Building the Family of God

I did want to add just something to Mr. Lemore's mentioning that he and I have gotten together. We've gone motorcycle riding. We did come up to South Dakota in August to ride together here in Rapid City and around Sturgis, but the rally was over. We didn't do the rally. All the scary biker guys were gone. Two ministers were right. We did church. So I just wanted to clarify that. Oh, brethren, isn't it wonderful to be here celebrating this feast of Tabernacles? How many of you have been able to get out and see some of this area of South Dakota? Okay. Lots of hands. Okay, who's been to Mount Rushmore? Isn't that spectacular? My family and I, I was able to come here when I was a boy, about eight years old, 1980, for the Feast of Tabernacles, and I'll never forget that. It was Mount Rushmore. I'd heard about it, of course, growing up, and it was just beautiful. So I hope that all of you are able to get out, truly see the beauty of God's creation in this beautiful place that we've been brought to. We're also very thankful to be here in South Dakota. My family, my wife and I, our children, were blessed to be able to serve in this area for almost nine years, actually living in South Dakota for six and a half years. And we started a tradition with my second daughter. Her middle name is Montana. Her name is Grace Montana because, well, that's where she was made. And our son, our youngest, his name is Isaac Dakota, for the same reason. And so our family has roots here. Our family has a home here. You know, I think years and years ago when I came into the ministry and they asked, they were like, well, hey, what would you think about living in South Dakota? And I was like, what's in South Dakota? Well, the fact is, it's God's people. God's people. It's the family of God that He has been building. And I'm so thankful to be able to be back here, to be able to be reunited with so many of them, and to be here with you on this family day. His brethren, family is what it is all about. It is what this feast is about. From the very beginning when God created man and woman in His image, it's been about family. All the way to the very end of the book when there is a new heaven and a new earth and a new Jerusalem that will ascend from heaven. It is about family. It is about building the family of God. Hebrews 2 and verse 9. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor. That He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. This is the plan of salvation. For it was fitting for Him for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to the family of God, and to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings, for both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one. We are being sanctified here and now, brethren. We've been called and brought here to obey God, to keep His feast, to be restored, to be rejuvenated, to learn to become one. For which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren. He calls you and I, brethren. So often I start out my Sabbath greeting every day, or every Sabbath, by getting up and going, you know, happy Sabbath, brethren! It's just part of my language that I've grown up with, that I use in my ministry. But you know what brethren means?

It literally means of the womb. Of the womb. Mr. Hines showed us an image yesterday of a baby's spinal column, a central nervous system, literally being woven together in the womb. Being a part of the family of God means that we are brothers and sisters in Christ. Brethren means family. That we are the same beginning of the same beginning. Do we see that?

I was one of those people that when Mr. Lemoure was asking how many years and how many feasts you've been to, I went over the 50 mark. Because I was born in the church of God. My mother was a member of the church. I was raised in it. Well, this was a long, long time ago. I was five or six years old. We went to a place in the middle of East Texas called Big Sandy, Texas. Okay, there's some chuckles. Some of you probably camped in Big Sandy, Texas. Very different feast. It was huge. Massive. I am not aware of a feast site or a year that we had the feast there that was less than 10,000 people. As many as 15,000. And the reason I can't say that there were more was the state fire marshal had a requirement that, no, the campus cannot exceed 15,000 people. That's bigger than all the towns around here. And they capped it. And so what they did was they stopped counting it. 15,000. And the brethren just kept coming in. It was an amazing time in the church. It was an amazing opportunity to be a little boy seeing that. Being at this massive tabernacle building that was completely full. We had traveled down from Nebraska. I was born in Texas, and then when I was three we moved to Nebraska. My father and my mother had divorced. And that was something that was kind of unheard of back then. And by the time I was five or six, I was really aware that our family was different. That while I had my mother whom I dearly loved, I didn't have a father. And I was aware of the difference. And especially at the feast, because from a little boy's eyes I looked around and, man, look at all these huge families. Not only was there a father and a mother, but there were grandparents, and aunts and uncles, and cousins, and these massive people were all together. And again, like a child, I was like, wow, we don't have any of that. There's something broken here. And I expressed that to my mom. And my mom looked around and she looked at me and she said, well, David, that's true. You don't have a father. You don't have the blood family that is here. You don't have aunts and uncles, your grandparents. Nobody's in the faith. And she said, but I want you to look again. She said, do you see all these people, every single one of them is here because they are obeying God the same way we are. She said, all of these people are here led by His Spirit to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. She said, David, this is your family.

