[Mr. Rick Shabi] You know, as this has all unfolded, there's been a scripture that has been on my mind actually for the last few weeks. And you're all familiar with the scripture because back in 1 Kings 3, Solomon found himself in a situation. And to paraphrase what he said back in 1 Kings 3:7-9 there, he said, "God, you've given me a job to do. You've put me here in the midst of your people, a great people. And, you know, but I'm..." And he kept saying, "Your servant. But your servant doesn't even know how to come out or go in."

And I've been feeling that way. There's a daunting work that God wants us to do, but I know He will provide. You know, God calls. Solomon knew that God's people were His special people. Moses had said the same thing, you know, in Deuteronomy 7 when he called the people of Israel. God said, "You're my special people." Of all the peoples on earth, God had called that ancient nation of Israel His people. Jesus Christ and God the Father love all of mankind. Jesus Christ, we know died for all of mankind, but Israel back then was His special people.

Today, 1 Peter 2:9 says, "We are God's chosen generation. We are a royal priesthood. We are His special people, chosen and called out of this world to proclaim His praises." So, while God loves all of mankind, He does work with special groups of people that He calls for His purpose. All of mankind we know has their calling. They will have an opportunity of salvation, but for some in the world today, and that's you and me, and everyone listening, you know, we do have a special calling and a responsibility to God.

You know, Solomon went on in those words, and he said, you know, asking God, "Give your servant a heart of wisdom. Give your servant the discernment to determine good and evil, and let us do the job that you called your servant to do." And that's how I feel today and I hope that's how we all feel today that we are always here to do God's will, to let Him lead us and guide us to fulfill the job that He has called us all to do. It's not just one man's job, it's not just one group's job, it's all of our job. We are His body. I hope that we always remember that to be part of God's body is a tremendous, tremendous privilege.

It's not because we're so great or we're so smart that God called us out, but He called us out and I hope we never ever discount or minimize the calling that God has given us because it is the greatest thing that has ever happened in our lives. There is absolutely nothing in the world that can compare to that. He's working with us. He is preparing us for eternity. There's absolutely nothing in the world that can compare if we keep that vision in front of us of what God is doing. And sometimes, we need to sharpen that vision and keep it clear in our minds because when we have that vision, we will have the zeal. We'll have the zeal and we'll have the desire to do what God wants us to do.

Let's turn over to 1 Peter 2. You know, as Peter reflected on his calling and the people of his day, he wrote some very encouraging verses that are, of course, appropriate for all of us today as every verse and word in the Bible is. Excuse me. In 1 Peter, well, let me look at a few verses here in 1 Peter 1:22 and 23, leading into chapter 22.

1 Peter 1:22-25 He says, "Since you..." And again, remember he's speaking to you and me, everyone who reads these verses that God has called. "Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit, in sincere love of the brethren, love."—that's agape—"one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the Word of God, which lives and abides forever." And then in chapter 2, he begins in verse 1.

1 Peter 2:1-3 "Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil-speaking, as newborn babes desire the pure milk of the Word that you may grow thereby." Growing up, always becoming more and more like Christ, becoming more and thinking more and more like Him, becoming more and more like Him, acting more and more like Him, reacting more and more like Him. "Desire the pure milk of the Word that you may grow thereby, if indeed you've tasted that the Lord is gracious."

We've all tasted that, right? We all know God is good. We all know what He has called us to. We know what His plan is and what His purpose is, and it's all good. So different than what the world has to offer. Everything that God has, that He has called us to is good, to a tremendous purpose.

1 Peter 2:4 "Coming to Him as to a living stone rejected indeed by men but chosen by God and precious." Coming to Christ as a living stone. Later here in this chapter, it refers to Christ as the rock. The rock, the cornerstone of His Church, of His body that He calls. Jesus Christ, when He began the church in Matthew 16:18, He said, "Upon this rock, I will build my church," referring to Himself. You know, when we think about stones, we think of just these fixed objects. They're hard, they're tough, they're set in their place. It's hard to change a rock or a stone, isn't it? They're kind of dead. But here, God says come to Him as a living stone. He's got all that toughness. He's confirmed, and He's solid in the truth of God and in the plan of God. And yet, He's living and not dead. He is a purpose in mind, ever-growing and ever going toward God wants us to. And in verse 5, He compares us the same way.

