0:00 Yeah, praise God for the confirmation of the Holy Spirit. What Jeremy Ted off is in line with what I wanted to share as well. Um, as we've been grieving together, we must weep with those who weep. As we've been grieving together 0:14 with the loss of loved ones of dear church members, it's a great reminder for us to to examine whether we live our lives in the context of the reality of heaven. And what what does that mean? We 0:33 have he said uh we heard count count the years as months, count the years as days. Second Peter 3 says a thousand years in the eyes of the Lord is like a day which means Jesus is coming back or our lifetime it's like half an hour. 0:52 Half an hour. What does that mean for the loved ones who've departed who walked with the Lord? I like to think of it this way. They've just gone upstairs. They had an early bedtime. They just gone upstairs. I'm downstairs. In 30 1:05 minutes, it's going to be my bedtime, too. I'm going to gone upstairs. I'm going to see them upstairs. That's it. It's that simple. They're upstairs. I'm downstairs. And that's the reality of heaven. The reality of earth will tell 1:18 you, "Oh, I've got all these pursuits. I have to go. I'm I'm not going to see these people for a long time. I'm never going to see them again." Even that's what the earth will tell you. pursuit of the earth distracts you from the reality 1:28 of heaven. And we're talking to a church member yesterday who lost uh uh their mother recently and just amazed to hear how her days on earth were between serving uh with the children with the 1:47 grandchildren were just filled with reading the word of God having an appetite for the things of heaven for God's word. And we read that about, you know, about Enoch that he walked with God and then he was no more. And I remember a 2:03 preacher once saying that Enoch was walking with God. I mean, Enoch lived a long time, but relative to his parents, he actually was called home early. And I remember a preacher saying, Enoch was walking with God. And he just kept 2:15 walking with God. And then God looked over and said, "Right now, we're closer to my home. Why don't you just go over to my home then to your home?" And that's the attitude of the reality of heaven is some of these saints of God 2:27 sometimes called early. The Lord's timing is perfect. The Lord has a purpose for us on our on this earth. But it is important to examine ourselves and to restore our vision with the reality of eternity and the reality of heaven 2:45 and how real it is. What is one proof of being filled with the Holy Spirit? It says that Stephen in Acts 7:55 and 56 it says Stephen being full of the Holy Spirit now he was about to die at that time but this doesn't have to be for us 3:04 right before we're going to die could be right now being full of the Holy Spirit because he was full of the Holy Spirit he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God and he said behold 3:20 I see the heavens opened up and the son of man standing at the right hand of God. That was the proof of being filled with the Holy Spirit is he was able to see Jesus Christ in heaven like it was real. Like he was right there. He was 3:32 able to see the heavens opened up. Do you see that in your situation today? Whatever trial you're going through, whatever pursuit you may be making in your job, whatever you're saving for retirement, whatever relationships you're investing, are you 3:45 seeing the reality of heaven opened up to you in the midst of your trial, in the midst of your difficulty? Do you see heaven opened up to you like Steven did? And I would contend that if you are truly filled with the Holy Spirit, that will be your 4:03 experience. You will see the reality of heaven. You will see Jesus Christ at the right hand. You will be gazing intently on him. Can't say you're filled with the Holy Spirit if you're not having the reality of gazing intently on 4:16 Jesus. In Hebrews 11, we can turn there. Hebrews 11 chapter Hebrews chapter 11 talks about the men of faith in verse uh just reading from verse 13 talks about some of these Old Testament saints. It says all these died verse 13 without 4:32 receiving the promises which is what? They didn't receive the promise of the Holy Spirit. They didn't receive the promise of overcoming but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance and having confessed that they 4:43 were strangers and exiles on the on the earth. People like Abraham, Sarah, while they were here on the earth, they confessed they were strangers on this earth. And then it goes on to say in verse 16, as it is, they desire a better 4:57 country that is a heavenly one. And therefore, God is not ashamed to call them his God. Is God ashamed to call