Jesus Christ

Well, good morning, everyone. Nice to see you on this chilly day. Actually, this is warm for Canada. This is probably one of the heat waves up there, so I'm fine with that. It doesn't have the snow. I do track buffalo a lot because it's close to Toronto, so I have it on my weather. And buffalo is having snow all week long. I was telling my wife, Honey, we'd be up there. We'd be shoveling all the time because it comes every day.

You've got to get to it while it's still low enough to get to. It starts piling up and freezing under low. Below, it's not good. So we feel blessed to be down here on a nice sunny day. We've been really enjoying the birds. I know I'm for the birds, but we've been really enjoying the birds. God's creation. I figure he needs...he says he takes care of them, though they don't sow or anything.

So I figure I can help him a little bit. So we bought a feeder. We had a feeder before it was in the middle of the yard. We could never see what birds were there because it was so far away from our windows. So we bought one that we could put just hang on the deck, just projected from the deck with a little curved holder for it.

And so we've been enjoying that. The little finches were there, but I couldn't take care of the Cardinals. The Cardinals would come. They'd try to get on. They couldn't quite fit. So we started putting some on the rail and putting some on our table out there that we're not using. And you should have seen them today. There were lots of them out there. The red ones and the males and the females. And they were like 10 or 12 of them. My wife said they're all fighting. They get on, and they're all looking for the food.

And they're coming like three or four sets of Cardinals game. And then there are three doves, morning doves, that sit and watch. And they swoop down. I always throw some down on the grass too, down below. So they have a chance to get some there. So it's been really, really neat. We've truly enjoyed watching them of God's creation. And my wife will say, well, they need to be fed. Or I'll say, I need to go out and put on a jacket. My cat and I go out and I put some more out there.

And after I come in a little while, then they're back again. Looking for it. It's like they keep looking at me. Am I going to come out and feed them? Or am I going to let them starve? So we're enjoying watching them. God's creation is so beautiful in so many different colors and so many different varieties and sizes. We have a book on birds of Ohio. And it's amazing how many we've seen already, including Blue Jays, that come swooping in once in a while and kind of scatter everybody because they're a little more aggressive bird.

But the rest of them come along, get along, sit at the table with each other. They all enjoy themselves on the table. I'll go out and I clean off all the hulls that they have left or the residue. And then I put more out for them. But they've really been enjoying it. I'll say, wonderful job. Appreciate Aaron and Brooklyn. They did amazing. And I'm so glad to have special music in this area, too. He's depicted as a baby away in the manger.

He's depicted as a baby in his mother's arms. Little Lord Jesus. Now, we have to be careful we don't disdain this awesome event, because it was an awesome event when Jesus Christ was born into the world. It's just that it's not in wintertime. And it's just that it's not associated with a holiday that everybody can look up and find in the encyclopedias is labeled as pagan. So, while we do not keep Christmas, we want to be careful we don't dismiss the day of his birth.

It's awesome. Wonderful. And while people wear crosses around their neck, or sometimes crucifixes, which actually has an image of Christ, or supposedly Christ, hanging on it, you either see two pictures of Christ, either as a baby or as a slain Savior. And by the way, it's wonderful that he was slain for us on our behalf. Not wonderful that he had to die, but that he did die, chose to die for you and me. So we have a Savior in heaven. That's awesome.

That's wonderful. But it wasn't on Easter either. It wasn't on Easter time. So that's another story. I'm not going to go into that. But he's depicted in those two ways. And yet, what is Jesus Christ doing now? He's not a baby, and he's not slain. What is he doing now? So I'd like to explore that with you. And I've been going over this for a while now, and I thought, this would be easy to do. I just started listing a few things, and the more I listed, the more I found. And it's phenomenal how much Jesus Christ is doing right now for you and me, and all those who are called out as Christians, and for the whole world, for that matter.

What is Jesus Christ doing now? And I'm not going to use a lot of my own words. I'll just turn to Scriptures and let those come through. I'll just give you the topic, turn to some of the Scriptures, and I can't give you all the Scriptures, because there's way too many.

But I will give you some, and I'll paraphrase others. But it is absolutely astounding when we realize how much your Savior and mine is doing for us right now. I was amazed as I went through and I put these all down. I was amazed. So let's take a look at some of the Scriptures and let them enlighten us, and there'll be two parts of this message.

