Feast: Before the World Began

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Given 15-Oct-14; 43 minutes

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God evidently has had each of us in His radar long before the foundation of the world, realizing how we would emerge and develop spiritually, reaching our ultimate destination as a spirit being in His family. If God has called every star by name, knows when every sparrow falls, and has numbered all of our hairs, He surely has given some thought as to how each of us fit into the body of Christ, and which gifts He gives us to edify the body and fulfill His purpose. God's unsearchable mind and unfathomable power has included us in His marvelous plan, taking pleasure in those who honor Him. Our destination has been meticulously prepared for; sometimes we are just too nearsighted to see it or even imagine it in our mind's eye. It is imperative that we stir up the gift of God's Holy Spirit, catching the vision of our marvelous destination, putting to use those spiritual gifts He has given us in His service, enlarging the worth of the Royal Fortune.


transcript:

A little over a month ago, I had the privilege of conducting the graveside services at Lila Valdivia’s funeral. As I was preparing the sermon for this service the day before, I began to think about something that I had read in Lila’s obituary, but had never known about her. From all the millions of people in the Chicago metropolitan area, she was chosen in 1961 as the Cook County Foster Mother of the Year. Although this did not surprise me, nor would it surprise anyone who knew Lila, it did make me consider more seriously how soon God actually gives us the gifts which will ultimately be used to fulfill our responsibilities within the Body of Christ.

This also made me ask: When does our awesome Creator God of wonders—who inhabits eternity (as you can see in Isaiah 57:15), and has determined the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10)—how soon does He actually determine to prepare us for the unique place He has confidently established for each of us individually? Are we merely gifted as we start to show an aptitude or proclivity from within ourselves? Or has He already designed and created that proclivity within us, as our particular gift, to be developed to serve in the Family of God? Were our gifts already there from the womb? Or, just maybe, even before our mother's womb? What kind of monkey wrench would that throw on any idea that we had, even subconsciously, done anything apart from our great Creator God?

Is this idea a ridiculous theory or does it, in fact, fall right in line with the incredible and awesome mind of the great God of wonders, who has even named every one of the trillions of stars He has created in the heavens, and yet still has every hair on every one of our heads counted? Should we consider that anything limits our incredible God, who is sovereign over nations, planets, stars, the universe, and even over eternity?

I think it is important at this point that we look at just a couple of the many scriptures where God gently points to His ability to do anything that is within His plan and purpose. We will first look at the father of the faithful, who was convinced, by observing God's creation, of God's power. Turn with me to Genesis 15 for just a little bit of insight that God gives to us, and a little hint.

Genesis 15:1-7 After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.” But Abram said, “Lord GOD, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” Then Abram said, “Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed, one born in my house is my heir.”

And behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who shall come from your own body shall be your heir.” Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness. Then He said to him, “I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it.”

It is here that God points Abram to the awesome expanse of His creation, and challenges him to number the stars He has created. Our great God was giving a small nudge as proof of His sovereign glory and unsearchable ability to do what men could never do for themselves. Abram took the hint, and it says, “and he believed the Lord,” just from observing the creation, “and He accounted it to him for righteousness.” Brethren, do we get the hint and believe the great God of creation so completely that it can be accounted to us for righteousness?

Let us turn to Psalm 147 now, which I will be reading from the Good News Translation. Here again, God is pointing us to His unsearchable power to do what He has already planned and purposed. There are two things that the Good News Translation brings out which help us to see the perfect, holy power and nature of our great God. First, the Good News Translation puts a break between verses 3 and 4, and between verses 5 and 6, boxing verses 4 and 5 as a gentle reminder of His unlimited mind and power before declaring His intent through the remainder of the chapter. The second thing the Good News Translation brings out is something that Richard went into in detail on Atonement: our holy God is constant in His holiness and absolutely true to His carefully laid-out plan.

In Psalm 147, verses 1-3 are the psalmist’s declaration of God's faithfulness to bring back to Jerusalem those who have been exiled, and heal their wounds.

Psalm 147:1-3 (GNT) Praise the LORD! It is good to sing praise to our God; it is pleasant and right to praise Him. The LORD is restoring Jerusalem; He is bringing back the exiles. He heals the broken-hearted and bandages their wounds.

God then has the psalmist insert a short parenthetical statement in verses 4 and 5, reminding the reader of His power and purpose to do such a thing.

