Anchor Yourself to the Kingdom of God

Happy Sabbath, brethren! And thank you very much for praising our God and that special music. That was very, very beautiful and well said.

We have just completed an annual journey through God's plan of salvation through His annual Holy Days.

And that journey takes half a year. And as we progressed through those Holy Days, we began extolling and appreciating Jesus Christ's sacrifice for us that reunited us with God as sheep who had gone astray, reuniting us as a people who have a relationship with an authority, with a shepherd, a great shepherd. And through that, the thing that separated us was simply done away with. And as we enter a commitment, a covenant, to become like that shepherd, we go through the days of unleavened bread with the stark difference between leaven and unleaven with sinful and right and separating those two out and distinguishing ourselves as potential first fruits in the kingdom of God as something different than what we've been and different than what Satan and his society has come to live and to observe.

The result of that begins to be shown in the feast of harvest of first fruits of those who have become Christ-like, developed fruits for the kingdom to be harvested in that 50-day count and then the celebration. Those individuals are set apart, set aside as a bride for Christ, that has worked at perfecting and cleaning up and differentiating themselves with the clothing of the mind and the clothing of their deeds and thoughts. And that is blessed, rewarded at the seventh trumpet when that seventh trumpet sounds and the feast of trumpets declares the rule and the reign of Jesus Christ. His authority comes to this earth to blanket the earth with his rulership and his authority and us as the bride of Christ being an integral part of that Godhead authority. And that's followed then by humanity being able to be cleansed or atoned for their misdeeds, having those set aside and God putting a new spirit and a new heart in them and not remembering their lawless deeds through that atonement of Jesus Christ's sacrifice. And the result is what we tried to demonstrate at the Feast of Tabernacles. It was pretty neat. It was pretty great. It's the feast we talk about from about this time of year all the way till it starts. And at this time of year we're still talking about it. There are congregations this Sabbath that are having special potlucks and showing photos that people took and sharing their feast experiences. It's quite a deal. In other words, God's way of life is such a blessing. And even as we imperfectly try to experience it at the Feast of Tabernacles, it just resounds with us that that way works. And the last great day, the eighth day, then shows how all of humanity ultimately will have these books that we've come to learn and grow from. They'll be open to them and they will have a great Garden of Eden experience under God and we will assist with them.

Now, as you and I come back to this period of time, we have some takeaways then from this whole festival season that is just concluded. One of the takeaways is that they teach us God's plan of salvation. And that's not just an automatic thing. That takes a calling, an opening of the eyes. It takes buy-in on our part. It takes buy-in on God's part. And there has to be a partnering mentorship in order to move us along, just like we will partner and mentor with those in the millennial time as teachers and once again in the second resurrection period.

They also direct us towards daily godly living in order for us to participate in all of those. And God wants you to participate in all seven feasts. There's not just one for you. Passovers for you, unleavened breads for you, the harvest of firstfruits festival is for you, the second resurrection at the seventh trumpet during the Feast of Trumpets. There you are, right there, big part of it. Day of Atonement, being with Jesus Christ wherever he is, and putting that current imposter ruler away and binding him. And then being with Christ as teachers and helping and getting that knowledge of God to cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. And in the second resurrection, helping them see what's in those books and be judged or assessed by whether they want to do God's way. And then of course it goes on from there, doesn't it? We see ourselves reflected in New Jerusalem. So this whole festival season that we just have finished celebrating should do more than be in association with us, you know? Not something we just, oh yeah, we believe in that, we're kind of associated with that. We should have a strong understanding of who we are and what our relationship is to the kingdom or the government of God. I'd like to talk to you about that today. We are in an interesting period of time now. From the last great day to Passover is a gap of six months and 19 days without annual feasts. That's a long period of time.

It also interestingly corresponds with less and less light from the sun, a darkening literally in the northern hemisphere of light and a chilling, a cooling, a time interestingly of darkness when simultaneously are the festivals of society starting with Halloween and its spiritist kind of demonic inspired kind of themes that are dark. And it rolls into other celebrations that humans have devised that are not found in the Bible at all. And these things can be distracting and misleading from truth and actually promote other things that are ungodly and certainly stand against Scripture. And those roll out throughout the dark wintertime and on into the spring. Finally, when we get there, the Holy Day season begins again. It reminds me again of a growth that's taking place that I think reflects you and me. You know, God talks about things happening after the former and the latter rains. So the former rains have started, right? Because their seeds are in the ground. The winter wheat, the hard winter wheat is in the ground. The barley seeds are in the ground now. Who would have thought somebody's going to grow something now? You know, this morning my wife and I asked Alexa a couple of times, what's the weather today? And the weather report was there will be severe frost and the warning was about crops in the field. Severe warning about something that would impact crops in the field. Now, in order for the barley that represents Jesus Christ to be ready at the Days of Unleavened Bread for the first fruits waving, hey, that's got to be growing now. What? When there's frost warnings and snow warnings and cold and less light. These are harsh growing conditions, right? And that reminds me of Jesus Christ's life. He came and he was attacked as an infant. Herod tried to kill him then.