1 Peter 2:5 He says, "You also, as living stones," solid in the truth, rock-hard in what the truth of God is, living and growing to live by every Word of God and becoming what God wants us to be. "You also, as living stones." It's quite a contrast that God gives us there as He defines us. "You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."

That's why we're here. Living stones being built up as spiritual temples, those stones that would make up the temple, the building as God prepares us, as He grows us, as we are living, and as He shapes the stones that we are into the shape they need to be to fit into the temple that He's building among us individually and collectively. You know, I say if we all had the vision of God, if we all remembered what He was doing, if we all appreciated and really dug in deep and saw what God was doing and let that guide and direct us every day, we would be hard at work and letting Him build that temple in us and collectively in doing His work, in doing His will. We would do all the other things of life exactly the way we need to do it in accordance with His Word and His will, but we would have the priority of building His house so that Jesus Christ has that temple to return to.

You know, as I've gone through the Bible, and if we've, you know, recently gone through the days of Unleavened Bread, and we're looking forward to the day of Pentecost, we, of course, have recounted the time that God brought Israel out of Egypt. And there's a lot of lessons that we can learn from God bringing Israel out of Egypt. You know many of them so I don't need to recount any of those.

But there's things that we can look at and see the similarities between ourselves. And I know down in Orlando, we've talked about some of those things as we look at what God did. And as He brought Israel out of Egypt. You know, here's the people that still who knew God was but as they'd been for centuries in that environment, in that society, they lost a lot of the knowledge of God. They had to be retrained, they had to be reeducated. And as God brought them out, He retaught them the things that they needed to do, the things that they were to do to honor Him and to see Him and to worship Him the way that they needed to worship Him and that God wants you and me to worship Him.

They needed that retraining because, in that society, things kind of slipped away from them. They were under oppression. They had to do what their masters said, but now they'd been brought out and they had been freed from that slavery to do what their real master, God, wanted them to do. So, let's just take a little bit of time to think about and look at some of the things that God looked at as He brought Israel out of Egypt. So, let's just, if you don't mind, turn with me back to Exodus. We will do a cursory view of what God taught Israel as He was bringing them out of Egypt. We're going to start in Exodus 3:5 before God sent Moses to talk to Pharaoh. And as He was calling Moses to do the job that He was going to have them do, He taught him about some words here that are important to us as well.

Exodus 3:5 It says, "Then God said to Moses." Now, this is the occasion where Moses sees the burning bush. He goes over to walk toward it and to see what is going on. "Then God said to Moses, 'Don't draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet for the place where you stand is holy ground.'"

That's the first place in the Bible that the word "holy" is used, sacred, it's of God. "Take your shoes off, Moses. You're standing here in holy ground." And Moses learned when we deal with God and when we approach God, He's holy. There's things that are holy to God and we have to pay close attention to them. If we're looking to do what pleases God, we need to know what's holy and do the things that God wants us to do. So, holy was one thing that God taught him and He said, "Moses, take your shoes off. Don't approach me like you approach every other place. I'm holy, I'm sacred. The things that I give belong to me and you need to follow what I have to say and honor and respect me."

If we go forward to Exodus 12, as Israel now is preparing to leave Egypt after the plagues have been descended upon Egypt and the tenth plague is about to come on where finally, they will leave Egypt. In verse 16 of Exodus 12, God teaches them about a holy convocation.

Exodus 12:16 "On the first day, there shall be a holy," there's that word, "a holy convocation." The people shall get together on that first day. They shall be together on that day. It's a holy convocation. That's what God wants. On that day, there will be a holy convocation. "And on the seventh day, there shall be a holy convocation for you. No manner of work shall be done, but that,"—in this case, on those Holy Days—"but that which everyone must eat, that only may be prepared by you."

