217 Kings Of Tomorrow (Part 1) Intro To Two Lens - Rod Mills

​In this series we’re looking at two lens that are essential for us to see reality accurately: the lens of creation and the lens of eternity, the spiritual world. In order to have good depth perception, it is critical to see through two eyes, not through one. In the same way, these two lens are required to have spiritual depth perception, to have a three-dimensional view of our spiritual and physical operating environment.
The design of creation is to give us a lens into God, His attributes, the hidden realms of reality, and the ages to come. Not only must we see eternity through the lens of this creation; we must see this creation and this present age through the lens of eternity.

Full transcript generated by ai (please excuse errors):

​All right, well, I've just started the recorder here, I want to tell you that today, we're kind of starting this new series. I don't know how long it's going to take us guys. i This is my first now, I have a confession I'll make here in a minute. But this is my first set of notes. And usually those are about four or five pages. And these are 24 pages. But I have been working on this for a long time. And so some of these some of the nuggets, the golden nuggets in the teachings, you'll recognize some things in it. But there's a whole lot that I haven't shared. And so I really have been feeling the last couple of years, the Lord calling me to just kind of go out and collect gold nuggets go out and collect gold nuggets. So I've been doing that my personal time with the Lord. And I have not been to a place where I've systematically been able to kind of place them in a some kind of format. So I'm hoping to do that. With this teaching. And I believe it may go for a while. And you guys know me, I don't like to be the only one teaching I like to make sure we're sprinkling in and everyone else's teaching that has a teaching gift or desire. And so that last series we did on the seven pillars of the Friends of Jesus, that was 29 part series, but it actually took, I think, right around a year, maybe slightly over a year, because we want to have other people teaching. We want to have you teaching here real soon, maybe next week, I don't know, I'm really hungry for the spiritual disciplines, more teaching on it. And I've read on it and all this, but now I'm at that point where I feel like I need someone to teach me and to have those discussions around them. Not that that has to be the topic. But that's just kind of on my heart. But anyways, this one, I don't know what to call it exactly. I sent this note out on the streams, the prayer streams. It's kind of like this long view teaching series to kind of pull out. We've talked about telescopes, we've talked about looking into eternity, and seeing what God shows us. The actually, the Bible, I believe, tells us a lot more about eternity than most people realize. And I think the reason why we don't realize it is because we've especially in the in the American church and the Western Church, especially we've gotten used to a whole lot of teachings on relationships and marriages. And not this is not bad. But I'm just saying this is the bulk of a lot of the teachings we've had is on things that have immediate help for us in different areas and things. Not that that's the only thing. But we don't have a lot of teachings about eternity, and about heaven, about the new creation. And so people assume that the Bible doesn't say very much. It actually says a lot about eternity. And so I feel like we need to dive into this. And so I'm calling this right now I thought much about this, if you guys could see my notes, I have I'm not kidding, because I've been doing this for a few years, I probably have 20 different titles that I've just bantered about and subtitles, because I feel like this is something really important. You know, I don't usually do that. Usually, I don't spend more than 10 minutes on a title, you know, but I, I feel like this topic is really, really, really important for the hour that we're entering in the church. And I believe it's going to affect us on a monumental level on a huge level. And so I want to be faithful to the people God's called me to love and invest into and that's you hear those online and those who will be listening online, those who are on Zoom and, and those that we'll be communicating with, because I believe it's not so important. How many people we speak something the first time because God is the one who takes that and multiplies it out. Not us right There's a, I will tell you, I'm not going to say it on the, I'm not going to say it on this broadcast here. Because I don't want to increase the demand right now. But there's a book set I want. And it's really hard to get. So I'm going to be careful. But there's, there's a book that I want. And it's exactly that it's a man who was teaching in relatively unknown places. And today, there's entire books and books and books with his name on it. Now someone else wrote them, but we'll talk about that someone else wrote a lot of them. But the My point is that he didn't teach a lot of people in that time compared to how many people God is using to reach him. And that's to me, it's not really important that my name is on it anyway, because this is God's truth, it's more important that God's word gets out to people. And so my hope is that a lot of what we talk about in this will just germinate in marinate in your spirits, and that you will have extraordinary insights in the coming months and years, and that you will teach those things the Lord shows you, and maybe some of these things that I share, but some of these, you'll you