Best Feast Ever

Well, brethren, eight days from today is the opening night for the Feast of Tabernacles. Are you ready? Are you ready for the feast? It's one week from tomorrow night, and that week will go quickly. And again, I certainly don't want to overlook the Day of Atonement, as was mentioned in the sermonette. That comes between now and then. But it generally does not take the preparations that the Feast of Tabernacles takes. We need to do a little more planning and preparing for the Feast of Tabernacles. Again, it's just around the corner. And I would imagine, say it's only a week away, most of our plans and preparations are already made by now. Aren't they? Or are they? There's a lot of things to think about in planning and preparing for the Feast of Tabernacles. We need to secure transportation, especially, you know, for traveling farther distances, places to stay, various tickets for events. In order to go to the Feast of Tabernacles, it takes a plan. Again, there's a lot of things to do. And I said the Feast is a week away. I would imagine that, well, I would imagine, I won't paraphrase in there, but if you're like me, I've got a week, so I've still got a few things to do. However, I have a list, and I'm working my way down that list, and you know, I'm on a glide path to be able to be prepared when the Feast actually comes, and when it's actually our time to go and to travel to the Feast. Years ago, there was a saying, I imagine many of us in this room have heard it, this is the best Feast ever. The best Feast ever, or the way we would say it today, and texting, you know, B-F-E-F-O-T.

Best Feast ever, F-O-T. By that, we're saying that our best Feast is either the current one or the most recent one. It's the one that is now. It's not one from five or ten or fifteen years ago, but it's the one from now. It's not like we're living in the past, and you know, the quote, unquote good old days. Actually, in Beyond Today program a few years ago had a program on, you know, chasing the good old days, thinking, you know, how good things used to be, you know, and what we're faced with right now. But of course, things were never really that rosy or that good back then.

They had their problems just like we have our problems now. The thing is, is we're through those problems, and when we look back we tend to look at the good and forget the bad. The way I say that, you know, they had chasing the good old days. My saying is the good old days that never were. There were problems then, and there were problems now, but I submit to you that if our best Feast of Tabernacles was, again, five, ten, twenty years ago, that's really not good. Now, we can have highlight Feasts like sometimes we go to certain special places, but our best Feast should either be in the present or the most recent Feast. A BFE Feast is one that lasts longer than eight days.

Obviously, the Feast is only eight days long, and I'm saying Feast. There's really two Feasts there. Seven for the Feast of Tabernacles, one for the last great day. It's actually, you know, only eight days long. However, the effect should go on much, much longer than that. It's more than a vacation, more than an interesting place to go, and more than interesting activities or exciting activities to do. Now, places and activities are nice, and they're good, and they do enhance the Feast experience. And God does want us to rejoice, but it's not the main part of the Feast of Tabernacles. God wants us to rejoice with a purpose, and He definitely wants us to rejoice. And the purpose that we rejoice in is spiritual. So how do we have a best Feast ever? Well, in addition to the various physical preparations, and I'll talk about some of them, because we need to take care of physical things, but we also need to prepare spiritually. So we need to prepare spiritually and physically for the Feast of Tabernacles. So today I'm going to talk about preparing for the Feast and how to have a great Feast of Tabernacles. Again, a BFE FOT. A Feast that has an impact on our lives, that has an impact that lasts longer than eight days. So today, again, I'm going to talk about preparing spiritually and physically for the Feast of Tabernacles. Now, obviously, many of this room have been around for a while. We're not going to hear anything new or startling or different today, but it's always good to have reminders. And especially as we enter into, well, not into the Fall Festival season, we're already into the season, but as we enter and approach the Feast of Tabernacles. The first, and I've already alluded to this, the Feast is not a place. The Feast is not a place, it's an event. Years ago, after the Feast of Tabernacles, I asked a man the typical question was, how was your Feast? And this happened to be in another church area. I said, you know, how was your Feast? And he said, well, he said, you know, Myrtle Beach is Myrtle Beach. And that was his answer, and I thought there's something wrong with that. By the way, I'm going to kind of interrupt and put in a side thought at this point. This year, Myrtle Beach may not be Myrtle Beach.

Obviously, this big storm is brewing in that area, and it's not moving. It's staying there. It's dumping water like crazy. Also, as mentioned, leaving the opening prayer about in Asia, there's a typhoon. If you didn't receive the letter by Mr. Kubik, I recommend that you pick up a copy back there and read it. It's very important that we pray about the Feast and about all of God's children who are traveling at this time. It's a dangerous world out there. It can be very dangerous. And, of course, this storm is adding to the danger.

But anyway, he said, you know, Myrtle Beach was Myrtle Beach. And I'm going to come back and say, well, the Feast of Tabernacles, again, is not a place. You know, it's not Myrtle Beach. Myrtle Beach is still there. The Feast is gone. But the Feast is an event. It's not about a place. It's not about friends. It's not about family. It's not about relationships. It's about our relationship, actually, to God and to Jesus Christ.