So, when we approach holy convocations, they're of God. And we come to God in the manner that He would have us do. When He calls His people together, He expects them to be together. If we respect God, if we honor God, if we are looking at God as who He is and our will is to do what God wants, we do what He says.

Now, I don't need to turn to Leviticus 23 because I know you're all very familiar with Leviticus 23. And there in Leviticus 23, it lists the holy convocations of God. The weekly Sabbath is there, the first one. There will be a holy convocation. And then He lists seven Holy Days that are holy convocations. He means exactly what He says. These are God's times. This is holy ground. This is what you do. Part of what you do in that holy time, you have a holy convocation. Come together before God. He has the right to assemble His family, His body. He wants us there. How else do we ever grow as the body that He wants us to if we aren't with the other members with whom He is working? You know, one thing about the Sabbaths and Holy Days that I've come to realize is only the true church of God, only the true church of God really keeps all the holy convocations of God in the manner that He said.

There are some who will keep some of them but not others. There are some who keep them not in the manner that God said. Only the true church of God will keep all those holy convocations in the manner and at the time, the appointed times, that God said and in the manner that He said to do them. That's why in Exodus 31, you don't need to turn there, God says, "The Sabbath," and He means all the Sabbaths, "It's a sign between me and my people." It's what we do. It's a banner we wear to show we are God's people. We do things the way God said to do them.

So, we have holy, we have holy convocations. And in Exodus 16, before He ever gives the commandments, another time that God uses the word "holy".

Exodus 16:23 “He said to them.” And this is the time when God is giving the manna. Israel is complaining, they have no food, God miraculously rains down manna from heaven. And earlier in the chapter in verse 4, He says, "I'm going to do this and it's going to be a test. It's going to be a test for you." And that test was, "I'm going to tell you when you gather the manna and when you don't." And, of course, Israel didn't pay—some of Israel didn't pay attention to it—but they learned what God says, you do what He has to say.

So in verse 23, says, "He said to them," Moses as he's speaking to them, "This is what the Lord has said 'Tomorrow is a Sabbath rest.’” A holy Sabbath, his time, time dedicated for God, "A holy Sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you bake today, boil what you will boil, lay up for yourselves all that remains to be kept until morning." And so, we have the word "holy" that God is teaching Israel as they come out. And He reminds them, "This is what you do. This is how you honor me. This is how you are my people. This is what we do."

If we go a couple of chapters further in Exodus 19, we find Israel at the base of Mount Sinai. They're about to meet, if you will, God, and it's a daunting time for them. As they gather there before God, they have...you know, as your read on through 19. In chapters 19 and 20, you see that they see God's power and they fear. And Moses said, "You need the fear of God that you may not sin, that you obey Him, that you remember who He is" Because He was working a purpose in ancient Israel as well. He wanted them to become His own special people because He wanted to take them to the promised land. He wanted to give them everything, but they had to enter into a covenant with Him that, yes, God will do this, but will you do this Israel? So they're here in chapter 19 of Exodus at the base of Mount Sinai. In verse 5, we see as God is speaking to Moses, it says, "Now, therefore..." No, let's begin in verse 4.

Exodus 19:4 "You've seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you on eagle's wings and brought you to myself. Now, therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you will be a special treasure to me above all people, for all the earth is mine.” If you'll do this, I'll have you ride on the high hills of earth. He says in Isaiah 58, "If you'll take your foot," if you remember Isaiah 58:13 and 14, "If you will take your foot from my Sabbath day, if you will call it a delight, if you will not do your pleasure on my day, if you will reserve that time for me, if you'll do my will," here he says, "you'll be a special treasure. I'll provide everything you need beyond what you can be. You will be the model nation that I want you to be.”

Exodus 19:5 “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people, for all the earth is mine and you shall be, to me, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation."

God's people. The same thing He says about you and me in this day and age, a holy people called by Him, chosen by Him. "You shall be, to me, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel. And Moses did. And as Moses prepared the people to come before God… If we drop down in chapter 19:10, we see God give a few things. “Here Moses, how you get this people ready to approach Me.” Right?

