 It's good to be back and do a bill. It's good to be back at this conference. God has blessed this place in many, many ways, and God continues to bless this outreach, this ministry, this university, and all who are part of it. I think this weekend is our glorious inheritance. Amen. Ephesians 1, 18, 19. May the eyes of your hearts be enlightened that you may know what is the hope of His calling and what are the riches of glory in His inheritance. What is our understanding of the concept of inheritance? And inheritance is something promised to us while a person is living and given to us when a person dies. According to our tax code, a person can give us a portion of our inheritance before death, but the full gift comes after death. The same is true in our Christian understanding of our Christian inheritance. The inheritance we have been promised by God comes to us because we are adopted sons and daughters of a good, good, good God, our Father. Amen. Our adoption comes not from being born naturally, but from being reborn in the saving waters of baptism. Amen. While our natural birth gives us natural rights and natural gifts, our regeneration through the death and resurrection of Jesus by God's plan and promise gives us the gift of our promised inheritance. What is our inheritance as a disciple of Jesus Christ? If we die in union with God, then we will inherit a share in God's life eternally. Amen? That wasn't too strong. If we die in union with God, then we will inherit a share in God's life eternally. That's our inheritance. Our basic inheritance is eternal life, eternal life with God and all that comes with it. Paul proclaims it in his letter to the Ephesians. Blessed be God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessings in the heavens. As he chose us in him, we're not an accident. Before the foundation of the world to be holy, to be blameless in his sight, to be full of love, he likewise predestined us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ in accord with the favor of his will for the praise of the glory of his grace that he granted us in his beloved. The first blessing we receive from God is he created us and gave us human life out of love. Amen? You and I live now because God will us to be alive. I love you so much, he says, and I want to create you in my own image and likeness. But as we know, because of the sin of Adam and Eve, we were alienated from God. And so the second blessing is Jesus's death on the cross reconciled us back to the Father. Amen? Amen. Though Jesus saved all, not all are saved. This blessing of salvation was personalized for you and me in the waters of baptism. And as a result, you and I began a life journey of holiness and response in love, praising God for his glorious plan. What is central to this life journey in reference to claiming our inheritance? John in the Fourth Gospel reveals the central mystery of God's plan. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son so that everyone who believes in him might not perish, but might have eternal life. The emphasis is not believing about God's son, but believing in him as Lord and Savior and choosing to commit our life totally to him, making him the center of our life, which is our inheritance. Just as in the Old Testament, the tribe of Levite had no specific parcel of land in the dividing of the Promised Land among the sons of Jacob, so we do not have a lasting home here. Just as the Lord was the inheritance of the tribe of Levite, so the Lord is our inheritance. The tribe of Levite depended totally on the Lord to provide for their needs and to care for them. So too, we are totally dependent upon the Lord to provide for our needs and to care for us now as we await the final gift of our eternal inheritance. Jesus had many disciples following him for a period of time, but only a few had the conviction of Peter who said, when others walked away, master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the holy one of God. Let me share a story with you. It's called My Son, a wealthy man, and his son loved to collect rare works of art. They had everything in their collection from Picasso to Rayfield. They would often sit together and admire the great works of art. When the Vietnam conflict broke out, the son went to war. He was very courageous and died in battle while rescuing another soldier. The father was notified and grieved deeply for his only son. About a month later, just before Christmas, there was a knock at the door. A young man stood at the door with a large package in his hands. He said, sir, you don't know me, but I'm the soldier for whom your son gave his life. He saved many lives that day. He was carrying me to safety when a bullet struck him in the heart, and he died instantly. I know this isn't much. I'm not really a great artist, but I think your son would have wanted you to have this. The father opened the package. It was a portrait of his son painted by the young man. He stared in awe at the way the soldier had captured the personality of his son in the painting. The father was so drawn into the eyes that his own eyes welled up with tears. He thanked the young man and offered to pay him for the picture. Oh, no, sir, I could never repay what your son did for me. It's a gift. The father hung the portrait over his mantle. And every time visitors came to his home, he took them to see the portrait of his son before he showed them any of the other great works of art he had collected. The man died a few months later. There was to be a great auction of his paintings. And many influential people gathered, excited