His whole life he was attacked and he was tried to be killed and he was maligned. It was a tough time for him to grow and he is our first fruits, the first of the first fruits we find in 1st Corinthians 15. And after him come the other first fruits. That's those who have been called to this new covenant. And we grow in a time of spiritual darkness, of cold. You know, when Jesus said in the end times, the love of many will grow cold.

And Paul talks about people being very self-centered and cold-natured to each other. And all types of evil things would abound under Satan. So we see in our world right now a progression of society changing and it's not for the better. Society is adopting more and more things that are bad for it. That are ultimately going to take it towards its own extinction, genocide, if there was not an intervention, Jesus said. Kind of reminds me these winds of chains that are coming along not only impact the world and people become desensitized more and more.

You've probably seen it, maybe felt it with some of the wars that are going on. People just smashing and bashing and blowing up and bombing. We've seen it now for a couple of decades, at least.

Just a lot of senseless death and destruction and more on its way. It kind of becomes common. Shootings in school, you know, they happen all the time. And it's like, okay, another one. Used to just be, wow, these things just shocked. But not so much anymore. Lawlessness is increasing everywhere. All types of laws and rules are just coming up that are boggling to the mind.

It's kind of like that frog in the proverbial pot, you know? You put it in the pot and you turn on the heat and at first it's okay. But it doesn't notice the heat of the water. It doesn't detect it because it's so gradual. And after a while, the frog is boiled and he's dead. In a way, it's kind of like Jesus's parables, especially in Matthew 25. You had the five foolish and the five wise.

You know, everybody's knew there was a wedding coming, but the five foolish kind of, you know, adapted to other things. And then you have wheat and tares and sheep and goats. And you know, he's saying, listen, there's a lot of his parables that say, listen, you really need to be different. You need to really be of God, not of society around you. We see things in media, you know, the entertainment, the music.

It's shifted so, so, so much. You know, you go back, I don't know if it's been 20 or 30 years ago when programs like Friends came on TV. That was the big talk of the town. You know, Friends, ah, it's so funny. And they systematically went through every standard of society, every form of ethics, every law of God, it seemed, just systematically went through and destroyed them one by one with humor and laughter. And we've had a whole generation or more in the church grow up.

How has that affected us? How have some of these things affected us? What do we, what do we think? Are we kind of like that frog that's eventually going to boil? Well, today let's look at who we are. I want to, I want to try today to emphasize who you are in your own mind, in my mind. I'm talking to myself today, and I've had a lot of discussion about this. Who am I really in God's eyes? And who should I be in my own eyes?

It's very important that we know who we are, why we are here now, and where we are heading. The title of the sermon is, Anchor Yourself in the Kingdom of God. Anchor yourself in the Kingdom of God. It may sound like an odd title because we, we often only think of the kingdom as something that is in heaven right now. It's not here. The kingdom is coming. But that word kingdom has two meanings. Look it up in any, any Bible aid, and you'll find the two meanings.

Kingdom means the authority, the rulership, and it also means the territory, the dominion.

The kingdom of God is not here. The territory certainly isn't here. But the kingdom of God, the rulership of Jesus Christ across the whole earth, is coming in one of those feast days that we've celebrated, isn't it? And yet we find that Jesus is now the ruler, our Lord, Master, King, in His Church. And so we need to be anchored in the rulership of God today, tomorrow, and forever. We need to be anchored knowing who we are and what relationship we have to that family, that kingdom, that government, who we are. Because pressure to conform is compelling people around the world to follow the yellow brick road to its own destruction, that wide way that leads to destruction. And if we don't know who we are, we might in a sense be compromising between two paths, between two ideals, two mindsets, and find ourselves really not understanding why God has called us at this time. When we look at the world around us, we find that lots of things are changing. There's a new film that just came out I was able to see this week. And it was about AI. And it's a documentary by the creators of AI, the big companies that create AI.