First one will take more time than the other. The second one, when I get to the second one, you know it's getting close to the end. The first one, what is He doing for those who are called out as Christians at this time? And the second one, what is He preparing to do?

First one is, what is He doing now for us as Christians, called out Christians? And secondly, what is He preparing to do? First of all, Jesus Christ is very busily at work. What is His work? Saving you and me. Romans 5, verse 8.

Jesus Christ is at work. He's not sitting back. Remember He even said in one of the Scriptures, My Father works hitherto and I work. Jesus Christ is not sitting up and, okay, I made it now, just be up here sitting with My Father on His throne, which is another part we can come to in a little bit anyhow. But Romans 5, verse 8. Jesus Christ is actively working to save us. Actually working to save us. Romans 5, verse 8.

God demonstrates His own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, I'm going to move this down. Maybe I shouldn't move it down, leave it as is. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. But He didn't stay dead, okay? Much more than having now been justified by His blood, His sacrifice is there for us at all times, as was mentioned in the sermonette by Mr. Creech.

It sacrifices there to cover our sins when we repent, so we can keep on going, so we can keep overcoming. Much more having been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. So we're constantly being worked with by Jesus Christ to save us. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, you were reconciled, you were made right, your sins were taken away, much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved. How are we saved? By His life. He's in heaven actually trying to save us. Verse 11, that's verse 11, verse 11, He says, And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. So His work is reconciling us to God from our sins and saving us. Notice also, verse 15, I'm just skipping down. He says, But the free gift is not like the offense, for if by one man's offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. What is He busily doing? Dishing out grace to you and me. We'll see in another area. He gives us the Holy Spirit. He's bestowing upon us that supply of the Spirit that we need. And remember, the Spirit is life. Remember, Christ is our life, too. So He's busily trying to save us. Verse 17, For if by one man's offense death reign through the one, much more, that's through Adam, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one Jesus Christ.

So Jesus Christ is actually, actually, actively trying to save us. He's busy at work. He's not sitting around somewhere in His Father's throne, just waiting to come back. We'll talk about that in the second part. He's actually there saving us. Verses 19-21, For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners because they followed in His footsteps, so also by one man's obedience many will be made righteous because He set the right pattern. He set us an example that we should follow in His steps. And He's up there to give us that righteousness, to give us the strength to walk in the ways, to overcome, and to change, and to follow the paths of righteousness. Verse 20, Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace abounded much more. So if there's sin, and you repent of it, grace covers it. There's greater than the sin. And verse 21, So that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness, to eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Jesus Christ is actively trying to save us. Now you have to want to be saved. You have to make steps to change and overcome. You have to make to strive. Paul said, I've got to be sure to keep myself in check, lest after I preach to others I should become a castaway. So there are things you have to do. The whole sermon I'm trying to prepare for is, what do you have to do and what does God do? I think sometimes we maybe take too much upon ourselves, and I think sometimes we try to depend too much on God in the sense of saying, let God do it all. Those are really good thoughts. If you do some study on it yourself, one of these days I'll try to give that sermon. But John 16 verse 13, he sends us the spirit of life. John 16 and verse 13 in this same point. John 16 verse 13. And John, by the way, I'll be referring to quite a bit because he seems to have a lot more insights into these areas. John 16 verse 13, however, when he or it, the spirit of truth has come, it will guide you into all truth. For it will not speak of its own authority, but whatever it hears, it will speak, and it will tell you things to come. So God's Spirit gives us life. We'll see that in Philippians 1 and verse 19, that Jesus Christ provides that power to us. The Apostle Paul mentioned that he could work things through. He could be in good shape because he had a supply of the Spirit. Verse 19 of Philippians 1.

Jesus Christ has a part in it, a great controversy. Where does the Holy Spirit come from? And I won't go into it. One of the reasons Catholics and Orthodox split, because the Catholic said, the Son gives it. And the Orthodox said, no, it only comes from the Father. Actually, it comes from the Father through the Son. There are scriptures that say Jesus Christ gives the Holy Spirit as well.

But Jesus Christ, the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, so he's actively working to save us. Actively. We talk about Christ in us, Galatians 2.20. The Apostle Paul said, I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I'm still alive. Yet how am I alive? Because Jesus, the life I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Colossians 1.27, he says, Christ in you, the hope of glory. And what is it to have the mind of Christ? Philippians 2.5. How do you have that?

