Becoming Like Christ

Thank you, Mr. Natsen. Good to be with you again, after a couple of years. Last time I was here, I actually did the Joan Borough Circuit in the morning and came down. And, Mr. Natsen is over in Memphis. And, this time we're coming from McSandy, so I didn't do the circuit. This is the other direction. So, actually, for those of us who visit, it's a view. After we have a church circuit on the way to a council member's child, and you tend to get visits.

My son is in Houston, south Houston now, and actually Rosenberg, just below Sugar Land. And so, a week ago, we're down there seeing him. And because they had the council meetings in McSandy, they decided to actually, Tony Walsakoff, he loves Mexican food. And last, I think it was two councils ago, he made a count. Why don't we go to Texas for a meeting? And Dr. Wertz said, that's a good idea. Let's go to McSandy.

So, that's where we ended up. Which was good. We used to go out periodically, the different church areas and things, but budget constraints make it tougher. But there's so many people and members, and the buildings there, the kitchens there, they had all the meals at the building. And we had stayed with members and different ones. Dr. Wertz has several bedrooms and mistakes. My wife and I actually lived on a lake for 20 years there. And so, the next door house was belonged to a doctor. It's a kind of a lake house for them.

He works in Gilmer, so we called him and got his house. So, we were living next door to our old house for the week, which is good to see what it looked like. Reminisce a little bit about raising our children there, since both of our children are now gone. Once in California, our daughter and our sons in Texas, both married with good jobs and happy, but far away, which is hard and difficult at times.

Is that two? Did you move it closer to me? Okay, here, I can speak up more. Okay, that's better? Good. I'm getting older, too. We all get there eventually. That's the way life works out. Some of us started younger than others. My mom came to the church when I was one year old. So, basically, it's been most of my whole life. I was a pagan for one year. I have a picture of me with a birthday cake and a Christmas tree, but other than that, that's about it.

I don't remember it at all, but that was the thing. Like Fianazio, we had the council meetings there. It was interesting meetings. There are certain things that happened, different council meetings. February really is our strategic plan, operation plan, and budget meeting. We have to have that ready by February to mail out, call a notice to all the elders who ballot on the plan to see what they want to do with it.

February, we have to have it ready. In March, they mail it out to meet the 60-day deadline to get it out. It's amazing how many things now, because of our bylaws, various things we have to do on a calendar schedule. We took care of those things, and this year we were happy. The income has gone up somewhat, so we're able to budget more than last year, which helps us out. We're able to budget in two more trainees that we're hardly hiring very shortly.

We did two last year and three or four the year before, so we're actually replacing some of us before we die. So that's a good thing to do. We knew the need was there, and most of us don't want to go, so sometimes it's kind of a joy now. Really, the way it works is... well, supposedly the way it works is that about 63, they start talking to you about retirement. In 65, it's kind of like a choice, but we're kind of short-handed, so it's not much of a choice.

The choice is if we want you and you want you, then we go on. If either one of us doesn't, you don't. That's kind of how it was supposed to go, but we're short-handed, so most of the men are going a little longer. There's a few who want to go beyond their repertoire of sermons. I think some of us think we can do a lot more than we can. I don't wish we were not going to run a half marathon tomorrow, and I wouldn't dare try something like that. I could think about it. That's about as far as I'd want to go. Hopefully he'll make it and come back next week. That's kind of the way I feel about it. I can play games all day long, but running doesn't thrill me because I don't have anything to show at the end of it. I either need to win or build something. I got known in Big Sandy, because when I moved there, I bought an old house, and I was ripping my house till 3 or 4 in the morning. A whole city knew I was doing that, so I became the kid who was out ripping his house all night.

Things like that to earn respect to a small town. We covered a number of things, obviously doing the plan operation. We're also working on something we've worked on for years, which is how to amend the process for the fundamental beliefs. Not so much amending them, but if God does give new truth, how do you change it? We are basically... everything is the way it was, what we believe. That's why it's so funny to me when people say you're changing your doctrine.

It is so hard to change doctrine. We protect it so much that it's very hard for someone who wants to submit something, actually, to submit it. But what's the process? How do you do it? Most of the things that get submitted to us are kind of off the wall, but we want to have an opportunity for anyone who wants to write up something they believe to be able to do so, and then have a multitude of counsel go over it and see what it is.

And if it has merit, then we can present it to the general conference to look at and decide whether God has revealed something or not. But nothing has changed, and I don't think a whole lot will change because our fundamental beliefs are pretty solid where they are. Certainly never going to change the Sabbath, Holy Days, and the things that we get accused of, sometimes by others who want to take people away.

But that's one of those things that you probably fight forever, people trying to do different things. Also, while we were there, Shannon Lucas went to the hospital. He all of a sudden got a fever that went up, and then it went to 107. They had to put ice around him, cool him down, and do blood tests to find out what he had.

Apparently, he had spinal meningitis, but not the contagious kind. Of course, I asked the question, if it's not contagious, how do you catch it? But apparently, if something happens in your spinal fluid that's internal and causes it to get infected or whatever, it's internal spinal meningitis. So we went down and saw him and talked to him. He was kind of sedated somewhat, but he still talked to us a little bit, but didn't open his eyes.

I took a picture with him so I could mail it to him to prove I was there. He's a good friend of ours and goes to Africa periodically to help out with a feast and things. Also, Ray Wright had a stroke that week, too. He announced that, and so he went to the hospital as well. Apparently, he's out of ICU now, but there'll probably be updates along the way for that. But you might pray for them as you think about it, because all of us need the help as we go along.

I look out to see many of you who've been in the church for a long time as well, so we all need that help. But it was good to be there for the meetings. I wasn't sure. Well, three weeks ago, I actually had an embolism that became a blood clot apparently in my leg. I'm not sure it came from one of the trips around, I guess.

