When All Our Dreams Will Come True

One thing that human beings all have in common is their hopes and dreams. Animals don't have hopes and dreams. They don't plan for the future in the sense of having dreams that they want to accomplish one day. But human beings do. Yet, we know many of those dreams are not going to be fulfilled in this life. We understand that hopes can be dashed at certain times, but that's only temporary because we have a loving God that wants the best for us and to fulfill the best dreams we can ever have. As it says in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 9, I has not seen nor ear heard the things that God has prepared for those that love Him. Notice, for those that love Him. It's not for everybody at that time today. One of the greatest promises of that dream coming true was given by Jesus Christ to those who are faithful. When He said in Luke 12, verse 31-32, I'd like to read it in the New Living Translation. He said, Seek the kingdom of God above all else, and He will give you everything you need. Notice, He said, You need not what you want. He will give us our needs, but not our wants, necessarily. So He goes on to say, So don't be afraid, little flock, for He gives your Father great happiness to give you the kingdom. So it's something that God wants to give. He's such a generous God. Just like when we have children growing up, we have hopes and dreams for them. And we know we're not going to fulfill all of those hopes and dreams, but like a parent, they want the best for their children. Well, God is our parent. He wants the best for us. Notice another scripture, Matthew 25, verse 34. Remember here, this is the time when Christ comes back, rules over the nations, and it's the time of the judgment period. It says, Then the king will say to those on his right hand, Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. It actually means that even before the foundation was established, God had this in mind, a kingdom that he was going to give to all those that love him. In the Passion Translation, it says, Then the king will turn to those on his right and say, You have a special place in my Father's heart. Come and experience the full inheritance of the kingdom realm that has been destined for you from before the foundation of the world. So God had this in mind, even before creating us. He already planned a kingdom. He just had to have people now populated in the future. And we know, despite these promises, we understand that everything that happens in our lives is for good. Tragedies and fiery trials will occur. As it says in Romans 8, verse 28 and 29, it says, And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Let's look at that scripture. I know we've repeated it many times, but it is well worth to just take it apart, examine it more, be able to dissect it. So God does permit difficult trials to test us, but he wants all these things that are experienced to eventually be spiritually profitable. As the Bible, Believer's Bible commentary says about this verse, it says, It may not always seem so. Not everything looks like it turns out to be for our good. Sometimes when we are suffering heartbreak, tragedy, disappointment, frustration, and bereavement, we wonder what good can come out of it. But the following verse, verse 29, gives the solution, the answer. Whatever God permits to come into our lives, it's designed to conform us to the image of his son.

When we see this, it takes the question mark out of our prayers. Our lives are not controlled by impersonal forces such as chance, luck, or fate, but by our wonderful personal God, who is, as famous minister Spurgeon once said, too loving to be unkind and too wise to err or to make a mistake. The Bible knowledge commentary mentions about Romans 8.28. It says, The things themselves may not be good, but God harmonizes them together for the believer's ultimate good, because his goal is to bring them to perfection, which means full Christian maturity. In his presence, even adversities and afflictions contribute to that end. I remember Dennis Luker, who was a previous pastor here in the area, he mentioned that all of those fiery trials that he went through, when he looked back, he said, From those, we grew spiritually the most. That's when we are tested, purified, humbled. We get to see how little we really are and how we have to depend more on God, less on ourselves, on our abilities, on our resources. And so, which are some of these dreams that we hold in common? I'd like to go over them. The first one is the dream to live forever and to vanquish death. The dream to live forever and to vanquish or defeat death. Only God has the power to do it. Notice in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 51. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 51. This is the chapter that describes the future resurrection of all of us. It says in verse 51, Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, which is talking about, we shall all not die. But we shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye, an instant, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. So it's saying that if you're alive when Christ comes back and you have God's Spirit, you have been baptized, you are part of the body of Christ, you will be transformed. You won't be buried someplace. You won't even have a funeral. You'll be instantly converted from physical to spiritual. Of course, that's just a very small segment of all the world's population that will have that. Who knows? We might be in that generation. We might actually see that happen. And so he goes on to say, verse 53, For this corruptible flesh, this flesh that is aging with time, must put on incorruption. It has to do with becoming a spirit being. And this mortal must put on immortality. It doesn't have it yet, but it can receive it. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. It will be vanquished. And then you can say, Oh, death, where is your sting? It won't hurt anymore. There won't be any more pain. Or Hades, which is the tomb, where is your victory? Everybody's going to be emptied out of those cemeteries. The sting of death is sin. That's where it gets the power for a person to die. And the strength of sin is the law. So the law convicts us of sin, and we break it, and it says the wages of sin is death. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Everything you do in His name, for His glory, in His service, is not in vain.