So today, again, I'm going to talk about how to have a BFE FOT. And this is not to stifle our fun or rejoicing, but rather, hopefully, to enhance it. To give us some reminders that, you know, we've heard along the way, they will help us have a best feast ever.

Let's start by looking at the instructions for the feast. Turn to Leviticus 23. And I'll start reading in verse 1. I'm going to spend some time here in the first part of Leviticus. Well, actually, in Leviticus 23, because this really sets a foundation for the rest of the message. So Leviticus 23, starting in verse 1, we'll look at the instructions for, actually, all of God's feasts. It says in verse 1, it says, And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, The feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim, to be holy convocations, these are my feasts.

So it starts out, it says, These are the feasts of the Lord. And we've all heard this, but I'm going to re-emphasize, they're not the feasts of Moses. They're not the feasts of Israel. They're not the feasts of the Jews. And they're not the feasts of the church either, for that matter.

These are God's feasts. Continuing on, it says, These are holy convocations. Holy, something that is set apart by God for a special use. And a convocation. A convocation is a commander's assembly. It's a summons.

It's not, well, you know, if I feel like going this year, you know, I think I'll go over. If I don't, maybe I won't. It's like you're getting pulled over by a policeman, you know, for doing something that we shouldn't be doing in our own bills. He writes out a ticket, and says, There's a summons to appear in court. That's an invitation, but it's a commander invitation. You don't say, Well, I don't, that day doesn't work for me.

You know, I'm not going to go now. No, it's a commander's assembly. It's a holy convocation. A time that God has set apart for us to worship Him. And then continuing on, it says, These are my feasts. So we might think it starts out and says, Speak to the children of Israel as the feasts of the Lord.

Now it says, These are my feasts. He's not really just repeating himself for no particular effort or no particular reason, or even for emphasis at this time, it says, you know, this is what follows is a list of God's feasts. You want a list of God's feasts? You want a list of, quote unquote, my feast?

You know, God speaking here? This is it. Leviticus 23. No more, no less. In Leviticus 23, there's no mentioning about new moons. They're not mentioned at all. There's no mention about national days of Israel. Some people like to keep them and, you know, that's fine if you want to. However, they're not commanded. They're not in God's feasts. There are other days that were added by Israel, such as, let's say, adapting to modern time.

We have July 4th. You know, we have Thanksgiving. We have Memorial Day. We have, you know, various holidays through the year, national holidays. They're not required. Those days that Israel kept are not in Leviticus 23. The list is for God's feasts. That's what's in Leviticus 23. And then continuing on in verse 3, it says, six days shall work be done. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. Again, holy convocation. You shall do no work on it.

It's the Sabbath of the Lord in all of your dwellings. What does that mean in all of your dwellings? It means wherever you are, when the sundown on the beginning of the Sabbath comes, that's the Sabbath. The Sabbath will come to you. Here in this area, in Cincinnati, Ohio, last night, it was, I'm going to say, approximately 747. The reason why I say approximately, and that's obviously a precise figure, but if you look in various places on the internet, you'll get, you know, 748 or 746 or something like that.

So it's approximately 747, but the Sabbath came to us. You know, if we were in California, when it was sundown here, it wasn't sundown in California, but the Sabbath was moving to California. Again, if we travel for the feast, you know, if we go to France, when the Sabbath will come to us, wherever we are, in all our dwellings, that's the Sabbath.

It comes to different people at different times, wherever we happen to be. And again, it's a holy convocation. And then it says, these are the feasts of the Lord, in verse 4, these are the feasts of the Lord, holy convocations, which you shall proclaim. And again, the feasts are proclaimed. God doesn't tell us to sit down and, you know, figure this out for ourselves. In fact, I don't know how many have actually looked at the calendar. The calendar is very technical and is very surprised, very precise, but it's also very complicated.

It's not an easy thing to figure this out. So personally, I'm glad that somebody has figured this out and proclaimed it. But in any case, they're proclaimed. In this case, Moses had the responsibility to proclaim their appointed times. So this is a basic introduction to the God's feasts in general, specifically the feasts of tabernacles. Turn down or skip down to verse 33.

