Choosing Courage Over Fear

Good afternoon, everyone. Good to be with you. I didn't hear that in English. I had a peek to make sure I put my hands on at the right time. I'm going to take a picture of you, because you're not up here all the time, and not everybody's here. So, we'll...out of the pan, I can't get you all in. Let's see if I can do this. I think I got that. It's always fun. At least you get a look at what you got right now, so you can tell whether you actually got a picture.

In the old days, you have to develop. I took a lot of pictures of the plain truth when I was traveling, because there's nobody on the way there. I took a lot. I actually got a cover picture once, so among the other things I've done, I've done that. It's good to be here in Italy with you. I echo the sentiments for all the Italians. We just built some more of the infrastructure, and now we just have to fill the roads and make things work.

I ended up drafted, which most of my jobs...I've never actually asked for a job in the church, and I think I've held most of them. But I've always been told what to do, and I'm willing to do whatever I'm told to do, which is a good thing, even sometimes when it's not so much fun. But it's interesting. In Italy, when the problems came up, the council said, we need somebody to go over there right away. If you ever remember the old commercial, they said, will Mikey do it? I'm kind of the Mikey. Every time something went wrong, he let Aaron do it.

So I said, after I wanted to go, I said, I never want to go, but I'm always willing to go. And so I called up to...they weren't sure. So I checked online that night, and I got a ticket round trip for $700 to Milan. And McShaby and the council said, well, God must want you to go. And so that's how I inherited Italy, a senior pastor. And I love the people here. I was a senior pastor in several African countries before, and they're wonderful people there, too, although your luggage takes a real beating in Africa, and dragging it across dirt roads.

So I got stepped up to Italy, and I'm always looking for people and ministers that speak Italian or speak one of the languages in these places to help us. And if you speak Italian or some of the languages, let us know so we can draft you and put you in doing those things as well, because you never know where God's going to place you or use you or what you'll do. And my life, for all of it, has been a unique opportunity to follow what God wants done.

I'm going to give a sermon today. It's taken off of actually a graduation draft I gave in ABC. So a couple of you here probably heard some of this before. But take it toward the Tresur Tabernacles, because this feast is a very special time. I've been keeping it since I was three years old. This is my 70th or 71st feast. So I may have met some of you there. I doubt it. But I was only a little kid, a little rug rat. And so my whole life has been in the church.

I married a lady whose whole life was outside the church, and she always said I knew everything. She knew nothing. And that allowed me to take advantage of her. But she came to college expecting to go home for Christmas. So she was able to teach me Protestantism. I never knew anything about Protestantism or Catholicism, other than the things I'd read. And so she could tell me, hey, that's what they taught in these other places, not where I am.

And I lost page one of my notes. It's got to be in here somewhere. I can always just leave that alone. It's always fun when you're missing a page. But I do a lot of things out the top of my gut. I gave an impromptu sermon, several impromptu sermons, actually. And page one isn't here. Well, I'll just do what I was going to do. In fact, I actually had a tag team sermon in Jordan. Mr. Armstrong, about 15 minutes into the sermon, he said, oh, Aaron, I've got to go. Here, just hand him his notes and keep going. And I'm looking at the 15 students there for the dig. And he leaves, and he's not coming back.

So I just carried on his sermon. He came back about a half an hour later and said, where are you? And I said, I'm right here, and gave him back his notes, and he finished the sermon. It's the only tag team sermon I've ever given. So you never know what to expect in that.

But when we look at what we have to do and what God expects of us and what the world is going to go through, we're on the very first day of the feast right now. And I'd like to say, this picture is the millennium and the wonderful things that are going to happen, but the world is not known peace. And we're alive during the transition time from Satan's world to God's world. And people of this world have had to see a lot of trouble before this day actually is fulfilled.

The survivors from the Holocaust that's going to come, the greatest tribulation ever, they are going to be in PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder. They're going to be in fear. You know, it talks in Revelation about them asking for the rocks and the mountains to fall on them so they can die from the things that are going on. It is going to be the most incredible time in world history. And the people we're going to have to serve are the people who have just gone through that. Those survivors, approximately about 10% of what's alive on the earth, when you look at the numbers and a third die here and a third die there, that keeps whittling down everything, they're going to be...

they're going to know change is coming, but they're going to be in fear of what that is. They are walking into the millennium, having seen the devastation. You know, you've seen the pictures of Gaza, you've seen the pictures in Ukraine. The world is going to look like that. Often as a small child, I saw the millennium as something where God was just going to fix everything. And He is. But it says we will help... we will rebuild the waste places. Well, that means that the waste places aren't just going to pop up and hey, here's a place to live here at the nice house.