That had a profound impact on me. I can remember looking back out at, again, thousands of people and having a change in my perspective. Instead of seeing just a mass of people, and kind of scary how much noise there was and how many people, to suddenly feeling comforted and safe. Oh, this is family that I just don't know yet. This is family that maybe I haven't met yet. But this is a far bigger family than anyone that I'm related to by blood. I see fathers and mothers and aunts and uncles and cousins, brothers and sisters maybe. And that has impacted my life ever since. Brethren, I'm so very thankful that our song leader had everyone turn around and say, I am blessed because we are. Everyone that you greeted, everyone that you said I am blessed to is family. Do we realize that? After services, one of the things I'd like to ask all of you to do is to turn around and start a conversation with your family member. Brethren, the title to my message is, Building the Family of God. Building the Family of God.

Brethren, this feast of tabernacles is a family reunion. Some of you may have been to family reunions where you didn't know half the people who were there, but you had the same last name. I've never done that. I've always kind of known the small people I was related to. But I've heard their stories, and they're like, I met somebody from England. I met somebody from Kentucky. Had no idea. Many years ago, the family tree, the online things, 23andMe, where you could do a DNA swab and find out where you came from, where your people are, who you're related to. It became very popular, very common. Brethren, we can see who our family is simply by going to church. Seeing our family every week is a family reunion, and this feast of tabernacles pictures what will ultimately be the reunion of the family of God. This is what it is all about. The Gospel of John, chapter 1. Gospel of John, chapter 1. We'll begin in verse 6. Speaking of John the Baptizer, who proclaimed Christ. John the Baptizer, again family by blood, but more importantly by spirit. John 1, verse 6. There was a man sent from God whose name was John, and this man came for a witness, to bear witness of the light that all through him might believe. He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light which gives light to every man coming into the world. This again, speaking of Christ, or Messiah, he was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world didn't know him. When they saw him, they didn't recognize him. He came to his own, but his own did not receive him. But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in his name. It wasn't just those who were there at that time, it is you. Those who believe in his name who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Brethren, it is that belief, it is by the giving of his spirit, that we are made family, that we believe. That's the first part of baptism. When people come and say, I think I need to be baptized, and each minister does it a little bit differently, but we all have the same requirements. You must first believe that he is, that he wants a relationship with you. He wants you to be a part of his family. He desires that and longs for that. And we want to have it too. And then we learn that belief also means that we have to repent for not knowing him, not recognizing him before, or maybe deciding we were going to do it our own way. And then we are baptized, our sins are forgiven us, and we have the laying on of hands and the indwelling of God's Spirit. Galatians 3 and verse 26. Galatians 3 and verse 26. For you are all sons of God through faith. That is your belief in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. And I think this is so profound, especially in our world today, which is so divided along every line you can imagine. Nationality, gender, race, you just name it. Social standing, politics, but not in the family of God. Where there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female. For all are one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. Heirs according to the promise.

It was so important that Christ told his disciples, I will not leave you orphans. I will send the Spirit to you, my Spirit to you. It will live in you. You will become the temple of God. The family of God.

Brethren, that is what comes from our belief. That is when the work can truly begin in changing who we are from the day that I was all those years ago, to slowly and gradually being made into the image of Christ. How many of you were baptized?

How many of you are the same person that you were now?

That's the way the Holy Spirit works. We make this covenant, we come into the family, and God says, Oh, my son. Oh, we've got work to do. You've got to start acting like your big brother. For those who are second-born, third-born, fourth-born, don't you hate that? Trying to live up to the image of your firstborn? But he blazed the trail. He gave us the perfect, loving example of who it is that God wants us to become as his children, sons and daughters. It's not easy. It is a journey. And there's spiritual highs where we think, I finally made it. And God goes, Oh, no, no, son, let me show you this. He's very faithful to do that. But it isn't easy to be called out of the world, to be different. Sometimes it's even within our own relationships, our own families, that we have to be different. And maybe the people that we're related to by blood, it's a threat. They don't like to see that change. Many of you have lost relationships because of being called into the family of God. Lost may be family, those whom we loved because of our belief. And of course, Christ said that those who have lost family, he will give us more. I know that there are some families, I mean, my last name is Jones, I don't know any of the Joneses, just mine. But there's massive family reunions that'll happen. Hundreds of people will show up. Do any of you have more family than are right here in this room today?

How many more have we been given?

He told his disciples in Matthew 19, verse 29, And anyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my sake shall receive a hundredfold and inherit eternal life. We can say that, brethren. It's true. The reality of it is painful. It hurts. But it's true. Christ knows what this was like.