It went up through my heart and into my lung, and I couldn't breathe. Actually, I had a pain about 5 o'clock in the morning, and then it went away, and I went back to sleep and went to work, and about noon, I guess the blood clot kind of smeared my right lung. And so, all of a sudden, I found myself, I couldn't breathe. And so, I went home, and my wife called the ambulance to come get me.

Actually, I was going to try to have her drive me there, but she didn't want to do that. So, it was 25 degrees of sleeting, and so they put that little cart they put you on outside, laying out flat. The time they got me out to the place, they put me on that frozen cart, and I thought I was going to have a heart attack.

I felt like I could only breathe just a mouthful of air, and the minute you get cold, you want to gas for air. So, I gapped and about died from the pain, because every time I die from a movie, I feel like I was running away from my rib cage, and I had to kind of curl up to breathe it all.

They took me to ICU, and then the very next thing they did was stick me on the CAT scan. They lay out flat on this thing, and laying out flat, I couldn't breathe at all. And, of course, the thing is, since they lay out flat, they think, they could take a real deep breath and hold it. Well, I couldn't even take a breath, let alone hold it. So, I managed to go through four of those CAT scans, and then they picked me back up to the room and had me on oxygen, and they had all these plugs on me.

I couldn't escape, because they had all these monitors on me, so if I tried to escape, the bells would go off. But I didn't really want to stay there, but they had Gary Antion anoint me, and then I began breathing again. They had this thing you breathe through, and it raises, some of you may have seen it, but it raises the ball off the stuff. I couldn't even reach the first line when I went in there. I was about 70% oxygenated, and close to passing out. And then they wanted to go through my female artery and run a tube up through my heart and spray these chemicals into my lungs. I didn't really want to do that.

But after being anointed, the doctor that night really wanted to do it, but I had the doctor come in the next morning. At that time, I could push the thing up to 4,000, which was a pretty good size on the blower, and I didn't know any pain. The doctor came in, and he told me all the things that could happen to me from this operation. That my brain could start bleeding and hemorrhaging, and that my blood could turn to fizzies, and all sorts of other really wonderful things.

But he said, you seem to be breathing fine. I said, yeah, I can be fine. In fact, that made me blow harder. And then he said, you had any pain? I said, no, I'm not in pain at all. And he said, well, you're not really a candidate for this operation anymore. And so he walked out. And so I spent the next two days trying to get out. I was there. I went in at 4.30 Wednesday and left at 4.30 Sabbath, so three days and three nights. That's a good sign. I didn't have to die at the end of it or anything at the beginning. But they thought I was. I didn't even put a prayer announcement out, but Big Cubic heard about it. And when he hears something, it's the whole world knows. So we started getting cards and get well cards. I appreciate all those that sent them. But finally, I had to put a note in there that I'm fine. If you can quit sending cards, I'm not dying yet. But it was an interesting experience to go through when you go through something like that. And everybody expected to be convalescing after that. But I actually played volleyball the next weekend, although my wife didn't want me to. But I felt really great, so I didn't quit. So that was what happened. And so I went down to the council meetings. We drove down. That way I could stop and walk if I wanted to, et cetera, if I needed to. I don't have it really needed to, but I do. And then play with my grandchildren in Houston and do all those things. So it's been a good trip. And I get the chance to be here at Little Rock. After the meetings ended, I called my schnatz and I wrote him an email. I actually told him I was going to come through. And he asked me if I wanted to speak or if I felt too tired. And I said, no, no, that'd be fine. Give him a break. Or actually give you a break, probably. So that's it. And I asked him if he was playing tapes of mine. Because it says that they film everything, send things out and stuff. So I always wonder if someone's heard. I gave one sermon once and somebody came up. And so I heard that. It's the fifth time I heard that sermon. I said, I'm sorry. He said, no, it's a great sermon. I'd like to hear it again. So occasionally you do do a great sermon, which reminds me of the time Tony Walsicop.

For one of the GCs, he said, let's have lectures on how to give a great sermon every time. And he raised his hand and he said, how about giving me a really great sermon once in a while?

Yes. Anybody who has smoked, though, it's really hard to give a great sermon every time. You can give a biblical sermon, but have one that really does everything you want to do for everybody in the congregation. It's a challenge, to say the least. So anyway, I'm here with you today.

I had a couple of sermons, so I picked one that I think will fit for the season we're in, etc. It's interesting, if you turn to Luke, Chapter 22, we'll start there if we can. This time of year, we always think about the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and the death of our Savior and what he did for us and what God gave up when he gave us his Son for that sacrifice.

But in Luke 24, we go there, he's talking about the final hours, pretty much. His disciples didn't know what was going on. He had gone to the Garden with them a lot of times, and all these different things.

Even though they'd heard him say what was happening, they really didn't understand it. In Luke 22, verse 40, we'll break into the story here, He says, When he was at the place, he said to them, Pray that you enter not into temptation. Again, he was worried about them. Pray that you enter not into temptation. And this is before what he's going to go through.

And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's gas and kneeled down and prayed. He said, Father, if you be willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but thine, be done. No one wants pain. Jesus Christ didn't really want to have to suffer the pain either. Verse 43, There appeared an angel to him from heaven, strengthening him.

And being in agony, he prayed more earnestly. And his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. Hard to believe you could pray so hard and have such agony that you would start sweating blood. But he did. Verse 45, after praying for his disciples and asking and talking to God, he rose up in the prayer, came to his disciples and found them sleeping.

And he said, Why do you sleep? Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation. He knew it would come for them. And while he spoke a multitude that was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them and drew near to Jesus to kiss them. And we know that's how Jesus was betrayed. It was by a kiss. He knew what was coming.

