Eye Has Not Seen nor Ear Heard…

It's sure nice to be here on this wonderful, great day. And hasn't the music been wonderful, this feast? You know, we're not clapping for them. Let's clap for God. Thank you, God, for providing the talent that we have here. It takes a lot of work.

I've sung in chorales before. You have a lot of practice to do a three or four minute song. Hours of practice to do that. All the energy that's put into it. We appreciate it. We appreciate the people, the individuals who played in the instrumentalists over here to accompany. We appreciate the pianists. We appreciate the song leaders and all that they have done. All that takes effort and energy, and we appreciate all of you being here.

This is the first time I've been here in 38 years. The last time I was here was 1984. Everybody remember the sermon I gave? Well, I'm not a very good speaker. If you don't remember my sermon, what am I supposed to do here? Anyway, the first time my wife and I came in 1963, we were newlyweds. We were married three months. It was the first feast we ever attended as a couple, as a married couple. We attended Hailing Island the year before, but we were just getting interested in England. We were married in England and came back. This was the first feast I was serving as a ministerial trainee in New York City.

All I did was help and serve whatever I could do that year at the feast. I came across a memorabilia. 1965. This is the preaching schedule. Preaching schedule. There were 17 speakers, 32 sermons and sermonettes. Most of the sermons were given by about four people, five people. Mr. Meredith was here. He gave four to start with. Mr. Armstrong was here. He gave four to conclude. You had Mr. Hunting gave two. Mr. Portune gave two. Some of the others gave split sermons. I was blessed that year.

1965. I was ordained in 1964. I gave a sermonette. There were a few of us pastors that gave sermonettes. All the others were delivered by the big shots, the big guns that we had at the feast that time. I don't mean to be disrespectful. But there were services opening night, Saturday, the next morning, Saturday, the holy day morning and holy day afternoon. So you had three services in 24 hours. Believe me, you felt like you were swimming. And then you'd have any scheduled activities during the day.

But then you had services at night. You're morning, you had services during the afternoon. You played football, basketball, whatever you played. You had softball tournaments and others. And after that, you came back and went to services in the evening at 7.30. Believe me, that was a feast. And you were worn out. I bet you were great, but you were worn out. You were spiritually, I think spiritually, stronger.

You were physically exhausted at the end of the feast. 17 speakers, 32 sermons and sermonettes. Only four of us are still alive out of 17 speakers. But it was wonderful. We enjoyed coming here. We enjoyed 1984. Francis Bergen was here from England. He was one of my good friends that I got to know. And my wife and I, because he was from England, he was a guest speaker here.

We kind of chauffeured him around. It was a wonderful feast. We love Jekyll Island. We thank you all for being here. Thank you for making the effort to keep God's feast. But after all, do we really have a choice? Yes, yeah, we have a choice. But God does tell us to be here. These are his commanded assemblies. And it's so good to be here because these days picture something so awesome, so great. You see, today is a great day. A wonderful day. It's a day that pictures something that's going to be awesome. We've spent seven glorious days picturing and living like the kingdom of God.

We've tried to picture it. I'm going to read you some quotes of what God's people, just living their daily lives, the impact they have on others. It is amazing. I have to refresh myself. It is absolutely amazing over the years what impact God's people have. I even have a quote, I'm not going to read it, from the Jekyll Island State Authority, the man who was over all the state parks in Georgia, who thanked us for being here. I think it was after 67, 68, somewhere in there. 67. I was here until 66, so it wasn't because of me.

But anyway, he was here somewhere in that time. He wrote a letter saying what a blessing it was to have all of us here. How perfectly organized our group was. And I thank Mr. Wendt and Mr. Hall. I've been a coordinator before, and I know you are on the go every day. There's hardly any relaxing period. And I thank them. And I also wanted to comment on the senior citizens.

I've been to many senior citizens. I'm a senior citizen, 81 years old. My wife's 80. She joined me in the 80 ranks. I've been to many, but I want to tell all of you who served us. That was one of the best I've ever attended. You made me feel honored. You made those of us who were there feel honored. Thank you. You know, the feast of the great white throne judgment period, the second resurrection, is going to be about caring for people.