you his God today? What does it take for God to be ashamed to call you his God? If you are saying, "No, this is my country. I'm my 5:13 pursuit is here, right here on this earth." I'm sorry to say, God is ashamed to call you his God. You may get to heaven, but these people confessed even without the Holy Spirit, these Old Testament saints confessed that they 5:26 were strangers and exiles on this earth. talk about immigration for a second. It's a popular topic. Many of you here or have gone through an experience of having to immigrate to to this country or are still on a non-immigrant visa. That's the 5:43 perspective we need to have on this earth. Don't pursue permanent residence on this earth. Don't pursue a green card, so to speak, with this earth. You are here on a temporary non-immigrant visa for this earth. Your citizenship is in heaven. 6:02 Never lose sight of that. You are deployed here on a mission. Don't forget the reality of where your citizenship is. That's what it talks about in Philippians chapter 3. Philippians chapter 3 uh verse 18. It says, it says, "Many 6:21 walk whom I have often told you and now tell you even weeping that they are enemies of the cross of Christ." Am I an enemy of the cross of Christ? Let's see what it what does it call an enemy of the cross of Christ? Does it call 6:34 murderers, rapists, convicts enemies of the cross of Christ? Verse 19, whose end is, Philippians 3:19, whose end is destruction, whose God is their appetite, whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly 6:50 things. That's what it takes to be called an enemy of the cross of Christ. That my mind is set on earthly things. That I have established my permanent residence over here. Yes, Lord, I'm going to call you. I'm going to call out 7:05 to you for help for my physical needs, for my health, for my uh financial uh for my job situation, for the my relationships, people here on earth, but I'm set on that. And the Lord is saying clearly, you may be an enemy of the cross of 7:22 Christ. But in contrast, verse 20, we what are we called to be? We're called to be citizens of heaven. Verse 20, our citizenship in heaven from which we also we eagerly wait for a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what I want to 7:37 talk about today is to examine myself. Am I truly a citizen of heaven or have I started to get acclimatized with citizenship here on earth? Am I establishing my permanent residence here on earth and lost sight of the heavenly calling that the Lord 7:54 has for me? So I want to share three signs that I'm truly a citizen of heaven. The first is do I have a heavenly appetite? And we can use I'll use physical analogies as we talk about this. You know I've been here in this 8:11 country I came here as a teenager been here almost 30 years now. But I'll tell you when I fall sick or when I'm really craving something there's the thing we we have this phrase called comfort food. Right? Ask yourself, what is your 8:23 comfort food? There is nothing that speaks to me that that meets my appetite at that time in terms of comfort food than a nice home-cooked Indian meal. That's it. I've been here 30 years. I tried all kinds of cuisines, but that's what I fall back 8:41 on. We have Sham here this weekend, right? Sham, you're here. When are you leaving? Tomorrow. Tomorrow. Okay. So Sham is going to take some food back home with him from his mom. And uh I think we're sending some food for 8:54 Zachary, too. Okay. Tomorrow Sham has an interesting choice. Tomorrow around lunchtime, he has a very difficult choice. He gets the choice of choosing his mom's food or the dining hall food. Is that a Is that a difficult 9:10 choice, Sham? Is that a difficult choice? Pretty easy choice, right? Where what is Sham's appetite? Chan might be living in the dorm room, but the dorm room is not his home. He's very clear. The dorm room is not my home. He's 9:24 deployed temporarily in the dorm room. He has a mission in that dorm room temporarily, but he knows what his home is. And he knows what his appetite is after. And that's the mark of the heavenly citizen. The appetite is not 9:40 for the things of this earth. The appetite is for the things of heaven. Let's look at John chapter 6 where Jesus talks about this. In John chapter 6, we we read a fascinating story. This the beginning of this chapter starts out with about 9:56 10,000 people following Jesus. 