His disciples didn't, but he did. I've never sweated blood. There was a time I came real close to it. The year was 1980. It was a day not unlike many other days. My wife and I spent twelve years traveling with Mr. Armstrong. My wife spent the last five years traveling with us.

But it was interesting. We were in a strange country. It was the dry season from a place that normally had tropical monsoons. It was a place where French was the second language. English wasn't the native tongue. And so we were in a hotel. The hotel was nice for the country we were in. And sometimes back in those days the hotels weren't so nice, even if they were the best that they had because the world was still developing at that time.

And so it wasn't modernized as much, but it was comfortable and clean by their standards. And we were meeting people that we'd never met before. Mr. Armstrong has been eating some leaders of that country. And some of the people we'd meet there we may never see again. And we had flown in there the day before, and we'd be flying out the very next day.

So we weren't going to be there a very long time. Where we were was in Africa. It was on the Ivory Coast, a French colony known as Miss Abigene. And their independence, they had recently received independence, as many of the African nations had. And that capital city of Abigene, on the Ivory Coast, was a big city.

It lies on the southeast coast of the country, on the Gulf of Guinea. The capital E had been moved to Yamuska, but still Abigene was the main place to this day. That's the most populous city in the country. And it's also their economic capital. Very crowded. Surprisingly, it's the third largest French-speaking city in the world. You wouldn't necessarily expect that to be in Africa. It is, with over five million people.

It's an important seaport and a cultural place, a cultural hub of West Africa. And it has a very famous flea market called La Patteau. It's one of the largest huge open markets. And I'd always wanted to go there because I knew about it, heard about it. It's a place that you could see all the African arts and crafts that were brought in there and sold in this famous market.

And so I didn't have a lot of money then. We weren't paid a whole lot at that time. But you could buy almost everything there at great prices. I mean, things that were very cheap. I thought about it. I could have brought some of the things I bought. I got some butterfly pictures that are actually paintings made out of butterfly wings. And they were really expensive. They were ten cents apiece. And so even I could afford that, even back then.

But it was interesting because I went up to the concierge of the hotel and asked about going to the open market. And he said to me, bouillie bouis sur des mons. And he asked me if I was going to go alone. And I said, no. I said, I'd plan to take my wife. And he said, I'll be very, very careful. And I said, well, why is that?

He said, well, this area is known as the biggest slave market in Africa, especially the white slave market where they kidnap people and take them away. Well, I didn't care for this very much, but I still wanted to go to the market. And my wife hadn't heard this, so I didn't tell her because she probably wouldn't have gone. But then she probably wondered why I held her hand so tightly and hung on to her the whole time we were at the market. Because I didn't want to lose her. We hadn't been married that long.

And so we had a few years left. So I held on to her really tightly as we went through the market, and it was wonderful. And they had ebony carvings and ice of the butterfly pictures, and I bought a bunch of lapis, lazolite necklaces, and malachite necklaces, and everything was, you know, 25 cents, 50 cents, or whatever. And so I was beautiful byes, and I bought a whole bunch of things for her, which I always make sure wife happy.

But when we went through the whole thing, and it was funny to look at some of the superstitious things, too, because almost every religion or witchcraft or anything goes through that market as well. And, you know, which is true with people that haven't had a lot of education.

And in fact, witchcraft was big in that area, unfortunately. But they didn't have any knowledge of God. They needed desperately what you and I know. But they were too superstitious. But I enjoyed that visit to market and got out of there with my wife, fine, no problem. Had a lot of unique things that I could bring back home, and enjoyed seeing all the things that they had. Part of my job was taking care of the luggage, as a steward.

The passengers never wanted to be bothered by luggage. And so I always carried 40 to 60 pieces myself, depending on the number of passengers. And so, actually, it worked out real well with my wife, because if they happened to open them, and check them, I had a woman with me. So if they opened them with ladies' clothes in it, they didn't think it was mine. But it was the way I did it. My wife had only been traveling a few months at this time. And so we were working on the luggage, and we were leaving, like I said, the next day.

And when we were loading the last pieces of luggage, the doorman was there. And I always collected it all ahead, because we got, as crew members, we got a couple hours ahead of the passengers. And I owe the luggage, and putting in this great big bus, because we had different types of vehicles, and this time it was the bus, in a sense.

So I was putting all the luggage and stacking it in the back of the bus. And when the last piece came on, the driver, the bellhop, that's the last piece, and the guy closed the door, and I yelled, No, stop, because Michelle was still outside. She was supposed to go with me. And the last thing I saw as I was trying to stop the bus driver was the bellhop. Was the bellhop pushing into a taxi, and the taxi taking off, and going that direction.

And the bus I was on was going that direction. Well, my heart was in my throat, because I just, I was wondering, Okay, now, tell me, I'm going to spend the rest of my life chasing my wife across the desert. And it was, it scared me.

And I was yelling, the driver and French, and turn around, because we were in a bus, we couldn't turn around and catch the taxi cab. And she was going the other way, and I was going this way, and I was trying to figure out what to do. And the bus driver assured me that the taxi would go to the airport, but I wasn't sure why he was going the opposite way that I was going. And so, that's probably the closest I've ever come to sweating blood. Because in that hour that it took to go from the hotel to the airport, I mentally was ready to sacrifice everything to go search for my wife.

I already had speech prepared for Mr. Armstrong, that I wouldn't be going on the plane with you if my wife's not there. I'm going to go chase down whatever, across the desert, and wherever. They take the slave trade, etc. And like I said, you couldn't help but think about what the concierge said in his warning about, are you going alone? But it was difficult. But at that time, I was ready to sacrifice my wife, or my wife, for whatever I needed to do to search for her, to find it out. Christ's death was a horrendous, excruciating experience for him.