Verse 33, between verse 4 and verse 32, it talks about the other feast of unleavened bread, Pentecost, trumpets, and the Day of Atonement. But now we come to the Feast of Tabernacles, verse 33. It says, Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of the seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles, for seven days unto the Lord. So this is a question that comes up, you know, and it's not a trick question. How long is the Feast of Tabernacles? Seven days. Seven days. Sometimes the question comes up, well, I know the first day is a holy day, and the, say, the eighth day is a holy day, but what about the days in between? You know, can I go to work? You know, can I, you know, do this, that. How long is the Feast of Tabernacles? It's seven days. It says, On the first day there shall be a holy convocation, you shall do no customary work on it. For seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. On the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation, you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. It is a sacred assembly, you shall do no customary work on it. So these are instructions for the Feast of Tabernacles and the last great day. Dropping down to verse 39, I'll do a little bit more reading here. It says, On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruit of the land, you shall keep the Feast of the Lord for seven days. On the first day there shall be a Sabbath rest. On the eighth day there shall be a Sabbath rest. You shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of beautiful trees, branches, palm trees, you know, boughs of leafy trees, willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. It's kind of interesting, the number seven just keeps reoccurring through here. You shall keep it as a Feast of the Lord for seven days. In the year it shall be a statute forever in all your generations. You shall celebrate it in the seventh month. You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All who are native Israelites shall dwell in booths. And then verse 43 starts with the word that. So that's a conjunction. That's connecting with what went before with what is going to follow. So you shall dwell in in booths that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God. So here, these are the instructions. God wants us to rejoice. He wants us to come before Him. He wants us to live in temporary dwellings. Turn to Hebrews 11th chapter.

Hebrews 11th chapter, and I'll start reading in verse 13. Hebrews 11th chapter, and verse 13.

Just breaking into the context, this is the chapter about Old Testament heroes. It says, These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them far off, were assured of them and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. We received a letter from Mr. Kubik in the month of July, just a couple months ago, and he talked about this verse. He talked about being strangers and pilgrims, and I'm going to quote a little bit from that letter. He says, The primary dictionary definition of a pilgrim, which talks about us being strangers and pilgrims, the primary definition of a pilgrim is a person who journeys to a sacred place for religious reasons. And then he continues on and says, I cannot help but note the similarity to the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles with this imagery. And then Paul continues in verse 14. So he's talking about the Feast of Tabernacles, Israel dwelling in booths, and us sojourning, you know, to the Kingdom of God, as it were, at the Feast of Tabernacles, or by keeping the Feast of Tabernacles. And then he continues on, and he says, Paul continues on in verse 14, For those who say such things declare plainly they seek a homeland. In other words, this is not our permanent home. This is not where we intend to spend the, let's say, eternity in this form, in this way. Let me be a little bit more specific there. Verse 15, it says, And truly, if they had called to mind that the country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return, but now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them. And again, referring back to Mr. Kubik's letter, he says, in short, life is a journey leading to a homeland, the homeland of the permanence with God, of living with God forever and ever. And then he says, the importance of seeking this permanence is further typified by how the feast was to be observed. And then he quotes Leviticus 23, which I will read again. It's Leviticus 23, 42, and 43. We've already read this once, so I will just read it to you. It says, You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All who are native Israel shall dwell in booths, that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God. So in an important part of the Feast of Tabernacles is temporary dwellings. There are lessons in temporary dwellings. Israel was traveling to the Promised Land, as I mentioned. We are traveling, as it were, to the Kingdom of God.

Again, it's important for us to have temporary dwellings and to travel. However, there are satellite feastsites, and there are reasons for satellite feastsites. It's rather interesting, from the Festival registration, and as of about, I don't know, a month ago, I heard this from Mr. Kubik, what is the most popular feast site? You know, people when they register and they're transferring, or they're going to... What do you think the most popular feast site is? Oh, no clue. All right, the most popular feast site is Panama City Beach. That's, to me, not surprising, but what might be surprising is what is the second most popular feast site?

And this one is a little bit harder. The second most popular feast site is Keeping the Feast at Home. Keeping the Feast at Home. For those of you who are registered, if you look at the list of feast sites, and then you go down to the bottom of the list, that's where you would choose Keeping the Feast at Home. Speaking of registering, I hope that you've all been good and you've all registered. I mean, it's not a hard thing to do. If there is, I don't know who the Festival Advisor is here. I imagine you can see Mr. Kievit. Doug Knuckles. I don't see Doug Knuckles.

So, if you haven't registered and if you've got the hankering to do so, and I hope you do, you know, perhaps you can see Mr. Kievit or Mr. Seelig. Someone can help you register.