And the next phase that's not here yet, the next phase is defined as being autonomous. That means nobody's going to be programming or guiding this thing. It's autonomous and it's collaborative among its own AI agents. Those AI agents are going to do that. Now, if you think of our world, you probably don't realize how connected the world is to the internet. But basically everything's connected to the internet. Your power plants, your water. It was interesting. Recently, approximately 700 supermarkets in France had the thermostats on the refrigerators and freezers of all their produce, frozen and fresh produce, turned up to 140 degrees Fahrenheit across 700 stores in Europe.

And the produce all spoiled. You know, it was controlled from a central area. Somebody watching that. Like they control air traffic control and shipping and so many other things. Maybe your own refrigerator now if it's smart. Maybe your own car if it's really smart. There's so much there that could be controlled the wrong way. And the basis of this movie, as they explained it, was we don't know what these AI agents will do as they are autonomous. Why don't you stop them? Why don't you stop it? Why don't you pause? Well, we've thought about that, but nobody else is pausing. So if we paused, all the other companies and countries would be far ahead of us. So we can't.

But we're really concerned. So when you hear about AI maybe canceling civilization by the year 20-something, that's what humanity is thinking might happen. And that's not even controlled by humanity. Let's talk about humanity for a minute. You know, in 2 Timothy 3, we find out that in the end times, humans will not be loving. They will be thoughtless and selfish. And it's going to be a very dangerous time. We see right now on the 27th of this last month, the state of California put into law mandatory anti-hate speech training. It's required for every employee of companies of five employees or more mandatory anti-hate speech training.

Now this goes along with current rules and laws that already require gender affirming, LGBTQ, mixed restrooms, mixed sex restrooms, mixed sex, locker rooms, males and female sports. And this anti-hate training must be taught. Must be taught. The interesting thing is, there's no definition of what hate speech is. No definition. Staying away from that.

That will just be rolled out and that will just be whatever somebody decides it will be. What happens in society can gradually seep into lives of civilization and even the church, if we're not careful. But it will not seep into the lives of the firstfruits.

Here's where we need to stop and think. Who am I? What am I about? We will not have sin and sinfulness and lawlessness and lack of love in those who are resurrected. Because we find, back in Ephesians chapter 5, that the bride with Jesus Christ's interaction is making herself ready. She is becoming one who is like Him. And we find in Revelation chapter 19 verse 7 and 8, that this bride at Christ's return will be ready and she will be different. She will be just like Him. So we need to identify exactly who we are. I gave an assignment to our ABC class that was due yesterday and completed, by the way. Thank you. To write a vision statement of who you are. A vision statement. I would encourage everyone to do this. I've done it myself. It's quite a thing to do. A vision statement in one sentence that describes you. Now, a vision statement isn't necessarily what you are now, but it's what you aspire to be. It's what you are, but you're not perfect at it yet. If you look at the vision statement back in our conference room with the United Church of God, you'll see sort of the perfect church as it were described in one sentence. And that's what we strive to be. And we are that to a degree, but we're maybe not there yet. But a vision statement from a biblical perspective of how God sees you and what God wants you to be and what you will be and who you are as a son of God, a daughter of God, a prospective bride of Jesus Christ.

To write that down, you see, and maybe even put it on your bathroom mirror or slip it in your Bible. Or if you're brave enough, show it to your friends and say, this is my vision statement.

This is my vision statement. This is who I am.

In Revelation chapter 18 and verse 4, we find that God tells us to be different than society, totally different. Revelation 18.4, I heard another voice from heaven saying, come out of her that other mindset, that other way of living, come out of her, my people. Do you see yourself as a person of God, that God says you are mine? Come out of her, my people, lest you share in its sins, unless you receive of its plagues. So God is going to be correcting someone. That's not for you. What's coming as correction from God in the day of the Lord isn't for you if you are his people. Oh, and by the way, real frogs don't do that either. Real frogs that God made have so many senses in their skin and in their body that are used to control their heat. See, frogs are cold-blooded. They need to be comfortable, and comfortable isn't cold, and comfortable isn't too hot. So they have a lot of sensory elements in their bodies, and if they're a little cold, they move into the sun. If they're a little hot, they move into the shade. If they're overly hot, they can move into water. If that water is too hot, they instantly move right out. If it heats too much in the daytime, they'll get out and into the shade. That's what a frog does. Somebody told me this morning that frog stands for fixed on God's relationship. No, what was it? Fix your relationship on God. That's it. Fix your relationship on God. So there's nothing wrong with the frog, right? And if you've got to fix your relationship on God, if things are heating up in the world, what are you going to do? You're going to hop. You can't put a frog in water and raise the temperature and not have the frog pop out. It just can't be done. It's been tested many, many times, except under one condition. And that was back in the 1700s. You know, you have these insane asylums and people are screaming. They sound like they're in pain and they're just miserable.