And he knew it was coming. I didn't know any of this was going to happen with my wife. But he knew what was going to happen to him. Turn to Isaiah 53. We'll read some more of this probably again as the pastel reads closer. But I'd like to go to there and read, because Christ knew the Scriptures. He knew the plan of God. He knew even more than the Scriptures. And I suppose you'd say, dictated them in that taking from God the Father. And he knew what was going to happen. In Isaiah 53, verse 2, it says, He shall grow up before him as a tender plant, as a root out of dry ground.

He has no form or comeliness, and when we shall see him, there's no beauty that we should desire him. I think physical made him stand out, which always irritates him, the moozies. They always had him really good looking and handsome and strong and everything. And I'm sure he was strong, being a carpenter, but obviously he didn't stand out like these romance novel heroes or whatever.

Verse 3, He despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. And we hid as it were our faces from him. He was despised, and we esteemed him not. Even his disciples ran away from him when he was taken. And he knew they would do that as well, when he was praying to God and praying for them.

And surely he was born our griefs, carried our soggers, and we esteemed him not. Smitten of God, afflicted, wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. All this for other people, for others, not for himself. All we, like sheep, have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his own way.

And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. And bore our sins for us. He was oppressed, he was afflicted. Yet he opened not his mouth. He didn't talk back. He has brought us a lamb to slaughter. It's a sheep before shears is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. Do we take things that happen to us patiently? The sermon I want us to think about trying to be more like Jesus Christ was when he was on earth. It's a special thing. It's a first aid he was taken from prison and from judgment.

Who shall declare his generation? For he was cut off out of the land of the living. For the transgressions of my people he was stricken. He was going to die young. He knew that. He knew what age it would be. He made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death. Because he has done no violence, neither was deceit found in his mouth. A perfect life, something none of us have ever done. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. Why did it please him?

Because they were thinking farther ahead. Let's put him to grief. When you shall make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. It's the pleasure of God, the Father, to give us his son so that we can be part of his family. The end result is what he was looking for. He shall not see the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied, and by his knowledge shall my righteous servants justify money.

For he shall bear their iniquities. I have divided his portion with the great, and divide the spoil with the strong. He poured out his soul in the death. He willingly gave us all that. As it continues, he was numbered with the transgressors. He bear the sin of many, and made intercession for sinners. He died between two sinners, one who mocked him and one who held him up, and esteemed him because he hadn't committed any sins. We are to be like him. We are to have the faith that he had. We are to have his mind, we are told. We have to really trust.

Just like the sermonette said, the stories of the Old Testament, and the deliverance of people is what got me through most of my life, knowing that God was always there. We will have some of the same problems. Sometimes when we look at our lives, what happens? For the most part, we're not going to be beautiful to be desired. If we had physical beauty, it's long since passed for most of us.

But turn to 1 Peter 2, verse 9. Because we have to look at what he did and become more like him. So we near the end, some of us who are alive may be falsely accused, as he was. I've been falsely accused, sadly, of different things in the church. When you read the Old Testament, you see all the things they did in the New Testament, and you think it won't happen, but it does.

It happens in the church sometimes as well. Usually by people I find who end up leaving the church, and you always wonder, did they ever have God's Spirit or not? But in 1 Peter 2, verse 9, it says, For this is grace. If for conscience for God, anyone endures grief, suffering wrongfully. So if you suffer wrongfully, God considers that special. What glory is it if you patiently endure while sinning and being buffeted? And of course, if we sin, we deserve.

But if you suffer while doing good and patiently endure, this is a grace from God. For are you not called to this? For Christ also suffered on our behalf, leaving us an example that you should follow His steps. That doesn't mean you're out looking for pain. It's just like Him. He asked for the cup to pass from Him.

But it will come at different times. And hopefully it comes because, verse 22, He who did no sin, nor was gout found in His mouth. Hopefully that's the case with us as we progress more spiritually. And when He was reviled, did not revile and return. He didn't threaten, but He gave Himself up to God who judges righteously. That's what we also must do when these things happen. It's difficult. Verse 24, He Himself bore our sins in His own body, on the tree, that dying to sins we might live to righteousness.

By whose stripes were healed? He was beaten so we could be healed. We may even be put to death, as earlier Christians were. We don't know what's going to happen as we get close to the end. We know what Revelation shows, and we know that Satan will be attacking. And that's a sacrifice. But the bigger sacrifice is a living sacrifice. To do what's right now. Our terminal sacrifice may get you to God, but we have to be a living sacrifice during our lifetimes.

And we may be despised at times for our belief in God. People wonder why we do what we do. In our death, we can't supply what Christ supplied for us. We can't die for other sins. But we will face our own trials, and we will be tested. God has to know our character is set for eternity.

That we're willing to always trust God. No matter what. That God is always fair. Now for me, in Abigail, it wasn't an unwilling sacrifice I was willing to make. It was my wife. And we're to be the bride of Christ. He was doing what he did for his church, for his Father and his plan of salvation. And it was about others. Is our attitude also about other people? Or is it selfish? We have to make sure it's going the other direction. One of the evangelists years ago, when I was a teenager, he cast out a demon.

It was interesting. He asked the demon before he cast it out, he says, Why did you rebel against God's perfect government? And the answer the possessed person gave was because God wasn't fair. It's interesting to me because that answer, I've heard that almost every split that I've seen in the church since the 1950s, 60s, 70s, and 80s, that something's not fair. Go to Ezekiel 28. What does Satan wasn't fair? What did he do if we look at his falling? Ezekiel 28. Start in verse 12. Son of man, lift up a lament over the king of Tyre. Say to him, so says the Lord Jehovah, You seal the measure full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.