Exodus 19:10-11 “the Eternal said to Moses, ‘Go to the people and consecrate them today.’” Could be purify them today. Get them clean today. They're approaching God here at Mount Sinai. "Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes." Let them be clean. When they come before me as my people, clean them up, clean them up. Keep that in mind. In verse 11, "And let them be ready. Let them be ready for the third day." Get them clean so they can serve me and as they serve me. "Take the time to do that and get them ready, Moses." And they did.

If you read down the verse, they washed their clothes. Moses had them prepared. But when they saw God, they were daunted. They were in fear, the right type of fear because our God is a powerful God. He can provide everything and anything, and He loves us. He is a tremendous God. So, as God worked with Israel, He reminded them as they came out. They had to be trained. Here's the way you please me, Israel. I will do what you want, or not what you want, I will do what I want, I will provide for you, but you have these responsibilities to me.

Now, we draw the similarities between ancient Israel and us because God has brought us out of the world. We all know and remember what it was like, and we live and work and go about our daily activities in the world now and we see the difference between the world, especially in these days we live in now where the gulf between God and morality on one side and what the world sees as morality on another, the gulf is ever-widening. And so there is no middle ground. It's God's way or some other way that is certainly apart from God led by another spirit that's out there.

And as we've come through the last few years, we've all endured some things that we've never expected to endure. You know, no one saw this pandemic coming. I remember on, you know, the first time the church was told, "Don't meet at all," how quickly everything came about. It was like, "This thing is spreading, don't have Sabbath services," and we found ourselves locked down. The whole country was locked down, and something that no one saw coming.

And so over the course of the next year, you know, things were different. We all learned, you know… We all did things that we never expected to do. Zoom became kind of a byword among everyone, right? I'd never even heard of Zoom before, but now it's kind of like second nature. We do Zoom Bible studies back in the areas that I'm in, we have Zoom Sabbath services. And as we've come through that time where the world has gone through a different time, perhaps COVID and the things that surrounded it have dulled our senses a little bit. Maybe we need to be reminded about what it is that God wants and how to serve Him, and go back to the Bible and look and see what it is that God wants and see what's well pleasing to Him.

We turn back to Ephesians 5. Paul talks about this as he's writing to the church in Ephesus. And he has a very, you know, meaningful set of verses here in verses 8 to 10 of Ephesians 5, that again, specifically apply to us. And in verse 10, he gives us what maybe we need to go back and be reminded about who we are, what we do, how we do it, how important it is to God that we do it exactly His way.

Ephesians 5:8-10 "For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light." Last Sabbath, we heard a sermon on walking with God. Walk with Him as children of light, not children of darkness, not children of dusk, children of light. Walk in that way, the way Jesus Christ did, the way that He showed us, and the way that He lived His life. "For the fruit of the Spirit," verse 9, "is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth." And in verse 10, "Finding out..." That's seeking, that's looking for, that's discerning, "Finding out what is acceptable to the Lord." Acceptable there should have probably been transferred. Find out what is well-pleasing to God. He's promised us everything. He's given us blessings and opportunities that we could never ever imagine, and that the world knows nothing about. They have yet to understand what God has in mind.

But you and I have that tremendous blessing of knowing what God's will is, what His plan is, where we are going, what He has in store. And He says, you know, "You know, people of God, my own special people, take the time. Find out, dig into it. Find out what is well-pleasing to me. If you love me, if you agape me with all your heart, mind, and soul, find out what is well-pleasing to me and do it, and discipline yourselves to do it." God showed Israel what's well-pleasing to Him. We have a Bible in our laps that tells us what is well-pleasing to God. If we really love God, we will do what He says to do, in the way that He says to do it with all our hearts, minds, and soul.

You know, as God called us out of the world, He puts us in His body. Jesus Christ started His church, right? Matthew 16:18, church, Ecclesia, called out ones, that's you and me, the ones who God, for some reason, looked down on us and opened our minds to understand the truth now and we have the responsibility of responding to it and living by God's Spirit as we repent and are baptized and have hands laid on us and as we receive that Spirit.