will have already seen. And this may just give context to what you've seen, if you've ever had that happen where the Lord was show you a, b and c, but you kind of don't know where it fits. And then you start learning from someone else God's teaching you through someone else, or through a book you're reading. And then suddenly you go, Wait a minute, I see where this fits in. Now, this makes sense. And it's like a puzzle piece looking for a puzzle. And, and I kind of have that, you know, when the kids were growing up, we'd find puzzle pieces. And we're like, which puzzles this too. And we'd literally have to get the boxes out and look at the pictures. And the Lord help you if you didn't have the box, we pull the picture out and I'd be going okay, I'm looking at the color of the puzzle piece. And I'm looking at the puzzle boxes. And I'm trying to figure out which box to put this piece in to see which puzzle it belonged in. But then once the puzzle is coming together to figure out where that goes. And that's been my experience, I pray that some of this will happen with you guys and with other people that we share and ministered to, and teach. So I've called this the kings of tomorrow. It's an I've referred to it as a kind of a long view teaching series. But I want to start by talking about two lens. The first lens is the lens of the cosmos, or the lens of creation. That's the first lens. The second lens, is the lens of eternity. And by that I mean the higher realms, the spiritual realm, God and the ages to come. So we see I believe that in order for us to see reality accurately, that one eye has to have a lens, if you will, of this scene, through the creation, what God wants us to see. And the other lens is to see through the creation that's coming, and that which we can't see the spiritual world as well. So I'm kind of including the spiritual world with a new creation, which as far as we understand is not yet. So we see the lens of the cosmos, or the lens of creation, in Psalm 19, and in Romans one, many other scriptures, but these are the two I'll refer to the creation itself reveals the glory in the nature of God. So it is a lens, the creation around us, is a lens into God's nature, and God's attributes. And so it's a lens into eternity. Because God's nature is what gives us hints and glimpses of things to come. And as we get into this study, we'll actually see how the writers of Scripture will gain revelation about things to come in eternity, because of their knowledge of the nature of God. It's kind of like when you know someone really well, those of you that have been married a few decades, you can predict certain things about your spouse, after you've been in love and married and living together for a long time. Because you know what they like, you've know, they're, you just gain an instinct. Sometimes people say, How do you know that? I don't know. But I know I know that this is what she'll choose. This is what he'll choose this is you just know their taste, if you will. And the deeper we come into the knowledge of God, we start to understand many scriptures in the writers of Scripture, when they gives us give us these glimpses. You go wait a minute, oh, I see why saying this I can You can feel the revelation that flows from scripture, and from their knowledge of God because of that relationship. To us a comparison, it would be like, it would be like you coming up to me and saying, you know, I've known your wife since she was in grade school. And I'm just seeing that, you you're you see her doing this, don't you're you might ask me a question, say, What do you think she's gonna pick and this scenario that it ended up? And I'll say, Oh, I think she'll pick this and you'll go, that's what I thought, because you know, the same person. And so we are people like the writers of Scripture in that we know the same God. So our instincts as we grow closer to Him, not just our head knowledge, but our relational knowledge to his heart, and his nature, begin to give us insights into things in the Bible that scripture says will happen in eternity, or gives Paul gives us glimpses, especially but even the Old Testament writers do as well. And when they do, you go, Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, I feel that I may not see it, or I may only see a glimpse, but I feel it. I'd like to read to you Psalm, chapter 19. If you'd like to turn there, or just follow along with me, it's fine. I'm going to read out of the New King James Version, Psalm 19. verses one through four. We'll come back to this passage a few times, The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament show his handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night tonight reveals knowledge. Let's stop there. So he's the writer is saying, The heavens itself Declare the Glory of God and the nature of God, the His very nature is seen in the heavens, let's get just what's an example. Every day the sun rises, not one day has the sun not risen. Not one day has the sun not set. I get emotional, not because of the sun. But because of why God's faithfulness is sure. He steadfast, he wants you to know who he says he is, he will always be just like, you know, the sun will rise tomorrow, you know, God will be faithful to you tomorrow. You know, this nature of God, because you see it. If you're like me, my one of my love languages is acts of service. And so for me, if you want to cause me to feel that you love me, just do something for me, it doesn't have to be big, it could be something that took you all of 10 seconds, you barely had to lift a finger. But in my heart, I just feel so loved when you do something. And so for me, when I see something