over seeing the great paintings and having an opportunity to purchase one for their collection. On the platform sat the painting of the son. The auctioneer pounded his gavel. We will start the bidding with this picture of the son. Who will bid for this picture? There was silence. Then a voice in the back of the room shouted, we want to see the famous painting. Skip this one. But the auctioneer persisted. Will somebody bid for this painting? Who would start the bidding, $100, $200? Another voice angry. We didn't come to see this painting. We came to see the Van Goghs, the Rembrandts. Get on with the real bids. But still the auctioneer continued. The son, the son, who will take the son? Finally a voice came from the very back of the room. He was a longtime gardener of the man and his son. I'll give $10 for the painting. Being a poor man, it was all he could afford. We have a $10 bid. Who will bid $20? Give it to him for $10. Let's see the masters. The crowd was becoming angry. They didn't want the picture of the son. They wanted the more worthy investments for their collections. The auctioneer pounded the gavel. Going once, twice, sold for $10. A man sitting on the second row shouted, now let's get on with the collection. The auctioneer laid down his gavel. I'm sorry, the auction is over. What about the paintings? I'm sorry. When I was called to conduct this auction, I was told of a secret stipulation in the will. I was not allowed to reveal that stipulation until this time. Only the painting of the son would be auction. Whoever bought that painting would inherit the entire estate, including the painting. The man who took the son gets everything. Without the son of God in our lives in a meaningful way, nothing else is of lasting worth. The portrait of the son in the story was the gateway to the rest of the treasured inheritance. There is no eternal life with God without being in union with his son, Jesus Christ. Paul, again in Ephesians, confirms the centrality of Jesus in the life of the believer but then adds another piece to the picture of our inheritance. In him you also who have heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and have believed in him, received with a promised Holy Spirit, which is the first installment of our inheritance toward redemption as God's possession to praise his glory. In the Father's plan for our salvation, the scriptures tell us that Jesus was sent to redeem us to the obedience to the will of the Father and everything even to his death on the cross. But redemption is one essential part of our salvation. Scientification and mission are also aspects of God's plan for us as his adopted sons and daughters. For this to be fulfilled, the Spirit was sent to accomplish this. As Paul reminds us, the Spirit is the first installment or down payment of our inheritance. It is the Spirit who enables us to proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord. It is the Spirit who convicts us of sin. It is the Spirit who reveals the truth to us. It is the Spirit who remains with us and within us. What do we specifically know about our inheritance? We read in the first letter of Peter what the Spirit has revealed to us about our inheritance. He says, Blessed be God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, who in his great mercy gave us a new birth to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. Let's look at these four ideas. Imperishable, undefiled, unfading, kept in heaven for you. Imperishable. Everything on earth basically is perishable because each is made of destructive material. We know this. But our gift of life is imperishable. Even death does not destroy life but transform it into another form of living. Our Spirit lives after death. Amen. If our life has been transformed by the life and death of Jesus and we remain in union with Him, then we will live with God forever in the glory of His presence. But if our life, though transformed by the life and death of Jesus, is not in union with God when death occurs, then we will continue to live but in alienation from God in the eternal torments of hell. We lost the inheritance. We forfeited the inheritance because of sin. Again, the words of Peter, you have been born anew, not from perishable but imperishable seed through the living and abiding word of God. What C.S. Lewis says at the end of Chronicles of Narnia could apply. He says, For them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and title page. Now, at last, they were beginning chapter one of the great story which no one on earth has read, which goes on forever and ever in which every chapter is better than the one before our inheritance. It is the fire of the Holy Spirit given to us in confirmation and stirred anew in us in the baptism in the Spirit that allows the initial spark to burst into flame again and again. Let's listen to Pope Benedict XVI who spoke these words in the Pentecost of 2011. Quote, So it is worthwhile to let ourselves be touched by the fire of the Holy Spirit. Thus we are enlightened and comforted by these words of life. Come Holy Spirit and kindle in us the fire of your love. Let us know this is a bold prayer with which we ask to be touched by God's flame. But above all, we know this flame and it alone has the power to save us. We do not want to lose eternal life that God wants to give us and so we need the fire of the Holy Spirit. End of quote. Undefiled. Since Christ is perfect, the life he promises us is perfect. And for us to experience his inheritance, we must be ultimately cleansed from all that is imperfect. When we were baptized, we