How do you look at things? How's your perspective like his? Through the Spirit of God, which God, Jesus Christ, is there to help the Father as he gives it. So he's actively working to save us. Secondly, he's ensuring our salvation. He's ensuring our salvation. He's saying, you're going to make it. He's rooting for you. He's cheering for you. He says, you're going to make it. Philippians 1.6, while we were there. Being confident of this very thing.

Here's what the Apostle Paul wrote, and this is written for all Christians. It's not just about Paul writing to the Philippian church. It's about us, too. Being confident in this very thing that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. He that's begun that good work is going to make sure it lasts. You have to cooperate. I have to cooperate. We can't just say, okay, I bought my salvation train ticket, and I get on my salvation train, get in my find, my birth, or my hammock, and lie in there and wait for the train to take me into the kingdom.

That's the way some people think. I accepted Christ. That's good enough. That's it. What about overcoming? All the Scriptures that talk about overcoming and changing. What about all those? You forget about those? Putting off the old man, putting on the new. What about he that overcomes? So we have to do something, too. But he's there. He wants to ensure we're going to make it. And so, look at John 10, verses 28 and 29. Do you know that Jesus Christ and God the Father consider you already have eternal life abiding in you and you have God's Spirit in you?

Not that you have an immortal soul, but you have eternal life. You have the promise of eternal life. Look at John 10, verse 28. And I shall give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. Neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. And my Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father's hand.

I and my Father are one. Nobody's able. You could find several scriptures that talk about this as eternal life. 1 John 5, 13, I believe it is, too. That you have eternal life abiding in you. Why? Because you have the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is eternal. That doesn't mean you go on living after you die. You don't. But God's Spirit doesn't die. God's Spirit, in whatever character we made, as a result of that Spirit being in us, goes back to God.

It's inactive. But it will one day be activated when we are changed to Spirit. Isn't that amazing? There are several scriptures in the book of John. I had them, but I didn't want to take the time to talk about it. You have eternal life abiding in you. God considers you already making it. We'll talk about that as we go on. But He's ensuring our salvation. He wants us to be saved.

John 17, verse 12. While He was praying to the Father, He said, While I was with them in the world, I kept them in your name. I kept them. The only one I didn't keep was Judas. Those whom you gave me, I have kept. And none of them is lost except the Son of Perdition. Satan, or not Satan, but not Lucifer, but Judas, who was spawned by Satan and Lucifer.

Is lost except the Son of Perdition that the Scripture might be fulfilled. Judas be lost. Everybody else, he kept. It's his goal that we make it. God wants us to be there. He's preparing a place for us. Philippians 3.21. He's preparing to change us, change our vile bodies to become like His glorious body. Philippians 3.21. Luke 12.32 tells us, It's your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Now, why would He be telling you that? Some fanciful promise? Or did He mean that? He's planning for us to make it. He's ensuring we make it.

How? He's our High Priest. This is the next area, next bullet if you want another bullet. He's our High Priest and Advocate. He ever lives to make intercession for us. Look at that in Hebrews 7, verse 25. Then we're going to stay in Hebrews for another two scriptures. Hebrews 7, verse 25. Jesus Christ is actively working. He's doing these things right now. He's involved in these activities right now for you and me.

He's not just up there somewhere, you know, that gives you permission to come to God, which is another very strong work that He's doing. Because He said, nobody comes to the Father except by Me. Right? He told everybody, if you want to go to the Father, come in Jesus' name.

Come in Jesus' name. Tell the Father I sent you. That's what essentially it means. Here's my calling card. If you go meet these people, tell them you know Me. You give them your card. It's an introduction. Jesus Christ said, when you go to the Father, now you start asking Him, but you ask it in My name. Tell Him I sent you. I give you permission. But Hebrews 7, verse 25, a beautiful scripture. Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He ever lives to make intercession for them.

What is a high priest for? To offer sacrifices on behalf. What is an advocate? Remember, He said He was the propitiation. He was our comforter. Same word. He was our comforter. Same as the Holy Spirit. He said, I'm your comforter. I'm your advocate. I'm one alongside the paraclete. One alongside to help you. I'm running alongside. Hebrews 4, verse 14. Hebrews 4, verse 14. Seeing then we have a great high priest. Notice He's not just an ordinary high priest. He's a great high priest who has passed through the heavens. Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. It's my concern.

