The Better Resurrection

What I want to talk about today does tie in with what I covered on trumpets. On trumpets, I covered how there are three different times of judgment on people. Where people have an opportunity to turn to God when He calls them. We talked about how God calls, during whatever time we're called in, is by His grace. You know, why does He call some people sometime and others not until the second resurrection? And that's a hard question because we look at every human being and we say every human being has value to God. And yet, He has this plan. And this plan involves this salvation that you and I can't save ourselves. So He has to call us, we respond, and He works with us, and He gives us this gift. But this gift has requirements. Now, here's a gift. You can't just go throw that gift in the garbage. That gift has a responsibility to respond to the gift. Because it's a relationship with God and with Christ. So we know that. We know that unless a person believes there's a God, they can't have salvation. So God has to reveal Himself to them. He has to bring them to repentance. They must repent. He has to bring them to Christ. They must accept Jesus Christ as their Savior and as their sacrifice and as their Master. So we understand that even though it's a gift, you just can't say, oh, I don't want that gift. Well, you can, but God does not honor that. Or you can't take that gift and throw it away. And so it does have requirements. So we talked about how this is now the day of judgment on the Church. I want to look specifically today, though, at why the Bible calls the first resurrection a better resurrection. I mean, why does it say that? In fact, it says that in Hebrews and Revelation, John writes that he was told, the blessed and holy is he who has pardoned the first resurrection. There's something special about being in the first resurrection. But what is it? I don't think you and I walk around and say, well, I'm special. You know, we realize that it's only through this gift is given to us and we're responding to it. And it's the power of God that works in us. And we have to participate. And yet, why is it so special? We do know that those in the first resurrection, it talks about 1 Corinthians 15, is in depth. Writing from Paul about how it is special because those in the first resurrection are changed into spirit beings. And they receive eternal life and they will be God with God forever. But I want to look at today three specific things that are mentioned about those in the first resurrection that are very important to understand how this is special. How this is special, we need to understand it and we need to look forward to it. And these fall Holy Days all picture that first resurrection, the reign of Christ, the second resurrection. So let's look at three things that are said about those that are in the first resurrection. First of all, they're called firstfruits or firstborn. Let's go there. Firstborn. It's interesting if you go back to Exodus, you will find a law that God said all the firstborn of Israel were to be consecrated to him. In other words, the firstborn of Israel, by the act of being born first in a family, and they tended to have very large families, was special to God. They had a special purpose in Israel's history. And it's interesting that the land, which was so important in families, the land was passed on to the firstborn. The firstborn was supposed to be a leader in the family. The firstborn was supposed to help take care of the family. They had great responsibility to be the firstborn because they were given this responsibility to take care of the rest of the family. Now let's go to Colossians 1 and let's look at something that's said here about Jesus Christ.

Colossians chapter 1. And verse 15.

It says, He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that were in heaven, that were on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. Now this is talking about Jesus Christ. And He is before all things and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have preeminence. One of the titles, one of the things that is said about Jesus Christ that makes Him so special. He's the first human being to ever die and actually come back to life for eternity. So we know He came to this earth. He left where He was with the Father. He came here. He died and He was resurrected. He's the first one to go through literal death and be resurrected into eternity. Now there are a number of people in the Bible that died and were resurrected back to physical life, but they died again. And of course we all know that I covered that in a sermon a couple years ago. Enoch and Elijah, where people say, well they died and went right to heaven. It's provable. Actually when you go through the Scriptures, that's not what happened. Enoch just simply says He was translated. He was moved from one place to another. And when you go to Hebrews chapter 11, He is mentioned as one of those who has not received His reward. Well, how did He go to heaven and not receive His reward? So Jesus is the only one who has died and gone to heaven. It says that in Acts. He's the only one that's done that. So He's the firstborn from the dead. So that's one of the rules He has, going through that death and being resurrected. And so we do talk about how He is the wave-sheaf offering in the spring, which was the first born of or the first born or first fruits that were offered to God at the beginning of the year. Now let's go to Hebrews 12. Hebrews 12.