Caring for people. After all, what we've experienced during the 1,000 year period will be what? We've had experience serving and ruling with God the Father and Jesus Christ. In our new spiritual bodies, by the way, don't become anthropomorphic. Anthropomorphism is one in which you ascribe to God human qualities. See, we didn't make God in our image.

He made us in His. But He didn't give us all of His qualities. He gave us some. When we're transformed to be spirit beings, you will have to look over your new body. God will have to tell you that you have this equipment. You know how you would get a new car or something? You have to put all the equipment on this. You will have a new spiritual body. I remember one man saying, well, I hope they don't assign me to the Spanish areas. I've never been able to learn foreign languages. Wait a minute. Who made all the languages? God, the Tower of Babel. Remember He scuttled. He said, no, let me make all these...

Do you think God only understands Hebrew? If He scuttled the languages, don't you think He understands them all? And when you're a part of the God family, you will have the mind of God totally. You'll be all Holy Spirit. He tells you one thing. Here's how to do this. Okay, perfect remembrance. Go do this. Okay, perfect remembrance.

As spirit beings, you will be elevated to a new level. We'll have to learn how to use all that special equipment that God gives us as spirit beings. You'll take with you the character we developed here. You'll take with you the knowledge. Any knowledge you'll be lacking, the omnipotent God, the one who knows everything, the one who has all knowledge, you'll have that ability to grasp so quickly. As a spirit being in the family of God. And we'll use all that experience that we've had ushering millions of people from all walks of life and all over the world who were left after the great cataclysmic time of the great tribulation and the heavenly signs and the... ...the heavenly signs, but all the trumpet plagues and all the seven last plagues that are poured out on them. The peoples in the millennium are going to need a lot of comfort and consolation, too. And a lot of direction. But they won't have Satan, and they won't have the world. Our three enemies are what? The world, Satan, and ourselves. They'll still have number one enemy ourselves. Don't blame Satan for everything that happens wrong. You have a lot to do with it, too.

And so we'll have to help those people, usher them, and lead them, and teach them, and show them, and lead them the way into the kingdom of God. So we will have practiced that for a thousand years. You know, and what is a thousand years like for God? And some people...and I, my dad and mom died, not in the faith, but they were wonderful people. I have to wait a thousand years if I get into the...and I hope I get into the kingdom of God. But I have to wait a thousand years to see them again. What does the Bible say? A day is as a thousand years with God, and a thousand years as a day. All those people you've been waiting to see and hoping to see who died before Christ returns and not in the faith of Jesus Christ will be resurrected. And what an awesome time that will be. That joyful, rewarding experience in the kingdom that we pictured for seven days. That joyful experience will prepare us for the great harvest of humanity to come. I've looked up, and I'm not going to give you a lot of figures. I have tons of facts and figures for all the signers. I'm not going to go through all those. But I want to share with you, I looked up and found how many people would be on the earth. How many people have lived here and died? Every year. You could see it as a world counter. Right now if you have your watch, it would be going, how many people die in the world every day? And they average it out to be 60 million people die every year in this world. That's an average. Some years it's more, some years it's fewer. So I took 60 million times, how many years has God given man on earth roughly 6,000? 6,000 times 60 million. You know how much that is? 360 billion! B!

360 billion people are going to come to life in the second resurrection.

After the 1,000 year periods and after Satan has been bound during that time, then he's got to be released a little bit at the end of the millennium. But he's going to be bound after that. The people in that second resurrection are going to have the same odds, the same opportunity as all the people who are living through into the millennium. No world against them, no Satan against them, but still they have to confront themselves. The dead, small and great, will have an opportunity, their first opportunity, their first undeceived opportunity to hear the truth and be saved. The current teaching of many religions is that if you don't get it today, you're finished. So if I'm living on the mountains in Himalaya and I can't get any broadcasts or telecasts or magazines or I can't read the magazines they send me anyway, and I die, that's it for me. You're unfortunate, Gar, to have lived up in the Himalayas. Too bad. You're lost forever.