There was a created being that was full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. Says you have been in the Eden, the Garden of God. So you know it's not the literal King of Tyre because he wasn't in the Garden of God. Every precious stone was your covering. Ruby, the topaz, the diamond, the barrel, the onyx, the jasper, sapphire, the turquoise, the emerald, the gold. The workmanship of your tambourines and of your flutes was prepared in you in the day you were created.

This is probably the most beautiful being you can imagine seeing and hearing. The music that he could produce and whatever. This is interesting because Christ came without any physical beauty, per se. You were the anointed carob that covered, and I had put you in the holy height of God where you were. And you have walked up and down the midst of the stones of fire. You were perfect in your ways from the day that you were created until iniquity was found in you.

By the multitude of your goods they have filled your midst with violence, and you have sinned. So I cast you profane from the height of God, and I destroy you, O covering carob from among the stones of fire. How are you fallen from heaven? O Lucifer, sound of the morning. How are you cut down to the ground which is the weak in the nations? We just switched to Isaiah 14. Sorry about that. I'm going to put a line there. It'll help.

That's continuing the story because I finished verse 16. So Isaiah 14, another part parallel to Ezekiel 28, where God through Isaiah talks about Lucifer, the carob again. Verse 12 of Isaiah 14, again, How are you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, sound of the morning? How are you cut down from the ground which did weak in the nations? For you have said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit on the mount of the congregation and the sides of the north. I will ascend above the huts of the clouds. I will be the Most High. If you read the Hebrew, it says like the Most High, but he intended to try to be the Most High. It's amazing how physical beauty and some of those saints can drive people to think they're better than other people, to think they deserve something more. We're all sinners. We deserve death. God is merciful to all of us, but so many people, when they go through trials, they fail. And I've watched many, many people over the years fail. One of the things God does with people who want position is He gives it to them, and He takes it away.

And sadly, when He takes it away, nine out of ten people will complain, say it's not fair, say it's wrong. In more recent years, people have started their own churches because they couldn't be in charge. And it's sad when you see that happen, because it's no humility. Well, look at Christ's Prayer. It was mostly about us.

Turn to John 13, and we'll read that again for the Passover. But it's always good to go through what Christ did, how He prayed. Help us to see how we pray. Real easy when you're in pain. God, take the pain away from me. I need some help. Please help me, me, me. But how many times did He say to the Father, protect them, keep them, give them Your love for each other, etc.? John 13, we'll start in verse 34. Christ says, I give you a new commandment. In one way, it's not really new because the first four commandments are love God, and the last six are love your neighbor. But that you love one another, as I have loved you, you should also love one another.

By this all shall know that you're my disciples, if you have loved one for another. And whatever you may ask in my name, that I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. At the greatest time of His need, He's thinking about what He can do for us. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it. Verse 15, if you love me, keep my commandments.

And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you the Comforter, so that He may not be with you forever. Verse 18, I will not leave you orphans, I will come to you. A little while the world does not see me anymore, but you see me because I live. You shall live also. And that day you shall know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.

He who has my commandments and keeps them, He it is who loves me, and he who loves me shall be loved by my Father, and I will love Him and reveal myself to Him. God has done that for us, revealed Himself. Going down to verse 26, the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all the things and bring all things to your remembrance, whatever I've said to you.

So God's Holy Spirit, part of His life, actually comes down and enters our mind, combines with our human spirit, so we can understand the things of God. And He does teach us things that seem to go right over the head of other people, things that seem so obvious to us.

Verse 27, Peace I leave with you. My peace I give you. Right before He's about to be taken out and beaten and crucified, He's telling Him, My peace I leave with you. Not as the world gives do I give you. Don't let your hearts be troubled, don't be afraid. You have heard I said to you, I go away and I'm coming to you again. If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said I go to the Father.

For My Father is greater than I. Now I have told you before it happens, so when it happens you might believe. They didn't yet see it. They didn't even understand it when they saw it, until He was resurrected and came back. Verse 11 of John 15, turn over a page. John 15 verse 11. I have spoken these things to you so that My joy might remain in you, and your joy might be full.

It's hard to imagine when you're going through trials and tribulations that the joy that comes from knowing the truth, knowing what the end result is. This is My commandment again, verse 12, that you love one another so I have loved you.

And no one has greater love than this than a man who laid down his life for his friends. He was about to die. He's going to lay down his life for people who didn't consider him friends, as well as his disciples, for all mankind. And you're My friends if you do whatever I command you. And I no longer call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master does, but I have called your friends for all things that I have heard from My Father I've made known to you.

You, indeed, are a friend of God, like Abraham, a friend of God. Verse 16, you have not chosen Me, I have chosen you and ordained you, that you should go and bring forth fruit, that your fruit should remain. And whatever you ask of the Father in My name, I give it to you. Again, I'm going to do these things for you. And the world may hate you. Verse 18, know that it hated Me before it hated you.

If you were of the world, the world would love its own, but you're not of the world. We fight an uphill battle. We always will. John 17, turning over a page, skipping ahead. John 17, verse 24, Father, I desire those whom you've given Me, they may be with Me where I am, and they may behold My glory, which you have given Me.

For you have loved Me before the foundations of the world. He was with God. He was the Word in John 1.1. And He wanted them and you and Me to be with Him. And whatever we suffer, it's irrelevant compared to the glory that He gave us and what He wants for us to do to teach others.

Verse 26, I have made them known, your name will make it known, so the love which you loved Me may be in them and I in them. They had to wonder when they heard these things what He was talking about.

They knew but they didn't know. And all through the Gospels you read, and they remembered that He had said this, and they remembered that. Because it didn't make sense. And He was left alone. Peter denied Him, and He actually went to watch, but then He ended up denying Him three times. The others fled. John 21, verse 14, skipping ahead in the story a bit.