And verse 22.

He's talking to the church here, and He says, you have come to Mount Zion. Now Mount Zion was an actual place in the city of David. Mount Zion also became an allegory for a lot of things. The throne of God. It is in some places actually. Zion is an allegory for the church. But He says here, Mount Zion. So the throne of God. We come before the throne of God. He says to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the General Assembly and Church of the firstborn. Okay, the Church of the firstborn. Jesus is the first of the firstborn, but we are also a type of firstborn. Those in the first resurrection are the first human beings, except for Jesus, that will make that transformation from being physical and to eternal spirit.

It's one of the reasons why this is a better resurrection. That doesn't mean other people don't have that opportunity, but we will be the first to go through that. He says the Church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven. Registered in heaven. That's why I mentioned on the Feast of Trumpets that you're already in the Book of Life. You're written down. You're registered by God in whatever it means to have a book at the throne of God. I'm not sure what that means, but in whatever God has done, you're registered. You're written. We have to choose to be blotted out. We have to choose to be removed. He has already said, you're going to be in that first resurrection. And I talked about that as our time of judgment. That's why it's important that we understand. So we are firstborn. Those in the first resurrection are firstborn. Not like Jesus. That's something you know that he's he's the firstborn among the firstborn.

If you go to Exodus, you also find a number of laws that had to do with the offering of first roots. First roots is when people would go pick the first food they had. I mean, if you were growing cucumbers and you had your first two cucumbers come out, you would pick them and take them and give them to the priesthood. And you would give that to them, and that would be an offering because it was your first. It went to God, but it went specifically to the priest. So first fruits are a very important thing. It's a law. They were supposed to do that. They were expected to do that. Just like the firstborn of the family was consecrated to God, the first food that came out was consecrated to God. Now let's go to 1 Corinthians 15.

I'm going through, you know, as a doctoral sermon. I'm not going through some long passages here, but I am going through to help us understand. And remember, this is in context of what we covered on trumpets. 1 Corinthians 15. And verse 20.

But now Christ has risen from the dead and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. I mentioned just a little bit ago how that wave sheaf offering, he was the first offering of the first fruits to God. And so we see he's the firstborn among the firstborn. He's the first fruit among the first fruits. But we know that the church itself is also called a first fruit. Let's go to James chapter 1. James chapter 1.

And verse 17.

He says, Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, comes down from the father of lights, which whom there are no variations or shadow of turning. Of his own will, he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. The first fruits that were offered in the fall wasn't a small amount like the first fruits in the spring. It was a very large offering to God because the fall harvest was much larger than the spring harvest. Jesus is offered in the spring. The church is offered to God when? At the beginning of fall, the end of summer. And so those in the first resurrection are a type of first fruits, a type of firstborn, a type of first fruits. If you notice, we're following Christ.

God is doing something through him, and then he has a group of people that he says, okay, you're going to be, we're not the last fruits. The rest of humanity has their chance. There's still a lot of work to be done, but we are following him as first fruits. Why? You know, there's this question of why. Why didn't God just have this all happen and all of humanity gets a chance at one time? Well, for one thing is because Satan is going to rule over this earth for a while until Christ comes back. And so human beings are blinded. He has to open their eyes before they could be judged. But during this time period, starting from the beginning, you know, when Adam and Eve got kicked out of the Garden of Eden, until Christ comes back, he's picking people all through this time to work with, to be part of these first fruits. Why? You think, why didn't he do it a different way? Well, that brings us to our third point where those in the first resurrection are firstborn and they're first fruits, but they are also in that resurrection to become the bride of Christ. Now, this is what's really important here. To be in the first fruits means that God has worked with that group of people to prepare them for something specific, some specific purpose, just like the firstborn of Israel were to be the family leaders in that society. The first fruits were to be offered to God, but actually given to the priesthood and the priesthood actually ate that food. That was part of what they received. There was a purpose for it. The reason to be in the first resurrection is to be prepared to be the bride of Christ. We know Christ is going to come to this earth and rule over this earth, and there's a number of places that talks about how the church will reign with him. In other words, we have specific things we must do to be prepared to follow him and what he's going to be doing in converting the world. Let's go to Luke 19.