like this, that's why I get emotional, because I've lived this faithfulness of God enough, that when I see I know, I don't have to worry, the sun's gonna rise. I don't have to worry, I know that the moon will come around at its appointed time. This may seem like something small, but the creation is filled, not with millions of these qualities, not with billions of these qualities, but trillions and plus, of multiplied of these qualities of the nature of God. He says there is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. He's talking about the heavens and the earth, the the firmament, all of this creation, there is no place where their voice is not singing, the praises of the glory of their Creator, the nature. If you look at a piece of art, many times that piece of art will reveal what's in the heart of the creators. Beth and I will have these conversations pretty often, where we'll watch a show or a movie. And we get into this. We do this pretty often we get in this discussion, we're like, do you think the writers are having an issue with this because they're stuck on that? It's like, and we don't realize that much of creative art flows from the hearts of its creators. Whether it's something like acting or or the arts, the music, whatever it may be, what's in the heart tends to come out and be expressed. And we see that this is God expressing his heart in the creation and so I like to say the creation has the fingerprint of God all over it, you can see the nature of God in it. Now let's go to Romans one, one of my favorite verses in the Bible. In Romans one, I'm going to read one verse, verse 20, in a certain section of that verse just to emphasize what size what we're looking at, here at the very beginning, Romans 120, Paul says, For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes are clearly seen, wow. being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power, and God hid. So Paul says, literally, the invisible attributes of God are all over his creation. And he actually goes on I don't have this here, he actually goes on and says, You will man are without excuse, there's no, there is literally no excuse for for not seeing the glory of God, because it's literally written in the creation, far beyond anything a human could possibly do. The attributes, the invisible attributes of God are in the tiniest cells, they're in our body. They're in biology, they're in math, or in calculus, how does statistics work? You know, it's it took me a while when I was in college to get that there are all these unknown, the all these unseen, invisible laws that govern when you roll dice, how many times certain numbers will come up. I really wish my teacher would have told me that first when I was in statistics, I have a lot of friends that had trouble with that, because no one just sat down. The first thing goes, Okay, guys, there's an invisible set of laws, that determines what happens. And you no one said that in statistics, they just start out in day one, it goes straight to the numbers and failed to tell you that there's this invisible set of laws that makes sure right now, you know, my the I mean, statistic statisticians can tell you, if you bring a dice out, and you roll it on a table right? Now, you're probably not going to roll the number six, five times in a row. That doesn't mean it's impossible. But they can tell you the likelihood of that happening. Why can they tell you the likelihood, because there's a invisible set of laws that govern how often it can happen? You see what I'm saying? So literally, God has written all these laws in the universe, and they reveal His invisible attributes. So an example of seeing the nature of God would be the largeness of the universe. This is another one besides we just talked about the faithfulness God. Now here, while back on the main stream, I sent out a picture from the newest telescope that was just launched. And it's fascinating. It's an image that they released. And I might have mentioned this one week, because I was so excited about it. But if you fully extend your arm, so just if you take your arm and you extend it, your arms length, and you take a little grain of sand in between your fingers, your thumb and your forefinger. And you look at that literally to.in the sky, if you look at that, with the sky behind you. And then you take a telescope that looks deep into space in that one little section, that's the size of that sand as it's held in your hand at arm's length. If you look at that, there are literally in that little grain. Just there, nothing around it just straight out on that little grain. There are literally 1000s of galaxies. And each galaxy averages 100 billion stars. And each star averages we don't even know how many planets, I'm gonna show you the picture. And those who are listening can't see it, but I'm gonna show you this picture. And you can look at it afterwards. But that's not just a bunch of stars, those dots are galaxies, especially the ones that are disc shaped. Those are just the ones they could see in this picture. There are many more there that can't be seen. Literally 1000s Now what does this tell us about God? It reveals just a glimpse, if you will, of how big he is. Okay, now I'm like, okay, normally, if he can create this, he has to be really big, like, big on some kind of scale other than how I measure bigness, right? Not only does he have to be big, it also reveals something else about his nature. Why did he'd do it. Why would God create all of that, and there's a lot of conjecture. And there's a lot of weird things out there. People say to that have no scriptural basis. And I don't want to get off into speculation. But I want to