So a doctor, a scientist back then, began to look at the cerebral cortex and start to cut parts of it out. And they would put it in water and heat it and the frog would jump out. So they kept taking more and more and testing various places until the frog didn't jump out anymore. And, you know, we know that in more modern times as lobotomies. They would do that to people in sanatoriums if they were extreme. And the doctors felt that that was being kind to the individual, even though it sort of left them, you know, in a vegetative state. But we are people of God. And we are to be very, very careful to follow God. And when something's not right, get away from it. Come out of her. Hop out of the pot at the first indication of heat. Now, in Proverbs chapter 14 and verse 12, it speaks of two ways of life.

Proverbs 14 verse 12, there is a way, there is a road. The Hebrew word talks about a road, a path. There is a way that seems right to a man. The word right comes from the Hebrew word yashar. And that word means correct. Seems correct or pleasing to a man. Or just, I mean, think of this, fair. It's a way that seems just fitting, proper, straight level. These are some of the definitions from Brown driver Briggs. And they would indicate kind of how that mindset of humanity wants to feel about things. But it says here, but its end is the way. Oh, wait a minute. This way actually is a way of death. The Hebrew word for the way means a course, or a road, or the customs, the customs of death. So we've got to look at the world's customs, and the world's thinking, and the world's logic. It may seem, in a way, logical to carnal human nature. And that's what we have to watch out for. We have to be like that frog and sense, oh, nope, that is not right. It might feel right. It might be enticing, but that's not right. So I'd like to give you some points today. Points that we can use to anchor ourselves in God's kingdom into that government, into that family, the family of God, of which he says we are members now, citizens of the kingdom.

First of all, we must remain on God's way of life. We need to get this in our minds. God's way and God's way only. Forget other ways. God's way only. Jeremiah 17, in verse 7, this precedes a more familiar passage that we quote a lot, but we won't go there. But just in front of that comes Jeremiah 17 and verse 7. Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord.

Trust. That's faith. Faith and trust. Are we really people of God who trust him and we're going to do whatever he says, no matter how it might compare with our carnal logic or what society around us is doing. Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose hope is in the Lord. That's what our festivals all point to. The hope for us, for the millennial period, for all of mankind. That's the only hope for mankind. And we trust that God's way is true and it is coming. Verse 8, 4, or since because, 4, he shall be like a tree planted by the waters. Now you see, here's us again. A tree that's planted by the waters. You and I were chosen before the foundation of the world to be called now. We are planted by God in his church and we are planted by God through his Holy Spirit, symbolic of the waters. But there's more which spreads out its roots. Ah! Now we are going to get our life, our source, our spreading out our roots by the river. What's the river? Well, first we had the waters. Now we've got a river. The source of the waters is the river. This is the Godhead, the kingdom of God. And we're spreading out our roots. And notice what happens. And we'll not fear when heat comes. There's some... the world's going to heat up. The things that are coming are going to be quite disastrous for some. But Jesus tells us not to fear. We should not fear when heat comes. Instead, during those times, its leaf will be green. We will be flourishing spiritually. We will continue to grow spiritually and will not be anxious in the year of drought.

So there's going to be a famine of the word. There's going to be a drought of water. There's more and more. People are not going to be tapping into things of God. But we will not be anxious in the year of drought and nor will cease from yielding fruit. If we stay trusting God, we stay in His way. We will be ready with the fruit for the harvest. That's how I interpret this. And it's a beautiful thing. But we have to really be God-centered only. We have to know who we are. We have to be children of God and not compromising with the course of this world. Let's go to Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 1. This sort of summarizes our feast experience, the seven festivals.