Now Solomon recognized this desire to live forever. In Ecclesiastes chapter 3 verse 11, Solomon wrote, He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from the beginning to the end. He put that desire. Now we have a unique personality, a special identity that no one else on earth has exactly the same identity that we have.

And we would like to continue that way. We would like to be able to be the person we are, but forever. And not just this brief life where you have all of the family members and you realize you're going to leave them one day.

And of course, you'd like to continue with all of the loving people around you in a future state. Well, that's what God has promised. It's something we should all be so thankful that we have this wonderful truth most of the people in the world do not have. I like the way the Living Bible translation has in Ecclesiastes 3. It says, yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart.

But even so, people cannot see this whole scope of God's work from beginning to end, His plan. Unless God reveals His plan of salvation, people cannot figure it out on their own. Now, why do we have that eternity planted in us? We go back to the first chapter of the Bible, Genesis 1, 26, when God said, let us create man in our image according to our likeness. So, from the very start, we were made in His image.

We're not of the image of animals. But we are patterned after God's makeup. We have a unique personality, as I have brought out. We have independent will. And eventually, our personality will be given an upgrade and thus a new name. It'll be us, but it'll be an upgraded. It'll be far superior. But you still have your own identity and personality. But now, living forever.

Brethren, we are not now what we will become in the future. Here's a second dream. It is not having to contend with our human nature. In the future, we will have God's very nature. That's a promise. In 2 Peter chapter 2, 2 Peter chapter 2, I mean 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 2. That's what I wanted to say. 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 2. 2 through 4. It says, And so that's the future. To partake of God's divine nature.

Not have human nature to contend with anymore. The pulls of the flesh, all of these things that can damage and corrupt us. We just got through having seven days of unleavened bread and realizing, well, we have to keep working at it because it's so easy to let the sin of the world, the leavening, just get back and get into our minds and start getting attracted to the world and then separated from God.

And it's just like a ball that's between two different magnetic poles. One positive, one negative. The positive would be like God's spirit. And the negative is Satan's spirit and the world. And here's this ball. And if we get closer to the world, we are farther from God. We lose power. We lose control over our minds and over our feelings and everything else. But if we get closer to God, we're that farther away from the world. It cannot pull us in the same way.

That's the way it works. If we want to have our freedom, we have to be close to God because the world wants to make a slave and Satan wants to make a slave of us all. Notice in 1 John chapter 3, verses 1-3. Here again, when our human nature will be eliminated, we'll have our personality, we'll have an upgraded personality, with no longer the pulls of the flesh. It says, verse 1, Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called children of God.

In other words, part of his family. Therefore, the world does not know us because it did not know him. They don't understand the family of God concept, which we do. Beloved, now we are children of God. Once you are baptized, receive God's Spirit, we become part of the family. And it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. But we know that when he is revealed, talking about Christ and his return, we shall be like him. Why? Because we'll have the very nature of God. We still have our identity and personality, but now we will have God's nature in us to always do good.

Never be tempted with evil. He says, for we shall see him as he is. Spirit can see Spirit. Flesh cannot see Spirit. So we shall be converted. That's why Christ talked about that which is Spirit, his Spirit. That which is flesh is flesh. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.