say this, that if nothing else, I believe that reveals to us that God has really big plans. He's just going, oh, when you start thinking about new creation, and you start thinking about what I can do in the Bible actually commands us to think we're going to look at that met, if we have time today. Paul taught us to do that. When you start thinking about this, I just want to give you a little frame of reference. Are you with me, I just got just kind of saying, I want to give you a little frame of reference, just when you're thinking about how big now we couldn't even discover this bigness until recently. And you know, this Webb telescope was just launched into space. And it's gonna, I mean, literally, they're releasing news articles this week of some of the things are, they're seeing, and it's spectacular. But it reveals to us the size of things, and the size of things reveal to us the size of God's plans. And the size of God's plans include you and me, even if we don't know what those plans are. And so here we see the lens of the creation, giving us a view into the new creation and the spiritual realm, and things to come now see where we're going with this. So now we're talking about the two lens one of these lens gives us the ability to look into our future. Now, I'm not saying we're going to be able to just go well, yeah, here's 10 things that we're going to do or 10. I'm not saying that even though I think there are some things in the Bible, but at least it's enough to get you excited. It's like wait a minute, new creation, we know we haven't even got to that wouldn't God starts telling us, there's going to be a new creation, the writer Scriptures tell us that there's going to be a new creation. And then there are scriptures that kind of compare the two and tell us things about the new creation. And we're going, Lord, imagine how much bigger that new creation is. And we start to realize that our purposes, are rooted in the age to come. This is so important. All of our purpose, is rooted in the age to come, it has expression here, but it will have its fullest, it will have its main expression, if you will, in the coming ages. And so if I see the coming ages, through this lens, everything starts to change, about our present sufferings, about our challenges, about the mundaneness that we have, you know, the monotony of life and the things we have to do that don't seem very exciting, and the things we have to do and the difficulties and the hardships that we go through all have a purpose. I'll tell you guys, and we'll get deeper into this, because some of the scriptures have actually, I'm starting to believe that even specific trials and events that we go through, have mirror purposes in the coming age, if you will, that. So first of all, and I won't go off on this teaching right now, but I'll give something to think about. The Scripture talks about rewards, being associated with our works. Now, Protestants don't like to talk a lot about works. But the Scriptures teach throughout Scripture, Old and New Testament, that the rewards of God are based on our works. And people think, and I know a lot of Christians, especially in the Protestant church, you go, Well, you know, you know, I wanted everything to be based on grace, well, the kindness of God, and the goodness of God to empower me to do those things. And the grace of God comes from him. It's the goodness of God at its root. But he gives me the opportunity to literally apprehend that which is to come. And God actually sets the record. So you see that, that you see this in the life of job. God set the record with job, we look at Job's life and many Christians even today have told me they said, I struggle with job I'm, you know, why would God if God loves job? Why would he put him through that if you love someone, you don't let them go through that kind of hardship. And I'm like, Well, wait a minute. We don't see the full purposes of God and job. We don't see what Joe's doing now. And What came to him in his eternal inheritance from the things that transpired here? Because there are many things, even Jesus gives us indications that in the judgment, there will be condemnation, there will be people rise up and say you did this or you did that. And literally, there will be an account given but also, God is setting the record going, No, you can't say that about him. Because look, he was faithful right here. You see, he was faithful. And because he was faithful, I'm gonna reward him. And I'm gonna do this. And I'm gonna bring this inheritance into his life, or into her life here because of their faithfulness to me in that. Now, even now, and I know, we're kind of off on a tangent here. But this is important, I feel led to share it. There are times when God will be blessing me in a certain area of my life, and the enemy will come in and go, Yeah, you really liked it. But you wouldn't do it if God told you to do that. And I go, Oh, man, Lord, is that true? And many times the Lord go, well, that's not true. And I'll say, Well, how do you, you know, how do I know that Lord, and, and the Lord will go, when when I asked you to do this, you did it. And it was something really hard, like something that was tough, you know that. And I was like, Oh, okay. And the Lord chose me, I have set the record, I have set the record, because I'm demonstrating not only my faithfulness in you, but your faithfulness in me, because so I, there's a lot to go into, and it will be next year, sometime before we have time. But I do believe when you study rewards and works, that many things that God wants to do in us in the coming age, as far as our inheritance goes. And as far as our eternal calling, which