5,000 men include the women and children. It's over 10,000 people. At the end of the chapter, we just have 11. Start with 10,000, end up with 11. Well, how does this chapter start? John chapter 6. I'm not going to 10:12 go through the whole chapter, but the beginning of the chapter is the feeding of the 5,000. They come, they're hungry, and they Jesus works this miracle to feed them with real bread, real fish, and they leave satisfied, 10,000 10:29 people. And then the next day, they look for him, and he's gone. And so they follow, they go across to the other side of the lake to follow him and say, they they want to see more of him. They want more of Jesus. Isn't that a good thing? 10:42 And then this is what Jesus says to them. John chapter 6 verse 26. He says Jesus answered them and said truly truly I say to you, you seek me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled. Why 10:58 did these 10,000 people seek him? Because their earthly needs were met. Because they were physically satisfied with something. And this is the first first verse I see in the Bible that talks about the prosperity gospel. These 11:14 people came to Jesus because they physically pro prospered. They met their their earthly needs. They like, "Okay, this guy can multiply food. He can give us food. He can take care of our the rest of our lives. He can provide us. 11:27 Now, if he can do this, he can do some other magic tricks, too. He can provide. He can heal me of sicknesses. He can provide me with uh finances for retirement. take care of my children, their education, lots of prosperity. Now, we know that we're here 11:42 in this church for much more than that. But there's a different type of prosperity that can creep in. The prosperity of our feelings. We may come to God and say like, "Lord, I only want to hear words that make me feel good, 11:56 that make my my feelings prosper, that that are not uncomfortable, that don't convict, but that uh just keep me happy and comfortable. pro prosperity of feelings, prosperity of intellect in Silicon Valley. As a Silicon Valley Christian, you might want 12:14 to you might want a church or words that you have to rationally understand. You have to be able to make sense of it. You have to it has to intellectually stimulate you. It has to cross reference with scripture and intellectually 12:26 stimulate you. There's a prosperity of intellectual stimulation that we have to be careful for. And the Lord had something different for these people. He says in verse 27, "Do not work for the food which perishes. Don't work for these things 12:44 for this earthly prosperity or for these feelings that are not going to that are going to perish or this intellectual stimulation that's going to perish, but for the food which endures to eternal life which the son of man will give you. 12:57 For on him the father God has set his seal." And then he says in verse 33, John 6:33 says, "The bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." What do the people say? People say in verse 34, 13:11 "Lord, always give us this bread." What are they talking about? They're still talking about their physical needs being met, their feelings being met, their intellect being satisfied. That's what they still have in their mind. And then 13:23 Jesus says this so-called controversial statement. Jesus said to them, "You want bread? You want more bread? I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will not hunger and he who believes in me will never thirst. And then it goes on 13:38 to say as he continues to talk about the bread of life. It goes on to say in verse 60 that many of his disciples, actual disciples, not the crowd, the crowd already started to drift away. Many of his disciples heard this and 13:51 said this is a difficult statement. Who can listen to it? We came here for bread. We came here for earthly needs to be met. But he's saying, "No, all you get is me. All you get is Jesus. You get me as the bread of life." And as a result, it says in verse 14:08 66, "Many of his disciples withdrew and were not walking with him anymore." That's a sad story. And I want to challenge us, brothers and sisters. Do you have that? Are you here to have your earthly appetite met on this earth? There's a 14:26 verse in 1 Corinthians 15 which says that if our hope in Christ is just for this life then we of all people are to be pied. We of all men are to be pied. Our life and our appetite must be on the heavenly. We must come to a point where 14:42 our earthly needs are secondary but the word of God must be what sustains us. Must be what uh David says I think it's in Psalm 28. He says Lord if I don't hear from you today I might as well die. Is that the attitude we have? Man shall 14:56 not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds. Do I have that attitude? Say, Lord, it's okay if my earthly needs are not met. If you don't deliver me from this trial, I don't if you don't answer my prayer in this 15:07 regard, but I must have your word today. I must have you today. And having you, we can say having Jesus, that's