So this is now the three times that Jesus revealed to His disciples, He being risen from the dead. Three times He came back. Same number of times that Peter denied Him. And you wonder if they took three times to make sure that it was really Him in their minds. Three seems to be a complete number in that sense. Verse 15, when they broke fast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these? He said to Him, yes, Lord, You know I love You. He tells Him, feed My lamps. He says to Him a second time, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me? He said to Him, yes, Lord, You know I love You. He said, feed My sheep. He said to Him a third time, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me? And Peter was grieved because He said it to Him a third time. Because I'm sure that third time was the same thought. I denied you three times.

He said, do you love Me? And He said, Lord, You know all things. You know that I love You. And again He said, feed My sheep. Do what I did, Peter. Take care of others. This is about other people. When I look at those 50 years in the church that I've had, and my older years, actually been 63 years in the church from my childhood, and seeing it wasn't fair, obviously, that He would die from a physical standpoint because He didn't deserve to die. When I hear people make that statement, it scares me because when somebody's not fair, it's a selfish statement itself.

Does it show a willingness to suffer wrong? Does it show give versus get? As Mr. Armstrong always broke it down to, a very simple statement. It's a selfish statement. Does it show that willingness to suffer wrong, which we should be willing to do? And it wasn't fair for God to ask Abraham to offer Isaac.

In our minds, that wouldn't be something fair. I know having had a son that God were to ask to take him, that'd be a hard thing to do. It certainly wouldn't seem fair. What did my son do to deserve this? Yet God had to test Abraham. We read in Genesis 22, the story. And it's all these stories that made me really trust God throughout my ministry and throughout my life, and the things that happened, and being close to Mr. Armstrong and all the top men. You saw a lot more things and had to go through a lot more than you expect. By growing up in the church, you expect a lot of things to be more perfect as you go up, and sometimes it's not. Verse 9 of Genesis 22, they came to the place where God told Abraham. He built the altar there, laid the wood on the altar, bound his son, laid him on the altar.

And again, Isaac seemed to be willing to do this. He was obviously a good son. Just as we had to be willing when we committed to baptism. Abraham stretched forth his hand, took the knife to slay his son, and the angel of the Lord called from heaven and said, Abraham. And he said, Here I am. And he said, Lay not your hand upon the lad. Don't do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God. Now I know.

Abraham had already left her, the Chaldees. He had already divided with Lot. And he had already delivered the cities that were taken, put his army out there to rescue Lot when he was taken. And he had waited decades for his son, for the promise. And so many people I know, the first time they do something that seems righteous to them, they gave up smoking, Oh God, now you know. Or I gave up swearing, or I gave up this or that. Now you know God. And I've asked myself how many times when I've gone through different trials in my life. And the answer to how many times is every time. There isn't a number. It's every time you go through one of these trials. Because a God that I serve and you serve has to know, just like he did with Abraham. It's going to be for eternity. Genesis 22, 18, it says, In your seat shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you obeyed my voice. And certainly all nations will be blessed with a sacrifice that Christ made. We are the seed of God, the first fruits. The nations will be blessed for our obedience, if we're there to help train them in the millennium. Things that we learn now. What are we supposed to do? Turn to Zechariah 8, if you would. Zechariah 8, verse 16. We'll read a verse there. The nations, again, will be blessed because you and I will be able to help teach them what the truth is. At a time when it will be available to all mankind, not just those God calls now. And I always ask, why me? Because I'm sure you have as well. When you see so many others out there with more strengths and abilities. Zechariah 8, verse 16, it says, These are the things you shall do. Speak you every man the truth with his neighbor. Execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates. We have very little truth and peace in the world today. It's not in politics or on TV. Every game show is lie, cheat, and steal to win. That's what it's about. Verse 17, Let none of you imagine evil in your heart against his neighbor. I'm no false oath for all these things I hate, says the Lord. So many people are willing to lie against their neighbor, lie in court. One of the lawyers said it's almost a fundamental right of people to commit perjury, because almost no one goes to jail for lying. Yet everybody kind of expects people to lie, which is sad. But it'll change. Verse 22, Zechariah 8, As many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to entreat the favor of the Lord. And thus says the Lord of hosts, in those days which shall come to pass, the ten men will take hold out of all languages of the nations, shall even take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you. Of course, in the time Zechariah wrote this, the Jews told the Scripture, and we know we're spiritual Israel.

Those of us will be able to help people. From all the nations, every nation on the earth will be asking for help, because God is with you. He's with all of us. Christ knew what He had to do for humanity. The disciples didn't when He was with them. And it took a while after He left them, up until Pentecost, basically. For them, when He was going to be crucified, it was like a normal feast. He told them to go get a room, same way they had probably done for the three years before.

And they were going to keep the Passover. You've got to imagine what the disciples thought when they took Jesus away, when Judas showed up. What did they do? They weren't going to let Him go. They fought their way. Peter took his sword and cut off the soldier's ear.

Of course, Christ put the ear back on His... the soldier's head. That had to be a pretty good witness. I can't imagine being that soldier. It's like, this is incredible. You'd have to think this guy really is something special. Like the one on the cross said, it must be the Son of God. Something like that happens to you. You don't forget it easily. But yet, they were willing to do it their way. They were willing to try to defend Christ.

And as long as they could fight, God would give them strength like Jonathan. His arm-bearer slays all the Philistines up there on a mountain by himself. And they figured God's going to spare them, but that wasn't the way. And when they couldn't do it their way, they ran away. Which sometimes we do. We have to make sure we don't run away when those times are there.

We also want to do it our way. In Abidjan, I felt hapless. I didn't know what I would do. So, we drove up near the Gulf Stream jet with the bus. There was no taxi there. And I was worried. I ran onto the plane. As I ran on the plane, I saw my wife straightening up things inside there. So, the taxi actually did go to the plane. So, I didn't have to chase her across Africa. Not that that wouldn't have been an interesting tour. But to my relief, she was there.