Paul calls the higher calling, has a mirror image to trials and difficulties in this life. And that's why many of us struggle, we don't understand the purposes of some trials. But we cannot see, write this down. We cannot see the faithfulness of God if we try to see it only in this life. Because you're only seeing half the story and a half truth is a whole lie. And this is the way the enemy convinces people that God is not good, because they are looking at a lens, but they're only seeing this life. The reason why I said the creation as a lens is because the creation gives us a lens into the age to come into God into the spiritual realm, into things unseen. So if we can't see God, in the creation, or in the cosmos, we will struggle now. To see him in the ages to come and to see the realities in the higher realms. Does that make sense to you? In other words, if I can't see God's activity, his his eternal attributes, in the invisible attributes in the creation, then when I look into eternity, I'm going to struggle to see those attributes expressing themselves. Because God gates surrounded us with this art, he surrounded us with this beautiful creation, and put his finger prints everywhere, his heart, his expression, his nature, he surrounded us with the nature of God, so that we could see eternity with the nature of God in our hearts to guide us and to light our way. And to understand that. So here's the second lens. The opposite is also true. Not only was must we see eternity, through this, the lens of this creation, we must be able to see this creation, and this present age, through the lens of eternity. Let that sink in. We must be able to see this life and the struggles and this tribulation and these hardships through the lens of eternal creation. Can you think of a scripture where we're commanded to do that? I'm glad you asked. Colossians chapter three. I love this passage of Scripture. Colossians three, in verse number two, Paul says, Set your mind on things above. Not on things of the earth. Hmm. For you died, he goes, you're dead. You ever feel dead? I mean, I'll tell you. He's saying you've crucified your flesh For you died. Your life is hidden now with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. I'm gonna read This again, set your mind on things above, not on things of the earth. I'm not going to ask for a show of hands of how many of you spent your day yesterday thinking about things of the earth versus things of heaven? Are you tracking with me now that don't get condemned? You know, don't let the enemy condemn you right here. Don't we spend most of our time thinking about things on the earth. And yet he tells us this, he says, Set your mind on things above the cruciform life. That's a word we use to describe the life that lives Crucifying the flesh, cruciform life. You know, one of the things brother dig, dunk, and he tells me, he tells a lot of the guys, he's mentoring a lot. And he's advised me this when I'm counseling, or mentoring other people, he said, You need to tell folks, you're not going to help them manage their flesh. He said, do not get into the cycle, when you are mentoring, when you're counseling when you're doing pastoral counseling, or anything, he says, Don't get into the cycle of helping people manage their flesh. He goes, because that's a lost cause. And he goes, I tell young men that all the time, because I'm not going to help you manage your flesh. Now you guys know he's a very compassionate man, very, very gentle father. But he goes, I can't help you manage your flesh, because your flesh is not manageable. It's only crucify double. And so he teaches men, especially women, too, but his main role is investing in in men. And for him young men is a relative term like it is for me, because the older you get the the older they get. But the idea is that we we live this cruciform life, like Paul says, Hey, you can't hurt a dead man, I'm already dead. I'm crucified with Christ. And he says, Because of this, my mind is set on things above, if you will, he said, My heart is on heaven, my heart is on the things to come. When I'm raising my children or my grandchildren, my heart is not about what their job is going to be. My heart is about their eternal destiny. And if my heart is about their eternal destiny, then the things I do to prepare them for what their profession will be, or who they marry, or who they have relationships with, it will be calibrated, it will find its place in the will of God, because my eyes are literally looking at the natural realm and my natural responsibilities through the lens of eternity, for me and for them. And I'm not just talking about going to heaven. Right, we will get deeper into this. Paul talked about the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, and he's specifically talking about the eternal realm. And so this cruciform life we live through trials and difficulties in this life, must be seen through the lens of our eternal calling, and purpose. Even though we don't exactly know what it is, there are glimpses we get that inform us so that we see how we live here in this way. And it connects us to what's coming. It connects me to, I'll tell you, I, we start getting glimpses. And we start seeing things we didn't see before in Scripture, when we start to live this way. If we don't set our mind on things above, we won't think about it enough to see it when we read it in the Bible. If we set our mind on things above, and not on things of the earth, it's amazing to me how many scriptures have come alive to me, just since I started kind of Nancy treating this like a spiritual discipline. I was like, Okay, it's kind of like a spiritual discipline, I