were given a white garment symbolizing the new life of Christ that we had just received. You remember that? You're too small. The words said at that moment were, I'll use Mary. Mary, you become a new creation and close yourself in Christ. Receive this baptismal garment and bring it unstained to the judgment seat of our Lord Jesus Christ so that you may have everlasting life. So if we die in Christ, but we are still not in perfect love of God, then before we can enter into this full possession of our inheritance, namely eternal life with God, we need to release anything that is defiled in us. This is the role of purgatory. As we heard from the Citation and Ephesians, God chose us in Christ Jesus to be holy without blemish and full of love. This is confirmed by Revelation 21-27, which says nothing defiled will enter the kingdom of heaven unfading. As we grow older, our youth fades. Sometimes our vision fades. Even some of our earthly desires and hopes fade. But the eternal life given to us in baptism remains forever the same because it is a share in the very life of God, which is unchangeable. Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians, compares the fading glory of the veiled face of Moses with the transforming and ever-renewing glory that comes from the Spirit. He says, all of us gazing with unveiled face on the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory as from the Lord who is the Spirit. Our inheritance is kept in heaven for us. The full inheritance we have in Christ now will be given to us in heaven after death. We receive our natural inheritance after the death of the one providing. But paradoxically, we have to die before we can receive the full inheritance that has the Spirit as the guarantee of eternal life awaiting us in heaven. In the words of the letter to the Hebrews, like Abraham, we are looking forward to the city with foundations whose architect and maker is God. As long as we remain in union with God, our inheritance is secure. Like sheep, we are called to listen to the voice of the shepherd and remain one with him. As long as we do so, Christ gives us this assurance. I give them eternal life and they shall never perish. No one can take them out of my hand. My father who has given them to me is greater than all and no one can take them out of my father's hand. What will our inheritance eternal life look like in human terms according to God's revelation? Paul tells us. What I has not seen and ear has not heard and what has not entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love him, this God has revealed to us through the Spirit. Here's what St. John Paul II said about the reality we call heaven. In the context of revelation, we know that the heaven or happiness in which we will find ourselves is neither an abstraction nor a physical place in the clouds, but a living personal relationship with the Holy Trinity. It is our meeting with the Father that takes place in the risen Christ through the communion of the Holy Spirit. If eternal life is this meeting with the Father that takes place in the risen Christ through communion of the Holy Spirit, then the blessing that comes from this union is that we will see God as he is. And so we read in the first letter of John, beloved, we are God's children now. What we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope based on him makes himself pure as he is pure. This is theologically called the Beatific Vision. This is how the Catechism of the Catholic Church describes the Beatific Vision. It says, because of his transcendence, God cannot be seen as he is, unless he himself opens up his mystery to man's immediate contemplation and gives him the capacity to do it. The church calls this contemplation of God in his 70th glory, the Beatific Vision. As a result of this intimacy and relationship, we further are told in the Book of Revelations that not only will we be with God, but God will make all things new for us. We read, I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, behold, God's dwelling is with the human race. He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will always be with them as their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes and there should be no more death the morning, wailing of pain for the old order has passed away. The one who sat on the throne said, behold, I make all things new. A glimpse of our blessings in heaven is given to us in the conclusion of each of the seven letters to the seven churches in the Book of Revelations. Having repented and returned to our first love, which is God, we are told, I will see to it that the victor eats from the tree of life which grows in the garden of God. Having remained faithful until death, we will be given the crown of life. The victor shall never be harmed by the second death. The second death is eternal alienation from God. To the victor I will give the hidden manner. I will also give him a white stone upon which to describe a new name be known only by him who receives it. What is the hidden manner? It is a reference to the messianic banquet which will nourish us eternally, namely Jesus himself is the manner. The white stone is our precious ticket to the heavenly banquet. The new name is our oneness with Christ. We will then be fully Christian, fully complete, which enables us to claim our seat at the banquet table, our inheritance. Continue our reflection from Revelation. It says, to the one who wins the victory who keeps to my ways till the end, I will give authority over the nations, the same authority I receive from my Father. He shall rule them