Before we do that, let's get a revelation. I'm glad we're leaving this week. Kim and I both were just exhausted after getting over COVID and then having to jump into work all the time.

She told me today, she says, I'm just tired. I said, I'm tired too. So, we're taking this week to slow down a little bit and just get ready for the feast. I'm glad. First, for Revelation 19.

And once again, I like to go through long passages so we get the context, but these are so obvious in what they're saying. And we have to put these together. Sometimes you have to pull, it's like a puzzle, pieces out of the scripture. Put it together and you get the picture. This is a description of the return of Jesus Christ. And the Great Resurrection. And I heard, as it were, John says, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters, as the sound of mighty thunder, he's saying, Hallelujah, for the Lord God inimidate reigns. Let us be glad and rejoice and give him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his wife has made herself ready. So, those in that first resurrection are firstborn, first fruits, and a wife prepared to serve her husband. And to her it was granted to be arraigned in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, Blessed are those who are called to the married supper of the Lamb.

Once again, there's a blessing. Now, I've seen people read this and come to the conclusion, Oh good, that means we're better than everybody else. That's not the point. The point is there's a specific purpose God wants from us. Every human being, he wants every human being to be his child forever.

But in creating the family, it's very interesting, he has firstborn. In other words, those who are going to help take care of the family. He has first fruits. Those who are being offered to him first, but there's a great thing that's going to happen later. A greater harvest later. And you can't say the harvest, you know, if you get your spring harvest, it's more important than the fall harvest because you've got to eat all the time. You know, physically, you need both of them. Spiritually, it's all part of this plan that's tied in even to nature. A spring and fall harvest. He designed the earth around his plan. Everything we have is designed around what he's doing so that we can even look at nature and understand what he's doing.

And so we are the beginning of that great fall harvest. In order to be married to Christ, you know, you've actually been called by God for more than salvation.

You know, wait a minute, I've been called for salvation? That's right. How can you be called for more than salvation? I mean, is that the greatest gift? Yes, the gift of God that has been offered to us is salvation, but there's something else that we are to be prepared to serve Jesus Christ in changing the world. I remember when I was younger, you know, you go through a stage, usually in your teenage years, early 20s, where you just want to change the world. How many commencement speeches have been given? You have now the, you know, it's your opportunity to go change the world. Then people go out and they're so disappointed. They can't change the world, right? I read an article not too long ago about how many people are graduating from college and they're just disillusioned. They don't even want a job. And the reason why is they were told they were going to change the world. And they're finding that that degree in French literature means nothing. They can't get a job. They can't do anything with that. You know, they didn't go on to become a teacher. Oh, what do you mean? I got to go to school or to become a teacher? Yes. But I got my French literature degree. I'm going to go change the world. And, you know, nobody seems to care. But when a lot of, you know, what a lot of people when they're young, we want to change the world. I wanted to change the world. Do something good. And that's, we should have carry a part of that the rest of our lives that we want to do good. But the bottom line is you and I can't change the world. But we will be able to help someone who will change the world. That's the calling you have. It's not just for salvation so you can be forgiven. It's not just so you can have, you know, live life now with God guiding you directly and receive blessings from God. It's more than that. It's a very specific purpose, just like the firstborn, just like the firstfruits, and is to be married to Jesus Christ.

So I've been talking so much about discipleship the last year. If we're going to marry, we better know our husband if we're going to marry him. Now, that's just an analogy. I mean, marriage. But it's an interesting analogy because it's the closest relationship human beings can have. And what he says is, he's going to, you're going to enter into this relationship. And what do wives do in the scripture? For a great part, is they help take care of the family. What do firstborns do in ancient Egypt? I mean, ancient Israel? They take care of the family. They have a very specific purpose. And that is to help and serve and care for the family. And this is going to be a big family. What God is doing is a big family.