have to, I have to go, Okay, I need to be intentional to, to think about eternity. And then when I do that, I find God starts opening my eyes spiritually, to see and I go, Whoa, and it's so glorious. And I go, I don't know if this is scriptural Lord, and then all of a sudden, the Scripture just comes to my mind that that demonstrates it. I'm like, Why did I never see that? Because my mind begins to become saturated with eternity. Oh, this life is not about this life. This age is not about this age. It's about the age to come. That's what it's all about. We're in a preparation period. That's going to launch us into our divine destiny. And it's going to launch some into eternal greatness. And it's going to launch others into eternal judgment. We don't hear a lot of teaching about that. Have you ever thought about? Did me ask it this way? Did God make a mistake? When God created the world, He created Adam and Eve we know the story. Did God somehow know? Did God somehow expect? Let me say it this way that Adam and Eve were not going to fall. We treat it sometimes like God, You created this, and then oh, man, it could have caught you off guard, the devil came in, boom. Now you need Plan B, we need a backup plan god, that's the way we even teach it. This is not Plan B, we are not on plan B, we're on Plan A now God did not want Adam to fall, let me be clear on that. God, in His extraordinary sovereignty, can bring about the end results that he intends. And he can do it without invading or violating the will of a man or a woman, a demon, or an angel, or any person. Think about that. See, we think that, oh, Lord, if we want this, and you gotta make him do that, and you got to make her do this. I won't ask for a show of hands of how many people have prayed that, Lord, make him do this, I need this. We got to get through this, you know. And yet God respects the will. Because if he doesn't respect the will, then God becomes a slave master. As soon as he takes your will away. Now, it becomes an issue where it's just slavery. And everything in our being knows that slavery is not right. Forcing people to do what you want them to do, is not how God operates. This is the beauty of the new creation, God is going to lead the most glorious thing that is no one's even entered anyone's hearts, you know, it's never entered anyone's heart. And everyone there will want to be there and everyone there will do what's in their heart to do and it will be honorable, and full of majesty and glory to the king. This is the beauty of the faithfulness of heaven. It's gorgeous. It's extraordinary. the faithfulness of heaven. One day, I had a revelation just of the faithfulness of heaven, I was out on a prayer walk probably not far from here. And all of a sudden, I saw the beauty of the faithfulness to heaven. And everyone there was completely devoted, and faithful and loved it. And I was like, Oh, wow, this is glorious. We are not on plan B. However, this plan that God has these things that God has allowed, are manifesting loyalties of the heart, and eternal destinies. Kind of like in slow motion. Now this could he could have hit a button. And it was like up in five minutes. It's revealed you are you will not be loyalty to God in eternity. You You know, and God doesn't need another rebellion in the new creation, right? He's setting this up. So there will never ever be another rebellion. Like the one we're living in right now that we're living through a double rebellion right now you guys know that, right? Because Satan rebelled against God, and initiated this rebellion in the heavens, that then took its ripple effect into the earth that has now rippled into humanity, and this rebellion, and yet God let it happen, because he's like, I can use this. And he will bring about his purposes in the new creation. And so now here we are living in this rebellion. But God has us literally this life, I view it like, it's like a slow motion reel. It's kind of like a, you know, it's, it's like this real Okay, here you are. What are you going to do with it? How faithful you're going to be? Because right now, it's literally connected to our eternal destiny in God. Can you see that? Can you see how that works? I want to read a passage of scripture. I don't want to be guilty of grocery shopping the Scripture and just talking about the reward. I want to be faithful to say both and that's why I said eternal greatness or eternal judgment. And my I tell you, the scriptures that I feel that I should always go to first are the ones written in red, the words of Jesus, I'm going to read the words of Jesus from Matthew 13 and verse 47. He says, Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some of every kind, which, when it was full, they drew it to the shore, and they sat down And they gathered the good into vessels. But they threw the bat away. And so will it be at the end of the age, the angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just and cast them into the furnace of fire, and there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. And then I want to read Romans two, verse five. Romans two verse five, Paul identifies the both both groups and their eternal destinies. He says in verse five, but in accordance with your hardness, and you're under unrepentant heart, you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. We don't hear a lot of sermons taught on this these days. He says God will render to each one according to his deeds. We don't hear a lot of teaching in Protestant churches on that either. We're not talking about salvation. We're talking about final judgment. He says eternal life to those who by patient continuance and doing good, I love