We're going to have to teach people God's way of life, but we're also... they're going to have a job to do. And things to come out of and the devastation. Matthew 24, 14, it says, unless those days are shortened, no flesh will be saved alive. But for the elect's sake, they will be shortened. And you are part of the elect that allows mankind to survive, to go into that millennium. If you fail to survive, then all you're going to have is the shadow of the feast you're living right now. Wonderful place. It's pretty easy to come to the feast and enjoy it now. If you fail, like there's a lot of people who have been baptized and left the church that they celebrated the shadow, the feast, they enjoyed it, but will they be part of the millennium?

That's something you have to ask yourself. Will you be part of that elect's sake? Will fear take you out of God's church? The reward is great, but the way to get there is very difficult. It's been difficult for every man of God in the Bible all the way through. They're not alone. Everybody faces those things. Jesus said earlier in Matthew 24 that take heed that no man to destroy you.

False ministers will deceive you. You'll hear of wars, rumors of wars, famines, pestilences, all these evil things that are going to come before the end. They've been here for 6,000 years since man rebelled, but not in the form they're going to be before this feast starts. And that's what we walk into initially when it comes. Verse 9 in Matthew 24, they'll deliver you out to be afflicted. And it'll kill you. You'll be hated for my name. Many will be offended and betray one another. I've seen betrayals.

I've seen betrayals in the world and betrayals in the church. And because of this, iniquity shall abound. The love of many will wax cold. He that endures to the end will be saved. Enduring. A tough word. It's not going to be easy. I don't know what each of you will face, this is when you're at the end of time. It's easy to see how people will hate us. Jesus said they'll hate you for my name's sake. Hatred can lead to death. It can cause people to want to.

Will you react with fear? Give up? Or will you react with courage and stand up when this happens? I want you to make it to the reality of this feast. Yes, we enjoy it now. We can talk of the lion and the lamb, and we will. Those are things that go, but it's not going to just happen by fiat immediately. Yes, Christ is ruling, and they will keep the feast and things, but it talks about if they won't go to the feast, no rain. So that means some people aren't going to do it right away.

There's going to be work and effort involved, and God wants you to be part of that effort. I want you to be part of that effort. Mr. Armstrong, when I worked for him, I was always fascinated because he would talk at the same intensity with three people as he would with 3,000.

He had three French maids lined up in a hotel in Paris who were supposed to leave, and I'd go in there and he's preaching the gospel to them. And he's pounding on the table, and they don't understand a word he's saying. But they were listening to him because he was really going at it. And so I tried to translate a few lines for them in French, which I knew some, and then I told him, Mr. Armstrong, we had to leave, and we left. But he didn't feed off his audience.

He fed off God's Spirit, and it moved him. I've seen other people, ministers, who would feed off an audience, a big audience. They'd be powerful, a small audience, and that kind of week. But God's Spirit gives you the power and the ability to do things that you couldn't do. Just before the fulfillment of this day, it's going to be a time of fear for this world.

And it won't be easy for us either. We'll know what's going on. We have members even today, though, that are being beaten and killed. If you live in an Islamic country or over in Myanmar where they're drafting you for the army or in Bangladesh, different places where people have already been beaten to be in the church, it's difficult. And they have to have courage to be able to make it. And it gets tough. We celebrate today what's going to be for the people we teach.

We'll be shell-shocked, and as they have generation after generation for a thousand years, it'll get better and peaceful with the work they do. When we were in Japan, our translator had written a book about the Jesuits when they brought Christianity to Japan. And they preached fire and brimstone on you people, stand up and be willing to die for what you believe. And they tortured some of the Japanese people that became Christians, and they didn't give up for two, three, four weeks.

They hung them upside down. They watered—they did everything to them. Interesting in his book, he talks about the Jesuits. When they caught a Jesuit, he said, not a single Jesuit lasted more than an hour or two of torture before they gave it up. They were willing to teach it, but they weren't able to do it. We have to stand up. Paul even reminded us in 1 Corinthians 9, 27 that I've got to keep my body and bring it into subjection.

Last, after helping all these other people, I could be cast away. It's not easy for any of us, and there's work to be done. And we celebrate this, and it's a wonderful time with a plan, but it's easy to be wonderful when things are going good. It's a little harder when things get tough. But God has to know, and we have to have the courage. Throughout history, there have been a few men who have stood up with courage, most who have fled in fear, whether that be in the church or not. We have to stand up. In 1984, we had an appointment with the king of Nepal. We met with them, and we were going to do a project.

King Brenda and King Ashwari had heard of Mr. Armstrong from the Queen of Thailand and the king, and they told them the projects we had done to help their country. And they wanted Mr. Armstrong to do a project in Nepal. And so we were there. And since I was over all the projects, Mr. Armstrong told me to take care of it. I was assigned General Aditi Arana to take me around to look at places and look at projects and the things they needed.

I would spend a lot of time with him and learn some things about him. At first meeting, he was not a very impressive man. He had an old coat, heavy coat and pants and slacks and things, and he wore old pants. His demeanor was proud, but it wasn't arrogant. And people would see him, and he'd walk directly and strongly, and he'd smile warmly at all the people. And everyone in the country seemed to know him.