They had taken a different route. But I'll never forget that hour. How helpless I felt that I could do nothing. God was not helpless to spare His son from what He was going to go through at the end. But He knew what was needed for your salvation and mine, and for all of mankind. So, obviously, my wife was kidnapped for the slave trade. I didn't have to chase her across that. And I thank God for that. But I do have to chase my Savior, wherever He leads me. You and I belong to Him.

It's my job to carry the luggage on the plane. Christ carries our baggage for us, when we need help. If we let Him, if we trust Him, if we love Him, and if we love each other, as He told us to. God doesn't ask you or me to give our children's life.

But He does ask us to give our own life, not necessarily in death. As Romans 12.1 says, it's a living sacrifice, obedient, which is our reasonable service to Him. Christ died for the ungodly, for the sinners. Let me know that in Romans 5. We read that in verses 6 through 8. It says, For a righteous man some will be willing to die, but he died for sinners. And God commends His love for all of us, because we were sinners, He died for us. To make it possible.

John 4, we'll turn there. Christ did so many things so differently than the world around Him. The Jews, who tried to keep the letter of the law, even. He broke protocol so many times. He never sinned, but protocol and tradition is not the law.

Here we're talking about the Samaritan woman and Jacob as well, who was surprised that she would even talk to Him. Yet He met her where she was, and He told her that He wanted a drink. That's how He started the conversation. I start conversations in similar manners on airplanes. I'm always talking on airplanes. I always find out whether people are Christian, or atheists, or Buddhists, or Hindus. I have different takes I take in talking to them to kind of bring them along and show that they're wrong.

It's always fun. Last time I was in Africa, I rode back for the Jehovah Witness group. There's some wonderful people. I have some friends that are Jehovah Witnesses. This was a leader's day. I had about a 20,000 or 30,000 stadium big draw up revival. Their leadership was all flying back to the United States. I was sitting next to one of them. Of course, He tried to convert me, which is what they're supposed to do.

He didn't realize when He started the conversation that I probably knew more about Him than He knew about me. I began asking Him some questions. Finally, I asked Him one question. I said, Tell me something. He said, You believe that Christ was an angel, right?

I said, Okay. Every time I read the Bible and I look at Scriptures and an angel is talking to men, and the men bow down to worship them, the angel says, No, no, no. Get up. I'm a servant like you. Don't worship me. Yet every time someone bowed down before Christ to worship them, He said, Go ahead.

Let him worship him. Was Christ a bad angel or the Son of God? He couldn't answer it. We went up and talked to His buddies for a while, and then we quit talking religion after that. It's always fun to play games with people a little bit. Sometimes they'll care about the conversation, and you can keep going. But sometimes you don't. But it was always interesting to talk to some of them. Here, Christ is talking to this American woman at the well in verse 25. She says, The woman said to Him, I know the Messiah comes, which is called Christ.

When He has come, He will tell us all things. And Jesus said to her, I that speak to you am He. That doesn't shake you up. You're the Messiah. You're going to teach us all things. You're just a person. You don't look anything really special.

But He tells her straight out. That's who He is. He didn't necessarily tell anybody else, but He told her. Of course, He had already told her all the different things about her life. He'd ask her if she had a husband, and she said, No. He said, You speak right. And the five other people you had, you've left them, and the man you're with now, he's your husband. So He knew everything about her. That had to surprise her, too.

Which had to make her tend to believe that he was more than he appeared to be. And when He said he was the Messiah, that was surprising. And His disciples came at that time and marveled that He talked with this woman. Again, He didn't necessarily talk to women. It's certainly not Samaritan women. Yet no man said, What seeks you, or why are you talking with her? They were smart enough by then. In fact, by then they should have been smart enough not to even think it. Because so many times when they thought something, they could tell them what they're thinking.

So it'd be really hard to be with someone to read your thoughts. That would be difficult. But the woman left her water pot, went to the city, and said to the men, Come see the man which told me all the things I ever did. Is this not the Christ, the Messiah? He can tell me everything that I did without even knowing me? Surprise! He died for the weak, the despised, the unkempt.

He sang that song today in front of the hymns. He spent time with the lame, and the deaf, and the blind, the poor, and the lepers. I've seen a lot of lepers and a lot of poor, and a lot of main people in different countries of the world that are very poor.

And you wish you could help them. You cry. You wish you were like Peter, that your shadow passing over them could heal them. But then again, Christ was building His church at that time, and the miracles built a huge church. Although I don't think most of them were converted, when you read how many people left, and how things developed in the first century. Why does He call the poor? Because God's calling was not given because of who we are, and the position we have, the money we have, or how beautiful we are. That's why He sent Christ, not as some big beautiful figure that people would follow automatically. Most of the people who left and started churches had some talent. They were good speakers or various things, but that's not what it's about. 1 Corinthians 1, 18 is very clear. When He says, you see your calling, not many wise men are called, not many noble. But He shows the foolish to confound the wise. But we're not to stay foolish, and we're not foolish. Once we have the Spirit of God, we start growing. We start understanding. Why does He call the foolish? We see that very carefully in verse 29 of 1 Corinthians 1, where it says that no flesh should glory. Anything we do, the glory belongs to God. That was Moses' mistake. When He said, do I have to bring water out of this rock? And He used I just one too many times. He didn't get to go in the Promised Land. We've got to make sure we don't use I, because it's God and Christ in us that do anything that's special. We have to glory that way. James 2, when we read there, turn to James 2, we find what God expects and what His promise is. James 2, verse 5, says, "...as not God chosen those who were poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith, and to inherit the kingdom He promised to those who love Him." That's our promise, the kingdom. Harken, brethren, has not God chosen the poor in this world that are rich in faith? Can you have faith without patience? Sad thing I find is so many people who leave the church, they may be right on some of the issues, but they have no patience to wait for God to do it. I think one of the biggest diseases that I've seen in my lifetime is people who think that they're Azza. Azza was the one when the ark was falling, and everybody in the oxen stumbled, and he reaches out and touches it and dies, because it wasn't his job. And they think they're Phineas. Phineas is the one who, when they had the plague and the Moabite women were in there, and the immorality, and he's blessed the spear through the Israelite and the Ethiopian woman, and the plague stops, and God quits destroying Israel.