Ephesians 2 and verse 1 says, And you he made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins. So you, think of it yourself, you he made alive. Put that in your concept of your vision statement. Put that in your concept of who you are, in your identity. Start to think of yourself as God and Jesus Christ think of you. You are my son. You are my daughter. I am your father. I am your elder brother. I am your your your Lord. I am your husband to be. I love you. I am all for you. I will never leave you or forsake you. Right? Wow! So we move along. You are alive. Who were dead in trespasses and sins. Here comes Passover. Here comes our our new covenant, baptism, that covenant with God we made. And we said, I am yours. You are my Lord. You are my master. I will do what you say. Let's be reminded of our covenant. Let's walk back through that. If you're married, go back through your marriage vows sometimes and look at what you promised to your spouse. And then in your vision statement, say that's who you are. You know, I am this to my mate. I am this to God. I am this to whomever. Whatever you write in there. You once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air. Ah, so we talk about kingdoms in the governmental sense. Here we have this authority, a prince of the power of the air. So that's the kingdom or the authority of this world. And we were made alive in verse 4, but God who is rich in mercy because of his great love with which he has loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. How did he do that? Well, through his authority, through Christ being our authority, we repented of being conduct or conducting ourselves under the influence of Satan. And now we've come under his authority. And he is in verse in 5, he has made us alive together with Christ. We need to visualize what Christ said. My father and I will come and dwell in you. It speaks in other places that we should dwell in him.

What does that mean? How strong is that relationship? Are we really constant in prayer, not just asking for stuff, but constant in prayer like you would be to a friend, to a mate, to your child? Are we having communication? Do we really feel that relationship? Verse 6, and from his perspective, and has raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. We go to the throne of God. We go right through all of the temple sections of God's temple in heaven, and we come boldly before the throne of grace. Wow! Just come right on in to our Father. Verse 7, that in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. We know that we are anxiously awaited in a wedding ceremony. We are anxiously awaited by a husband who will finally receive the very first God-beings besides Jesus Christ and God the Father to come in and bless them with family. They are very excited about that. So the annual Feast of God has taught us that this is our time. This is your time. This is it. This is our opportunity to be called, to be chosen, and to be faithful. Everyone else will have a similar opportunity in their own time, and that's the beauty of God's annual Holy Days. But we need right now to be focused on who we are, because these are the more difficult times. This is the more challenging time, coupled with the better resurrection because of the rewards.

Point number two is, let Christ set your standards. Let Christ set your standards. Don't be looking to society to set your standards. Don't be looking to other individuals, other groups that consider themselves also religions to set your standards. Between now and Christ's coming, ignore society's opinions. Ignore the opinions of others, all the scientific conclusions, all the astronomical things. And, oh yes, there are many, many earths better than ours out there. It's been stated in the last week or so. Oh yes, there are many more earths that are even better than ours, just waiting to be discovered. And evolution is, you know, rolling on, and just goes on and on and on.

You know, we need to stay focused on being God's people and trusting Him. We don't have to have every little scientific explanation of what God says in Scripture. Just trust Him. Trust Him, and follow Him. We saw in the church at Colossae pressure of different ideas, either coming into the church or from the pagan society around it. You know, Colossae was maybe, I don't know, a few acres anyway, up on a hill. And one of those tales that they have, for defense and all. And when you're in there as the church, you have a really tight quarters in there. People basically lived in more like small apartments back in Bible times. And so, people saw and knew what you were doing pretty well. And some Gnostic ideas. See, Gnosticism was under development during the Bible times there in the New Testament. In the first century, it had not been fully developed. But it had two legs to it. Gnosticism was essentially, there's more angelic knowledge. And you know, you can go beyond God's Word and be enlightened. But this knowledge will teach you basically one thing, that the human body is evil. That's just it. It's the state of the human body. So you're evil. You have to accept that. So what are you going to do about that? Well, you have two versions. One version of Gnosticism is, well, since your body is evil, just let it do whatever it wants. Okay? So just live sin to the fullest. Well, there was another leg of that was under development called asceticism.

And that is, well, since your body is evil, don't let it do anything it wants.

Just prevent it from doing anything that it wants. And so if we come to Colossians 2 and verse 16, we see some teaching on this point that kind of was probably based along those lines in Paul's day. But in Colossians 2, 16 says, let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival, or a new moon, or Sabbath, which are a shadow of things to come, but or accept the body of Christ. Let it be the determining one to teach you and also to advise you, not outside opinions.

See, when we look at how you use food and drink on a feast day or on a Sabbath, one group is saying, do whatever you want. The other group is saying, don't eat anything. Certainly nothing tasty.

How would you like to observe a feast like that?

So Paul is saying, oh, just whatever is going on out there, whatever is going, don't listen to outsiders. Let the body of Christ be your teacher.