Psalm 147:4-5 (GNT) He has decided the number of the stars and calls each one by name. Great and mighty is our LORD; His wisdom cannot be measured.

The psalmist then returns to a more limited scope, which would be simple by comparison for this awesome Being who knows each of the trillions of stars He created by name.

Psalm 147:6-11 (GNT) He raises the humble, but crushes the wicked to the ground. Sing hymns of praise to the LORD; play music on the harp to our God. He spreads clouds over the sky; He provides rain for the earth and makes grass grow on the hills. He gives animals their food and feeds the young ravens when they call. His pleasure is not in strong horses, nor His delight in brave soldiers; but He takes pleasure in those who honor Him, in those who trust in His constant love.

We are here this week because we do, indeed, trust in His constant love for all of His creation and for each and every one of us individually. We are here this week to be refreshed by our holy God of wonders and to rejoice in His incredible plan and purpose. We are here this week to better understand our place and responsibilities now within the Family of God, and how to better praise Him as He gives us the opportunity to expand our physically limited understanding, and to begin to imagine the truth—the true length, breadth, and depth of the Father and the Son's limitless capacity of power and mind.

Let us look at something I already made reference to that displays our awesome God's attention to every detail of His creation, with special focus on those being created in the image of the Father and the Son. We will see this from Jesus Christ's own words about the extent of the Father's attention to those who are called to be among His precious firstfruits. Please turn with me to Luke 12.

Luke 12:1 In the meantime, when an innumerable multitude of people had gathered together, so that they trampled one another, He began to say to His disciples first of all, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.”

Luke 12:4-7 “And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him! Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? And not one of them is forgotten before God. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. [Do you know what that means? God counts the stars, numbers them, and gives them names. He has every hair on our heads numbered.] Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.”

Brethren, this is incredible! Our great God, who knows each star by name, has intricately designed each and every detail of His creation, and is constantly aware of even the number of the hairs on our heads. That is just mind-boggling. Jesus Christ said, as recorded in John 14:

John 14:1-3 “Let not your hearts be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”

Do you really think that He was just going to start preparations for a place in the Kingdom of God for those disciples that the Father had called to Him? Or was He encouraging them with the fact that this was the next step in an ongoing preparation process that would finally enable all of us—all of us, brethren, all of us who are called—to fully use our God-given gifts to serve within the place that He had already set aside for us within the Body of Christ from before the world began. Is this really too much to imagine as being within the awesome power and mind of God?

I want to make it very clear that what I am delivering to you this morning is not set in stone; it is not a “Thus saith the LORD.” But on this last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, as we have come to understand, this is that great day when Jesus Christ announced, probably at the very moment that the traditional pouring of the water was taking place, that He is the One from whom the living waters of eternal life flow. I think it is a good time for us to look at our great God beyond the constraints of our own simple-minded physical limits. Let us turn to John 7 to remind us of this day.

John 7:37-43 On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Therefore many from the crowd, when they heard this saying, said, “Truly, this is the Prophet.” Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Will the Christ come out of Galilee? Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the seed of David and from the town of Bethlehem, where David was?” So there was a division among the people because of Him.

Now please turn with me to Revelation 21.

Revelation 21:1-7 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.

And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.” And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.”

The very One who stood in the midst of those people that day would fulfill what we just read (in Revelation 21) 3,000 years later, and He was telling them the good news that He already saw as a done deal. But they did not have the eyes to see or the ears to hear, as we do today. Brethren, can we set limits on our great God and the perfection of His planning as they did that day?

I think today is a good time for us to look at our great God beyond the constraints of our own simple-minded physical limits, and expand our image of just how meticulously God has been preparing from eternity.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 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 beginning to end.

Just as Abram, we are not now capable of finding out the work God does from the beginning to the end. But that does not mean we are not to consider those things that are beyond us in order to more deeply and sincerely appreciate what the Father and Son have been doing from eternity. However, if we do not consider these things, we may very well find ourselves with as limited a system of beliefs as those that listened to Jesus Christ that day, when He walked this earth and cried out that He is the One who could actually assuage the thirst.