There are a lot of people who made a confession at baptism. They confessed that their sins were for that they had repented. They confessed that they were accepting Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. They confessed that they wanted to walk with God the rest of their lives. And what are they doing? I have a lot of wonderful friends on Facebook who are no longer in the church. They're former college students. A lot of them. Hundreds of them. Some of which I baptized. And I still say to myself, what happened to that confession? What did you mean when you said, I accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior? What did you mean? What did you mean when you said, yes, I've repented of my sins and myself. And I want to walk with God the rest of my life. That's a confession. And Jesus Christ said, in Hebrews, we read about Him here in Hebrews 4.14, He's a great High Priest to us. Jesus Christ, let us hold fast our confession. Some did not hold fast. They forgot. It's almost like they forgot that they did that. It was like, well, it's an event. It's a thing to do. It's like I'm going to somebody's party or going to some event. And it's over. And sometimes forgotten because it wasn't too much of a highlight, obviously. But verse 15, for we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize. He has feelings for you and me with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are yet without sin, because Jesus Christ was God in the flesh. So those temptations could come His way, but He never succumbed to them. Never succumbed to them. James talks about temptation as already having conceived. Jesus Christ never went that far. Could have wrong thought have started to come in? He kicked it out. And never even entertained it. As long as you if you entertain it, you've already sinned in your mind. If you keep entertaining it, it'll lead to action, which will be an actual sin. But it's already a sin in your mind. He never let it go that far. Never let it go that far. And that's why we, as we grow and learn to be godly and keep our hearts and minds on God in His way, as we live life, as we go through life, normally we keep God in mind. God wouldn't do that. Christ wouldn't do that. Christians don't do that. You understand. So Jesus Christ is there for us. No tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin. But verse 16. What is He telling you this for? Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace. You don't have to say, oh, I don't know if I should come to Him or not. And many people, oh, and I've sinned, I better not. I don't know if I can face God. He says, come, come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. So He's actively trying to save us. And notice Hebrews 2 and verse 17. Hebrews 2 verse 17. Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren.

In all things that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to make propitiation or atonement for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself has suffered being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted. But He never gave in to the temptation and never entertained it. He knows what we go through. He feels for us. He can be touched with a feeling of our infirm. You think when you go to pray to Him and ask God to forgive you for something, and you think Jesus Christ doesn't dare with the Father, saying, I know what that's like, Father. I know what that feels like. I was there. I know. And we're going to see God is committed to Him judgment. He's committed to Him judgment. He's actively getting ready to judge. Actually, He's judging us now. But God's committed to Him judgment. Why? Because He knows what it's like to live as a human being. He's our Advocate. He ever lives to make intercession for us. Let's look at the next aspect. He's also our bishop, our overseer, shepherd, and He's even our apostle. So I could say our church has an apostle. Church of God has always had an apostle. And if you read Hebrews 3 verse 1, you'll find He is our apostle. Jesus Christ is the apostle. That's why I hate to see anybody try to take that name upon themselves.

Now, on Mr. Armstrong's day, many people said, You should do that because you have evangelists. And how could you ordain an evangelist if you're not above an evangelist? So He took that. He was ordained that in His ordination certificate in the Church of God, Seventh-day Oregon Conference of the Church of God. But boy, don't call me an apostle. I don't want to be called an apostle. I don't want to be an apostle. Interesting how many times in Revelation it says, They were false apostles. You read that in Corinthians, too. Such are false apostles. I don't want to be a false apostle. He didn't say false minister. There were other false ministers, too. But didn't say false preaching elders? He didn't say no. But false apostles, take that title. But Jesus Christ has it. That's over in Hebrews 3, verse 1. Let's look at 1 Peter 2.25. On this part, he's our bishop, shepherd, and apostle. 1 Peter 2, verse 25. For you are like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer, or bishop, of your lives. You've returned to him. He's your shepherd. So what does a shepherd do? What does a bishop do? What does an apostle do? They lead you. They bring you knowledge. They bring you information. They teach you. And they lead you in that way. So he's busily doing this for us. He's busily interceding for us. He's busily trying to guide us and lead us if we let him. Sometimes we want to tune him on. Sometimes I'll ask students at ambassador college when I was dean of students, and say, where was Jesus Christ when you were doing all this? You know what they would say? I put him as far away as I could in my thoughts.