We heard earlier in the feast, John 7, verse 5, tells us that even his own brothers did not believe in him. Matthew 12, verse 46. While he was still talking with the multitudes, Christ is doing the work of his father. He is preaching the gospel. Behold, his mother and brothers stood outside seeking to speak with him. His mother and his brothers. His real mother and real brothers. And then one said to him, Look, your mother and your brothers are standing outside seeking to speak with you.

But he answered and said to the one who told him, Who is my mother and who are my brothers? And he stretched out his hand towards his disciples and said, Here are my mothers and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother. That's our family, brethren. I'm here at the feast with Matthew. With my family, my wife, our three children. But I'm also here with my family. We have a home that we rented up by Deadwood. It's beautiful. We've been doing it since I was a little kid. Because you pool your resources and you can get a little better place.

And then it's fellowship. It's family. I met my brother, Al, when I was eight years old. Met him for the first time. Went to the feast together in Big Sandy when I was nine. He spent the entire afternoon down at Lake Loma, teaching me how to cast with an open-faced reel.

So that this little fatherless kid could fish. He's been looking after me ever since. I am his brother. Not by blood, but by belief. By spirit. How many of you have a relationship? Maybe a mother or a father in the church. Again, not by blood, but because they love you. Because of the spirit of God that dwells inside of them. One of the things that I know that I can share with my family, who are in the church, is that which is the most important thing in my life. My faith! I truly don't have much in the way of blood relationship left.

I have one brother. That's it. But I can't share my faith with him. He's not a member of the church. I can share that with you. That, brethren, is what allows us to be family. And it begins with baptism, that journey to enter into God's household. And that is a calling which is given and extended even to our children before they're baptized.

And this feast of tabernacles celebrates the culmination of God's spirit dwelling in his children, in his family. Revelation 21 and verse 3. For whoever's giving the last great day sermon, I apologize. But Revelation 21 and verse 3. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell, he will live with them, and they shall be his people, his family. God himself will be with them, and be their God. And he will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying.

There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. All those blood families won't exist anymore. It will only be by God's spirit. Then he who sat on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said to me, Write, for these words are true and faithful. And he said to me, It is done.

I am the Alpha and the Omega. The beginning and the end. I will give the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit, and I will be his God, and he shall be my Son. Family. From the beginning to the end. And it all begins with you. It begins with us, here, right now, today.

Brother in the Great Commission that was given to the disciples by Christ to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and the Son, into the family of God. That is what discipling is. It's bringing someone into the family. It's not about just convincing them of truth. It's about making them a member of the family. Building the family of God. Brother and I do have a few points to my message of how do we do that? How do we build the family of God? Now, first off, I want to say that I don't have it all figured out. I'm in process, just like we all are, learning as we go. But to build the family of God, my point number one is that it starts with seeing each other as family, and being just as committed to the family as Christ is. We have to see each other as family, and be committed to the family just as Christ is. Matthew 22 and verse 7. Matthew 22 and verse 37. Excuse me. And Jesus said to him, speaking to the young man who asked him questions, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. That's why we're here. That's why we left everything behind. That's why we've stepped away from our jobs and our work, all of our responsibilities back there, to keep the feast. Because first, we love God. We're growing in that continually. The second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Those people that you turned around to and said, I am blessed. That's your neighbor. That is your family. On these two commandments, hang all the law and the prophets. Because if we truly love God and we truly love each other, well then we'll keep all the rest of them, won't we? That is what family does. That's why, brethren, it's so important for us not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together.

That's kind of happened in our world, hasn't it? Over the years, over the decades, especially during COVID, we were isolated, separated from those whom we love. Family. How do you build that relationship without being together? It doesn't matter how many sermons I can watch online if I'm not with my family. I can tell you, I've given some sermons that maybe weren't the best sermon, but the brethren still rejoice by being together. I think that's at least half of the importance of every Sabbath day. That the family comes together to reconnect, to worship together, because you really can't do that with the people at work. This is the reunion. This is our safe place. And we need to be active in it. To be a member of the family means that we have a job to do. Maybe it's greeting and saying hello. Maybe it's sending cards to those who are sick and can't be there. Maybe it's helping out with the little children. Maybe it's helping out with the disabled and the elderly. But it's a part that we have to play to build the family of God, and it begins here. Brethren, going to the church has never been about the organization. It's never been about the corporation. It is all about family. You are called the ecclesia. They're called out ones. You who are being sanctified. Brethren, we need to recommit ourselves to each other, renewing our relationships. Again, not only to God, because that goes without saying. That is, number one, the first and great commandment, but also to our brothers and sisters in Christ.