It helps a lot with festival planning. Let's say here in Cincinnati, just to take an example, they've reserved a room that will hold, I'm going to say 400 people. I don't know if that's exactly true. It might only be 350. Registration right now is right around just under 350. But what if there's a lot of people that say, well, I'm in Cincinnati. I don't need to register, you know, and you show up. Now all of a sudden you're out of chairs. You have problems. So, I mean, feast registration does help planning. It helps in more ways than that, but that's probably a very important way that, you know, everybody gets to sit down in the room, you know, they have a chair to be able to listen. And again, not to go too long on local fee sites or satellite fee sites, but in order to really have a best feast ever, you're going to have to work a little bit harder to have a BFE, FOT, if you're in a satellite or I'll say the Cincinnati fee site, since this is where we live. The reason why I say that, I have a friend in another fellowship, and his group also keeps the Sabbath, and they keep the Holy Days. They've traveled for the feast to the Poconos, to Hawaii, you know, to Atlantic City, New Jersey. They've traveled around a little bit, and one year they decided just to stay at home. Well, after that feast, I was talking with him, and he said, you know, he said, by staying home, you're missing something. We're missing something. Something wasn't there. There's something missing when you stay at home. So God has a reason for our traveling and for our temporary dwellings, and I understand, you know, that not everybody, everybody's circumstances will fit that, but God has a reason. You can still have a wonderful feast, but as I said, I think it's going to take a little bit extra effort on your part in order to do so. God has a reason for temporary dwellings. As we've heard the saying, He says what He means, and He means what He says. I have some suggestions for you, and again, nothing new. You've probably heard this before, that, you know, if you're staying in Cincinnati, the best place to meet, as far as to stay, is right at the Hilton. You know, you get up in the morning, you get dressed, come down, have breakfast, you know, you walk to wherever the meeting hall is, you know, and you're there. As opposed to if you're staying somewhere else, you've got to get up, eat breakfast, or drive, or drive, or eat breakfast, whichever. You have to go to the Hilton, you have to park, and then you have to go to the room. And to me, you know, is that a hassle? No, it's not really a hassle. There are much worse things. However, it's just so convenient, you know, just get up and go downstairs and go to services. Some other ideas, I mean, you can camp if there's any campers here. You can swap houses. And there's probably other things to do as far as temporary accommodations, but again, there are lessons in those temporary accommodations. And as I mentioned, it may not be possible for everybody to have a temporary dwelling, and I understand that. But it is part of keeping the feast, and there are lessons in those temporary dwellings. Also, in the current issue of the United News, there's an article about, you know, what do you do if you're staying home for the feast? I would recommend that you read that article.

Turn back to Deuteronomy the 14th chapter. Deuteronomy the 14th chapter.

And I'll start reading in verse 22. Deuteronomy 14 verse 22.

This also was referenced in Mr. Kubik's letter, which I'll read a little bit more from. But Deuteronomy 14 and verse 22, it says, "...you shall truly tithe all the increase of your grain that the field produces year by year." "...and you shall eat before the Lord your God in the place where he chooses to make his name there, the tithe of your grain, your new wine, your oil, of the first links of your herds and your flocks." Again, there's that word conjunction, that. In other words, you take your goods and you go, and you go, "...that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always." Again, I think we all realize here, God is talking about second tithe, which is separate than first tithe.

First tithe is to do the work of preaching the gospel and supporting the ministry. This is a tithe that God gives to us, so to speak, to be able to rejoice before him, to have a good time, to have a great time, to have a wonderful feast of tabernacles. And we do this, that we may learn to fear the Lord your God always. Verse 24, "...but if the journey is too long for you, so that you're not able to carry the tithe of you, or if the place where the Lord your God chooses to put his name is too far from you, when the Lord your God has blessed you, then you shall exchange it for money.

Take the money in your hand and go to the place which the Lord your God chooses, and you shall spend that money for whatever your heart desires." Again, have a big time. For ox and sheep, you know, stakes, lamb chops.

For wine, or my Bible says, similar drink. Other translations say, for strong drink. For whatever your heart desires, you shall eat before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice. In other words, God wants us to really rejoice. They have a good time. He says, you and your household. So again, continuing on with Mr. Kubik's letter, he says, not only is this life described as makeshift, in other words, temporary bodies, not only is this life described as makeshift, it is designed to be a journey, and for us, a journey into the kingdom of God.

This imagery was intended to teach profound lessons about how God is working with each of us. We are on a trip now, living in temporary accommodations, rejoicing, and learning eternal values. So again, this is talking about the Feast of Tabernacles being a traveling feast, going to the place where God chooses.

Again, the feast is not a place, although it takes place in any location, it's an event. And God blesses the various places where He sets His name. He blesses those places for eight days. I use the analogies like God gives a, you know, flips a switch. All of a sudden, it's feast time. Many years ago, we used to have a feast in Dayton, and me and my family, my family and I, I should say, went to Dayton for the feast. Now, this was in the days, well, again, many years ago, I would say 30 years ago. Of course, it's been that long since there's been a feast site, too, probably. This was in the days where we had a very active YOU here, those who were involved.

And we were going to Dayton all the time, you know, jamborees, district weekends, basketball, volleyball, dances, track, and, you know, whatever else. We were going there all the time, and, you know, Dayton was Dayton. It was a city. It wasn't a bad city, but when we went there for the feast, and again, we went there for the feast for tabernacles, we got there, and Dayton was different. It just was. It wasn't the same place. It was a great place. God was blessing it for eight days. He especially was blessing it for eight days.