Does that sound like a fair God for you and for Jesus Christ to tell people that I preach the gospel so that these people, these other people don't understand? I preach to them in parables so they can take it whatever direction they want to take it, and many of them do, and most of them wrong directions. So that they see, they can see, but not see. They're hearing, they hear, but they don't hear nor understand. That's why you're so precious, brethren, because he said, blessed are your eyes. You're precious because of God. God has made you precious. Blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. You hear the truth. I was only a 15 or 16 year old when my brother started listening to the World Tomorrow program on WWVA, Wheeling, West Virginia. 50,000 watts of country western music, but 50,000 watts of the World Tomorrow program.

My brother listened to it and I hated it. As a 15 year old, I didn't want to give up playing basketball on Friday night. I didn't want to give up all the fun I could have. But I heard Herbert Armstrong's voice telling me, this is probably, you need to repent. I don't want to hear this. We slept in the same bedroom. He listened. He was older than I was. So I went downstairs, tried to sit in the living room with my dad, and watched Broderick Crawford, Highway Patrol, if you ever remember that. Maybe that'll blot out that sound. But Mr. Armstrong's voice followed right down the stairs. I could hear him in the background. I couldn't hear him. Okay, my brother went off to college and my dad said, if I hear you listening to the radio, that program, I'll break your radio. My dad was bigger than I was and stronger. Don't worry, dad. I don't want to hear him anymore. Anyhow, I'm glad Dave's gone. What do I find out two weeks later or a week later? My dad's listening to the World Tomorrow program. My brother played the clarinet, so he thought maybe on the program he'll be playing a special music or something. And so since he started listening, I started listening. And there was something true that I heard. Not from somebody my age. I was only 16 or 17. Somebody who was old enough to be my granddad. Truth comes through when you're being called. And I heard it. It's not about me. It's about what God didn't do. I listened two times a day. I took my brother's old correspondence courses that he left, and I went through every one of them. Wrote out all the Scriptures. You have to do. You can't just read them. You have to write them out.

I got a really good foundation. I still didn't want to go. I was playing basketball still on Friday nights, being convicted by it and wondering if our team would be better off to throw me off the team, kick me off the team, like throwing Jonah into the ocean. And maybe they would have more success. But I stayed and played. I thought later on, Gary, you're so dopey. You're dumb. You wanted the praise of future leaders. You wanted the praise of a basketball audience more than you wanted the praise of the angels in heaven and God. And when I came to repentance, I remember in my closet, I thought you had to pray in a closet. We had a little clothes closet. I used to pray in the clothes closet. Pretty stuffy in there. No light. Kneeling down with shoes underneath my feet was not exactly great. And being suffocated by the clothes that were hanging in my face. But I thought I was supposed to pray in my closet. I had a room to myself, but I had to pray in the closet.

But I remember telling God, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry that I dishonored you.

And at the end of that year, I transferred from one college, tried to transfer to another college. It wouldn't work. So I went to Ambassador College, 1959. My brother had just graduated. I came in.

God can do anything, brethren. You know what the greatest miracle you'll ever see? Look at the person beside you.

When God can change the mind of a human being from human nature, following the way of the world, to following Him. It's the greatest miracle that you could ever see. The most lasting miracle. So we will have an opportunity to bring 360 billion human beings. With their new bodies, by the way, when they're resurrected. God's not going to resurrect those who die with arthritis. Oh, we're giving you arthritis back again. No. Broken leg. No. Heart trouble. No. But whatever their age was, they'll come alive. You'll be able to recognize them. And if you appear, as Christ did, from spirit to fit, you'll be able to see them. They'll be able to recognize, hey, there you go. My dad and my mom can say, there's Gary!

What a joy that will be to teach all kinds of people from all over the world. Even some people that are nasty in this life don't have a chance.

Satan the devil did a good job of deceiving the whole world, but he still does. When we went to the first few feasts, there used to be outward demonic problems. You could tell. He's changed his tune. In most cases, he deals in trying to influence the mind. Getting you in a bad attitude. Getting you in a wrong attitude. Getting you to look up the wrong things. Getting you to have your pet ideas that are contrary to what the church is teaching and what the Bible teaches.

He tries to work much more subtly these days. I've noticed that in over 58 years in the ministry, I've noticed it. In the early years, we had to actually deal with demonic cases who loved to come to our feasts.

Not the same anymore. They may come, but they're not as open as they used to be. We will have to help these people. Can you imagine awakening after you've been in a car crash and died? The last waking moment you had was this car hurtling toward you and you shrieking in the pain you felt and died.