Every time he'd walk around, people would stand up straight. They'd sit up somewhat, salute him. They'd say, hi, General. He wasn't dressed in a uniform. And in Asia, if you're in the army long enough to become a General, in the Western world, you have to do something to become a General. There you kind of are. So that didn't mean anything. And so I learned that he was a retired Gurkha soldier. The Gurkhas were well known, and we were impressed by him. But he was not a great orator. He didn't seem that impressive.

He was quiet. And everywhere I went, again, the people would get quiet. They'd whisper, you'd see him kind of talking. And there was great respect for this man. I learned that General Rana's grandfather had been king, or actually Prime Minister King. And he was the last in the chain of the Rana Prime Ministers, who the British Act helped defeat so that the current King family could be in royalty.

And so I thought that that must have been why it was, even though it had been over a half a century since that had happened. Rana was only about three years old when the change had happened. I finally asked someone, so why were they so respectful of this man?

I expected him to say his grandfather ruled Nepal or something like that. But their answer was, he saved Nepal from the Chinese. And they said it as if I should have known it. Well, I don't know much about Nepalese history. And then it was then that I learned the story. I said, what do you mean?

And they told me, you see, the King had an outpost and would learn that the Chinese had dispatched a couple battalions of soldiers to come over the pass and take Nepal. Nepal was a small country. And there was fear. It was a time for fear. A billion Chinese, and it's a few million Nepalese, and the army is being much smaller. No declaration of war. It was a surprise attack. Very little time to move an army up to a 16,000 foot pass, or 4,800 meters for Europeans here.

Captain Undo stood at about 5,000 feet, or about 1,500 kilometers. And how would they intercept the Chinese army and stop this? It was over 30 miles to the pass, about 50 kilometers, or about two miles higher altitude that they would have to go up. No roads. They had to go on foot if they were going to stop them. At that time, General Rana was a young lieutenant in the Gurkha army. Without hesitation, he volunteered to go up and fight the Chinese.

There was no time, but he chose courage over fear. They couldn't take an army up there, so he took about 25 or 30 Gurkha soldiers with him, and they hiked all night long to get to that pass. They got there just before the Chinese. He realized that 25 or 30 Gurkhas couldn't take on a thousand Chinese, and so he hiked up about 500 feet above the pass. And all they'd taken with them in their backpacks was ammunition and a little hard tech. And they stood up there and fought off the Chinese. It would seem like an impossible task, and there, I'm sure, was fear.

But fear is a reaction. Courage is a choice. It's a choice we have to make at some point in our lives as well. With their rifles and the little food they had, they held off the whole Chinese army for over a week in the rain and the cold. The Chinese finally got tired and gave up and went back.

He defeated them.

They had to do this. He knew his small group was inferior in size, but they had made it, and they had stopped them. His band had lived up to the reputation of the Gurkhas, where fear is a reaction. Courage is the choice. Numbers 13, we read Israel faced that type of situation when they were going to come into the Promised Land.

You know the story well. I'll just read a few verses in Numbers, verse 1. God told Moses, sin men, one man, a ruler from each tribe, to go into the Promised Land and take a look, see if it's like God described it. Milk and honey, wonderful place to be.

And they did it. Numbers 13, 26. They came to Moses to all the congregation and brought backward.

Verse 28, they said, nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land.

The cities are walled. Very great. And we saw the children of Anak, the giants that were there.

They were spreading fear. They were afraid, and they were spreading it.

Verse 30, Caleb stilled the people before Moses and said, let us go up at once and possess it, for we're able to overcome it. Courage is a choice, a choice that Caleb and Joshua made, that the other ten would not. And they brought up that evil report and said, the land is going to take us and eat us up. The giants are there, and we're just like grasshoppers. We can't do this.

We're in a similar situation. We're small. The world is large. Our enemy is large, Satan the devil.

He wants to stop us. Always has, always will. But you know what happened? They had to wander in the wilderness for 40 years because of that fear, because they didn't go in. And it was sad.

And it was sad. The ten reacted. They let fear stop them. Joshua and Caleb showed courage, saying, God's with us. We can take it. We can do it. God is with you, and with me, and with all of us.

If we let His Spirit work. We see the humility of Moses when God wanted to disinherit him for this, and Moses said, well, they'll just say that you couldn't save them. They saved him in Egypt, but you couldn't feed them, and so you let them die in the wilderness. And He chose to be humble and tell him, I don't want to be in charge, God.

You made a promise to Abraham. Yes, it could be fulfilled to me, but He stood up for them. When things get tough, do we stand up for other people?

Do we help them? Do we have that kind of humility? Will we spread fear and be disinherited from our promised land? Or will we have courage, the choice that we need ahead of time, to be able to be here at this feast when it's fulfilled, not just the shadow of what it is? Those who lived and died before us show the price of fear, not entering the promised land, and the price of courage, entering the promised land. We should have courage, and God gives us the help we need.