Here's the third dream that God has promised to fulfill one day. It is seeing our loved ones again and having a perfect relationship that will last throughout time, without human nature to contend with anymore. Looking at it physically, even the best relationships we can have with human beings, it always takes effort. Sometimes those relationships are not that good. We go through the ebbs and flows. Why? Because of human nature. We still have that selfish nature. We have subject to temptations, to not be gentle, kind. We don't use the best words sometimes. We don't think before we speak. But all of those things are going to disappear. We're going to have God's nature always be edifying. The fruits of God's Spirit, love, joy, peace, faith, gentleness, goodness, meekness, and self-control. That's what is going to flow out of all of us. Not just a few. All of us, it'll flow. But through our personalities and our identities. We're not going to be like yellow pencils in God's kingdom. Everybody will be exactly the same, like the drones. No. We're going to have our own personality. But the outflow is going to be the same. Everybody's going to express love in their own way. We're never going to have to contend with human nature. Notice that perfect relationship, just like God the Father has with God the Son in John 17. In John 17, verse 23, Jesus says, talking about His disciples, I in them and you in me that they may be perfect in one, and that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me. Father, I desire that they also whom I gave, whom you gave me, may be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory, which you have given me, for you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world has not known you, but I have known you, and these have known that you sent me. So that's Christ's prayer. And He's not talking just about His disciples. He's talking about all the disciples throughout the ages, that they may be with Him. That's why when you hear about the wedding feast and all of that, it is going to be Christ who is going to bring His bride with Him. In Ephesians chapter 5, this is the relationship that He is working on in His church. It says in verse 25 of Ephesians 5, Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with a washing of water by the Word, that He might present her to Himself, a glorious church, not having a spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. It's a comparison of the wonderful relationship that you develop with a husband and wife. Christ is going to have this wonderful relationship with everyone that is part of that first resurrection, to have a perfect relationship with every one of His brethren. We're going to be able to be a big team, and the first order of work is going to be beautifying the earth. It's going to be a thousand years of work, of beautifying the earth, educating it in the right way, teaching them what we have learned. Christ is going to be our mentor, He's going to be our teacher, our guide, but it's going to be a loving relationship, just like a husband and a wife. It's based on mutual trust in helping each other, thinking of the other more than of self. That's the way God operates, and that's the way He wants us to operate. And what will this feel like when it finally is realized, when it is fulfilled? There's a beautiful scripture in Malachi chapter 4 in verse 2. Malachi chapter 4 verse 2.

I'll read it here first in the New King James, and then I'll read it in the God's Word version. It says, but to you who fear His name, a person who deeply respects God, His law, His way of life, for those who fear His name, the Son of righteousness shall arise, because it's going to be like a sun coming down when He comes in glory and majesty. It's going to be like a sun shining coming down to the earth. And He says, with healing in His wings, and you shall go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves. And in God's Word, it says, the Son of righteousness will rise with healing in His wings, for you people who fear My name. You will go out and leap like calves, let out of a stall. Just like that young, sprighty little heifer or this young calf, they just have so much energy. And so you talk about a lot of hugging and jumping up and down. Of course, we're going to be spirit at that time, but we still have that personality. We're going to give each other hugs, and it's going to be a time of such joy and love. And it is going to happen. Whether we believe it or not, it's there. God has made promises. He cannot break His own promises. And finally, the fourth dream is to develop our personal creativity to the maximum for the benefit of others, not of self. It's one of the few things that happen in this world that's regrettable. People with so much talent, ability, they really rise up that ladder of success. And many times, they think about self, just bringing everything in, the wealth, the power, the influence. It's all about them. That wasn't what God designed it for. If you receive more, it's to share and to help and to edify and to lift up others more than lifting self up. Notice in Luke 19 and verse 15, Luke 19 and verse 15. I think it's getting a little chilly in here. Can we get the temperature up a bit? Luke 19 and verse 15. We're not used to this here, being able to have air conditioning now. A couple of weeks, we just had the whole thing shut off because it was cold outside, and here it was nice and warm. In Luke 19 and verse 15, this is the parable of the pounds. I'll just skip over to where he rewards those servants. He says, And so it was when he returned, having received the kingdom, this is a parable symbolic of Christ returning to his kingdom, He then commanded these servants, to whom he had given the money, to be called to him, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading. Then came the first, saying, Master, your mena, which is about a pound of silver, which is quite a good amount. It's about 60 days work, almost like two months worth of a salary. Your mena has earned 10 menas. So actually it went from 60 to 600 as far as the price of the salary. And he said to him, Well done, good servant, because you were faithful in a very little, you have authority over 10 cities. He's talking about his kingdom, and here he's giving his servants responsibilities in his kingdom, according to how they did with the Holy Spirit that were given initially a baptism. How much did we grow spiritually? It's all through Christ working in us, but we have to yield, right? And we have to put our effort, too. God isn't going to do it all for us.