When you're resurrected, your body will be new. Yes. But don't you think what your thought at that very moment will need to be comforted? Hey, no, settle down. They're going to be confused. We'll read that in Ezekiel 37, where it says, all the bones and bones are going to dance around. These people, bone to bone, they're a physical resurrection. What did they say? They stood on their feet, the whole house of Israel, at pictures in Ezekiel 37. But like everything, every person, you know what they're going to say? Our hope is lost. Where's my harp? I'm not done by the riverside. Where am I? I don't see the beatific vision. No, they don't have to see a beatific vision. They can see Christ. He'll be there. And you, as members of his family, children of God, don't you think they're going to be confused? They're going to be confused. You think they're going to be confused. They're going to be confused. They're going to be confused. They're going to be confused. They're going to be confused. And I think that's a good thing. From all kinds of diseases and health issues and disasters that have gone over this world, something like 60,000 disasters occur in the world. Almost every year, I think I have that quote, but I won't, don't quote me on that one, but it's about that. To go through a hurricane. You know the devastation they can cause, the anxiety. What about people that died during that? They come alive. They need individuals who can give them comfort. As a spirit being, God's spirit, what will you have as a major attribute? Comfort. What is the Holy Spirit? Comforter. Advocate. The word paraclete is one alongside to help. Those people will need that help from all of us. So, when I talk about 360 billion people, I think of the Scripture in 1 Corinthians, I'm sorry I didn't get to the Scriptures yet. I have referred to them, but I haven't read them. I'm big on reading Scriptures. So, 1 Corinthians 2, verses 9 and 10. This is the topic or the title of this sermon. It's, I has not seen nor ear heard. I has not seen nor ear heard. 1 Corinthians 2 and verse 9. He said, It is written, I has not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. God loves you.

He's willing to share. Did He need to share? No, He created the universe without you and me.

But Jesus Christ came because there were humans. He became God in the flesh so He could know what it was like. Now you will know what it's like.

And 360 billion people are going to need a lot of help. Now I don't know how He'll do it. I can't project all of them to come alive at the exact same time. We do know they're going to rise, great and small.

Because I want to say, the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. But verse 10, but God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. God has given you an understanding because of His Holy Spirit. God has prepared the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. For the Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God.

Deep things does not mean I have to yell at it at you.

Deep is what the thought is conveyed.

So what a fantastic time we will have, welcoming human beings back to life from all over the world, and among them, our family members, our friends, our classmates, our business associates, and enemies of all ages and all ethnic groups. God is no respecter of persons.

And God will offer eternal life to as many as are willing to yield to and follow Him. That's why I say, has anyone seen the like? Have you ever seen 360 billion people come from the graves all over the world? Hitler, Stalin, Khrushchev, all these wicked men, all these false religious leaders, all these leaders of other religions who thought they knew the way? Chinese religion, Taoism, T-A-O spelled, but pronounced D-A-O or Dao, D-O-W. Okay, just let it happen. Woo-way, whatever happens, it happens. Don't worry about it. Let life go. Flow. Just flow with life. Whatever is convenient, go with that. Now, how is that a good religion? Confucius tried. He had ethics, but he really stayed away from God. But he had lots of good ethics, Confucius, Chinese religion. But the world is filled. World religions in Africa, African tribal religions, a lot of black magic, voodoo, a lot of serving other goddesses, gods and goddesses, totem poles. They didn't go the right way either. There are going to be people that have to be taught, and atheists, and by the way, Christianity is shrinking in the United States. I used to teach comparative religion. I would always say 90, 70, and 40. 90% of the people believed in God or some superpower. 70% claimed affiliation to some congregation, Christian congregation. And 40% attended church regularly. Now, in Canada and England and some of these other countries, Christianity is gradually waning. And in the United States, too, it's greatly beginning to wane.

Other thoughts, agnosticism, other religions, make your own religion. Brethren, if I wanted to leave every time somebody troubled me, I would have been out of the church and into church, out of the church, into church, out of the church, into church. So many times, your head would be spinning. But there is a God in heaven, and I don't judge Him by how you live.