In 2 Timothy 1, we read there that God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, of love, and a sound mind. It doesn't mean you can't be afraid. I've been afraid at times. I've heard the click of the machine gun pointed at me. I know what it's like to face some of those things, and it is scary, but you have to stand up for what you believe. Verse 8 of 2 Timothy 1, Don't be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me as prisoner, for taking the afflictions.

It's going to happen to some of us, but God says in verse 9, who saved us and called us by his holy calling, not according to our works, nothing we did, but his purpose and his grace, given to Christ before the world began. Our courage must be an act of faith. Of course, Christ said, will the Son of Man find faith when he comes? A lot of people have stepped out and lost their faith, but fear is a reaction. Courage is a choice. Turn to Mark 14, if you would.

With God's Spirit, our choice has to be one of courage, one of faith.

Don't be too sure of yourself. It can be hard. It's been hard enough that a lot of people have dropped out for 2,000 years. I don't want you to. And even though we talk about the lie and the lamb and all the fruits and things, the next few years before it happens are really tough to go through. When we have to be prepared for that, our all will have enjoyed is the shadow.

Mark 14, 27. Jesus said to them, All of you will be offended because of me this night.

It is written, I will smite the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered.

But after I am risen, I go before you to Galilee. Peter said to him, Although all will be offended, yet will not I. I won't be offended. I won't leave you. And Jesus said, Verily I say to you that this day, even this night, before the cock crow twice, you shall deny me three times. And we all know he did.

In verse 31, it says, He spoke more vehemently, boldly, If I should die with you, I will not deny you in any way. Pretty good. Then it says, Likewise said they all.

So it wasn't just Peter. They all said that, No, we are with you. We have the courage. We are going.

And what happened? When the soldiers come, verse 50 at Mark 14, they all forsook him and fled.

They intended to stay with him, and they were willing to do it their way.

And a lot of people will stay in the church if you're doing the way I want you to do it. A lot of miniatures stay if they do it the way I want it. But when he doesn't do it your way, what do you do? Peter took his sword out and struck off the high priest's ear. He was willing to do it his way. Christ said, Those who live by the sword die by the sword.

And he put the ear back on. And then Peter ran off because I can't do it my way with my sword. I'm out of here. So don't be too easy on yourself. Make sure you're ready and prepared for what's yet ahead of them. Many people wrecked wrongly. Fear is a reaction. Courage is a choice.

In Acts 2, though, with the apostles and the disciples, they didn't stay in fear.

They had courage. Once the power of God came, the Holy Spirit, in Acts 2, Peter, he denied Christ three times. He felt bad about it. They went out fishing. But finally, when the Spirit came, they stood up because now, when they were petted, fear had been their reaction. But now, courage was their choice. In Acts 2, we read about them preaching boldly in the temple, about the man who had been lame for 40 years in the temple. And Peter walks by and John, and he'd say, Silver and gold, have I none but what I have, I'll give you rise up and walk. And he did.

Lame for 40 years. One thing, who walked into the temple during his ministry for three and a half years when he was in Jerusalem? Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ did not heal this man. God let this man stay lame because he wanted to use him to start the church. If Christ healed, then there wouldn't have been someone there. And it said no one could deny what they did because everybody saw him for 40 years. How would you feel if you had to wait 40 years to be healed so you could have a miracle of the church? That's what happened there with them, that lame man in the temple. And they faced the Jewish leaders, and the Jewish leaders beat them, told them to stop preaching.

And they said, whether it's right with God or not to hearken to you, you can judge. We're going to do what God said to do. We cannot speak but the things we've seen and heard. And all of us have to seen and heard enough to know that God is with us. And at this day, this feast will be fulfilled. It will happen. Christ will return. It's going to happen. And like the apostles, we'll be told to shut up. Someday they'll probably turn the internet off on us. Someday they'll tell us we can't be on TV or any type of magazine. There are things that have happened in the past.

We'll be threatened. We may be beaten or killed. We may not be able to keep this feast in peace.

If they threaten you, will you keep it or will you stay home?

Fear is a reaction. Courage is a choice. God called us to be bold for Him. God called you. He said, no one can come to me, except the Father draws them. You've been drawn by God the Father.

God is your Father. Christ your King. That makes you royalty. You're His brother or sister. You're royal if you're willing to stand up and be bold. General Rana was bold in holding off the Chinese.

On my last day with General Rana, after Mr. Armstrong died, I was sent over to Nepal for the projects and I talked with him. He said something to me at the airport that shocked me.

He said, we made a big mistake. He said, we should have lost to the British.

You see, Nepal was the only independent that wasn't conquered by the British. They had taken over India a few months with hundreds of millions of people. Here's little Nepal up there. The British said, hey, we'll take this in a matter of days or weeks. Yet they learned that they couldn't do that. They weren't conquered by them. Now, why do I tell this story today? Because we are a people very similar to the Gurkhas in the church. We get new members. They and our youth need to know to be bold, to stand up, and it won't always be pleasant like it is now. But the choice has to be set in your mind before it happens. As a church, God put us together, a group similar to the Gurkhas. You see, the Gurkhas were a very special group of people. The British in their colonial pursuits learned this the hard way 200 years ago with the Gurkha War, which lasted for four years, 1814 to 1816. And the British troops, they invaded the country expecting that victory.