And you see here that you're going to be able, with your personality, with your identity, and with God's spirit, and as a spirit being, God's nature, now you're going to get to rule over people and be able to show them, with the same Christ-like service, how to take care of people, to develop their creativity and use your own creativity. Christ isn't going to say, Oh, I'm going to micromanage you.

No, here it is. Just like you've been faithful with little things during your lifetime, now you're going to be able to be over a lot because you were faithful in little. I know. It's the same way. A person does a good job. You can put them in charge of more things because he already has the habits. He's consistent. He knows how to do things right. And so you can multiply that. And that's what he is doing now. In Romans 8 and verse 18, by the way, I'll just tell you a little story. This morning I was talking to my oldest grandson.

He's going to be 13 next month, Gabriel. We were discussing how when he had a science project to do it at his school, and he had to work on it. He put in a lot of effort and a lot of the other projects, it was by groups, he had to basically do it all on his own, and he won an award for it. And then he said, I like that better than when everybody, no matter how they do it, whether good or bad, everybody's supposed to get an award because don't offend anybody, right? So everybody's going with the same awards, even if they didn't put the same effort.

And I said, okay, you have homework to do for this Sabbath. Read Luke 19 from 10 all the way through, and then tell me what you learned. Is that the way God is going to reward? It just doesn't matter. Just accept me. I'm once saved, always saved. Everybody gets the same type of reward. That's not the way God works. And by the way, that's not the way this world works. People think, oh, it doesn't matter whether I work hard or not.

I'm entitled to the awards. I'm entitled to this. It just doesn't work. It ruins everything. God is a God that wants us to pursue excellence in whatever we do. Do it with your might. Do it with everything that you give it, whether it's a very small thing or whether it's a large thing. I think that's so important just from that lesson that we're talking about today. Notice in Romans chapter 8, we're still in this fourth dream to develop our personal creativity to the maximum for the benefit of others.

In Romans chapter 8, Paul waxed eloquent about this dream. Romans 8. Let's start in verse 16. It says, the Spirit, it should say itself, bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.

Just like John had said, I read it previously. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God, enjoin heirs with Christ. If indeed we suffer with them, then we may also be glorified together. So there's an inheritance that God is preparing. What is that? The kingdom. And this is going to span the entire universe. Notice in verse 18, it says, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. It's such a great difference between what we're going through and what we will receive from God. Just pales into insignificance what we go through.

It says, for the earnest expectation of the creation, the word here has to do with the universe, eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. It's all waiting for the children of God to have their human nature removed, put on God's nature, give them the spirit body, give them all that ability and power that can be used for good now. It says the whole universe is waiting for that. This is one truth that the Protestant world doesn't have, the Catholic world. Nobody understands this except the Church of God community. That is that God created this vast universe, which now they're coming up to calculate the trillions of suns out there and all the planets that are around all of these over 200 billion galaxies so far counted.

It's just expanding. And all of this, why? He talked to some of these theologians, Protestants, evangelicals. He said, well, it's to just show how great God is. Well, why not just create the solar system? You know, we can't get outside of our own solar system. The next sun is Alpha Centauri, which is four and a half light years of traveling.

And nothing physical can actually go as fast as those photons of light. So they calculate even the fastest rockets would take somewhere between 60 and 70,000 years if you took off. That's far longer than human beings have been existing from the time of Adam to now. But we understand that is something that we are going to be co-heirs with Christ. Christ is going to be given all of this so that everything can be developed. Talk about developing creativity. It's going to be just one learning experience after another.