I've seen so many people think they're Phineas, and they're really Azza. With patience, you know the difference. But yet, when you want to do it your way, and get your sword out, and cut off the soldier's ear and protect your Savior, not the right way. It doesn't work that way. And so, continuing in John, James 5, here we go, verse 5, God chosen the poor of the world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom, which he promised them that love him. But you have despised the poor. Hopefully we haven't done that. Do not rich men oppress you and draw before you? Before the judgment sees, do not blaspheme those that are worthy by name, to which you are called. And if you fulfill the royal law according to the Scriptures, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Then you do well. But, verse 9, if you have respect of persons, you commit sin. Sadly, I've seen respect of persons in the church, but the people who do that leave, eventually. And it's sad. You wish they could see it, and you bring it to their attention. But eventually, if you don't overcome that, if you don't see all people as children of God, and Mr. Armstrong commanded me, my first command on the plane was to treat everybody that gets into this jet as a king or a queen, because they are future kings and queens. And whether they were children or adults, young or old, they were treated that way. Because all mankind really is eventually going to be part of God's family. And so we should treat them that way. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, yet offended in one point is guilty of all. Do we show favoritism in the church? I hope not.

We can insult the heirs of God's kingdom by neglecting and overlooking the needs of others.

We're a family because of God's Spirit.

We're not used to some things, but if we seek spiritual maturity, we should learn. Keep our eyes open to the needs of others. We're told to esteem all people. Because God's about relationships. He's about family.

Philippians 2, verse 3, we read the script of this read often, verse 3 through 5.

In fact, let's back up in verse 1. If there be any consolation in Christ, any comfort of love, any fellowship of the Spirit, any bowels and mercies, fulfill my joy. Be like-minded. Have the love, being of one accord and of one mind.

There's three, let nothing be done through strife or in glory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem the other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but also the things of others. Our house we stayed in down in Big Santee was funny. Our neighbors said, oh yeah, you can use the house. We really miss you. Because we live next door and their pipes are all exposed under their house. So every time the pipes would break, we'd go over and trump the water and save them a water bill. It's where we miss our...we really miss you people because you're not there to watch our house anymore. In the end, you look after the things of others. That's what you need to do. Let this mind be in you, which was in Christ Jesus. What was his mind? God, keep care of these people. Give them your Spirit. Help them. You take care of them. I want to be with them. It's about us.

We're all part of God's body. We must have that concern, that human touch. Actually, it's not the human touch. After all, it's the godly touch through human hands. Plan your feast around relationships, not things. And you won't get distracted. You won't forget your God. You'll know when someone needs help. It must be our second nature. It must be automatic. When Christ was talking to them about the sheep and the goats.

When the people asked, when did we see you naked and clothe you or hungry and feed you? We didn't do any of that. He said, if you've seen the least of them that need this, you've done it to me.

People of this world want to meet the stars and be with the important people. Christ wants us to help all the people that are in need. Luke 14. After he was talking about being invited to the feast and going to the highways and byways and stuff. Luke 14, verse 12. He said also to those that bade him, When you make a dinner or supper, they'll call your friends or your brothers or your kinsmen or your rich neighbors.

Unless they also invite you back and you're paid to pretend.

When you make a feast, call the poor, the maim, the lame, the blind, and you shall be blessed. For they cannot repay you and you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just.

Are we looking at that time? Are we trying to do things for now?

We are the people that are invited to the supper.

People from different walks of life, different races, different nations, different cultures, all trying to create God's culture. One of the things I do when I go to Asia and Africa is that it's not about American culture. It's not about African culture. It's not about Asian culture. It's about God's culture. Because all too often they want to write something off. Well, that's just what we do. Well, there's a lot of things that we want to do that we shouldn't do.

I tell them I gave a sermon over there. I actually gave it to them recently on the fallacy of the immortal soul. I found some of the people that are new were still kind of caught up a little bit in witchcraft. It doesn't make good that they go there and tell them about the lie on the lamb and the feast of tabernacles, and then have them go home and talk to their ancestors. So I figured we'd better cover a few of the basic things now. I go overseas a lot of times because they don't have services. They can't get the church more than a couple of times, three times a year sometimes, with just the feast. So I'm covering some of the basic things with them so that they really understand what a human being is and what God is and the sacrifice of Christ and why. Sometimes we take it for granted because we hear them week after week, all the scriptures. In Versailles they don't have a Bible. We bring Bibles over, but usually they're in English. I try to buy a few each time I go in the native language. Although I never know in the native language what it really says because sometimes they translate them from English editions that aren't necessarily accurate, so you don't really know what's there, but you try to bring them along. But we have to be like Christ. Be willing to die if we have to, but also be willing to live and to serve each other. You know, if you die for your country in service, you get a Purple Heart.

If you're willing to be a living sacrifice for Jesus Christ and for God the Father, you gain eternity. And that's why you and I are here today. So we can gain eternity, but not just for us, but to also help teach all those who don't know. Whether now, in the limited way we can, or in the millennium when they'll be coming and grabbing your coattails and asking you, you know God, tell us about it. That's what we're here to do.