Instead of an easy war, they suffered incredibly heavy casualties. And then they signed a peace deal with them. And then they asked them to be mercenaries for them. That's how tough they were.

The British soldier of the 87-foot regiment wrote in his diary and his memoirs, he said, I've never saw more steadiness or bravery exhibited in my life. Run they would not, death they seemed to have no fear, though their comrades were falling thick around them.

Gurkhas fought for the British for the next 150 years in two world wars in dozens of countries.

Their bravery, their cohesiveness together is legendary, but not without a cause. Phil Marsher's Sam Manescue famously said about the Gurkhas. He said, if a man says he's not afraid to die, he's either a liar or a Gurkha. During the unsuccessful Gallipoli campaign in World War I, in Turkey where they were supposed to take the bluff, the goal for that, the Gurkhas led the assault during that major operation to take that high point. They're the only ones that took it, and it became known as Gurkhas Bluff. The only troop, the British, never reached the top. The Azzies never reached the top. No one did but the Gurkhas.

One of the most famous battles, the Battle of the Eighth Gurkhas, served with Lawrence Arabia. And the British commander lieutenant James Wilcock wrote, they fought to the last man during the Battle of Luz, June, December of 1915, hurling themselves time after time against the weight of the German defenses. They died to the last man before they would quit. Everyone wanted the Gurkhas to help them. Why? They were loyal to their word.

They didn't change. They were willing to die rather than betray a friend or give up.

They never quit, never gave up. Fear is a reaction. Courage is a choice.

Why do I talk about this small group of people who held off the British Empire and won?

The Gurkhas were not a single people. I always thought it was kind of like an Indian tribe, the Cherokees, the John Eads, the Apaches or something, but it wasn't what it was.

They didn't have some sense of loyalty to a tribe.

Gurkha soldier recruits are made up of many ethnic groups. They're made up of the Magar, the Rai, the Limbo, the Gurung, the Temang, the Karanti tribes of Tibetan and Mongolian descent.

There were also the ethnic Rajput, the Chetri, and the Brahmin tribes. They all joined together to make up what was known as the Gurkhas. They had one thing in common. They laid aside their tribal uniqueness for a greater sense of singleness of purpose. In essence, they became one for a cause, and that made them a formidable force. Look around you. God has called a very unique set of people into his church. People from Asia here, people from Africa here, people from Europe, America, all the different countries. Different backgrounds, different walks of life.

All of us have to learn to live God's way, to have one goal, one singleness of purpose, to be able to defend the faith, to be able to act as our Savior did. And if we do, we get to experience what this feast is a shadow of. If we don't, we don't inherit the Promit land.

Just like the Gurkhas, we're a very diverse group of people. For 6,000 years, God has selected a very, very few people that he's called to be part of his army, called for his purpose, to be ready to help when this feast is reality. The Bible describes this people in 1 Peter 2.9. You know it. We sang about it in one of the songs. You're a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, that you should show forth the praises of him who called you out of darkness to this marvelous light, which in times pass for not a people, but now are the people of God, which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Now, I teach at ABC. I'm the dean of students there. When our young people come each August, they're a group of individuals. A few know each other from camp and places, but most don't. They have to work and do projects and do things together, become a single unit. And they do. They put on a charity auction. They do things that they probably couldn't do on their own. They become a team and a force for good.

The church is the same. God selected you to be part of a group of individuals from all around the world, not only in this time, but in years before. Different times, different places, different nationalities. We have to put out God's message of the kingdom of God. We have to make disciples. We have to be ready for this feast to be a reality. We can't make you become one. Ministry, I can't make you do it. You have to choose to do it. I can't make you take on humility. But God says you need to be humble. I can't make you take on service. But God says you have to serve. Christ said those who are a servant among you or want to be a leader, be a servant. I can't make you love your enemies. But God says you must love your enemies.

I can't give you the courage to take on the world.

Any more than someone can make a gherk a soldier, you have to choose to be one. Choose that way of life. Perhaps there's some fear in coming into God's church and His truth, but you came.

You heard His call and you came. You let God's Holy Spirit work in you. And you changed. And you had to forsake opportunities for a greater cause. Some of you had to postpone your own desires.

Some of you may have been disowned by family or friends. Some of you may have lost jobs to be able to come to this feast and do these things. But if you did, you chose courage.

And you began your journey with a single goal—Kingdom of God.

We face challenges. Our young people face challenges in the school. Challenges to accept wrong ideas. Challenges by teachers who tell them there's no absolutes, that everyone has their own truth. The word truth doesn't mean what it used to. That's your truth. This is my truth. No, truth is truth to everybody. But that's not what the world teaches. They even teach there is no God.