I know what He's like. I read the Bible. And if you mess up, it doesn't mean God messed up. If I mess up, it doesn't mean God messed up.

We have to teach God's people who are being resurrected and given a chance. You know, Job, what he said in Job 14, verses 14 and 15, he thought that people coming alive again was a marvelous thing. Job. I always get the Hebrew one and say Psalms, Proverbs, Job, but actually Job is before Psalms. But Psalms... Sorry, Job chapter 14. Job chapter 14, verses 14 and 15. We use this at funerals a lot, but look what Job asked. He said, in Job 14, 14, If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my appointed time...

All the days of my hard service... Old King James says appointed time... Will I wait till my change comes? You will call, and I will answer you, and you will have a desire to the work of your hands. God wants everybody to come to salvation, to have a chance. Those who've been deceived, because Satan the devil is the great deceiver of the world, He didn't give them a chance. He took it away from them. Of course, they had choice, but they had human nature. God says that He created us, subject to vanity, in hopes that we would overcome. Created subject to vanity.

What did Solomon say in Ecclesiastes? All this vanity! Everything we try to do for ourselves, that's all vanity. Why? It doesn't last. This suit's not going to last, but I tried to press it, so it would look nice today. But eventually, it's going to get a hole in it, or get a snag, or something, and it won't be useful anymore. Everything we do is not going to last.

The steak that you ate yesterday, or the fish, or the chicken, it didn't last. It's been digested, and maybe out somewhere that's been flushed, you know.

It didn't last. So we as God's people, we understand this life is not the only thing. The eternal life is. Now, does that mean you should not have a good time at the V?

You should have a wonderful time. Because you know what you're picturing? God's kingdom. And God's kingdom is going to be a joyful, wonderful time. If your aim is, I'm here to rejoice, I'm here to have fun, that's all I'm going to hear for you, your direction is wrong. But if you've been here, that I'm having a really nice time, we've had a wonderful time. By the way, we've had a wonderful time.

You've made us feel very special and loved. Thank you. I hope you feel that way, too. It's been a great feast. John 5, verses 28 and 29. Here's the scripture, and I'm going to go quickly to Revelation up to 20, because I want to get you out of here fairly soon, but I don't want to neglect the sermon either. So John 5, verse 28 and 29. I had a lot of things written. I don't read my script.

I just look at it and I wing it from there. I prepared a lot, so I prepared for a long time. John 5, verses 28 and 29. John 5, verse 28. He said, Do not marvel at this, for the hour is coming, in which all who are in their graves will hear his voice, and the word all their paws. It means everyone. Everyone. It's not some substitute word.

P-A-S, Paws in the Greek, means all, every, all, every. It's from the exhaustive concordance. Strongs. It means every, all manner, are going to be resurrected. What a wonderful time that will be. And it didn't say only the good ones. It says everybody.

But the only difference is, verse 29, They'll come forth, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation, should be judgment. If God judges anybody on what they did, what do they get? Death. Even up to the last moment, it's going to take Jesus Christ, Jude 24 and 25, to purify us. Even the last moment, I think Mr. Shabie was mentioning that. We have to strive to be with God and walk in the paths of righteousness. Where does he lead us? In the paths of righteousness. What is one of his names?

Yahweh Shammah? I'll be with you. Even to the end of the world, I'll be with you. Where does he lead us? If you want to walk with God, where does he walk? In the paths of righteousness. That's where he leads us. Our fellowship is with him and Jesus Christ and the Father. And if you want a fellowship with him, you've got to be walking with him.

You can't be over here and him over here. You're saying your fellowship? And you know what? Can two walk together, except they be agreed? You have to agree with him. He says, these are the standards. You agree with me. So all are going to hear the voice like a trumpet call, like an alarm clock awakening you in the moment. Jesus Christ said, all would be in the resurrection of judgment. It may lead to condemnation if they don't follow it, but they'll have a chance.

God wants everyone alive. And there is an order of the resurrections. I won't read it. 1 Corinthians 15, 22, and 23. There is an order. And we know that 1 Thessalonians 4 tells us that we will be in the first resurrection. Why? We'll be changed at the coming of Jesus Christ. But what about all those who had Christ's coming were not in him? Some may have thought they were Christians, but they died before the resurrection of the dead, and they were never considered.