The first resurrection is a better resurrection. But when I said you're called for more than just to receive salvation, you are actually called for more than just this gift. Because if you're being prepared for something, you have to participate with God, not only in your salvation. Because as I talked about on the Feast of Trumpets, a person can lose their salvation. They can be blotted out of the book of life. It's not what God wants, but it can't happen. But in this preparation to serve Jesus Christ, there's extra that we must do in learning to be like Him. People have asked me before, people have asked me before, okay, I'm being prepared for something special in the kingdom. What kind of job should I get? I said, it doesn't matter. But shouldn't I get trained to be a manager over a big company? Because, you know, in Christ comes back, He's going to want me to reign with Him. That doesn't matter. It's what you learn spiritually. And if you learn spiritually what God wants you to learn, to be prepared for this job. It's a job. It's for a thousand years and even into the Great White Throne Judgment. There's a humanity to be changed. There's a humanity to be taught. There's a humanity to be taken to God.

And that's part of what we're going to do. It doesn't matter if you're a janitor. It doesn't matter if you're the CEO of a $40 million company. It doesn't matter. Spiritually, we learn this. And actually, your job, how you work at your job is important. How you look at work is important. You know, a lazy multimillion-dollar CEO that got the job because his dad and granddad were in charge, and he's absolutely worthless at his job. He may make the money, but he's worthless. The janitor who does his job every day has great value.

So we can't look at this just in physical terms. Well, I've got to make money so I can, you know, be successful. No, that's a physical viewpoint. We have to become spiritually successful. That's what God wants. So there are actually rewards that are given to us and how much we allow ourselves to be developed. Let's go to Luke 19. Now, this is read many times. You know this one. It's usually read from Matthew. I'm going to read it from Luke because the words are just slightly different. And in doing so, reveals at one point, I think something is very important. Luke 19. And let's start in verse 12.

Jesus has gathered people together here, and he says, therefore he said, a certain nobleman went into a far country to receive himself a kingdom and to return. And of course, we know right away this is about Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ went back to the Father to receive a kingdom, and he's coming back. And he has servants that are going to do his work on earth. And we say, what is his work on earth? That's what the two witnesses do. Now, you're doing his work on earth every day.

Now you say, well, the two witnesses do this great work. That's true. They will receive a great reward for that work, too. You and I are going to get the same reward as Moses or Abraham or Sarah or Mary. We don't get the same reward. We get a different reward. That reward is custom designed so that when you receive your reward, you will be absolutely ecstatic. To do what you have to do, because you have been prepared for that. This training is, yes, for salvation, but the training for the first resurrection is more than that. It is to reign with Christ. That means we have to be prepared for something very specific that he's going to have us do.

And sometimes I've heard people say, well, I want lots of authority. Well, you may not get it.

For being custom made for what God wants us to do, I don't know what it will be. For each of us, it's going to be unique. And for each of us, it's going to be very rewarding. So let's look at this. And we say, well, who am I? I'm a widow. I'm a... I tell you something. I've met people in the church over the years that have such a depth of spiritual understanding and have lived their lives in sometimes difficult situations. And they don't seem very important in the congregation. But as I... Most people look at them, oh yeah, that person's here, but they don't... And I've spent time with them, and I've gone home over the years as I've spent time with them, and I've thought, you know what? I wouldn't be surprised if I'll be serving that person when Christ comes back. And that's okay. Because God will have created them specifically for what Christ is going to need. I say need. He can do it all himself. But it's a family, so he's going to do it. He's the firstborn among the firstborn. Okay, firstborns. You're going to have a job to do. You're going to have to take over the role of firstborn in the family. Not his job. It's lesser. But we're going to have to take over those roles. So he gives this parable. He says, so we call 10 of his service to deliver to them 10 minus, or meanest. And he said to them, do business till I come. In other words, you go out and do what you're supposed to do with what I give you.

And God's given us all something. And what we do is we look at each other and he's like, all that person has more than I have, or I have more than that person. We compare ourselves with each other. That's not the point. Really, when we compare ourselves with each other all the time, what we're doing is we're telling God he doesn't know what he's doing.