We have that responsibility to do that to Him to find out what's well-pleasing to Him, but He put us in His body. He says that specifically in Colossians 1, I believe it's verse 18. He equates the church to His body. You and I have a body, right? I mean, top to bottom, we have a body. That's the same analogy that God gives you and I, whether we're here, whether we're in Orlando, Jacksonville, California, wherever we are listening to this. We're all part of His body, but locally, we have our bodies as well.

Here in Cincinnati, boy, there's a lot of you here today, and every church has His body. God puts us where He wants us. And that body is to grow into who He wants it to become, just like a child is placed in a family and that family has a responsibility to grow that child that they become productive adults, fearing God, obeying God. That's what He's...you know, when He says He's seeking Godly offspring. It's part of our responsibilities, right? To raise our children that they know God and He's part of our lives every day of our life, not just on Friday night or Saturday or a few days, but every day. He puts us as part of His body.

Now, as we turn back one chapter to Ephesians 4, we read about the body and how God established His body, the church, and how He set it up. And in these verses, in verses 11-16 of Ephesians 4, we've talked about them many times before. As we look through them, we can see, what is God doing? What does He want for us? You know, we don't need to recount the 10 Commandments, but maybe each of us need to go back to the way of life that God has called us to and examine ourselves, are we doing things the way God said, physically and spiritually? Let's look at verse 11. Here's how God set up His body.

Ephesians 4:11-12 “He gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers. Why? For the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry.” Okay. That's why we're here. He is equipping you and me for the work of ministry. Now, ministry in the Greek there, we've always known it means service. I looked it up this morning to make sure that I had the Greek translation right there. And you know what word popped up as the very first thing in Strong's when I looked up the word except ministry? The very first word that showed up was literally attendance. And then it said service. Isn't that interesting that if we took that and said that, you know, for the equipping of the saints for the work of attendance? I mean, wow, that almost sounds like convocations, being together, whatever. But it's service, right? God is equipping us all because He wants us to serve.

You know, I'll go back to what Solomon said in 1 Kings 3. I noted that as he made those comments to God, he didn't use the word "I." It wasn't about I, I need this, God. He continually referred himself to your servant. Give your servant what he needs to do the job you've had him to do. Give your servant a heart that is able to discern good from evil, a heart of understanding. Give your servant this. And, you know, as we look at ourselves, maybe it'd be very good to remind ourselves we are here to serve.

Matthew 20:28 tells us Jesus Christ Himself didn't come to be served, He came to serve. If He came to serve, what about you and me? We came, yes, to serve Him, to serve each other. And as we go forward and as we work toward completing the work that God has given us to do, service has to be part of what we do. Service has to be part of our mindset. Serving Him, serving one another, provide what each other need that the body can grow, to equip each other for the work of service.

And as we look in verse 10 or verse 11, why?

Ephesians 4:12-13 "For the equipping of the saints, for the work of service, for the edifying or building of the body of Christ." That's what He called you and me to be part of, to build us. It wasn't because we were righteous people when He called us. As long as we draw breath, there is more work for you and me to do. There's more that God wants us to grow and whatever area that He has us or calls us to serve in. "For the equipping of the saints, for the work of ministry or service, for the building of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith." Replace that word "unity" with oneness.

What did Christ say over and over again as He was praying that last prayer? His will was that you and I, everyone, this part of the body, would be one, just as He and God the Father are one, to be one with them and to be one with each other. That takes time. That doesn't happen overnight. That takes meeting together, getting to know one another, praying for one another, loving one another, doing all the things of agape that... I know that we've talked about back in my local areas that I know that you are well aware of as well. Shall we all come to the unity of the faith, one body, one body, right? One body.

Ephesians 4:13 "We all come to the unity or the oneness of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect…”—Or let's say mature, spiritually mature, or complete man as God leads us to that. It says "The knowledge of the Son of God to a complete man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ."

Become like Him. That's what God has called us to. That's what happens in our life as we allow God to lead us and guide us and grow us.