One planet, you might make it one color more than another. What kind of beautiful things. And then we'll have Christ and God the Father come. You can show them what you made. And then, just like Enrique with all of his murals, when he started, what did they say? Great job, but you can do better. Okay, got to try this next planet out. We'll get better at it. So there'll always be challenges. There'll always be expectations to fulfill. Continuing on, it says, verse 20, For the creation was subjected to futility. The word here means decay. Things are in decay. Not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope.

Because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption. Won't always be in decay. Into the glorious liberty of the children of God. In that way, it will be freed from the curse of physical decay. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.

Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. And that word should be sonship. Eagerly awaiting all of these things. And our dreams are too small in comparison to what God has dreamed for all of us, every one, as his loving children. This is greater than any of those Star Trek adventures. Back in the sixties, they had that whole era when they had the spaceship, travel to all of these worlds and all of these adventures they went through.

But you know, that's only human imagination. There was still human nature. There was still evil. There was still destruction and all kinds of things. Now, when we get to travel, there won't be any corruption. There won't be any evil. It'll be the same fruits of God's Spirit throughout the universe. Now, this is called in Titus, chapter 2, 13, the blessed hope. This is the hope that God has given us. Even in our lives today, we cannot lose that blessed hope, of Christ coming and bringing that blessed hope with him.

Now, I'd like to also bring out that all of this doesn't mean we should be passive now and just wait and say we can't do anything in the meantime. No! On the contrary, because we have that blessed hope, we can now do a lot to improve our spiritual character, as Tim brought out, one of those facets, which is prayer and fasting. It's not easy. And of course, not everybody has good health. And you have to carefully monitor yourself. If you're diabetic and everything, take your insulin if you fast.

Don't let your whole system go into a catatonic state, because you're missing ingredients that your body is not producing anymore. But still, prayer and fasting are very important. And to draw closer to God, not let the world and Satan pull us into their environment. We also need to improve our personality. Learn how to be diplomatic, how to say things at the right time, at the right place. The older I get, the quieter I get. Because, boy, it's so easy to stick your foot in your mouth, right?

Just learn. Zip it. Don't say things that sometimes later on you come to regret. That just happens. Part of daily prayer is, Father, help me with my tongue. Help me not to offend. Help me not to injure people with my words, but to edify. Help me, because I know I can't do it on my own. I need your help on that. And also, to work on our skills.

To learn more about God's ways. To love others. To serve them. Share our blessings. And enjoy those relationships now. But realize these will always be limited and fleeting. They're not going to last. Even the best of times are not going to last. In conclusion, I'd like to read from 2 Peter 1, verses 3-11. I mentioned this about partaking, which means sharing of God's very nature. But what he continues, it's a work in progress that we have.

Notice in 2 Peter 1, 3-11, it says, God's divine power has given us everything we need for life and for godliness. He has given it. Doesn't mean we're going to use it. This power was given to us through knowledge of the one who called us by his own glory and integrity. Through his glory and integrity, he has given us his promises that are of the highest value. This is from God's word version. Through these promises, you will share in the divine nature because you have escaped the corruption that sinful desires cause in the world. Because of this, make every effort to add integrity to your faith.

And to integrity, add knowledge. To knowledge, add self-control. To self-control, add endurance. To endurance, add godliness. To godliness, add Christian affection. And to Christian affection, add love. If you have these qualities and they are increasing, it demonstrates that your knowledge about our Lord Jesus Christ is living and productive. If these qualities aren't present in your life, you're short-sighted and have forgotten that you were cleansed from your past sins. Therefore, brothers and sisters, use more effort to make God's calling and choosing of your own secure.

If you keep doing this, you will never fall away. Then you will also be given the wealth of entering into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Yes, brethren, if we do what we have just read through God, then all of these greatest dreams that produce goodness to ourselves and others will one day become true. We have heard what we should do. Now, let's live it.