In Colossians 2 and verse 6, it says, as you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord. This is how we receive it. As you have received it, don't worry about what other people are saying. Don't go and read a whole bunch of other books or get into other religions or what other groups might be doing. People's papers, people's ideas. He's talking here about, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him. Keep it focused. Keep it right here. Keep it within the body of Christ. Rooted, verse 7, and built up in him. So go back to this tree concept.

You're rooted. That's where you're getting your sustenance from. And you're being built up, edified, built up in him. And established, you know, rock solid established. You're not going anywhere in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. Verse 8, beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit. This is the hallmark of the end time. Jesus said, many will come in my name, saying I'm in the Christ, and will deceive many.

You know, you're just going to wander around out there with your own opinion and your own, oh, I think I can figure this out. No. We find in just a few pages back in Ephesians chapter 4 that it's Jesus Christ, verse 11, he himself gave some to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers for the equipping of the saints, for the edifying of the body of Christ.

Verse 14, that we should no longer be children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men in cunning craftiness of deceit. Jesus really warns about deceit coming, a great deception. You know, when the four horses rise, what rides out there? Looking good on a white horse. We need to really follow Jesus Christ and let Him set our standards.

The Sabbath, including the festivals, the Sabbath's plural in Exodus 31, verse 13, are a sign between us and our God. You know, the world doesn't get the Sabbath. They might find a day of the week to worship on. The holy days, not so much. The meaning of the holy days, totally oblivious to that. But God says in Exodus 31 and verse 13, He begins with the word surely. This is something you can count on. Surely my Sabbath you shall keep, for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you. So these festivals should really help us be anchored to Jesus Christ. You remember in Mark chapter 2 and verse 28 that Jesus said, the Son of man is Lord of the Sabbath. And by implication, He is Lord of the keepers of the Sabbath. So these Sabbath, these festivals, the one we observe every week, and the seventh festivals add a lot to our identity with God. And they are a sign between us. When we keep and observe what God says, that should be so much of us that we would never say, oh, I'm going to keep a convention to other people. Well, what are you doing today? Well, I'm dressing up, but I'm doing... we're singing somewhere. No, who we are is who we are, and we should really internalize and just say, this is who I am. I'm going to keep the Feast of God each Sabbath. I'm going to keep the Feast of God on all these holidays. And we do it God's way. Doesn't matter what anybody else says. Point three. Understand and really internalize that God is sovereign over everything. He didn't leave. He didn't ditch us. He didn't ditch the earth. It's not sort of spinning out of control because he left it. And I don't see anywhere in the Bible. I haven't found it where God said, okay, Satan, I am turning the world over to you.

I see Satan slipping in like a snake, a deceitful serpent, and taking Adam and Eve out. And then he starts deceiving the whole world. And he starts producing a whole bunch of lies and trickery of men and going against God and God's people. But hang on. Let's go to Psalm 24 and verse 1 and see what God says about this. Psalm 24. Yes, Jesus Christ has gone back to heaven and he is not the ruler of this world. He is not, in other words, directing the affairs of this world. He says, my kingdom or my rulership is not of this world or I would fight. Hey, if I was in politics, he's saying, if we're going to compete in the rulership here, I'd go to war and I'd get some angels here. We'd win. But my rulership right now is not of this world. And Satan is just running wild with it. Psalm 24 verse 1, the earth is the Lord's. It is the Lord's. And all its fullness is the Lord's. And the world and those who dwell therein are the Lord's. Okay? God made humanity in his image and likeness. He created the earth. He is the sustainer. This earth probably wouldn't look like it does if he weren't sustaining life miraculously. He weren't keeping planets in alignment. He wasn't controlling things. We know he controls various things like earthquakes and weather, depending on how he determines them to be.

God is sovereign. At the seventh trumpet, news flashed to humanity. Your theory of evolution was false. Because what does he say? You know, he says in Revelation chapter 14 and verse 7, he says, when Christ returns and he is on his throne and the 144,000 are with him, then the angel goes and proclaims the gospel to everyone living on earth. And what is that gospel message? Worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and all that's in them. Wow! There's a news flash. Evolution is false. It's God who made everything. That's how Genesis 1 begins. God created heaven and earth. It's how the Bible ends. Revelation 21. I saw new heavens and new earth that God created. God is over all of this. He is sovereign. When we look at our seven annual feasts of God, we see in Colossians chapter 1 and verse 13 that we are the first to be delivered from the power, from the rule, the ruler of this dark world. Colossians chapter 1 and verse 13. This already has begun in the lives of the saints, but it will expand to the entire population of the world at the seventh trumpet. It will begin at that point in time. It will really get going after Satan is bound for a thousand years. But notice us in Colossians 1 verse 13. He has delivered us from the power or the ruler of darkness, there's one ruler, and conveyed us into the kingdom or the rule of the son of his love. We are conveyed now into the church, the body of Christ, with Jesus Christ as our Lord, our supreme authority, our master, our king. He is the head of the church to whom we submit and obey. He is the husband that we are betrothed to.