Satan wants you to give into the falsehoods. He wants you to give into the fear. He wants you to go along with the world. He doesn't want you to be here preparing to be part of this millennium. He wants you to react in fear so he can deny you the destiny that this feast pictures.

If you use humility with the knowledge you're learning to build a relationship with God and Jesus Christ, you will know the truth. You will have the courage. You will succeed in your relationship with God and with each other, which is what it's about. If you listen and internalize the messages this week and those you hear throughout the year and set your mind, then courage will be your choice and you will have the peace and happiness that this pictures.

And the joy that goes with knowing even when you're in tribulation.

When you enter God's army, you, like the Gurkhas, must be willing to live or die for this cause.

It's not easy. I ask you to set your will to be prepared for what's coming. To make the choice you're going to make before it actually comes. So you'll make that. To take on the spiritual bravery we must face, the now I know moments, like God did with Abraham. Now I know. Abraham had gone through lots of tasks before he finally rose the knife to Isaac's throat and God said, okay, now I know. We all want God to know, hey, give up drinking. I gave up smoking. I gave up this. I gave up that. God, you know, it's a lifetime. It's a lot of now I know's. I've had dozens of them in my life that I've had to stand up for. And, you know, I always pray, God, please let this be my test and not my preparation for one. Because they get worse and harder. But you have to set what you're going to do before it happens.

And I have to have God has to know what you're going to do before you do it. And I asked you to do that now, not for one battle, but for your entire life. If you're willing to die and make it to the fulfillment of this feast, you will also be legendary. Not like the Gurkhas or General Arana. You'll be special. Legendary in that, like Joshua and Caleb, you'll end of the promised land. Not only be at the shadow of the feast year after year, but be there when it actually comes to fruition. Spiritual eternity is what you're promised. And just as the Gurkhas were in demand for the military exploits they did, you will be in demand as well. Now and in the future. That's what God's prepared for you. You to teach the world how to know peace. The world does not know peace. The world doesn't know it yet, but it will know that you are called for that. Your neighbors don't know it, but they will. School friends don't know it, but they will because you'll be there. You don't have a choice of what's going to happen, but you do have a choice of whether you want to be part of it. God's going to do what he's going to do. Do you want to be part of it? Fear is a reaction. Satan is going to throw everything at you. He can. Courage is a choice that you must make. You can react in fear and not go into the promised land. You can betray your calling and flee like the disciples did and like somebody historically who left when things got tough. Or you can have courage to be part of God's army, which ends in victory when Christ returns. This world is built on lies. Governments are corrupt. Media spins a narrative that isn't true. Misinformation labeled as truth, and truth is called misinformation.

Many aspects of our lives in Satan's world are just an illusion. He wants you to believe things that aren't there. He's the father of lies. We have both in this world, like in Isaiah 5.20.

We'll just say there, it says, woe to them that call evil good and good evil.

And that is all over the world right now. It's happening. Satan is blind to them. He says, woe to them that are wise in their own eyes. People are just that. That's my truth. That's your truth, and we're fine. No, truth is truth. In this world, truth is to be manipulated, but real truth to the world is irrelevant. But it's not irrelevant to you. You know the truth. The truth is what sets you free. But it doesn't mean you don't suffer at times. Zechariah 8.23. I'm just going to read one verse to you there. Because in the not so distant future, the world's going to look to you for the truth, and they'll ask you the way to peace. Verse 23 of Zechariah 8, In those days, the shall come to pass of all the languages of all the nations. They shall take hold of the skirt of him that says to the Jews, saying, We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.

They don't think God is with you now, but He is. They will know it then. You're destined under Christ to teach the rest of the world the reality of this feast. You'll help them rebuild the waste places.

When it says rebuild the waste places, that means they're going to be able to see what they did during their 6,000 years, and they're going to witness what's being done for a thousand years.

Peace, but there's work, things that are there, and you're destined to be part of that under Christ, the reality, and you're going to inherit that opportunity.

Gurkha became legendary through war. You're going to make your mark by being humble, by serving, and going against what the world says is right and wrong. The Gurkhas became legendary through war. There have been 26 Victoria Crosses and 3,000 medals of bravery awarded to the Gurkha regiments from the kings and the queens of England. People that aren't British, tribal people, very prestigious, more than any other group.

Hebrews 11 lists a bunch of people that are God's Medal of Honor recipients. You can be part of that list that is there. The list is small in comparison to the population of the world.

Very few people have the opportunity you do at this time. The list is not complete.

Turn to 1 Peter 5. What does God give us a reward to you for your bravery?

When this day is fulfilled, you're going to receive an eternal crown from God.

Verse 4 of 1 Peter 5, When the chief shepherd shall appear, you will receive a crown of glory that fades not away. How do you get there? Verse 5, Likewise, the younger submit yourselves to the elder. All of you be subject one to another. Be clothed with humility. God resists the proud.

It gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves before the mighty hand of God, that you may exalt you in due season, in due time, casting all your cares on him, for he cares for you. Be sober. Be vigilant. For your adversary, the devil, that's a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour. You have the biggest enemy of all, Satan the devil, and his evil world.

He wants to devour you. He wants to pollute your mind. He wants you to fall for his lies and give up your calling. He wants you to live in fear of doing what is right. For your belief, you may be called a hater. You don't think homosexuality is right. You don't think transgender is right. You don't think, well, you're a hater. Now you're branded. Anyone who stands up for God gets branded. Even other Christians that don't keep the laws get branded will certainly get branded. Will fear make you conform to the world and lose out? I hope not. We're told in Romans 12.1 to be a living sacrifice. It's hard to do it this way. It's a sacrifice. But Paul says, present your body a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. Hey, why do people go to law school for three years? Because they want to make money and do something. What is God offering you? It's reasonable what he's offering you for you to give up your life for what you believe. Be not conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good, acceptable, and perfect will of God.

He wants you to have courage. Fear is a reaction. Courage is a choice. For you, this means the courage to be willing to sacrifice. For you, it's the courage to value your future more than the presence. For you, it's the courage to give yourself and your time and obedience and service.

And I'm not saying it's easy. It's hard. It's about making God the Father through Christ the center of your life. You'll face trauma as God molds you. All the apostles did, Paul did.

Sometimes from outside the church, sometimes within the church.

There have always been people that crept in unawares, some that rise to the top because they had talent. Didn't really understand humility. People make mistakes, sometimes intentional, sometimes not. God is their judge. But it doesn't matter. You have to trust God. You must be true to God and to Jesus Christ. The gurkis saw the enemy without. Israel with the spies, it was the enemy within. The enemy that refused to see the power of God. They can only see the physical challenges. Who forgot what God just did in Egypt? Separate in the Red Sea. It's hard for me to understand how you could not recognize God and be afraid after that. But they were. They forgot.

Do we forget? Paul in Romans 8, 18, I think, I'm sure I'll get read it the other night. I reckon the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the thing and the glory that God has revealed in us. For the expectation of the creation awaits the manifestation of the sons of God. Even the creation is waiting for this time. It's difficult. God wants you to have courage. You have to consider it an honor, as Paul did, with anything you might suffer. The gherk is considered a great honor to fight to the last man. To reach this day, you must consider it a great honor to have learned and followed and practiced God's way of life. He called you. He wants you. He'll help you. But you have to choose to have the courage. You'll prove your willingness to follow God by doing the little things for each other. I've seen lots of men who want to slay Goliath so they can be important, but they don't want to do the little things. I've seen a lot of men in the church who wash feet really hard to get to a position so they would never have to wash feet again.

And Jesus Christ is three or four days away from becoming God, and He's washing feet.

Do we have that attitude?

It's not easy. Coming into the church is not a cakewalk. Like the spies in Canaan, it's easy to fear. There's a lot of big bullies out there that want to take it away.

And we're told in Matthew 7, 13 that Satan is trying to destroy us.

The way to destruction is easy. The road to eternal life is straight and narrow.

Difficult. There are no people like God's people. We are unique, and yet we suffer. Romans 8, 36, it's written, For thy sake were killed all the day long, and are counted as sheep of the slaughtered.

In the world, Satan wants to take us out. There's no people like us that we're unique. The British found no one like the gherkis. Nowhere in all the world, when they conquered different places, found anyone like the gherkis. In writing about the gherkis, Sir Lily Turner, Master of Charge, who served with the third queen, Alexander his own gherko rifles, he wrote this, of the gherka. He says, As I write these last words, my thoughts return to you who were my comrades, the stubborn and indominate peasants of Nepal. Once more I hear the laughter with which you greet at every hardship. Once more I see you in your bivouacs about your fires, or on first forced marches in the trenches, shivering in the wet and the cold. Now scorched by the pitiless and burning sun, uncomplaining you endure hunger and thirst and wounds, and at the last your unwavering lines disappear into the smoke and the wrath of battle. Bravest of the brave, most generous of the generous, never had a country more faithful friends than you.

We in the church must become friends, faithful friends, who serve and do those things like a band of brothers. If these people could do it for their own pride and bravery, can we do it for God and what He offers us? I say we can. We must be a brand of brothers, heroic in our cause, our eyes on the kingdom. Our trenches are not physical. Our rain and cold are not physical.

Our battle is not with the elements and the smoke of war that ends eventually in a few years.

We fight a spiritual fight every day that we live in Satan's kingdom.

I will gladly serve alongside of any of you, anyone who stands up and does that.

We fight that battle every day of our lives. As an elder, I want to help encourage you to be strong by example and in prayer. Stronger so ordered me to help prepare the bride before he died. He grabbed my hand and pulled it to him. He said, promise you'll help prepare the bride. That's next.