sounds like it's not a warm and fuzzy feeling all the time. We can say we want to have Jesus. But Jesus, it says uh I think in 15:24 Philippians 3 it talks about having the fellowship of his sufferings. The bread of life is called in 1 Corinthians 11. It 1 Corinthians 11. It says we proclaim the death of Jesus when every time we partake of this bread. What does that mean? It means 15:41 that I'm willing to have my life crucified, my my interest in this life crucified. I'm willing to die to myself and partake in the death of Jesus. That's an uncomfortable thing. I'm willing to have my will crucified so that the Lord can reign 15:58 through me. Very uncomfortable. Does not feel good. Sometimes might feel good, sometimes may not feel good, but I'm not going to be ruled by my feelings. That is what it means to eat the bread of life, to partake of Jesus. And that is the calling for us. 16:14 Will we be satisfied with that? Will we be satisfied with gazing intently on Jesus, having him transform us uncomfortably, against our own feelings, sometimes against our own earthly resources to say, "I am going to transform you into your nature." But 16:31 it's going to be I'm going to transform you into my nature as you gaze intently on me as you seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit. But I will wet your appetite for the things of heaven, for the things of my nature, for more of Jesus Christ to be 16:47 seen in you. Let's turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 10. 1 Corinthians 10 is a warning to talks about the let's start from the beginning of the chapter which talks about the 17:06 Israelites when they were in uh wandering the desert and it says for I do not want verse one I do not want you to be unaware brethren that our fathers were all under the cloud all passed through the sea they were all baptized you can be a baptized Christian 17:23 in the cloud in the sea all ate the same spiritual food. Came to the same church, came to NCCF, ate the same spiritual food, all drank the same spiritual drink. For they were drinking from a spiritual rock which they which followed 17:37 them. And the rock was Christ. They were drinking from Christ. They were eating the same food. They were drinking from Christ. Verse five, the tragic verse. Nevertheless, with most of them, God was not well pleased and they were laid 17:50 alone in the wilderness. And why is that? Verse six, it says, "Now these things happened as examples for us so that we would not crave evil things as they did." And verse 7 says, "Do not be idoltors as some of them were." What 18:04 does it mean to be an idoltor? To crave these things of this earth. That's all it means to be an idoltor. I'm not bowing down to an idol. What is the proof of idolatry here? It says the people sat down to eat and drink and stood up to play. That's 18:17 it. That's all it takes to be an idoltor. that you are obsessed with the things of this world. You're more concerned with eating, drinking, playing what this world has to offer you. Your financial bank accounts, your relationships here on the earth. Your 18:32 mind is set on these things of this earth. That is what God is calling idolatry. And there's a warning here to say as much as they drank and they ate from the same spiritual food. That's not what they craved. They crave something 18:43 else. They craved the leaks and the onions from Egypt. They craved a comfortable life. They craved uh what that what sin had to offer even though they were being fed the same mana from heaven. And it's a warning for us to 19:00 say, Lord, I want to have my spiritual appetite wetted for what I I want to develop that taste for the things that transform me more into your image. I don't want to develop a taste for things that make me feel good, for things that 19:17 uh meet my earthly expectations and my my earthly needs that that those could be extra that can come. Whether you financially bless me or not, whether you heal me of the sickness or not, whether you deliver me of the trial or not, 19:28 whether you give me this job or not, whether you restore that relationship or not, that's secondary. I am praying for those two, but primarily transform me into your nature. Give me the appetite of heaven. That's what it means to de develop this 19:46 heavenly appetite. Young people, I want to say a word to you for just a minute. The Lord has paid a price. If you've accepted the Lord as your savior, he has paid an immense price for your body. He has paid with his own 20:03 blood and purchased you. It says you are a temple of the Holy Spirit. You've been purchased with a price. Your body is no longer your own. Your body is now you're now a son of the king. You are now representing heaven. You