To go do this illegal activity. I don't want him around.

So he's there for us to watch over and guide us. But John chapter 10, we find more about the shepherd and the responsibilities of the shepherd. And what is Jesus Christ doing right now? What does a shepherd do? He tends to his flock. What does a shepherd do? He protects his flock. What does a shepherd do? He feeds his flock. What does a shepherd do? He knows his flock. He knows them. As a minister, I get frustrated because I don't see all you in the A.M. very much. So sometimes I don't remember your names. I try to look you up in the books and try to go through the directory. Pretty often it changes from time to time. And it frustrates me not to know people's names. I pastored. I want to know your name. You're in the church. I want to know your kids' names. I want to be able to call them out by name and say, how are you doing? And so I want to know that. You know what? John 10. I'm no way a shepherd. Hopefully he was a pastor. That's under a shepherd. Shepherd looks after the flock. But look at John 10, verses 3 and 4. To him the door—that's the shepherd, Jesus Christ, the shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name. And he leads them out. He leads them. Verse 4. And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them. And the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. They can tell. This is truth. This sounds right. I watch Fox News a lot, and I see a lot of them like to have these debates on. They'll have the left and the right and the left. Every time—I don't know—the left, why do they have to— they're just so mealy-mouthed sometimes. I just hear them talking. I don't understand where you're going with this. How can you bring up such lies? How can you make such allegations without any knowledge? But they just blather oftentimes. And a person on a righteous says some logic. Not always. But you know God's Spirit in me and the truth that it leads me to see, I see truth. When people try to give me baloney, I'm sorry. Yeah, you could pull the wool over my eyes. You sure can. You could talk—if you talk the truth but don't live it, you could do that. I'm hearing truth, but I'm not seeing it because I'm not around you. But I can sure hear it. I'm telling you, people just—they think they can just lie away. Just keep lying. Everybody's going to believe me. And it's so—well, people who give into lying, they will hear that. But Jesus Christ is no liar. You know who it is. The Father of lies, Satan the devil. Jesus Christ brought truth into the world. He brought grace into the world. And so He's our shepherd. He leads us in the truth. It goes before them, and the sheep follow Him, and they know His voice. They know the sound of what He's saying. Verse 14, and what a familiar sound it is. Verse 14.

Rainer Salob comes down and stays with us. He's a council member from Canada. And He loves His dog. And so every night when He stays with us, He goes, I've got to go upstairs and call my dog. I said, aren't you going to talk to your wife? Well, I will talk to her too, but I won't talk. And she puts the phone right near their dog's head, and the dog is so happy to hear His voice. They hear His voice. They recognize you. Our dog Tootsie used to love Barb's voice. And she would talk to Tootsie. She just loved it. Sometimes she was aware, or whatever she had called, I'd put it near Tootsie. Tootsie's looking around. Where is she? Jesus Christ said His sheep hear His voice. They know Him. Notice in verse 14.

Verse 27. My sheep hear My voice. I know them. And they follow Me. Jesus Christ is our active shepherd, leading us, and guiding us, and helping us, and pulling us back sometimes when we go the wrong way. He's our shepherd. He loves us. He cares about us. He's our apostle. He's the one who's leading us to understand information better, not changing doctrine, but to understand it better, more deeply. What else does He do? He gives access to the Father. And I won't go into just give you one Scripture, John 16, 23, 24. You know, He said, you've asked Me a lot of things, but from now on, you don't have to ask Me. You could ask the Father. You don't even have to... You can go straight to the Father. You don't have to ask Me. But when you go to the Father, do it in My name. And whatever you ask in My name, He's going to do it. He didn't say, do it right away. He could say, I'll do it tomorrow. You can't wait that long. Today is 1000 years with God. I'll do it tomorrow for you. 1000 years later, He'll do it. You can't wait that long. You want Him to say, I'll do it in a nanosecond. That's a long time, in a 1000 year period. So, He hears you. As you go to Him in Jesus' name, He gives us access to the Father. Where's that Scripture I found it? It's interesting. We know that none can come to Christ unless the Father sends them. But there's also one that says, none can come to... John 7. Where He said, none can come to the Father except through me. I'm not seeing it right now. I had it in my other Bible, but I'm not seeing it. John 6.44 is where He says, oh yeah... John 14 verse 6, is that the one? Maybe not. But anyway, you can find it. He says, none can come to the Father except through me. And that's how we go to the Father. He gives us access. John 14.6. See if that's the one. Yeah, that's it. Jesus said to Him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. So, He gives us access. He says, you can go right to my Father. You don't have to come to me. Go to the Father. You should ask Him what you need. Go ahead. Go to Him. I'll give you that access. You know what else He does? He enables us to have and bear godly fruit. He's actively helping us to bear godly fruit. Look at John 15. John 15 verses 5-8. Famous parable of where Jesus Christ...not parable, teaching where Jesus Christ said He was the fine. John 15 verse 5. He said, I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit, for without me you can do nothing. Verse 6, He says, if anyone does not abide in me, he is cast out as a branch, and withered, gather up, throw him into the fire, and they are burned.