When my wife and I were married, almost 30 years ago now, she quoted something to me by surprise. I wasn't expecting it. We'd had our wedding rehearsal the day before. And in the middle of it, our vows, she looked at me and she quoted from Ruth. And she said, can treat me not to leave you, or to turn back from following after you. For wherever you go, I will go. And wherever you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die. And there I will be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also, if anything but death, parts you and me.

That's family. That's the commitment that we have not only made to God in our baptism, but to each other. Brethren, as I have traveled around the country from my youth to then coming into the ministry, going to different fellowships, different congregations, I have always found my people.

Whether it's in Colorado, where I now serve and I love the brethren and we're family, to South Dakota, to Nebraska, to Iowa, to Cincinnati, to Texas, back to Montana. They're all my family. Every time we journey to another one, it's coming home.

Wherever we go, we find our family, the family of God. Brethren, that takes commitment. You know, if you read the book of Ruth, Ruth lived it fully. Things got hard. She could have been like, you know what, I'm out. I don't actually, we're not tied by blood. But the Spirit that was within her, she is in the lineage of Christ. We have to have that same commitment, brethren. We have to be able to look and see the family, and to see each other just as Christ does. Point number two. Point number two. Even within the family, be wise. Even within the family, be wise.

What do I mean by that? Especially as I've been speaking about the family of God. I want to tell you about another pivotal moment in my youth. We were back at the feast in Big Sandy. I don't know exactly how old I was. I may have been eight or nine. I guess I was nine, actually. I'd been looking at the family, growing up, and I couldn't wait to go back to the feast and see my family. There were probably 15,000 people there that year. Mr. Armstrong, how many of you remember Mr. Armstrong? Yeah, a lot. He was the man who founded the worldwide Church of God that I was born and raised up in, who taught not only God's grace and love, but his law, his order, his structure. And he was at the feast, and he was preaching about the importance of keeping the faith, of understanding what it is and that commitment. And he said something that rocked my world. He said, I don't know if half of you truly get it. I don't know if half of you are really here for the right reasons.

And I was shocked. It was like if my mom would have come into me and said, I'm not really your mom.

It literally shook me. And I remember looking at my mom and I was like, what's he mean? And she kind of gave me a knowing look, and she said, we'll talk about it. And she explained it to me. She said, just because someone's a member of the Church, are they truly converted? Do they, along with getting the little green envelopes in the mail, do they, can you see their Holy Spirit within them? And I began to grow a little bit emotionally and spiritually into a little more maturity. Because, of course, now many of us saw years later, after the death of Mr. Armstrong and others gained authority and control of the Church, that they decided that, well, it's just the Spirit that's good enough. You're all here for the same to love, and we're going to do away with the truth. Well, who's God looking for in his family? Those who will worship him in spirit and in truth. And it was more than half who left. There was about a third who stayed with the faith. Now, I'm not condemning any or all of those who left. Many were led astray. We pray that God, by his grace and mercy, will also continue to work with them and bring them home, bring them back, back into the fold, into the family. We long for that. But it was eye-opening. How many of them saw the family of God as a burden? You mean I don't have to come to the reunion anymore? Sweet! And I was like, but these are the best days of the year. This is the best time. How could you not want to be here? But they didn't. For, again, a multitude of reasons.

There's also, in wisdom, brethren, we have to, again, consider that we're all in the process of being converted. We pray that everyone who's here is being worked with by God. But we also know, as Christ said, there will always be tears in the wheat. Always. Some people just aren't converted. There are some who even may be predatory. Wolves in sheep's clothing. And we are supposed to be like sheep. And we are to be harmless as doves, but wise as serpents. It's about spiritual maturity. We recognize the family of God by the fruit. We're supposed to be able to see that growth. Just as all of you said, you know, I'm not the same person that I was when I was baptized. I've changed. That's the proof. And even within the family of God, we're kind of broken. We make mistakes, each and every one of us, and we are in constant need of that healing and forgiveness because we're human. We are in the process of being sanctified. We have to still be aware, still be careful. If you went to a family reunion with 200-300 people that were all blood related, would you trust all of them? No, I don't know them.

Wisdom, brethren. Be wise with the family. I think for those of us who've been in the church a long time, even in our own lives, in our own experiences, we're like, well, I can't believe that that business deal didn't work out. But they were in the church.

