that and faith is the assurance that you're going to have it. So they closely related. That's why you read, for instance, in Hebrews 13, the love chapter, right at the end, verse 13, it says they are all three. They are three that stand. That's faith, hope, and love. Faith is the assurance that you get this vision to be children of God. Hope is the hope that you'll get there and love is what you need to do to get there. So this is the vision that God's giving us because this vision is so important. And how do you and I cement this vision every year?

You cement this vision by going through God's holy days, pass over, re-emphasizing the sacrifice of Christ. That's one of the first seasons that goes with that you got to change and repent and live and breathe. So that's the first season. The second season is Pentecost, that you need God's Holy Spirit. You can't do it by yourself. And therefore, you need God's Holy Spirit to beget you, to help you. And the third one is trumpets. That's Christ coming, symbolizes Christ coming, and then Satan being put away, and the world tomorrow, the millennium, and whatever goes beyond in the last great day or eighth day. Because it's a hope for the rest of mankind.

We stand in a danger of some people kind of, again, minimizing the meaning of the eighth day, of the last great day. Because it is a great meaning that a whole of mankind will be given opportunity they never had. That is a very encouraging significance that we must not forget. But anyway, what does Satan do? Oh well, Passover. Well, just have these nice little rabbits and these nice little colored eggs. Oh, so sweet! The eggs are so sweet! Oh, they're so beautiful, aren't they? What's wrong with beautiful eggs? Well, what you see is diluting the focus of what Christ is doing for us. Even Pentecost. Oh well, speaking in tongues and all these other things, that's what it means having no spirit. It's deviating from the truth of the sanctification of God's Holy Spirit and our God's Holy Spirit needs to be in us to change us for us to be a new man, to be different. And then the day of trumpets, which symbolizes Christ's coming. The day of trumpets was probably the day that Christ came physically at, say, about 2000 years ago.

And because it symbolizes Christ's coming, and the day of trumpets also symbolizes Christ's second coming. What a coincidence, isn't it? Well, it's not a coincidence because God is in control. Nothing is coincidence. He's got everything timed to the second.

And so, you know, you read, for instance, you can work out that it was run about late September, early October, that Christ was born by looking at Luke chapter one. For instance, verse 11, when he talks about that Zechariah was there in the altar of incense. Where is the altar of incense? Of course, in the temple. That's what it was. And then it was of the course of a byger. Where was the course of a byger? You're reading 1 Chronicles chapter 24 verse 10. When was the course of a byger? And those courses were set up by David for services in the temple. So it all kind of fits in like a perfect puzzle. And if you work out when John the Baptist was born, which was right about Passover, and if you consider that Christ was born six months later, round about Trumpets. So you can work out pretty well the time of the year that he was born. But what do we have? We have pagan holidays, defocusing everything, forgetting and diluting the vision that you and I need to have. Therefore, the importance of the vision that God has given us.

Even Christ says that he had this vision, and this was the joy set before him. You read that in Hebrews 12 verse 2. What was the joy set before him? The joy set before Christ was to see you and I in the kingdom of God with him. And if that was a joy to him, and that motivated him to stick to his guns, quote unquote, and not give up and stay on that plan, should it not give us the same motivation to hold on to quote unquote to our guns and stay faithful till the end.

As a conclusion, I want to turn to 1 John chapter 3 verse 1 to 3. 1 John chapter 3 verse 1 through 3. Behold, what manner the love of the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called children of God? Yes, brethren, we are begotten now, but we are children of God. The baby in a mother's womb, even though he or she is not yet born, is already the son of that dad or the daughter of that dad. He's not born yet, but he's already the son of that father, even though he's still an unborn child. But it's already growing in a womb. We are growing in a womb, which is the church, and we are called the children of God. Therefore, the world does not know us because it did not know Christ. Do not know him. Beloved, verse 2, now we are the children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. In other words, it's not been revealed what will be in glory as spirit beings in the family of God. That has not been revealed yet, but we know that when he is revealed, that means when Christ comes of the Second Coming, we shall be like him. We'll be like Christ, resurrected as spirit beings, like Christ is a spirit being. For we shall see him as he is. We will then be able to see God and see Christ exactly as they are today. You and I cannot see them because we physical will be utterly destroyed, but the spirit beings will be able to see them. Verse 3, and everyone who has this hope in him, everyone who has this vision in him purifies himself. In other words, just like that target shooting, you make an effort to have your breathing right and to stop breathing when you do the shooting and all those things. You, with this vision, you're going to make an effort. I know there's a lot of things that want to make you give up. Don't give up. Have that vision strong because you've got to remain faithful till the end, till the end. Just so he purifies himself just as he's pure. Brethren, Satan wants to destroy the vision. Why? Because by destroying the vision, he destroys faith and hope, and you lose love. Faith is the surety of what you get. Hope is the hope that you have that you get it. And you know what? God will never leave or forsake you. You will be there. It's guaranteed. God has invested his own life on it. His own life. It's guaranteed. The only one that can throw it away is you and I. Only you and I can throw away by losing that vision. Brethren, that's why we're born. We need to have that vision. I know the days are difficult, and Brethren, the days are even going to get more difficult. Unfortunately, they will get more difficult this coming year. It's sobering, but it's true. So internalize the vision. Make it part of yourself, because the goal is for you to become like God, his two children, and remember God is love.