Saying this the other way around, as far as the way God blesses a place, as they say, it's kind of like He flips a switch and said, you know, this is feast time. This is not, this is now the feast. Perhaps some of us have gone to, I'll say, an exotic place. A place, you know, on the seashore, or where there's mountains, or lakes, or, you know, some great place. And we plan in advance that we're going to spend an extra day or two, because this place is just really great, and I'm really going to like it.

You know, it's a very nice place. So you decide to stay a day or two, and you do stay a day or two after the last great day. The place is different. The place is different. I don't know how many of you have experienced that, but it's very real. Obviously, the mountain is still there, the beach is still there, the waves on the shore are still there, and all that stuff is still there.

But it's a different place. Something happens. God blesses it for a certain period of time.

Again, there's a purpose that God has for us. There's a purpose in our feasting. We read it here, we read it elsewhere. We go to the feast to learn to fear the Lord our God. I heard a good definition, by the way, of the fear of God. It's just take God seriously. Again, as I've already said, He says what He means, and He means what He says. Take God seriously. I heard this from a Canadian minister who I heard it from another minister. He says, take God seriously. Now, we know that God is love. He's merciful, and of course, He's very merciful, and none of us would be here. He's kind. He's gracious. He's generous, and so much more. He's also very serious about what He says and about what He commands. He's also our judge, and there is judgment, and there is justice with God. We need to recognize that, and we need to be responsive to Him. Again, we go to the Feast of Tabernacles to learn to fear the Lord our God, us and our household.

Now, if we go to the feast thinking about what's only in it for us, we're going to be disappointed. We're going to miss something. We'll probably enjoy ourselves, but on the other hand, we're going to miss something and really won't have our best feast ever. I've heard it said that we need to plan to serve when we go to the feast. There was a mention today about ushers. Plan to serve.

If you have enough ushers, you know, many hands make light work. Many hands make light work.

We don't need a position on an organization of charge, although there are plenty of positions, plenty of things need to be done. But some serving is done on a one-to-one basis. And again, I'll say we need to plan to serve, but to serve as we are able. I'm going to make the statement that all of us can serve in one way or another. All of us can, but we all don't have the physical abilities. We need to serve as we are able. Turn to Ephesians 4, and I'll start reading in verse 15.

This is Paul writing to the church at Ephesus.

It's passage that we'll probably hear more of at this time of year.

Ephesians 4, in verse 15 and 16, it's a beautiful analogy of a body working together. I'm going to break into the context in verse 15, where it says, But speaking the truth in love may grow up in all things unto him who is the head Christ. So Christ is the head from whom the whole body joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes the growth of the body for the edifying itself in love. So it talks about every joint, every part. No one left out. No age group left out. Each part helps the body to do something to function. Now your part may be praying. Your part may be lifting chairs or moving chairs. It may be ushering. It may be doing a lot of things, but each part helps the body to grow in love.

Every part. Now think about this. This is to the book. Excuse me. This is the church at Ephesus.

We read about this church as well in the book of Revelation. This is the letter to the book, the letter to the church at Ephesus. What was the problem with the church at Ephesus?

The problem was just the opposite of what is said here. Lack of love. Because you have left your first love, they had serious problems. Interestingly enough, in Revelation, they weren't criticized because they weren't keeping the law. They weren't criticized for bad doctrine or wrong doctrine.

They weren't criticized for not going to the feast. They were going to the feast. They were keeping the law. They were keeping the Sabbath. But they didn't have love. Again, obedience without love did not do them a lot of good. It doesn't do us a lot of good either. Knowledge without love does not do a lot of good. We need to have love. Again, edifying the body in love. Every part has its share to do. It causes growth in the body. The body functions together. It produces the best feast ever, Feast of Tabernacles. I have a couple quotations that I'm going to read. The first is from William Butler Yeats. It came from brainyquote.com. It says, there are no strangers here. And this would be regarding the Feast of Tabernacles. There are no strangers here. Only friends you haven't met yet. There's an opportunity at the feast to meet more people from other areas. It's an opportunity to expand our circle of friends. And then also another quote. This is from Ralph Nader, same brainyquote.com. It says, when strangers start acting like neighbors, communities are reinvigorated. How are neighbors supposed to act and work together? How are church brethren supposed to act and work together? We are to have harmony. We are to have unity. We can work together. And as I mentioned, all can serve regardless of our age group. We are called to be a part of something bigger than ourselves. And again, when I say all can serve, I'll break it down a little bit more saying that men, women, teens, pre-teens, seniors, you know, whoever, whatever your situation, you know, whatever category we fit in, we all can serve. That was, again, many years ago, we went to a feast in Alaska.