Jesus Christ is stated in Scripture as being, as giving, been given all authority in the church. So you and I have this foretaste of millennial second resurrection right now in our lives. We have God reigning and ruling over us. We are in his rulership. In Philippians chapter 3 and verse 20, Philippians just page back in verse 20, for our citizenship is in heaven. Do we see this? Do we see that this ruler, the sovereignty of God, is present, and we are citizens in heaven. We're not in heaven, but our citizenship. In other words, our identity is with the kingdom of God, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to his glorious body. Wow!

There's a lot underway here with you and me, and we are to be Christ-like to the point where we will be transformed into the bright, glorious Being like he is, ready for that. The bride will have made herself ready. These are some themes and terms that you and I really need to internalize. Point four is God teaches us all we need. God teaches us all we need. You know, all Scripture is given by inspiration of God. God breathed that the man of God may be complete. This is what we need. Don't think there's more. Don't look outside. Don't get papers from people. Don't take other doctrinal ideas from books and other theories. Don't drill down into other speculative things. The Word of God is what we need. Keep the observances in the Bible and only those. Don't add to them. You know, any religious day that he is not commanded in Scripture is not something that we have a claim to or that we're asked to do. In Deuteronomy 12 and verse 32, notice what the one who became Jesus said. Deuteronomy 12 verse 32, whatever I command you, be careful to observe it. You shall not add to it nor take away from it. Now, a lot of those who would add to or take away from what God would tell us to do in His Word. Stay away from that. Don't fall for that. Don't fall for Jewish rituals or teaching or so-called Christian observances or Christian teachings. Now, why would I say that? People get the false notion that there's something really special about what the Jews do or teach. The Jews in Scripture were never to teach. God never appointed them to teach anything. Let's go to Malachi chapter 2 and verse 1 and see what God says about who should teach us. Malachi chapter 2 will begin in verse 1. And now, O priests, O it's the priests that are the teachers. And of course, they're the Levites. You go back to Exodus 2. In the first verses, you'll see Moses and his brother Aaron were the Levite tribe. Now, O priests, this commandment is for you. If we drop down a little bit here to verse 5, my covenant was with him, with Levi in the previous verse. Well, let's go to verse 4. Then you shall know that I have sent this commandment to you, that my covenant with Levi may continue, says the Lord of hosts. My covenant was with him, one of life and peace, and I gave them the commandments to Levi that he might fear me.

Verse 6, the law of truth was in his mouth, and injustice was not found in his lips. Verse 7, For the lips of a priest, a Levite priest should keep knowledge, and people should seek the law from his mouth, for or because he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. It's important that we not sort of go with any kind of idea that rabbis who aren't, if you look up rabbis and how you become a rabbi or who are rabbis, they're not generally Levites. The customs, the traditions, the other little holidays, their way of observing something, their way of dressing, or their opinions. That's not for us. When we go to Hebrews chapter 7 and verse 12, we see a new covenant under Jesus Christ the high priest has a change in the priesthood. Hebrews 10 and verse 21. No, let's go Hebrews 7 and verse 12. Sorry, Hebrews 7 verse 2. 12. For the priesthood being changed, of necessity there is a change of the law, for he of whom these things are spoken belongs to another tribe. That's Jesus was a Jew from which no man has officiated at the altar. Jews were never officiating at the altar and they were not the teachers. Now, let's go to Hebrews chapter 10, verse 21. We come now to who we are. Hebrews 10, 21. And having a high priest over the house of God, oh, the new covenant church, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

You know, we have a new mindset growing. We have a new covenant with baptism. Verse 23. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering. We've got to know who we are. We've got to stay planted. We've got to stay grounded and rooted. For he who promised is faithful. He has promised you salvation. He has promised you bride of Christ status. He has promised you resurrection into the kingdom of God. And he is faithful. He will never leave or forsake you. And let us consider one another in order to stir up agape love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together. When do we do that? God's festivals, weekly Sabbath, and the Holy Days. But exhorting one another and so much more as you see the day approaching. We're to love that day. We're to love his appearing. That crown Paul said, he says, I have a crown waiting for me and for all those who love his appearing.