John Ritenbaugh said in his Forerunner article, “Ecclesiastes and Christian Living (Part 4): Other Gifts,” when writing concerning the invaluable gift of eternity placed in our hearts (Ecclesiastes 3:11):

God has given everyone a spirit and sense of eternity, enabling people to think both backward and forward in time. Men innately know that there is more to life than what they experience physically. However, they do not grasp the precise connection between their awareness of eternity and their present physical lives. They do, however, vaguely grasp that somehow the immortality they envision has some connection with what they are experiencing in the present. Like the other gifts, this too, is greatly botched and misunderstood. The most common assumption is that we already possess it. But if linked with revealed truth as God intended, it greatly aids people in thinking about the past concerning God's creative powers, His purpose, His sovereignty over all things, and how the individual fits into the present and the future.

God has given these and more gifts to all humanity, but only those called by Him are given more detailed and true explanations that will build their faith, enabling them to live by it. Unless God gives the details, we are all much like terribly nearsighted people who more or less feel their way along. Until they are called [did you get that? Until they are called-so we should be not letting this escape us] the grand design that God is working out escapes their full comprehension, making the answer about who we are elusive [because we are not paying attention].

It is our great God of wonders, and God alone, who is bringing us to the finish point where the end of things is better than the beginning (as stated in Ecclesiastes 7:8). It is not by any kind of chance at all that we end up where God wants us, but because of His carefully planned design for His honor and glory.

I want to show you in a minute that we are not looking at something unavoidable and predestined, but a destination meticulously created for each individual that He has called to be among the firstfruits with Jesus Christ, who were very possibly individually on His mind before the world began. (Just think of that, brethren. Could we have been on His mind, individually, before the world began? It is something to think about.) How carefully have the Father and Son been working, with each of us in mind, towards creating a perfectly unified Body of Christ to serve together for eternity? Not just for the moment, but together for eternity, following the Lamb wherever He goes. Our awesome Creator God has not been creating puppets on a string, but rather thinking, productive, perfectly fit and formed members of the Family, who may have been individually on Their minds before the world began.

Twenty years before being called into God's church, Lila Valdivia was already displaying the fruits of God-given gifts, which would only flourish as she grew in grace and knowledge under the direction of God's Holy Spirit. As a matter-of-fact, this was a major portion of the message that I gave that day at her graveside. How many of us have considered the gifts that God has given us from the womb, and considered that they may have even been there, in God's mind, before we were physically conceived? Had God already determined how we would fit into His overall plan and purpose, in just the right way to have a relationship with Him and with one another, which would bring glory to Him and the Family forever—if we would use those gifts just as He intended? Is this too much to imagine?

I keep going back to this, but I want us to get this. Is this too much for us to imagine of our great God of wonders, whose hand we see working on things in the broadest expanses of space to the smallest and tiniest details around us—on things that are not even as important to Him as those that He is creating in His very image? We still look through a glass darkly.

Is it too much for us to imagine of our great God, who has carefully orchestrated the messages throughout this Feast at this site, at the same time, to be woven together in a specific way (as I am certain He is doing with many other places around the world where His faithful have assembled this week in submission to Him)? In this Feast site alone, we have seen Him show His carefully crafted direction from His declaration through Paul in Ephesians 1.

He began to weave a blanket for His honor and glory shortly after the Day of Atonement, when Joan Bowling's family declared that the verses in Ephesians 1 were the last words Joan wanted to hear before her next moment of consciousness in the glorious presence of the Father and the Son. This theme started that night, and it was carried on, unbeknownst to any of us, into the messages we have heard throughout the Feast in order that we may see the wonders of our great God, our holy God.

He constantly shows His hand at work within His special jewels as He meticulously prepares His holy people for Himself, who will not hesitate to faithfully follow Him—just as Abram did, upon observing what he realized was only calculable by God. Please turn to Ephesians 1, which was the foundation for this message months ago.

Ephesians 1:3-6 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to the adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.

II Timothy 1:5-10 When I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also. Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying out of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

This is Paul writing to Timothy to stir up the gift of faith that was already in him, in order to accomplish God's purpose with the gift he had already been given. This is specifically in regard to Timothy's calling as a minister, but let us consider the principles and apply them to ourselves as kings and priests in training, according to God's plan for each of us individually.

The first thing we need to consider is Paul's mention of faith within Timothy's family—with his mother and his grandmother—and that Paul thought he saw in Timothy himself. Please turn back with me to Romans 12.