And this was an interesting feast. They had a social where they barbecued some sort of a large animal.

It wasn't a bear or anything. It was a large animal. And one of the fellows in the church had made this rig. It's like a big wagon wheel. And above the wagon wheel, it went round. And also, there's this spit. And they may have had a whole cow on this thing. I mean, it was really a large animal. It may have been a moose. It may have been an elk. I don't remember what it was. But anyway, it was cooking on this contraption that the guy had made up. It was very nice. The adults did the cooking. You know, they did the barbecuing. The ladies did the cooking in the kitchen. But the children did the serving. From about age six, you know, up through teenagers. They did the serving. And my wife and I were both marveling at this. You know, if we were back in our own church area at that time, which was not Cincinnati, just so you know, if we were back in our own church area, the kids would probably be having food fights. You know, it's just maybe I shouldn't say something so harsh or unkind. But in any case, there was just an outstanding example of the children serving. Children can serve. They don't always have to be entertained or played with. They can live up or down to our expectations. Children can serve. And as I mentioned, you know, seniors can serve. We all can serve in one way or another. Turn back to Nehemiah the eighth chapter.

Nehemiah the eighth chapter. And I'll start reading in verse nine. Nehemiah the eighth chapter.

It's going to take me a little bit to get there.

Ezra Nehemiah Esther. Nehemiah the eighth. And I'll start reading in verse nine, where it says, in Nehemiah, who was the governor, Ezra the priest, and the scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to the people, this day is holy to the Lord your God. Now this day, particularly talked about at this point, happens to be the Feast of Trumpets. But we'll continue reading the principle applies. This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn nor weep. For all the people wept when they heard the words of the law. And then in verse 10 it says, then he said to them, go your way, eat the fat, which is not talking about, you know, the fat within meat. It's talking about, have the best things. Eat the fat, drink the sweet. Send portions for whom nothing is prepared. For this day is holy to the Lord our God. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is our strength. Excuse me, is your strength. So one thing we can do, one way to serve, and I don't know if you ever thought about this as serving or not, is take somebody out to eat. You know, just take someone out to a restaurant. It can be fancy. It doesn't have to be fancy, you know, whatever you can afford, and you know, whatever you happen to agree with. Also, especially here in Cincinnati, maybe there's somebody that cannot attend services. You can take food into their house. You know, you can pick up something, and again, it doesn't have to be fancy. It can be chili. It can be a pizza. You can take food over to somebody, and I'm sure that they'd appreciate it. You know, the food is really nice, but really the fellowship is a whole lot nicer. Or perhaps if you have the abilities of something, you could cook yourself. But again, it can be takeout food. Take it over to somebody. After all, as I said, you know, they would appreciate the meal. They would really appreciate the fellowship.

Something else we can do, and for those who are traveling, we can send cards. Actually, even if you're not traveling, you could send cards. We generally are scattered over many, many different places, but very interesting places. We can send a postcard to the shut-ins of those back home.

Let's know we're still thinking about them and praying about them, and connects them to the Feast of Tabernacles. Years ago, there was a nice widow lady living in a nursing home. We visited her after the feast, and she literally had a pile of cards that she'd gotten, you know, from all over the place. She really enjoyed getting the cards. But what even struck us more is we talked with either an attendant or a nurse after our visit with this lady, and she said, did you see all those cards? She got a pile of cards, and they're from all over the world. You know, it was just, it just really made an impression upon her. And at that point, I'll say our, not necessarily Joy and me, but our as a group, our light was shining. You know, we sent cards to this lady. Something else we can do at the feast, and I've mentioned it already, about meeting new people. Meeting new people. This especially helps if someone is transferring in. Invite them into, I'll say, your group. And this especially applies to teens, which I don't see any here today. But it does apply to teens. It used to be, and in fact, I'm sure it still is, to an extent. When you go to another area, when the teens go to their local feast site, they've got their group, you know, it's all set up. And it's very difficult for someone outside to enter that group. And I know camps have made it a lot easier, as kids know each other a lot more nowadays. But be friendly, and be warm. I read, you know, the quotes, where there are no strangers here.

Only friends you haven't met yet. And again, this doesn't necessarily apply just to teens, but I'll say especially to teens, it applies to adults as well. Everybody likes to be included. Don't have to exclude our normal circle of friends, but we can invite others to be part of our circle of friends. And then also, we need to be alight. We need to be example. This is a time when the church comes together and we're more focused on, or people can more focus on us, put it that way, than at normal times. They know that we are a group, that we represent God and Jesus Christ. And that means they have certain expectations on what we're going to do and how we're going to do it. So we need to be on our best behavior, always. We need to be on, so to speak. We need to be alight, and especially around places where we stay, places where we meet. Others will have expectations.