At least I am more spiritual than this person. Be careful, because you may not be.

In the way God is developing us, each of us. Now truth and the truth of what God does is the truth. But how he works with us is very individual. How he works with us is very individual. Because we're each children. He says, but his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, we will not have this man to reign over us. So it was that he returned having received the kingdom. He then commanded these servants to whom he had given the money to be called to him. They might know how much every man had gained by trading. Now, once again, this can't be earning salvation. You either respond to the gift and receive salvation, or you don't respond to the gift and you don't receive salvation, right? You talked about that on the Feast of Trumpets. So this is something different. This is what did you do with what I gave you as my businessman, as my firstborn, as the people who are now being prepared to reign with the nobleman who's coming back. Then came the first, saying, Master, your Mina has earned 10 Minas. And he said to him, well done, good servant, because you were faithful in the very little, have authority over 10 cities. And the second came saying, Master, your Mina has earned five Minas. And likewise, he said, you'll be over five cities. I remember hearing sermons years ago when I was a kid, how you're going to actually be reigning over cities, so you better learn how to put people in place if they're not doing right. You better correct people, because you're going to have cities, you're going to have to correct people. This is a parable. It's about us. I mean, I'm sure there are people that will receive from Jesus Christ, you know, territories or whatever. I'm sure that's going to happen, because it's going to be organization, right? But if that's how we're looking at it, we're already in trouble. Why do I get my rod of iron, and I get to beat somebody in the head with it? We're already in trouble.

We're already misunderstanding what it is to be prepared to serve Jesus Christ.

He says, then another came, saying, Master, here's your mena, which I have kept put away in a handkerchief. For I feared you because you were an austere man. You collect what you did not deposit, you reap what you did not sow. And here's what this nobleman representing Jesus Christ says to him. Out of your own mouth, I will judge you, you wicked servant. You knew that I was an austere man, collecting what I did not deposit, and reaping what I did not sow. He says, yes, you knew life isn't fair, and you knew that you were going to have to do something with what I gave you. You knew that, and it wasn't always going to be easy. But I came back, and now I was going to give you your reward.

Your salvation and your reward. Sometimes reward is interchangeable. I mean, sometimes you'll see reward used to mean you were faithful to God. In other words, you responded to the gift. But here's talking about how you worked with what God gave you so that you were prepared to serve the nobleman.

And then he says to him, verse 23, Why did you not take and put my money in the bank, that at my coming I might have collected it with interest? And here's the thing that's important here. And he said to those who stood by, take the mena from him and give to him who has ten menas. But they said, well, that's not fair. He's already got ten. Surely you wouldn't take from the poor guy here and give it to the person who has all this. And he said, no, no, no. I gave him what he needed. I gave him the gift. And then I gave him everything he needed to be prepared for the purpose I have for him. It's God's purpose that the first resurrection is. It's to have the firstborn to help Christ serve the family. That's the purpose. To bring them to him and to God the Father. And to reconstruct a world that will be on the brink of dying out.

I mean, it's a time like no other time. The whole earth will be in just utter confusion from war and starvation. And much of the population will have died.

And yet, they all, he wants those survivors to be part of his family. And then he says, For I say to you that to everyone who has been given, from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. Now he's talking about this, not like, oh yeah, I'm gonna... This is totally an unfair system. The point he's saying is, I will give to all those I call what they need to become what I want them to be. Yeah, but I want to be something else. I want to be this. I want to be that. No, I called you to become what I want you to be. It's the talent you have. It's the special things he'll give you through his Holy Spirit. There's one goal to prepare you. He's giving you salvation to fulfill your purpose, your life's purpose. And then he says, And bring here those enemies of mine who did not want to me to reign over them, and slay them before me. That's a scary statement right there. Okay, there are enemies of God who just will not submit to him. Now, once again, we have this judgment aspect come in. There are rewards that are to be given to us, but not because somehow you and I have taken and just worked and strove and we've just become so good that God says, Oh, you get a special reward. You get a bonus.