We look for the coming of Jesus Christ. We look for the kingdom of God coming to this earth. But we have the rulership of God right now.

Jesus said, as part of our commission, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. So point five is to stand fast, be anchored in the kingdom. You know, any boat that drops an anchor worries about dragging the anchor, it's called. If that anchor doesn't sink and hook onto something, that boat will drift and the anchor will drag. And it usually happens at night, because that's when you anchor boats, when you're going to sleep. And you wake up in the morning and maybe your boat is crashed on the shore, or maybe it's crashed into another boat or a ship. It's moved. That's called dragging the anchor. And that's a scary thing. But if we are anchored to God, seriously anchored and connected to God, then we will be in good shape. Let's go to Hebrews 6 and verse 19. Hebrews 6 and verse 19. The feasts give us hope. We've heard from God about the hope, about our hope being sure and fixed, and us trusting God with hope. Hebrews 6 and verse 19. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, an anchor of our life.

That's what should fix us. And this is all based on the God family, the kingdom of God, the rulership of God, the sons of God, the bride of Christ. And this hope we have as an anchor of life, both sure and steadfast. No dragging of this anchor. This is a real anchor.

Which enters the presence behind the veil. Yes, we are one with God and Jesus Christ, and they are behind the veil. Where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become high priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.

So let's look at two more verses as we conclude this. Who am I, you might ask yourself. Who am I really? Let's get serious about this. Let's trust God in what he says. Let's write that vision statement of who we are and what we are. And let's be that. Let's not question anymore. And let's not waver anymore. Let's do that. 1 John 5 and verse 19 will help us in this regard.

1 John 5. And we'll begin in verse 19. 2 John 5. And we'll begin in verse 19. We know. There's the we. You. You know. We just observed the feast, not just observed them. We committed ourselves, didn't we? Every one of those festivals, we committed ourselves. This is me. This is who I am. This is what I believe. We know. It begins here in verse 19, that we are of God. We've got to internalize that with all the winds of change, with all the unsettling, with persecution that will come as we go through our winter trying to grow and not trying to grow, growing and being watered the right way and encouraged and fed. We know. And the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.

There should be a line. There should be a stark line between those who are of God and those who are under the sway of the wicked one. And we want to really come out of the one and be fully part of the other. We can do this with God's help. Verse 20, and we know, we know that the Son of God has come. He has come and He has given us an understanding. It's unlike anyone else.

Don't think that anybody else can understand what you do because the Spirit of God is required to understand spiritual things. We know the Son of God has come and given us an understanding that we may know Him who is true. How do we know Him? In 1 John it says, he who says he knows Him and keeps not his commandment is a liar. The flip to that is we know Him by keeping His commandments, by doing what He says. So we know that the Son of God has come, given us an understanding that we may know Him who is true. And we are in Him who is true. In His Son, Jesus Christ. That's God the Father and Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. So we have been called. We have been convicted. We are the people of God at this point in time and that's open to everyone in God's timing.

But we also are alongside society's greatest minds. Sciences, greatest achievements. Civilizations, architects, and where they want to take things. Geniuses with human intellect. And yet those cannot understand, that cannot understand God's road to salvation yet. Let's conclude with 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 9. 1 Corinthians chapter 2. We begin in verse 9 and read through verse 14. 1 Corinthians 9. 1 Corinthians 2 verse 9. But as it is written, I has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. People don't see the plan of salvation. They don't see the meaning in the Sabbath and all the holy days. It just hasn't entered in.

Verse 10. But, however, God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the Spirit of the man which is in him? Even so, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. It's important that we understand that. You cannot teach or convince somebody who doesn't have God's Spirit of these truths yet. Verse 12. Now we have received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for their foolishness to him.

He cannot know them because they are spiritually discerned.

So what we have then is a distinct difference to anybody else with an opinion, anyone else with teaching. And we have to be anchored in God. So brethren, you are a son or daughter of God. That's who you are. And those of you who aren't baptized yet, you children, you are children that God is bringing into his family. And your relationship with him starts at an early age and your conviction, your personal conviction with him grows until the point in which you become baptized. And a full son or daughter of Almighty God, a living stone in his spiritual temple. So brethren, anchor yourself in the kingdom of God and all aspects of it. Anchor yourself there today and tomorrow and the world tomorrow and forever. We truly are children and family of God.