with a rod of iron and shatter them like crockery and I will give him the morning star. The morning star ushers in a new day. Jesus is that morning star and the new day for those who keep his ways will be sharing in his reign over the nations basking in the glory of his light. Continuing, the victor shall go clothed in white. I will never erase his name from the book of the living will acknowledge him in the presence of my Father and his angels. They're clothed in white because they have endured the great tribulation and washed their robes in the blood of the lamb. They also acknowledge Jesus before others as their personal Lord and Savior. And in turn, Jesus acknowledges them as his own by name. Continuing, I will make the victor a pillar in the temple of my God and he shall never leave it. I will inscribe on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which he will send down from heaven and my own name, which is new, have remained faithful to Jesus throughout our trials on earth. We will be a firm pillar in the presence of God because we have been claimed by Jesus, whose name we bear. And finally, here I stand knocking at the door. If anyone hears me calling and opens the door, I will enter his house and have supper with him and he with me. I will give the victor the right to sit with me on my throne as I myself won the victory and took my seat besides my father's throne in heaven. Again, the emphasis is on sharing with Jesus in the eternal banquet feast because we invited him to be the Lord of our lives on earth and he is the Lord of our lives in heaven. For this we are promised a place of prominence in the kingdom of God, sitting next to him as he sits next to the Father. But we have to do something. We have to invite Jesus into our hearts. You know that famous painting that tried to capture this scene in Revelation, this man decided he wanted to paint this scene of Jesus knocking at the door and when he finished, he was so pleased with his painting that he wanted to show it off to all the people in the village. And as they were looking at the painting, they were all and they were oohing and they were saying, oh, it's beautiful, you captured it. Look at the light, look at this. Except one and that's the son of the painter. And the son was pulling at his coat tail says, daddy, daddy. He says, later son, later. Daddy, daddy. Later son, daddy. What? The painting is not over, it's not finished, it's not complete, it's missing something. He says, what is it missing, son? Look at the door, dad. There's no door knob. How can Jesus get in? And the Father says, son, this door can only be opened from the inside. Jesus knocks and calls us by name and he waits. He invites us to invite him into our hearts, not just once, but regularly, because he wants to come into our hearts and make a difference in our lives. But he cannot make the difference in our lives unless we say yes, unless we yield everything to him, unless we allow him to become the Lord of our lives, the center of our lives, our beginning and our end, and our hope and our resurrection, our joy and our love. Unless Jesus is this, he's not yet fully the Lord of our lives. He's knocking, he's calling us by name and he's waiting. He has an inheritance to give us, but he's waiting for us to want that inheritance, which is the Son. Being in the eternal presence of God, seeing him face to face, sharing in his eternal life will stir in us a sense of awe and wonder that expresses itself in praise, honor, glory, thanksgiving and worship. Listen to the reflection of Saint Augustine. He says, our thoughts in this present life should turn on the praise of God because it is in praising God that we shall rejoice forever in the life to come. And no one can be ready for the next life unless he trains himself for it now. So we praise God during our earthly life and at the same time, we make our petitions to him. Our praise is expressed with joy, our petitions with yearning. We have been promised something we do not yet possess and because the promise was made by one who keeps his word, we trust him and are glad. But in so far as possession is delayed, we can only long and yearn for it. It is good for us to persevere in longing until we receive what was promised and yearning is over when praise alone will remain. So what did we do at the beginning of our session tonight? We praise God. Why did we praise God? It's not because we feel good. We praise God because we're anticipating the day we're going to be in his presence with our inheritance and we're going to be praising God forever in the new heavens and the new earth. We're going to give glory and praise to God. We're going to worship God. We're going to adore God. We're going to give him all that is his due. And so what will our worship and song be? Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. He who was and who is and who is to come. Oh Lord our God, you are worthy to receive glory and honor and power for you have created all things by your will. By your will they came to be and were made worthy as the land that was slain to receive power and riches, wisdom and strength, honor and glory and praise. To the one seed of the throne and to the land be praised and honor, glory and might forever and ever. And we shall seal our praise and worship with alleluia, alleluia, amen. And so this weekend let's look forward to being in the presence of God in glory. We are in the presence of God here but in a limited way. The inheritance that he wants to give us is greater than we can experience on earth. The inheritance that he wants to give us is because he loves us so much that he wants us to be with him and share in his glory and be with him forever so that there be more and more mourning and death and crying out but we will be totally one with God. And so we return to the words of C.S. Lewis. For them it was only the beginning of the real story. All the life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and title page. Now at last they were beginning chapter one of the great story which no one on earth has read which goes on forever and ever and ever in which every chapter is better than the one before. Let's stand and let's begin worshiping the Lord as the band returns to the stage. I'm a little early, that's why he wasn't ready. You got it. But while he's getting ready, let's praise God. Let's worship God, let's get into God's presence and let's give him the glory and praise that is due and what I want you to do, I want you to have unceasing praise. Do you know what unceasing praise is? Don't stop. I want you to, if you have to take a breath, don't take a breath when the person next to you is taking a breath. But just keep praising and singing and glorifying God and when the music seems to move differently we're going to keep praising God. We're not going to stop. We're not going to take a breath. We're going to give God the glory. Amen? We can't hear God's word and not respond to it. Amen? So this is not a matter of just having your ears tickled. It's a matter of responding to what you heard God said to you in your heart. Now, I don't know the crowd. I don't know you individually. I don't know your background. But God always puts on my heart, give my people a chance to give their lives to me if they've never done it before. If you never, ever, ever, ever, ever made a public personal commitment of your life to the Lord Jesus Christ and you felt during this talk that God was knocking at your door and was calling you by name and asking you tonight I want you to respond to the grace that I'm giving you to invite me into your heart in a way you've never done before. This is not for people who've done it before who've done it a thousand times before. This is for the people who never thought they ever gave their lives personally and publicly to Jesus Christ. If you feel God is tugging at your heart I'm inviting you to open that door of your heart to me now. I'm asking you to stand. You've never done this before. You feel God is moving in your heart and God is asking you to make a step of faith and commitment to him tonight at the beginning of this conference. Please stand. And I ask you to come and stand all the way up front. Just make a line in the front. Just come up front. Right there is fine. No, face me. Give me a little space in between you. If you have to, we'll make a second row. You've never done this before. You're not doing it because people are coming up. You're doing it because you feel God is moving in your heart and inviting you to take this step in his name because he wants to do a mighty thing in your life tonight and throughout this weekend and to the rest of your life. Behold, I stand at the door knocking at your heart. Anyone who opens the door invites me in. I will come and have supper with him. God loves you. God loves you very much. He's inviting you to respond to his love. I'm asking you, those who are standing in the front to open your hands with palms upright. It's your act of surrender to the Lord, your yes to the Lord. And I should repeat after me from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ who's standing right before you. Lord Jesus Christ, I thank you for your death and resurrection. I thank you for giving my sins. I thank you for loving me the way you do. I reject Satan in all his evil ways. I reject sin in all its consequences. I forgive those who have hurt me in any way and I ask forgiveness of those I've hurt. And in your name and by your power I forgive myself for every sin I've committed but especially for the one I'm most ashamed of. In Lord Jesus Christ I invite you to come into my heart in a fresh new way. You've come many times but I've never really gave myself to you. But tonight I want you to be the Lord of my life. I give you all that I am and all that I have all that I will be. I give you my mind, my will, my emotions, my feelings, my instincts, my heart, my family, my finances, my fears, my shame, my guilt. I give you everything. You are the Lord of my life from this night on. I will profess you as the Lord of my life. In Lord Jesus Christ I pray during this weekend so that I may be anointed in a new way by your Holy Spirit and be a witness for you from this day on. Amen. Stay where you are. The team is going to pray over you a very simple, short, laying on the hands on your shoulder ahead and pray a simple prayer. Sign you with the sign of the cross and give you a holy embrace. When you receive that, go back into your chair. God is good. All the time. All the time. Now for those of you who already made that commitment and I don't want you to feel chart changed, if you already made that commitment it's time to renew the commitment. Because this weekend is Pentecost. We want to be ready for all that God wants to do in our lives this weekend but he's waiting for us to renew our commitment to him our yes to him. So if you're ready to make your commitment I ask you to stand. If you're ready to renew it in your own heart, in your own words I'm not going to lead you. You and God, you tell God what you want to say to him. What is your yes, your commitment to God this day for the rest of your life. It's yours.