They will observe and they will know what we should stand for, and hopefully they'll see what we do stand for. I have another quote. This was from John Steinbeck from matadornetwork.com. It says, a journey is like a marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think that you control it.

So we need to be planning our trip. We need to be planning activities. Say, we need to be on, always. Everything's not going to go just the way that we want it to go. There's going to be hiccups. I mean, even if you're staying here in Cincinnati, but there will be hiccups along the way, things that were not expected, things that are not necessarily to our liking, maybe traffic, you know, maybe construction. There will be waiting in lines, I think, of whatever feast site you go to. There will be waiting in lines. So we need to be vigilant to have a proper response. And then 1 Corinthians 10.24. I think I will turn there. 1 Corinthians 10.24.

I have some instructions of the Apostle Paul. I'll just read this one verse. 1 Corinthians 10.24.

It says, let no one seek his own, but each seek another's well-being, or seek one another's well-being. Again, having a love one for another, working together, cooperating one with another, and again, as said before, there are many needs, many ways to serve. Talked about ushering. Actually, in the feast brochure, our pastor, Mr. Myers, has an article, or I guess you call it an article, he's got a section on special music. Surprise, surprise. So serving in a corral is serving. Again, we need to be courteous to obey the rules, to cooperate with church rules, as well as community rules, and again, to help out wherever we can, whether we have a position on the organizational chart or not. Another way to prepare for the best feast ever is to plan to spend wisely. Again, God wants us to rejoice, but we need to spend the money wisely that we have, or it'll be gone before the feast is over. I hate to use this word, but I will. I'm going to use a couple words, one more later on, but a budget. A budget. Now, normally people think of a budget, ah, we're going to the feast. I don't want a budget. Well, a budget's a good thing to have to control our spending. It does not have to be an elaborate accounting system. We all know our major costs, wherever we're going. You know, so much for the hotel, so much for transportation, you know, whether it's plane or car rental, so much for emergency. You know, we have major categories, what I'll call fixed costs. There's also the tithe of the tithe that we need to send in or pay. This is for halls, for equipment, again, for those who aren't eating, for the ministry.

Again, remember Deuteronomy 14 and also in verse 16, where it talks about you, your family, the Levite, and the stranger, the followers, and the will. We need to be helping out in all these categories. And then there are what I'll call variable costs, and these are expenses that we have daily, you know, food, entertainment, or miscellaneous. So we can have our, you know, our total amount. We take out our fixed costs. We have so much left for variable costs.

Let's say that after we do that, we have a thousand dollars left. A thousand dollars, let's say, divided by 10 days, which is eight days for the fees traveling, you know, to and fro. So you have roughly a hundred dollars a day. You know, you can think of it in that way.

Now that doesn't limit you. That's a guideline. It's an average of a hundred dollars a day. Maybe one day you're going to spend $125. What that means is the next day or the day after, you're going to spend $75 or less in order to keep, you know, your $100 a day average. It's easy to overspend if we don't watch our spending, and we can run out of money.

Well, today, unfortunately, I say unfortunately, today we don't run out of money. We pull out a little plastic card, and we charge, or then credit. And yes, that's a way to cover your expenses, but it's not a good way. It's not a good way at all. It means you're going to come back from the feast owing somebody money. It's not a good thing to be in debt. I'm not going to turn there, but Proverbs 22 verse 7. Proverbs 22, 7 says, the borrower is the servant of the lender. So again, it's not good to run out of money and then to go forward on credit.

I have another quotation. This is from an A.A. Latimer of goodfinancialcents.com. It says, a budget. No, that's, I'm sorry, it's the wrong one. First, this quote is by Henrik Isbin, and it's from notablequotes.com. It says, home life ceases to be free and beautiful as soon as it's founded on borrowing and debt. That's another way of saying the borrower is the servant of the lender. So we need to stay. We have so much second time. We know what we have to work with. We can work with that. We can make whatever we have work and we'll come home the better for it. Now, sometimes credit cannot be avoided. Like, let's say you're driving and your car breaks down. You know, what are you going to do? Sometimes it can't be avoided, but it's best if you can.

It's hard to rejoice, as I mentioned, when you come home to bills, when they're waiting for you, when you come home.