you are you 20:19 have princely duty. How must do you treat your eyes, your hands, your ears, your mouth? What is your appetite for? Don't dabble in the trash that the world has to offer. Don't dabble in the pig's food 20:36 like the prodigal son did. The pig enjoys pig's food. The pig finds pig's food really delicious. The pig has an appetite for really yummy, delicious pig's food. The Lord has a fatted calf for you. And remember that now that you are 20:53 you've given your life to Jesus, do not do not let your eyes dabble with what the world has to offer with the temptations that are out there on the internet, on your laptop, on your phone. Don't dabble in the conversation that is 21:09 condescending, that is gossiping, that is putting down others. Don't dabble in listening to things that are going to take your mind off of your princely duty. You have a princely duty now that you are a son of the king, now that you 21:25 are a heavenly citizen. The second attribute I want to talk about of a heavenly citizen is one that has an a heavenly language that they speak or a heavenly accent. One of the dead giveaways if you talk to anybody they may they may look the same 21:44 as you or they may have been here for many years whether they're from a different country is when they speak. You'll either hear them speak with a strong accent or you'll hear them speaking to others in a different language. 21:57 Right? We can tell that even among us, many of us here, you can tell some have been here like 20 years and have gotten aized to America. Some have been here just a couple years and you can hear the accent. It's a lot stronger, 22:10 right? I want to ask you, brothers and sisters, what's your do you have an Do you have a heavenly accent today or has your accent gotten ecleatized to the way of this world? What does that mean? Do you participate in the gossip that is 22:28 common in the world that is common in the workplace that is now becoming common in the church even? Do you have an attitude of complaining that is common in the earth today? Do you have a the spirit of blaming and accusation? This is the accent of the 22:47 world. Do you have unkind words? Are you boastful? Do you have words of self-pity? Dear words of anger and standing up for yourself. This is the accent of the world today. In contrast, what is the accent of heaven? The Bible 23:02 says in Colossians 4:6, "Let your words, let your speech be seasoned with grace as of seasoned with salt." Or you can say, "Let your speech be accented with the heavenly accent of grace, so that you will know how to respond to each 23:17 person." Ephesians 4:29 says, "Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up as fits the occasion and that gives grace to those who hear." That's the heavenly accent we must have. One that builds up, 23:34 one that brings grace, one that keeps our tongues from gossip, keeps our tongues from acquiring the earthly accent, the action of this world. What's the language of heaven? What do you think we're going to be doing in heaven when we get to heaven? 23:49 Again, having this perspective of heaven. Revelations 14 talks about a new song that's going to be sung that you can't learn. You learn it here on this earth and you can't learn it here in heaven. What is that? What is that 24:02 song? It's the heavenly language of praise. If you have not gotten comfortable with praising God here on earth, you're going to get awfully bored in heaven. There's not a whole lot to do in heaven. But praise God, so better get 24:17 used to it here on earth. What does that mean? Let me read a few verses in the Psalms that talk about this. Let's look at Psalms chapter 118. And verse 15 says, 24:43 The sound of joyful shouting and salvation is in the tents of the righteous. What is the sound that is heard if somebody were to sneak up on your home? If Alexa is listening to your conversations at home, what is the what 24:59 kind of shouting is going on in your home? Is it a shouting of siblings arguing with each other, husband and wife arguing with each other, or is it a shouting of joy and salvation in the house of the righteous? That's the sound 25:12 of praise that is ex that is the sound of heaven that we can practice here on earth. Psalms 149 few few pages later you can turn there. Psalms 149 was four says the Lord takes pleasure in his people. He will beautify the afflicted 25:28 ones with salvation. It's a beautiful picture of the what the Lord intends to use in our affliction. When we have when we're going through a difficulty or affliction, remind yourself of this verse. The Lord intends to beautify you 25:43 through your affliction. He tends he intends to make you more beautiful through this affliction with the