Ephesians 4:14 "That we should no longer be children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, and the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting." You know, stones don't get carried away by cunningness and whatever. They're solid. They know the truth. They're grounded in the truth. They're not going to be shaken In that way, they're solid, but as living stones. God keeps molding us into who He wants us to become because we all have a part, different parts because the whole body works together, right?

Not everyone is the head. Jesus Christ is the head. It tells us this here as we go on in chapter 4. He is the head. He is. He's the one who's directing what the arms do and the legs do and the mouth does as we yield to Him, right? That's a big one, to let God yield, to yield to Him that what comes out of our mouths is what He wants. But it's one body. He directs it.

Ephesians 4:15 "Speaking the truth in love." You know, that's a phrase that's been talked about here over the last few weeks. Again, when you look in the concordance of what it is, you know, some of the... It's interesting when you look at some of the older translations before the King James, how they translate it. For instance, the Wycliffe's Bible that was translated in 1300s, it doesn't say, "Speaking the truth in love." It says, if I can find where I wrote that down, "Do we truth in love?" Do we truth in love? Because that is a verb that's there, right? Do we truth in love? It's more than speaking the truth in love. Some people can speak the truth, but they don't really live the truth. They don't have it as part of their inner beings. It's not part of the DNA that's running through their veins.

When God says, "Truth in love," He means we live it, we speak it, we do it, it becomes part of us. It comes from the head. Jesus Christ is truth. His Word is truth. It's what we do and what we assimilate. But, well, we'll just say what Paul said here. Same thing with Young's Literal, it doesn't say, "Speaking the truth in love." It talks about doing the truth in love. "But, speaking the truth in love, that we may grow up." There's those living stones again, that we may change, that we continue to grow, or not. God didn't call us to status quo. He didn't call us to be standing still. Individually grow, the church grows. God molds us more and more as He builds that spiritual house and we can see or He can see it, ever adding those layers of foundation and layers to become the temple, the complete temple that He is looking for in you and me. "That we may grow up in all things into Him who is the head.” Christ. He's the head. He's the one who directs. He's the one who we do. We are all part of His body. We do what the head directs us to do. That's what we're here for. And in that, I mean, we find complete joy, satisfaction, and fulfillment when we have yielded to God.

Ephesians 4:16 "From whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share." Again, I know, and I say this often in our areas back there, I'll say it to you as well, God provides everything we need. Everything we need that He wants, that we need in order to have the church grow is sitting here in this room. In everybody, He provides what it is that church needs to grow. Just like our body, you know, we have how many joints? We have how many bones? We have everything in order to have our body do what God wants us to do, our physical body. He provides all the resources that we need throughout His whole body, but in our area as well, all those bodies that He has, anyone who has been a pastor or have been in a church.

It's always amazing when you find something, you think, "Oh, well, all of a sudden someone shows up. They have that expertise. They can get it done." Everything the body needs. And so, God is working on that. He knows what it takes to complete the work. He knows what it is to build the temple and have us ready for what He wants us to do.

Going back to verse 16, "According to the effective working by which every part does its share." It's not just a couple of people, it's not just one office, it's the whole church working together to accomplish what God wants to have us accomplish. And as He says, "Effective working by which everyone does its share causing growth of the body for the edifying or the building of itself in love."

Everyone here is an integral part of God's work. It's not by accident that we're here. Every single one of us has something that God has given us that contributes to the work of God. Sometimes we have to look at it, sometimes we have to seek, sometimes we have to ask God, sometimes we have to find out what is His perfect will? Find out what we can do that's well-pleasing to Him, find out what we can do to be part of the body that He wants us to become. It's an important part of our calling. It's an important part of what God wants us to do.

While we're here in Ephesians, I want to show you a couple of things here that God says about His church. Because being part of His church, the vehicle through which He is training His people, that's you and me, for eternity happens within the body that He places us in. Okay? Ephesians 5. Here's a familiar verse. You know, as we look at a couple of these things, we can look back and see, what did God say to ancient Israel? Because what He did to ancient Israel is He got them ready to meet God at the base of Mount Sinai. He's working in you and me as He gets us ready for the return of Jesus Christ when we will be there with Him if we follow, if we yield, if we let Him lead and if we get ourselves out of the way and let God do what He wants to do. In Ephesians 5:25, he is comparing the physical marriage relationship to the relationship between Christ and His Church.