Again, for those of you who have been around a long time, I'm not saying anything new. But we have to be wise within the family. Trust, but verify. You know, be careful. Obviously we forgive. We hold close. And frankly, like every family, you know, we have the weird uncle, the crazy aunt, and we go, you know what? That's just them. But we love them. They're ours. I might be that weird uncle. I say horrible dad jokes, or something my kids tell me. But trust is earned. In building the family of God, be wise. Point number three. Because building takes effort. It takes work. Even my brother who's in the audience today, he's had to bail me out of a lot of stuff. We've disagreed on things, but we love each other. And we always seek unity. To be together. That's point number three, is seek unity.

Without it, we cannot dwell together. Mr. Armstrong's wife, Loma Armstrong, amongst the brethren, as I was a child, I don't know who told me. I know my mom did, but she said that her favorite verse in the Bible was Psalm 133, verse 1. Psalm 133 and verse 1. And it was a Psalm of ascents. That the Hebrew people on their way to Jerusalem to keep the feast, ascending to Jerusalem, would sing this. And it would begin with, Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. How beautiful it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. That means to live together.

As a child, I had two siblings, my brother and my sister, and they were not perfect. I was the baby, so, you know.

But I remember how hard my mom worked. She raised us by herself. We were dirt poor, especially in the early years. And it was all she could do to take care of these three children that she loved. She poured herself out for us. And on occasion, we'd bicker. We'd fight. We'd contend with one another. I would get so irritated because she was watching her show, and I wanted to watch mine. Or it's your turn to do the dishes, not mine, or whatever it was. And we could turn on each other. We could be so harsh and critical with one another. And it wasn't until I got a little bit older, my older brother turned around because I was arguing with my sister, and I wasn't paying attention to my mom. And he looked at me, and he was like, stop it. You're breaking mom's heart. You're killing her. It's not worth it.

And I realized that that's one of the keys to a family. That all these things that we can bicker about that cause contentions, divisions that separate us from one another, aren't worth it. Unity doesn't mean that we're all going to think the same thing. My beautiful wife, who said those words from Ruth to me, still I can't get her to think like me. She just won't do it. But for 30 years, we've been working to become one. To let all the little things go. To purposely think, do I need to say this? Or are all the positives and all the beautiful things, does it help me overlook the little things? And my wife has to overlook a lot. But that's what family does. That's what we do to seek unity. It doesn't mean that we're all going to agree on everything. But if it's not a salvation issue, how much contention does there need to be?

Brethren, we can overcome a lot of those differences with love. By doing good. Yes, we'll discuss them, but we're not going to divide over them. Galatians 6, verse 9 says, And let us not grow weary while doing good. For in due season we shall reap, if we do not lose heart. Because if you've been in the church for multiple decades, you've gone through seasons of losing heart. But we can't let go. We can't stop. And it begins here. In verse 10 it says, Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, to everyone, to be that light under the world, but especially to those who are of the household of faith. That's the family of God. The household of faith. Brethren, that's not about an organization or a corporation. It's not about one congregation or another congregation. It's about the family of God. We don't have to contend with one another. There may be another congregation or an organization which does things differently. Maybe better in certain ways. It's not a competition. Which is hard because it was always a competition with me and my sister. Frankly, it was always a competition between Christ's disciples, wasn't it? And he had to correct them. Brethren, our job is not to contend with one another. Our job is to contend with Satan, the one enemy. And his desire is to get us to fight amongst ourselves so that we stop doing the will of God. Building the kingdom. Building the family. We can see it happening in the world around us, in our own country. We can see Satan's work. Be on guard for it. Be wise to it. Refuse to see each other through the eyes of the world, and see each other through the eyes of Christ. Seek unity. Because God is promised. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. If we want to be children of God, we have to be peacemakers. Some of us learned how to do that in our families growing up. You know, two would fight and one would try to settle it and calm it. Brethren, we've all been born into that now. To be peacemakers. To be sons and daughters of God. And to inherit His kingdom. That is what He is building. That is what this all means. The family of God joined in together by our belief, by our obedience, and by His Spirit. Brethren, the joy which we are commanded to have at the feast is to be shared with the family. Everyone. Even the widow and the fatherless, the Levite, the stranger within our midst. Brethren, within the family of God, there are no strangers.

On this family day, on this day and time, when we get to have family and we have activities, let us work to build the family. Let's reach out to someone that we don't know. I want to encourage everyone here today to introduce yourself to one of your family members that you hadn't met before. Strike up a conversation. Tell them about yourself. Listen as they tell you about them. You never know where you will be in His kingdom and who you will be working side by side with to again grow the family of God. And the kingdom is like leaven where the woman pinches off just a little bit and she puts it in the loaf and it grows. The family of God is growing. And you are a part of it.