You got a bonus. You know, you helped set up the chairs every week and you became so good at it. You became a deacon.

And then you were such a good deacon, you became an elder. And then you were such a good elder, you became a pastor. Boy, the bonus is huge. Now, that's our jobs and purposes today. And I've actually known people who thought setting up chairs was their way to become a deacon and the deacon was a way to become an elder. That's not how that works either in this life. But what we do now is being prepared, every one of us, no matter what, for very specific purpose in that kingdom. And don't compare ourselves to each other. It does no good. That's not what God is doing. This isn't American corporate corporation. Sometimes between the church, sort of like American corporation. It's like a ladder you got to move up. Right? And it's not. It's not a ladder. It's us. We are now together learning how to become the family. And we have different functions in this, don't we? There's different functions. We do different things. And as we go through this, we can't forget that great purpose that's in the future.

How should this impact our lives? Because we think about salvation, but the first resurrection is to salvation. But it's different than the other resurrections, which are also to salvation, the other days of judgment.

Now people will all have their chance to choose. This is realizing your purpose as a child of God, but also as part of the bride of Jesus Christ. You are being prepared for that. For that special purpose. It is something that we forget about until usually this time of year. I mean, when you're at the feast, you're probably going to get, in some sermon, it's going to talk about reigning with Christ. And we hear that. We know, oh yeah, we'll reign with Christ. But no, that has to get into a deeper thought. You're now in the middle of the day. You're now being prepared to reign with Jesus Christ. I remember way back in worldwide days, we had a booklet. Huge thing. It was the size of paper like this and probably 60 pages, you know, and it was learning to reign with Jesus Christ. I don't think it was ever made available to the public, but something was given to the church. Anybody remember that? I still have it. Nobody remembers it. I still have it. And this may have been back in the 60s.

I still have it. And it was the whole thing was your calling is now not just for salvation, but so you had better learn these spiritual principles. And it was just basic spiritual principles of life. How to have a relationship with God and how to have Christ's character developed in us. Because if we don't have that, we won't be able to fulfill that purpose. I have to dig that up. I know I have it in my filing cabinet of old things, you know. Let's go to 1 Peter. And this is where we'll conclude here today. 1 Peter.

I thought, I'll give a little shorter sermon today. You've all been, you've got trumpets, you've got today, you've got atonement, and then we're all going to be at the feast.

1 Peter 1 13. Every time I read this, I know I make these comments when I read this statement because it makes no sense to us. Therefore, gird up the loins of your mind. You talk about mixed metaphors. If you didn't know anything about the first century, you'd be like, that is really weird. And of course, it had to do with, you know, the clothing they wore looked, the men wore, it wasn't a toga, but it either came down to your knees or even below, almost like a skirt, where you couldn't run in those things. So you'd have to pull them up and tie them up so you could run. So when it's this gird up your loins, you know, just like you have to sometimes pull up that, your clothes and tie them around with a belt, now you're ready to run. So it's a call to action in your mind, in your mind. So we could say today, you know, therefore, prepare your heart and mind for this. Prepare for this run. I know you heard it in the sermonette, and so many sermons and sermonettes over the last, probably six months. When I listen to the ones here, when I listen to the ones in Nashville, there's a common theme. Don't let what's happening in the world keep you, get you distracted. Or the fact that, you know, people are losing their jobs or watching economy go bad. Or watching economy go bad. We can all get so negative. And there's a lot of sick people. I don't mean just with COVID. I mean, you know, there's always the things. We always had a couple prayer requests every single week, because someone got sick, they were in a car accident, they had the regular flu, you know, we'd be praying about them.

But it's so easy to get so negative, caught up in all the things that are going on. So gird up the loins of your mind. Pull up your skirts and put your belt on. I know, guys, that seems strange, but...

And rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. The grace that's going to be given to you, that salvation, this gift that if we hang on to, we interact with, you're all written in the book. In fact, Kim said, I want you to give another Scripture about being written in the book of life. She said that was so fascinating. So I said, okay, so I went and looked up every Scripture in the Bible about the book of life, and I told her, no, I'm not going to do that because I just have a sermon I'm going to give. But there's enough to give a whole sermon on the book of life. And what it means to be blotted out of the book of life, too. I mean, there's all this information. But you're already registered. We read that. He says, as obedient children, see, if we're children in the family, we look at every other human being and say, that's a child, that's a child, that's a child. You know, we don't know if they're going to become children, but they're going to have their opportunity. So we see every human being is different. We don't see them as all you're going to hell. We see them. That's a potential child right there. Because we're obedient children. You know, I can remember as a firstborn, when the second one came along, that's pretty exciting, but still remember, I was here before you. Then the third and then the fourth one came along. Remember, I was here before you. That's not the attitude we can take. Only Christ can take that. I was here before you.

We're there as firstborn, and I can tell you as a firstborn, I did believe, and maybe some of you are firstborn, you feel this way. It was my job to protect, especially the two girls. You know, the little ones toddling around, my job to take care of them. Of course, I'm only a year and a half older, but it doesn't matter. And you're supposed to do what I say because I'm taking care of you. It's sort of built-in firstborns to a certain degree. You take care of everybody. So, firstborns tend to be workaholics sometimes, or other things that come along that are issues. Now, I'm not a workaholic. I do tend to take everything very serious, which is a tendency of firstborns. You take everything very serious and you have a sense of responsibility.

He says here in verse 14, as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lust or in your ignorance the way you were before God opened your mind, but as he who called you as holy, you also be holy in all your conduct because it is written, Be ye holy for I am holy. That's a quote from the Old Testament. And if you call the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's words, conduct yourselves throughout this time of your stay here in fear.

Now, we don't stop there. I've seen people stop there and say, boy, it's like we're living on the edge and we're just going to fall over into the lake of fire at any giving moment, as I said on Trumpets.

No, that's not what this is because it's a whole rest of the sentence. He says you're being aware and your fear is not this overwhelming fear, but that you will forget the grace of God and you'll forget your purpose. Because he says, if you read it, you stay here in fear, knowing, okay, in other words, here's what we know. There's a lot we don't know. Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as a lamb without blemish and without spot.

He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but has manifested in these last times for you, who through him believe in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory so that your faith and hope are in God.

As long as our faith and hope is in God, we'll stumble, we'll fall, we'll make bad decisions, but he is going to get us there. Not only through the gift of salvation, but through the fact that you are now being prepared to reign with Jesus Christ.

You are being prepared for a specific purpose. You know, I remember wishing, I hoping, I would get a promotion. You know, I worked in the radio. You want to get a promotion. You want to get a promotion. You hope, you know, you keep hoping that I'll get a better job, I'll get paid more.

And you encourage yourself, I was looking from time to time, well let me find another radio station to go to, a bigger radio station, with more audience, with, you know, all these things. That's not what this is. This is like something totally different. You're not waiting for a promotion. You're just waiting for your job to begin. You're waiting to get your career started. And all this is training for that moment. This is just training for that moment when you're resurrected and Christ says, I have a job for you.

And it'll be so exciting. I hope all of you have a wonderful day of atonement. And this will be the first time since we've lived here. I haven't been here for the day of atonement, but like I said, we're a little tired. We need a little break. And we're traveling Route 66. We've traveled Route 66 from Oklahoma City to Chicago. Now we're taking it out across the west. And just a road trip, just the two of us. So pray for each other. Please be safe at the feast, wherever you're going.

I look at the tented figures for the Feast of Tabernacles in the United States in United. And it's almost up to normal. I mean, it's going to be some less because, you know, there's a few people staying home, elderly people mainly, almost up to normal. I think the numbers overseas are down because there's whole countries, they can't have the feast.

They won't let them. They won't let them meet. But in the United States, we're almost up to normal. So pray for each other. And I hope all of you have a very, just physically wonderful Feast of Tabernacles. But I hope all of you have a spiritually rewarding Feast of Tabernacles, where you're really zeroed in on the gift of salvation and your purpose for being prepared to rule with Jesus Christ.