Ephesians 5:25 He says, "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved," and I'll say loves the church, right? "Just as Jesus Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her." He sacrificed Himself that we could have this opportunity. Without His sacrifice, you and I are all dead people with no future, no reason to be living, but He opened up the doors for you and me now to understand the truth for the rest of humanity who will all have an opportunity of salvation in the time that He determines.

What did He do it for? “He loved the church and gave Himself or her that He might sanctify.” Remember, Moses said, "Consecrate them," or God told Moses, "Consecrate them," set them apart, consecrate them, get them ready that He might sanctify and cleanse her. Oh, they had to clean their clothes, wash their clothes, get clean when you're going to meet God. "That He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the Word." Living by every word of God, seeking those scriptures, living by those scriptures, implementing them into our lives, listening to God, listening to what's said. And when we see where we may be a little apart from what God's will is, denying self and following Him instead.

Ephesians 5:26 "That He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the Word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church," a splendid church, is one of the translations that could be, a splendid church, a beautiful church ready to meet her husband. "That He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish." That takes time. That takes our lifetimes as we work toward what God's will for us is.

"That she should be holy and without blemish." That's the goal. That's what God has called us to be. When Christ returns, He will return to a people, if we allow Him to do that, that will have made herself ready for His return. That we will allow Him to wash and cleanse us during this time that when He returns and we stand before Him, we're cleansed, we're purified, we're ready.

In 1 John 3 he says if we had that hope to be there when God returns, "Everyone who has this hope purifies himself." Well, it's really God who purifies us, but we have to make the choices along the way. We have to do the things along the way to do the things that He wants us to do.

So, if we look at chapter 6 here, we see in verse 10, so we come down to, you know, the armor of God and learning how to put on that armor of God that we can withstand the wiles of the devil because those darts will come and there will be trials that we haven't experienced yet. And we will have to stand strong in God. Strength comes from Him, but now is the time to be developing that faith in Him, that trust in Him, that complete yieldiness to Him, and knowledge that whatever comes, we will stand. That's what Paul says here in verse 10.

Ephesians 6:10 He says, "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of Satan," or the wiles of the devil. Be ready, be ready. He says somewhere in here. My eyes aren't falling to there. Be ready. Get ready. Now is the time to get ready. Now as we look at the future, and the future today looks different than it did three years ago or two years ago, the future we can see the prophecies of God and the times that God prophesized will be on earth at the time of Christ's return, we can see it. It's there if we have our eyes open, if we're paying attention to it. Get us ready.

Let me turn to Hebrews here for a moment. Hebrews 12. You know, we have to look at ourselves, and here we are in this training period that God has given us. That's why He's given us this time. Let me just read a few verses here in Hebrews 12 leading up to several... I'm not going to read through, but I'm going to let you read later on today some of the verses here in Hebrews 12.

Hebrews 12:1 he says, "Therefore, we also..." That's you and me, right? "Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that's set before us." There's a lot of the race yet to be done. The more difficult hurdles are ahead. The more difficult obstacles are ahead. God will get us ready. One obstacle we overcome, the next one is going to be a little harder. We have to be ready. As I say, we have to look at those opportunities to develop strength, trust, faith in God, always doing His will and keeping our eyes on Him, right?

Hebrews 12:6 "Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him," always remember the joy, always keep that vision of what God says He's doing for us. Don't let it fade. Don't let the cares and the concerns of the world make you forget what God has called. Remind yourself every single day of what God has called us to. "The author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him He endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged." There comes a time where it's like life gets really tough. We can't give up. We know what happens if we give up. Always have to keep forward, looking to God to give us the strength. "You haven't yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin, and you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as sons. 'My son, don't despise the chastening of the Lord nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him, for whom the Lord loves, He chastens and He scourges every son whom He receives.'"