Romans 12:1-6 I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them. . .

Faith is not worked up at all from within ourselves, but is a gift placed there by God in order to serve the Body, as are all these other gifts that God gives to us. They are there to be used.

I Corinthians 12:1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant. . .

I Corinthians 12:12 For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.

I Corinthians 12:18 But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased.

I Corinthians 12:27 Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.

God has carefully given gifts to everyone within the Body of Christ to fill that Body. They are specific and absolutely necessary part of God's purpose, and it is our part to honestly examine ourselves and to determine what those gifts are that each one of us has. These gifts are to be stirred up to the perfection that God expects eventually from each of us, to fill His plan and purpose from before the world began.

I saw a good example of this just a few days ago at this very Feast of Tabernacles, when I was talking to someone about gifts that God gives. This person said to me that they felt ungifted among the gifted people of God. I know what this person does, and without this particular person, I am absolutely certain there would be a huge chasm in the Body of Christ, if this individual was not using and increasing the gift they have been given—a gift God gave by nature, but is being stirred up by use through the Holy Spirit to give strength to the whole Body. This individual is truly remarkable, a vital part of the Body of Christ, and one of His jewels—as we all are.

Now let us turn back to II Timothy 1. We have already seen that Paul has observed the obvious fact that genuine God-given faith was evident in Timothy's grandmother and mother. Paul also was convinced it was a gift given Timothy as well. But a very important piece we need to have is noted in verses 6 and 7.

II Timothy 1:6-7 Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

The gift of faith was already in Timothy before Paul ordained him with the laying on of hands. However, once God's Holy Spirit was added, he had been given the extra he needed to stir up this great gift and to go ahead and produce what God expected from him. With God's Holy Spirit dwelling in him, he needed to be moved forward, producing the fruit and power, love and sound-mindedness in a world captive and captivated by paralyzing fear. It was Timothy's duty to stir up and increase the gift God had already given to him, boldly and courageously moving forward within his holy calling, using the gifts God had already given to him to serve within his very specific place within the Body of Christ.

Are we limiting our awesome Creator if we do not even consider we may have already been included in God's thoughts and purpose from before the world began? Is the scope of our great Creator, from a Being of such unlimited capabilities, too much for us to imagine? Every aspect of His creation proclaims His glory in design, purpose, beauty, and function. Is this too much to imagine for those whom God is creating in His very image in order to work and live with Him and each other, in harmony for eternity?

II Timothy 1:8-9 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Jesus Christ before time began.

I am going to read Ephesians 1:4 from the Amplified Version because I think it really drives the point home.

Ephesians 1:4 (AMP) Even as [in His love] He chose us [actually picked us out for Himself as His own] in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy (consecrated and set apart for Him) and blameless in His sight, even above reproach, before Him in love.

With all this in mind, I want to go back to what I said a short time ago about showing us that we are not looking at some unavoidable predestination, but a destination meticulously created for each individual that He has called to be among the firstfruits with Jesus Christ, very possibly from before the world began.

This, too, runs right in line with Richard’s opening scripture on the Day of Atonement.

I Corinthians 4:7 And what do you have you did not receive?

And my question to you is this: When did our great and holy God decide to bless us with what we have received? We were going to look at two very familiar scriptures, but John already spent some time in Matthew 25 on the Parable of the Talents, so we are only going to read Jesus Christ’s Parable of the Minas in Luke 19. However, I would like us to consider both of them in light of what we have been talking about this morning, and consider just how special we are to God as Jesus Christ is preparing that place for each of us, a specific place within the Body that may have actually started to be prepared with each of us in mind, individually, before the world began.

Even though we will not be turning there, I would like to remind you that Matthew 25 was directed specifically at the called. I would also like to read to you what the short line of what the Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament had to say about the talents that were given: “These talents represented the royal fortune divided into portions with expectations of expanding the royal fortune.”

Do we see our gifts to serve and fill the Body of Christ for what they really are? The royal fortune that is part of the very essence of the Father and the Son. Brethren, we should examine ourselves and carefully assess our own part of the royal fortune of spiritual gifts like faith, joy, hope, kindness, mercy, patience, etc., as well as the heartfelt emotion that goes along with them. These very traits of the Father and Son are included in some measure within the individual blueprint of each one of our lives, and the lives of those called according to God's purpose, in order to expand the fortune within the Body of Christ. This is perfectly suited to increase the royal fortune of the Family of God for eternity.