this. They seek for three things, glory, honor, and immortality. If if anybody asked you Is it right to seek glory, honor and immortality, you have the Scripture right here. He says they seek glory honor, they don't seek their own glory. They seek God's glory, and God's honor, in God's immortality. But the cool thing about God's glory, God's honor, and God's immortality is that he puts it on and in his people, so that we live with this majesty upon us, it will determine how we are expressed in the heavens, it will determine how the clothing that we wear, it will declare determined the glory that will be upon us. Let me just take a sidetrack before I read verse eight. There is an angel in the Revelation of John, who comes down. And the glory of God is so great on this one angel, that that glory lights up the entire Earth. An angel I recently, we were at the men sabbatical, and I was sharing. And I shared about the man that John encountered in Revelation, you can go read it, and the man spoke. And when he spoke, his voice was like the voice of many waters. And heaven was there was an all that John felt as he spoke, and the glory of God was mightily upon this man. And John, the apostle, who knew Jesus best fell down to worship Jesus. And the man says, Don't do that. He's like, dude, I'm paraphrasing, I'm not Jesus. He goes, I am one of your brethren with the testimony of Jesus. One glimpse of the glory of God upon man, one glimpse of the glory of God, upon one angel. God's given us glimpses. So we see what's in store, so that we will pursue but listen, there are many, I'll call them secrets. They're not really God will reveal them to people. But there are many secrets or mysteries that have glimpses all over the scripture. But God wants them to be found by the people looking for them. Ask and you shall find are asking you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock, and it shall be opened. God wants to reveal it to those who are looking for it and hide it from those who are not. There's a few scriptures that talk about that. Verse eight, he says, but to those who are self seeking to those who do not obey the truth, but those who obey unrighteousness they will receive indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish on every soul of man who does evil. Wow, we don't hear a lot of teachings on that these days of the Jew first and also of the Greek, but he goes but glory, honor and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek, for there is no partiality with God. Man, does this excite you as much as it does me? I'm like, Oh, my goodness. You know, I was taught when I was growing up when I became a Christian, and in the early years of my Christian life, I was taught don't seek any glory, you know, and so I they meant well, because they're saying don't seek for yourself to be glorified. That's what they were saying. There isn't there is a selfish fleshly glorified, where it's like, Look at me. That's not what we're talking about. There is a godly glorification where God comes down, forgives your sin, puts robes of righteousness on you. And unless you go out and you go, I'm gonna soil these robes and live in sin. Those robes are beautiful and righteous again works, guys. Right now we're talking about works. He's clear that we're rewarded according to our works. Now some people get under condemnation, and they go, oh, man, I've been saying I've had the sin. Okay. God has a washing machine called the blood of Jesus. And you need to use it, I need to use it. Man, I'll tell you, I love the blood of Jesus. I don't know how it works, but read turns him white. Amen. And the reason why we're in this slow motion life right now is to grow into our maturity, and walk victorious. That's, that's the mercy of God. The kindness of God leads us to repentance. He's not willing that any should perish. No one accidentally makes it to hell. No one accidentally makes it to heaven. God knows the heart of every man, woman and child. He's not going to trick someone, he's not going to go well. You're almost there. But boom, we just took it right now, you know, you would have given your life to me if you'd live five more minutes. But nope, it's over. He doesn't do that. He doesn't do that. In fact, Acts chapter 17. He even tells us that God actually sets the boundaries of our lives and puts all these different things. I don't have it in front of me. So I'm really doing a terrible job paraphrasing, but basically, that God puts us in places in life, where we have the highest proclivity to seek Him. If you say God, why are some people rich and some people poor? Well, there's a good answer right there. Why is it that some people are born in this country and some are born in that country Acts chapter 17. God determines the boundaries of our dwellings, because he knows he's after our hearts. Nobody's going to get cheated. And according to Paul, this inheritance is coming. But it's coming in. It's connected to this life. Now, here's the good news. You and I have the ability to increase that inheritance right now. Because we're moving through this life, what I call slow motion. It's like, okay, can you imagine if God, I'm trying to think, man, well, can you imagine if God says, okay, everybody's life is going to be five years. And when you're born, you're going to look like a 30 year old. And I'm gonna give everybody five years. And they got a choice to make boom, five years. Time's up. Can you imagine? I can't imagine that. But God instead allows us to grow. And we're living through this life and what seems like slow motion. Now the older you get, the faster it moves, right? I'm convinced that somebody in heaven has got their finger