Verse 7, if you abide in me and my words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it will be done for you. Verse 8, by this my Father is glorified that you bear much fruit, so will you be my disciples. How can we as His disciples bear much fruit in Christ? What's Christ doing? Actively helping us bear godly fruit. And you know what that is, Galatians 5. So I'm not going to go there. Continuing on, what He's doing for us is called out Christians and anybody in the world that He's calling and working with. He's fellowshiping with us. You know that Jesus Christ fellowships with you and me. And today, when you fellowship after church, He wants to be there too. He wants to be there too. He's fellowshiping with 1 John 1.3. 1 John 1.3. Of course, He does not just consider us friends, although He said, no longer are you my servants. He said, I call you friends, John 15. I call you friends because friends tell you things that are going on. Friends share with each other. He said, I no longer call you servants. But He went beyond that in Hebrews 2 verses 10 and 11. He said, He's not ashamed to call us brothers. Not ashamed to call us sisters for the female side of the church. He's not ashamed, even though you're not there yet. That's Hebrews 2 verses 10 and 11. I'm not going to go there. But 1 John 1.3. 1 John 1.3. He's fellowshiping with us. And He will be with us to the end of the world. He said, I'm going to stay with you. I'll be with you. One of God's names is Yavishama in the Hebrew. The Lord who is with us. When Moses said, God, I can't go. If you don't tell me who's going to go with me. And God said to Moses, I will go with you. Yavishama. And Moses said, if you don't go with me, I can't go. And what did He say in Matthew 28? 20, Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world. He fellowships with us. 1 John 1.3. I should get there. 1 John 1.3.

But these are what Jesus Christ is doing for us now. He's not up there just lying around, rolling around in heaven all day. He's not up there just sitting on His Father's throne, waiting to come back. Not only 1 John 1.3. That which you have seen and heard, we declare to you that you may also have fellowship with us. And truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. Why? How can I have fellowship with you? Because we both believe the same thing. How can we be friends? Because we can two walk together except they'd be agreed. So we walk together. Why do we walk together? Because Christ called us. Why do we walk together? Because we both have a common bond through God's Spirit. We both have the same Father, which I love in that movie, Parent Trap, where the one girl says, discovers the other girl's twin, long lost twin, and said, if your dad is my dad and my mom is your mom, we must be sisters. They said, sisters were twins. Because they were born on the same day. If your dad is my dad and my dad is your dad, we must be brothers and sisters. And who makes that possible? Jesus Christ. Through reconciling and through strengthening and through giving us His Spirit. And what binds us together? By one Spirit. Are you all brought together in one body? You're called together. So He's fellowshiping with us regularly. John 13 verse 1, He loves us.

You can read John 13 verse 1. God loves us. He's fellowshiping with us. I said, John, He's still doing that. He's not sitting up there inactive. He's not just a baby anymore. And it was a great day that He was born. And it was a wonderful day when He bore our sins. And He was crucified. But you know what? He's not a baby and He's not still dead. He's actively working for you and me. He also reveals end time information. He reveals end time information to us. He says, Blessed are your eyes because they see. But over in 1 Thessalonians 5 verses 1 to 5, I'll just read this one passage. 1 Thessalonians 5 verses 1 to 5. Let the Bible do the talking.

Verse 4.

Revelation 1 verses 1 to 3. Jesus Christ was what? The concealer or the revealer?

He was the revealer. And it's interesting when they want to know who could open these seven seals. John cried, Oh, nobody's here. Who's going to open these seals? I want to know what's going on. I want to see this. And you know who's worthy to open the seals in the book of Revelation? Jesus Christ.