Another item or another area to think about is to stay healthy at the feast. Stay healthy. It's hard to have a best feast ever if you're sick, you know, two, three, or four days. It just doesn't work that way. But I'll talk about physical health and I'll say spiritual health. I think we all see the need that we have to pray and study daily all through the year. We have the same need at the feast. Just go at the feast and say, oh, we're at the feast. No, we don't need to do that. No, we're there to learn to fear the Lord our God always. So we should continue to pray and study. Again, the need does not diminish at the feast. Also, we should try to stay physically healthy. Well, because it's said, it's hard to really rejoice if you're feeling lousy. One way that we can do this, there are things we can do for ourselves. Sometimes it happens, but there are things we can do for ourselves. I'll think back to what I call the old days again. We used to go to the feast, you know, get settled in, and go to the store to get something. Well, you go to the store and, you know, the area where the junk food is, it's all cleaned out. It's gone. You know, and you go to somebody's room and there's potato chips and there's pretzels and there's cakes and there's cookies and there's soda, and on and on it goes. You probably remember seeing some of those things in times past. Again, a certain amount of that, you know, helps us rejoice. Children like that. Adults, you know, grown-up children, also like that. But again, we need to do this in balance. Too much can catch up with us. Likewise, the other word that, you know, I'm going to mention that, you know, we'll go over like a ton of bricks, if you will, is exercise. Exercise while at the feast. Now, I'm not talking about going down to, you know, a motel gym, you know, working out an hour a day. Not talking about that at all, but just think about it. Generally, to go to the feast, you sit, you know, either in a car or a plane or a train or something, you sit.

You go to the feast, you know, you eat and sit. And you eat some more, and you sit some more. Pretty soon, you know, as I'm feeling kind of sluggish, exercise helps. Exercise helps, and it doesn't have to be strenuous. It might just be walking around a little bit. You know, go to some kind of attraction, and you don't just walk around. See what there is to see. It helps. It just keeps ourselves in motion. And along with exercise, I'm going to recommend something that will be near and dear to everybody's heart, and I want to encourage everybody to do a lot of drinking. A lot of drinking. And you're probably way ahead of me. I'm not talking about alcohol at this point.

I'm talking about other fluids. Preferably, well, preferably for me, I guess they all have our own preferences. I like water, you know, just plain simple water. Some people like colored water. Some people like sports drinks. You know, there's various things. I was going to say, some people like Starbucks, but I don't know how many of those that you can really drink a day. But in any case, I'd encourage you to have fluids. This also helps us to stay healthy. But while I am on the subject of alcohol, I do want to say that's something else that we need to watch and control and be an example, you know, and be a light in this regard. And again, drinking alcohol is not a problem.

And in fact, we read earlier, we can have wine or strong drink at the feast. It's not a problem, but drinking too much is a serious problem. Again, going back into years past, and maybe you've seen this, maybe you haven't, I have, where you go in somebody's room at the feast and across their dresser, they've got a bar set up. And you might have 20 bottles of, you know, one of whatever that they happen to like at the time. That's a bit much. Actually, I don't think there's any way you could drink that much for an eight-day period. But in any case, we need to watch our alcoholic consumption. Mr. Luker several years ago mentioned that alcohol is the number one drug problem in the church. It's easy to get caught up when you're rejoicing and having a good time, so we should be careful for our own health and safety, as well as for others. Another item that will help us as far as our health is concerned is sleep and rest. Sleep and rest. Now at the feast, sometimes we see people we've not seen for years, or maybe we get together with relatives that we haven't seen for a while. We tend to stay up late with them, and we don't get the rest that we really need. Or, well, we don't get the rest that we need. Or maybe the next morning, you know, after after staying up way too late, we set the alarm and say, well, I'm not going to get up early, you know, and I want to not pray or study today. I'm just going to go to services. And maybe, you know, you hit the snooze button, it's time to wake up and go to services. Well, you know, I'm not going to go to services today. I'll just take care of, you know, I'll just participate in the afternoon's activities. Again, that's not the way to have a best feast ever. Now, you'll enjoy the activities, but it's not learning the fear of the Lord your God always, or having a feast that's going to last longer than the eight-day period.

So these are a few other items to think about. I guess one other item on the item of health is that if you are sick, you know, what happens if you or your child are sick at the feast?

Don't come to services. Don't come to services, especially if they have a fever or something that might be contagious. Where a lot of people, you know, packed in a small room, and something could spread very, very quickly. And actually, in times past, it has spread very, very quickly. Again, we're assembled. It's in a tight space. It's not that we don't want to see you. We just don't want whatever it is that you happen to have at the time. You can call to be anointed. You don't have to come to services. So, brethren, these are a few points to think about as we plan and prepare for a best feast ever, Feast of Tabernacles. Again, it takes planning and preparation. It doesn't just happen. So remember our priorities. The Feast of Tabernacle is an event where we go and we serve God. It's not a place. It's not a location. We are there to serve God. It's His feast. Again, we're there to learn to fear the Lord our God. We're also there to serve others, to serve God's people. And we're there to rejoice and to rejoice with a purpose. As was said at the end of the sermonette today, I hope that each and all of us, wherever we're going, or not going, wherever we are for the feast, I hope we all have a very profitable and the best feast ever, Feast of Tabernacles.