on the Time button. And it's like, it's like a y'all remember the old VCR tapes? It's like speeding up, the VCR tapes get faster to get faster, it's getting faster, it's getting faster. And then you're like, oh, no, you know, 10 years, you know, maybe one year, you know, used to go by really slow. And now 10 years is like, man that went by quick. Are you with me? Oh, I heard I heard one Amen out there. I think we'll stop there at this. You will, you can tell that I'm so excited about this. I really feel as we get this message in our hearts. And as the scriptures come alive, more and more and more in us, it's going to produce many teachings and meditations in your hearts that are far beyond just where I am right now. That will open our eyes into what God has for us. Because people still believe that in order to enter their inheritance, and to be great in the coming age, they got to be Billy Graham, or they got to be the Pope or they got you use the, the denomination of your choice. My point is this, that God has opened this inheritance to us and made it great with where we are. And this is it's not enough to just know this right now. That's the problem is a lot of people know Oh, yeah, have inheritance, but they can't see anything. And you know how it is when you can't see it? I remember it's Christmas time right now and we're getting ready for Christmas. One of the most exciting things in the old days before the internet was when the Christmas catalogs came. Because in those days, kids we didn't have we couldn't look something up on the internet if we wanted to see something. It was either at the store, or our friends got it. That's how that's the only way we knew there was no Internet, there was no YouTube. It was just either you saw something in the store or you saw something at your friend's house until the Christmas catalog came. And when the Christmas catalog came, and there was more than one, you know, you had Sears and Montgomery Ward's and JC Penney, and those were the three big ones. And man, you got that Christmas catalog, and it was filled with things you didn't even know existed, or something you saw for the first time last year and they got a better win this year. It makes a big difference to see you you're a kid you know that. Okay, I know something's out there. But you don't know what until you open it up, you start seeing now I'm gonna I realize we're not going to see like, clearly Paul says we see through a glass darkly and that'll be in our in our study. But to get glimpses will change everything. Did it change a little bit with you when we just talked about the angel, the one angel and the one man in Revelation? It's like, wait a minute, dude, you're one of me. You want to my brother? You have the testimony? Geez, you mean God forgave you, thanks to and you're here. And he's like, Yeah, I was asleep. I was a streetsweeper down in Bethlehem before Jesus was born. I don't know. I'm making that up. But my point is that it opens our eyes and causes us to see glimpses of what is to come. And then it changes everything about our faithfulness here. Because we realize that actually, when I'll tell you this, when I woke up yesterday morning, you guys know the three questions I asked the Lord in the morning. I say, Lord, what's on your heart today? Lord, what do you want to do today? And, Lord, how can I enter it with you? Those are my three questions. And the Lord just I mean, very simply put out, well, you have four things to do today. That doesn't happen every day, by the way, but it happened yesterday. And I'm trying to remember what they were now. But the first one was get your internet fix, because it had been broke for two days, and the guys coming over. It was be with your grandkids, and they're going to be decorating Christmas cookies. And it was do some more study for tomorrow. And it was helped to get that freezer. Those are the four things that Lord gave me. Well, you know, three of them, the ones that wasn't studying, this was pretty mundane of no two of them because the kids was awesome. We were do with a kid. So two of them were awesome. And two of them were kind of mundane. But you know what? It was a great day. It was a great day. And I'll be honest with you part of it, is because I got into this study. And when I got into the study, I started getting excited about getting that freezer over here and getting things fixed. And you know what I'm saying the the little things took on all this new meaning. Suddenly, it's no longer just about making Christmas cookies, or having a meal with your kids and grandkids. It's about their destiny. It's about them being loved today. It's about them feeling the touch of a father that day. It's about them feeling love, and and I'll tell you, I could feel it man. Every time I'd reach down and just give one of those little ones a hug. I felt connected to eternity I felt connected to this is important. This is way bigger than today. This is way bigger than the next 50 years. This is big because we're dealing with lives and souls and precious ones that we love. Amen. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you so much. For your kindness to us, your goodness, Lord, we pray for open hearts, so that we have open eyes, and open ears. And Lord, I just pray for my spiritual family and friends and extended family and friends. And Father, we ask you to open this revelation to many Lord so that we Your people will live as the people we truly are and see who we truly are in God, both today and forever. And we're just so overwhelmed, and so full to be here and to be doing what you've called us to do. We love you from the bottom of our hearts in Jesus name. Amen.