Who reveals to us? Who gives us information? Who helps us understand better? Jesus Christ.

Actively doing that for us. He opens the doors to preach. Remember Revelation 3.

Who opens doors that no man can shut and shuts doors that no man can open.

He gave us a gospel to preach to the world. He gave us the best news the world could ever hear.

There's a kingdom coming that no man can make, but God will. And no man will bring peace, God will.

He gave us a message of good news and how you could be there through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, through acceptance of Him and following Him.

He gave us a message to give. That's what we're trying to do. Why we spend so much money on trying to give the gospel out? We could save it for ourselves.

Build lots of nice buildings. That's great. With nobody in them. But by the way, we can build lots of nice buildings.

What does that do? But if you give people the truth, and we still help people, it's not like we just say, Well, we hope before you starve to death you'll hear the truth. We try to help them not to starve to death, but that's not our prime goal to feed them.

Our prime goal is to feed them spiritually, not physically. But if we can help out, that's fine. But that's not our goal.

That wasn't what Jesus Christ said to do. Go into all the world, preach the gospel to everyone. So He opens the doors for us, and He gave us the gospel, gave us the gospel to preach.

And then, the last area I have here is He judges us now. He judges us now. Remember 1 Peter 4, 8, 4, 17?

1 Peter 4, 17? One of my memory scriptures.

1 Peter 4, verse 17, For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God.

And if it begins with us first, what will the end of those be who obey not the gospel of God? So the gospel of God is just about a future. It's about what you can do to be a part of that future.

And what you have to do now to set your life for right to be in that future. That's what it's about.

So He judges us now. And in John, chapter 5, verse 22, we'll see God committed to Him judgment.

John, chapter 5, verse 22.

For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father.

He who does not, turn to pages, honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.

And then let me go on, let's see, John, verse 30.

I can of my own self do nothing as I hear I judge, and my judgment is righteous, because I do not seek my own will but the will of the Father who sent me.

So Jesus Christ is actively in heaven looking down and judging His flock.

And of course, one day, Romans tells us we're going to have to appear before the judgment seat of God, whether that's right now or when.

How will that be? He's actively looking down and seeing how you're doing.

And even though Santa Claus is coming to town, you better be good, because He's going to know if you're bad all year long.

Now God's the one who looks down. And God knows whether you've been bad or good.

He sees you. He knows what you're doing. He understands. And He's merciful.

Ultimately, He's going to marry the church.

Ultimately, He's going to marry the church. Revelation 19.

He knows His flock. He knows what we do. He's aware.

Revelation 2 and 3 says, I know your works. I know what you're doing. I'm aware of you.

To each of the churches in Revelation, I know your works. He's aware. That was after His resurrection. Those churches were real in Turkey, in Asia Minor. He knew them. And He knows us.

I often say, you know what? It's a fearful thing, Hebrews 10.31, to fall into the hands of the living God.

God's the one who's going to judge each one of us on what we do and how we are.

And He commits that judgment to Jesus Christ.

Who knows what we go through as we endeavor to live His way of life. He knows that. He understands that.

He heals us. 1 Peter 2.24, by His stripes, you are healed. He'll be merciful to whom He will be merciful now.

It's just not automatic, but He'll be merciful to whom He will be merciful.

We hope and pray, we believe, and we do what we can to stay healthy.

But it's up to God to show us mercy when He chooses.

And He knows what's for our good and at what time. And sometimes I don't know what's for our good.

Sometimes I can't explain. I don't know how.

Why He lets some people suffer that look like awesome, wonderful, good people.

And let somebody heal somebody else real fast.

No. But you know what? God knows. And God loves His people. And He cares for us.

The second part of this I'm just going to briefly tell you.

You know what He's doing now? He's preparing to rule.

Because He's not sitting on His own throne. Revelation 3.21, He sits with a father on His throne.

But why was He born? He was born to be a king.

And He was born to sit on the throne of His father David over the house of Israel.

And He's coming back to rule. Remember Matthew 25 and Luke 19?

Luke 19 is the one that's better.

In the sense of saying, a rich, young, noble man went to receive for himself a kingdom and to return.

Went to receive for himself a kingdom and to return.

When He comes back, that's when He's going to sit on His own throne.

And remember, the future, the millennium, begins with Israel.