Ephesians 12:7 "If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons, for what son is there whom a father doesn't chasten?" And you can read on later, read through the rest of chapter 12 and you'll see the word "chastening" appear. In the Greek, the word "chastening" is the word "paideia" P-A-I-D-E-I-A. Paideia in the Greek culture was the training that was given to the Greek youth so that they would become ideal citizens of the society. It had to do with body, mind, and soul. They were exposed to every culture or every facet of education during that time so that they could grow up to be complete leaders in their society.

And God used that word to liken what you and I are going through today. No training is without chastening. No training is without rebuke. No training is without being told or counseled in. This is what you need to do. This is how you need to become better. This is where you may have failed this time, but here's what you can do the next time. So, every time you see the word "chastening" in here, it's the training that God has given us, the training that He has put you and me in. This is the time for us to become ready for the return of Jesus Christ, to become like Him so that we're standing there with Him at that time. Keep that in mind as you read that, and you see is what God says in Hebrews 12. And keep in mind what He is doing with us.

You know, if we turn back to Revelation 19:7, you see this fantastic truth of a marriage between God or Jesus Christ and His bride. Fantastic. Boggles our mind, right, to read this. Maybe we've allowed that to become a little dull in our minds of what it means because we've heard it over and over and over, the bride of Christ, Jesus Christ weds His bride. Boy, sometimes we just got to stop and let ourselves meditate and realize what God is saying there.

Revelation 19:7-8 "Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His wife has made herself ready." She's ready. Through the course of what she's done in her life, she has made herself ready. "And to her, it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright." Washed with the water of the Word. Made ready to stand against whatever comes our way. Complete loyalty and commitment to God. Complete loyalty and commitment to the truth of God, living that truth. "To her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saint." That's what God's doing with you and me.

I think we sometimes forget the calling that God has given us, how fantastic it is, and it compares to nothing that this world has to offer. If we were really thinking clearly while we make some of the choices we make, we would never, ever put anything before what God's will is. We would never look at anything in the world as it's more important than what God's will for us is, whatever that may be. And that choice would be at us because it would be there. And when we were looking at that, the zeal for God's way would become enormous. It would become overwhelming to us individually. And as it happened in our church, we would be zealous to do the work of God if we had that vision and honed that vision, and asked God for that vision.

If you don't have that vision, ask God for it. He's willing to give us. Just show Him that you want Him to do for you what He asks you to do. He'll show the way and He'll lead us as His church. He's making us ready for eternity. He's building a spiritual house, a temple. And, you know, that temple as He builds it has all those stones that are attached to it, all those stones that build it, all those stones, living stones that are being molded and shaped so that that wall of that temple is perfectly and strongly built. You and I have a part of that temple that He is building.

In Revelation 21:9, we read about the bride of Christ. We read about it in Revelation 19. In Revelation 21, God comes back to the bride of Christ.

Revelation 21:9-12 "One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and talked with me saying, 'Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb's wife. I will show her to you.' And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. She had a great and high wall with 12 gates, 12 angels at the gates, names written on them, which are the names of the 12 tribes of the children of Israel."

Revelation 21:18-19 "The construction of its wall was of jasper. The city was pure gold, like clear glass. The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with all kinds of precious stones." Living stones? All kinds of precious stones. "The first foundation was jasper." Earlier on in verse 14, I skipped verse 14, but there, you know, on the foundation were the names of the 12 apostles of the Lamb. But then, you have these foundations, right, composed of precious stones, excuse me. "The first foundation was jasper, the second, sapphire, the third, chalcedony, the fourth, emerald," and so on. It's all composed of all these stones. "Come, I'll show you the bride of Christ, the Lamb's wife."

God has called us to be living stones, building the temple and He will build that temple in us. As we go forward and as the church goes forward, let's all pray that God will lead us and guide us individually and be committed to Him to do His will and to become those living stones that He wants us to become. That we will be the servants that He wants us to be. And I guarantee you, God will work and build His church in the way that He wants it to, His body, so that we are ready when Jesus Christ returns.