With these things in mind, please turn with me to Luke 19. This is the parable that Jesus Christ gave of the minas.

Luke 19:12-26 Therefore He said: “A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return. So he called ten of his servants, delivered to them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Do business till I come.’ But his citizens [notice it is just the citizens, not the servants] hated him, and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We will not have this man to reign over us.’

And so it was that when he returned, having received the kingdom, he then commanded these servants to whom he had given the money [the ten gifts], to be called to him, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading. Then came the first, saying, ‘Master, your mina has earned ten minas. And he said to him, ‘Well done, good servant; because you were faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities.’

And the second came, saying, ‘Master, your mina has earned five minas.’ Likewise he said to him, ‘You also be over five cities.’ Then another [not all of the ten but another of the servants] came, saying, ‘Master, here is your mina, which I have kept put away in a handkerchief. For I feared you, because you are an austere man. You collect what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.’ And he said to him, ‘Out of your own mouth I will judge you, you wicked servant.

You knew that I was an austere man [or you thought you know it], collecting what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow. Why then did you not put my money in the bank, that at my coming I might have collected with interest?’ And he said to those who stood by, ‘Take the mina from him, and give it to the man who has ten minas.’

(But they said to him, ‘Master he has ten minas.’) ‘For I say to you, that to everyone who has will be given; and from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. But bring here those enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, and slay them before me.’”

I would like you to think of this parable in terms of what Jesus Christ told His disciples in John 15, the record of Jesus Christ’s direction to those who have been called to Him within a world that hated Him in the same way the citizens of the parable hated the ruler. In John 15 Christ told them it was their duty to produce much fruit to glorify the Father with the gifts they had been given, even though they would be hated as He was hated. Yet if they would abide in His love and have the same love for one another, He would no longer call them mere servants, but they were His friends—the friends of God, chosen and ordained to bring forth much fruit from the gifts they were given to fill the Body of Christ.

If you think of Luke 19 or Matthew 25 in this context, you can also see that the servants in this parable, who should have been raised to the level of friends of God, while joyfully using their personal gifts, stirred by their holy ordination to fill the Body, did not do so, and became as perverted in their view of God as the citizens. They (at least one of them) failed to overcome a hateful world, and decayed into the same perverted, slave-like attitude of the citizens who considered Christ nothing more than a harsh taskmaster, rather than the One who cried out with a loving desire to freely give of the living waters of life. They (or he) apathetically chose the wrong path, and God filled the Body of Christ with another who deeply appreciated everything that he had received.

Being gifted from before the world began is not predestination, because we can still choose to remain part of an evil world of disbelief and have our prepared place given to another. We who are gifted, perhaps from before the world began, by God's design, are now given the opportunity to behold the wonders of God's creation, knowing that nothing is impossible for our great God. We have been ordained to stir up and increase the royal fortune within the Body of Christ. If we look at this from the possibility that God gifted us, not even from our conception in the womb but, in the Father's mind, long before that, we may more deeply appreciate the awesome power and holiness of our God, along with our precious calling to be holy as He is holy.

I would like to end this message with some of the words God inspired the apostle Paul to write to our brethren who lived in Philippi and, by extension, to all of us, the called according to His purpose in order to fill the Body of Christ and to be with the Lamb wherever He shall go for eternity. While I am reading this from the Phillips translation, I would like you to think of and keep in mind the distinct possibility that each and every one of us individually could very well have been gifted to fill the Body of Christ and do our jobs, as already planned in the mind of our awesome God of wonders from before the world began.

Philippians 2:12-15 (Phillips) So then, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed me—and that not only when I was with you—now, even more in my absence, complete the salvation that God has given you with a proper sense of awe and responsibility. For it is God who is at work within you, giving you the will and the power to achieve his purpose. Do all you have to do without grumbling or arguing, so that you may be blameless and harmless, faultless children of God, living in a warped and diseased age, and shining like lights in a dark world. For you hold up in your hands the very word of life.

Philippians 3:20-21 (Phillips) But we are citizens of heaven; we eagerly wait for the savior who will come from heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will change these wretched bodies of ours so that they resemble his own glorious body, by that power of his which makes him in command of everything.

MS/cmg/drm





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