It starts with bringing Israel back. It starts with saying, you know what?

I wanted you to be a model nation before and you didn't do it. Now you're going to be a model nation.

Because I'm going to give you the missing ingredient, the Holy Spirit, so that you can be a good example to the rest of the world.

Then the other nations are going to say, wow, why are they doing so well? Why are they so happy? Why are they so blessed?

Because God's their God. Oh, well maybe we need to learn. Let's send people to Jerusalem.

Zechariah 8 22. Find out why these people are so smart. Why these people are doing so well.

They'll say, we're serving God. They're going to take ahold of the skirt of Him that's a Jew and say, we heard that God is with you.

Teach us. Where are they going to go? Nations are going to come to Jerusalem.

Which is going to be the capital city of the whole world, because that's where Jesus Christ is going to be reigning from.

When He comes back, His feet are going to land on the Mount of Olives, just outside of Jerusalem.

He's going to take over the throne of His father David, which was a literal ruling area and responsibility.

So He's coming back. He's preparing to rule now. He was born to rule.

He's preparing a place for you and me, John 14, verse 1.

I go to prepare a place for you, a position. I don't know which position I'm going to have. I don't know which one you're going to have.

I hope I be there. I'll be happy just to be there. I'm not going to worry about your position.

But He's preparing a position for you and me. I go to prepare a place for them.

It probably changes from down to down. I'm going to say, why is it going to give them that place? I don't think they can give them this.

Maybe I'll give them that. I don't know what it's doing.

But He's actively preparing a place for you and me.

He's preparing the fight. He's coming back to fight. Does that arrive 14-1?

He's coming back to fight.

Like he fought when he was a warrior. Like a warrior fights.

And, of course, we read Revelation 19. He's coming back. He's King of Kings, Lord of Lords.

He's coming back on that white horse, and as I say, on his vesture, and on his thigh, and as they have written, King of Kings, Lord of Lords.

He's coming back with his angels, and He's coming back with the resurrected saints who meet Him in the air and come back with Him to bring this world peace.

Jesus Christ is preparing the fight. It's not happening yet.

He's coming back as King of Kings, Lord of Lords. He'll rescue Israel first, and then He'll work to break in pieces all the other kingdoms until they become a part of the Kingdom of God.

So, He's alive and actively working with His Father right now.

He prays for us. John 17 says He prays for us, and I'll read that in a moment.

But He's no longer a baby in a manger, and He's no longer hanging on a cross. He's no longer lying in a tomb.

Jesus Christ is actively working for us to bring about the plan of God of salvation for us and for all who come to follow Him.

Let's close with John 17 and see that Jesus Christ is praying for us.

I'm telling you, when I read this over, my Lord and Savior is busy.

He's busy caring about you and me. He's busy wanting to see us being His Kingdom.

He's busy saving us. He's busy forgiving us. He's busy leading us. He's busy teaching us. He's busy guiding us.

He's busy forgiving us. He's busy judging us. He wants us to be there. John 17, verse 9.

I pray for them. I do not pray for the world, but for those whom you have given Me, for they are yours.

Verse 20. I do not pray for these alone.

That's why I said He's not just praying for you, too. Not just for those back then.

I do not pray for these alone, but for also, for all those who will believe in Me through their word.

And so I have the book of John, the gospel of John, the gospel of Matthew, the gospel of Mark, the gospel of Luke. I have Paul's writings. I have Peter's writings. I have John's writings.

I have the Old Testament inspired by God for us. God's praying for you.

And He says, you know what? When you read the book of Revelation, I'm going to bless you as you read the book of Revelation. Verses 22 to 26.

Going on.

Verse 24. Father, I desire that they also whom you gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory. I wish they could be here right now to see Me in My glory. And glory has to do with radiance and brilliance and what He is and what He does.

I wish they could see that My glory, which you have given Me. You loved Me, for you loved Me before the foundation of the world.

Verse 25. Oh, righteous Father, the world has not known you. They don't know you. They're not your flock yet.

But I have known you, and these have known that you sent Me, because I delivered to them what you're like.

Verse 26. And I have declared to them your name, and I will declare it, that the love with which you loved Me may be in them and I in them.

Jesus Christ is actively working with you and Me to save us, to bring us into His kingdom, to help fulfill the awesome plan of salvation of Almighty God.

Verse 27.