salvation he's going to bring. How's he going to do this? Verse five. Let us exalt in glory. Let let let us sing for 25:58 joy on our beds. What are you doing when you wake up in the morning when you fall asleep at night? What is what's what thoughts are going through your mind? What is troubling you about the day ahead or the day that just passed or the 26:09 week ahead as you fall asleep at night? Are you singing for joy in your bed? Verse six, let the high praises of God be in their mouth and a two-edged sword in their hand. What is this two-edged sword? Do you know another passage which 26:26 talks about double-edged sword? Hebrews 4:12 says, "The living word of God is a double-edged sword that is meant to separate the sooulish from the spiritual." What does that mean in this context? It means that when the feelings 26:41 of doubt and anxiety creep in, when the feelings of worry come in, when the feelings of self-pity come in, I take the double-edged sword of the word of God, separate the sooulish, that's my feelings, and say, "Feelings, you are 26:53 not going to control me." feelings. Yeah, God created your feelings, but they're not meant to be your master. They're meant to be your pet. They're meant to be under your control. And say, "I'm not going to let you control me. I'm going to let the 27:07 living word of God violently separate." Double-edged sword. That's a violent That's a violent weapon. Separate out the sooulish feelings from the spiritual and say, "I am going to choose to praise you. I'm going to choose to praise you 27:22 in this difficult circumstance." The next time you pray about your trial that you're going through, don't just pray, "Lord, give me the grace to get through this trial." Pray, "Lord, give me the praise to get through this trial. I want 27:35 to be found praising on my bed in the middle of this trial because I've taken the double-edged sword of the word of God." That's the heavenly language that I should have here on this earth. And the last attribute I want to 27:50 talk about is the heavenly currency. transact in the heavenly currency. What do you do if you're visiting a foreign country? You're at the airport when you say the months are days, the days are hours. So, we're pretty much at this 28:03 point, like if you think we're in deployed in a foreign country or uh in exile, strangers in foreign country. Now, we're at the airport. We're just trying to find the right gate. What do you do at the airport? You're ready to 28:15 board the flight to heaven, right? What are you What are you doing right about now? Are you collecting more currency in the country that you're in? No, I'm going to the foreign currency exchange. I'm like, I'm trying to get rid of my 28:25 currency and I'm trying to get currency for the country that I'm going to. That's the foreign exchange I'm trying to do. What is the currency of heaven? 2 Corinthians chapter 4 gives us a little bit of that preview. 2 28:42 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 17 and 18. And it says momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison. When does this happen? While I look not at the things which are seen 28:59 on this earth, not at my trial, not at my situation, not at my uh uh bank account or my relationships here on earth, but at the things which are not seen, the things which are eternal. When my eyes are on the Lord and the things 29:14 that are eternal in the midst of my affliction, it says I am getting an eternal weight of glory. I'm getting some gold coins that I'm depositing in the federal bank of heaven through these light afflictions when my eyes are on Jesus. What is that? 29:31 What is that currency? I believe that currency is the likeness of Jesus. I am transacting in the currency that is going to be make me more like Jesus. the more the momentary light. What is the eternal weight of glory? The 29:44 eternal weight of glory is the likeness of Jesus that is that I'm that that I am being transformed into. Brothers and sisters, are you cashing in on your trials today? Don't let this trial get by that you're going through. The Lord 30:00 may deliver you from this trial, but did you cash in on an eternal weight of glory through this trial? Did he transform you through this child to to see more of his nature being brought out in you? Turn with me to Psalms chapter 30:27 17. Psalm 17 talks about two different type of people. Psalm 17:14 it says men with your hand oh lord men of the world what is what is the definition of men of the world whose portion is in 30:45 this life they're not doing evil things they're not going around killing or murdering or doing things like that men of this world whose portion is in this life whose belly you God is God answering