And I hope I'm doing that to encourage people to be strong. An example in prayer. God in Christ through the Holy Spirit holds us up. He wants you in the reality of this day. Yeah, He wants you to keep the feast and picture it and enjoy it, but He wants you to be there when it happens. That's what's important to Him. General Rauno was tired of fighting the sacrifices and for what? He recognized the futility of what they did. Why did this man so trained mentally that he could hold off the Chinese army in cold and rain? Why did he say we made a big mistake? We should have lost to the British? He explained to me why. She sat in the airport. He said, if we had lost to the British, we would have roads. We would have bridges. We would have schools. We would not be so poor and uneducated. We would not have to go fight all around the world. Instead, we have our pride.

They had lost. Every nation that the British defeated, they built schools, they built roads, they built bridges. Not Nepal, because they won. You could have rejected God's calling and made other choices. You made no mistake in coming to God. You found that greater cause. You celebrated here. What General Rauner really wanted was what you and I know. He didn't know what he wanted for sure. You do. If mankind had only surrendered to God 6,000 years ago, we have not had 6,000 years of suffering, of war, and damage, and poverty, and famine, and misery. In my last morning in Nepal, I wanted to buy a kukri. Kukri is the gurken knife. It's commonly known as the gurken knife.

I was always impressed with the bravery of the gurkers. I wanted a knife, and I'm sitting there with General Rauner. All the stores were closed. It was Sunday. We're going to the airport. I just said, well, I really wanted to buy a gurken knife. He pulled his coat back, and he reached behind him. He took out his gurken knife, and he gave it to me. I would have brought it, except I called the airlines, and they said, if you bring a knife, they might take it away from you. I didn't want to lose it. In most countries in Asia, if you give someone a knife, it means you're severing your relationship, unless you're family. When he offered me that knife, he considered me part of his family. In one way, I didn't want to accept it. I should have gone to his son, I felt. This was the same knife he carried when he fought off the Chinese in the 1950s.

This knife has seen bloodshed. I took the knife, and I started to pull it out, and I stopped, because you don't draw a gurken knife unless you intend to draw blood.

I didn't want everybody to kill the time, so...

And I put it back in his sheath.

You see, it was special.

I accepted his gift. It had a little intrinsic value, but all sorts of historical value. And I wanted to achieve and look at it, but I didn't, because I didn't want to draw blood.

I didn't want to insult the legends of the gurkas. But you see, you and I have a sword, and we open it every day. And we draw blood. We draw our own blood, because that's what God says we're supposed to do. We're supposed to fix our life in service to others. We have been taught to surrender to God, not with guns and knives. Most of our armor in Ephesians 6 is defensive. This is our only offensive weapon. The Word of God comes to us. We have our loins cover the truth, where our feet are shod with the gospel of peace. We do have the breastplate of rice-ness, and we do have the sword of God's Spirit, His Word. And you shouldn't leave your sword unsheathed. You need to open it. A lot of people have Bibles that sit on the desk.

Mr. Armstrong always said, blow the dust off your Bible. Most people today probably don't even have one. But you have to draw yours, and you do it to harden yourself spiritually for strength in future battles that you're going to face. You do not do it for other reasons. You try to live up to the image of your older brother in mind, Jesus Christ. You do it to be as He was, like our Father in Heaven. I hope you're never afraid of what you might suffer for standing up for God, even if it means death. Fear is a reaction. Courage is a choice.

When you lose yourself to God, He begins to build those spiritual bridges, those spiritual roads, those spiritual schools in your life.

You see your sin and you repent. You do it for His calling.

You'll be there when this faces the reality. If you let Him build those roads and those ridges in your life, He'll be part of His family. And may it be written of you, in this last generation, this age, and those who preceded you and those who are yet to be called, that you stood together in bravery beyond for a common purpose, for a common goal. May it be written of you, encouragement you gave freely, of sin you would not, of death you had no fear.

May it be said, I never saw more steadiness or bravery or kindness and humility in service at every turn than I did with you. May you fight with the sword of God's Spirit to the last man and the last woman. If this can be said of you, you will be here when this is a reality.

If you don't, you won't. Fear is a reaction. Courage is a choice. I see you as future kings and queens.

When I first went to work on the plan, Mr. Armstrong said, you treat everyone on this plane like a king and a queen. They are future kings and priests. That's why we should see each other. Not ranks. Not important people and unimportant people. We're all important. Important to God. Important for our purpose and our point that He gives us.

May you, the spiritual body of Jesus Christ, stand up in courage with what you have learned and take out the fear. There will be fear, but only courage will let you be at the reality of this feast. It is a pleasure to be here with you, to serve with you, to help you. I pray that you will take it to heart everything that is said from now until Christ's return, because it is not going to be easy. It is going to get harder. It is easy to come to Italy. Wonderful food, wonderful setting, beautiful time. There will be a time when it is not so easy.

You have to make up your mind now that you are going to do it now when it is fun, and you will do it later when it is not so much fun. Fear is a reaction. Courage is your choice.