your prayer and meeting your portion in this life he may 31:01 be answering ing your prayer but he's you're missing out on the true treasure. He says men whose portion is in his life who whose belly you fill with your treasure. They are satisfied with children and leave their abundance to 31:14 their babes. Aren't these good things? Aren't these really good things to be pursuing to be have an abundance and to provide for your children and uh they're to be satisfied with that? And the Lord says the Lord in the previous verse 31:30 relative to godly disciples in verse 13 he says he calls them calls these people wicked. And so I want to challenge us brothers and sisters. Are you content with the treasure that this world has to offer? Maybe God will give you that. But 31:44 is that what gives you satisfaction? Is that what gives you satisfaction here on this earth? It's just having a portion in this life, filling your belly with the treasure of heaven as opposed to what David says. This is David without 31:57 the power of the Holy Spirit in him saying, "As for me," verse 15. What is his transaction? What is his currency that he's transacting in? As for me, I will behold your face in righteousness. My eyes will be fixed on you. I will be satisfied with your 32:14 likeness when I awake. That's the currency that the Lord wants us to be well beyond having a portion in this life to say, Lord, I am going to be the thing that's going to satisfy me is your likeness. A little bit more of your 32:27 likeness in my life every day when I awake. I'll say one thing in closing. The Lord intends as we are called to have this grow with this heavenly appetite transact with the heavenly currency speak the heavenly language. 32:45 He's he's doesn't mean this for us to just transform us or to transform our spouses or our children but to be a witness to the world. The Bible says we are meant to have carry the fragrance of Christ. That fragrance of Christ is is 32:58 defined as the knowledge of him. It says is in 2 Corinthians 2. The likeness of him is meant to be that fragrance so that wherever we go, whether you go into the workplace, somebody smells. Now, it may not smell the same to each person. It 33:11 says to the one that's dying, it's an aroma of death. They may want nothing to do with you, but the one who has an inclination to say, I have a desire to be saved, you will have the fragrance of Christ that will bring salvation to 33:26 them. Let me end with this passage. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 15. You often ask yourself, why did why did Jesus die on the cross? Sunday school answer is Jesus died on the cross so that I can get to heaven, 33:43 so I can have eternal life, everlasting life, so that I can be saved from my sins. Verse 15 says, 2 Corinthians 5:15 says, Jesus died for all of us so that I may no longer live for myself, but live for him who died and rose again. That's a different 34:02 definition of why Jesus died. So that I can live as a heavenly citizen for him, not live for myself here on this earth. And then in verse 19 it says, "God was in Christ reconciling the world to him, not counting their trespasses against him. And he has 34:18 committed to us this word of reconciliation. Therefore, we as heavenly citizens, we're not just called to be heavenly citizens. We're called to be heavenly diplomats, heavenly ambassadors. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ." Verse 20, as 34:33 the God were making an appeal through us, we beg on your on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. That's the aroma we need to carry with us when we go into the world where people see this heavenly language, see this heavenly appetite 34:49 that we have, see the heavenly currency that we're transacting in and say we that appeals to them to be reconciled with God to say, I want something of what this person has. He has a peace about him. While I'm complaining, he's 35:01 got a peace about him. While I'm worrying and anxious, he has joy. I can't explain it, but he has something. And they start a conversation with you and they see that you're reconciled to God. And they have a you have an appeal 35:15 through your spirit for them to be reconciled to God. That's what it means to be an ambassador for Christ. Not just a citizen of heaven, but an ambassador for heaven. May we grow in this. May we realize the reality of heaven and how soon it is. 35:32 And may we fix our eyes on Jesus. May we continue to grow in the fullness of the Holy Spirit where heaven is wide open to us. And we see heaven as being way more real than our earthly circumstance, our earthly trials, our earthly bank 35:48 account, our earthly relationships. May this be true in our lives. Amen.