They were not true Christians. So there's a second resurrection. That's what this day is about. And it's about you and me having the opportunity, the awesome privilege and honor of leading and guiding all those loved ones that you knew. All those loved ones that you knew that never came to the faith of Jesus Christ, that never followed Him.

And I'm not about to judge anybody because God can save anybody He wants to. And frankly, if I'm in the kingdom and I see somebody, I didn't think He was going to be there. You know what? I probably won't be there. If that would be my act, you know what? If I make it, I'll be so glad just to be there. I may look around and see who is... Oh, I'm so happy to see them. Oh, I'm so happy to see them.

What if I thought they didn't deserve it? Hey, that's me. I'm not their judge. Jesus Christ and God is. You know what God told Moses? I can be gracious to whom I will be gracious. You know what? It's not up to me to say, you can't save them, God. Of course He can save them.

It's His prerogative, not mine, and not yours. So in Revelation 20, verses 4 and 5, let's get to the crux of the matter. Revelation 20, because I have a wonderful song to play for you at the end of this sermon. They won't be able to be broadcast to all those who are listening in from all over the world. And by the way, hello to all my friends all over the world.

Britain, Canada, I've been in Israel for the feast, spoken over there. I've been in a number of Germany, Italy, England, all those places I've been for the feast. Observed it with them. Hello to all of you. But in Revelation 20, verses 4 and 5, we read about something that Jesus Christ the Revelator said right toward the end of this book. Revelation 20, verses 4 and 5. Of course, the devil is already being bound in chapter 20, verses 1 to 3.

And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. And I saw the souls, the souls could die. I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded. So there are beheaded souls, I guess, but souls life.

I saw those people who lost their lives when their heads were cut off. Christians, he said, I saw who were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and the Word of God. They were martyred because they believed God's way of life and God's way, who had not worshipped the beast nor or his image, had not received the mark on their foreheads or on their hands, the beast.

And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. Who would that be? Emblematic of, symbolic of you and me. Now we aren't necessarily, you don't have to be martyred to be there. To live and reign with Jesus Christ a thousand years. So if you saw people who were dead, now they're living and reigning, they have to be alive, right? So that was the first Thessalonians 4, 16 and 1 Corinthians 15. But notice this next statement, verse 5. Sometimes it's confusing. But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. So if the rest of the dead did not live again, what does living again mean?

A resurrection. Until the thousand years were finished. In the thousand years, we're already alive. What happened to the rest of the dead? So this is a parenthetical statement, and in fact, five different translations actually put that in parentheses. Where it is said, the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. All in parentheses. So they're saying, these people are going to be saved, these people are going to be the great ones. And then you know what it says? This is the first resurrection. But your thought might be, but what about all the rest of the dead?

The dead in Christ are going to reign with Him. What about the rest of the dead? It's a parenthetical statement. A statement you might ask. Then he says, this is the first resurrection. It's not the parenthetical statement, but what he had said in verse 4.

So you see, if the rest of the dead did not live again until, it means the rest of the dead lived again after. That's a resurrection, and we'll see that. And he said, verse 6, Blessed and holy is He who has part in the first resurrection.

If you have only one resurrection of the body after the soul has been up in heaven, that you have to bring the body back to it so it can sense more of what's going on. That's only one resurrection. But he says here, blessed and holy is He who has part in the first resurrection. You don't enumerate if you only have one. I have one bottle of water up here.

I don't say, this first bottle of water did you look around? Where's the second and third? There are two resurrections. We'll see that clearly spoken of as well. Blessed and holy is He who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power. So if you have a second death, you must have had a second life. Because you first did once. Now you have a second death.

So in order for those second death people to have a chance, before they get a second death, if they were going to get a second death, they have to be resurrected again. That's the second resurrection. But they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him for a thousand years. Brethren, we're going to have such an opportunity.

Because you see, God's plan for mankind, recorded in Hebrews 2, verses 9 and 10, I'm not going to read it, is bringing many children, many children to salvation. And that plan is going to continue. That plan, because God also tells us in 1 Timothy 2, 4, that He wants everyone to come to the knowledge of the truth, who will have all people have a chance to know the truth.

But if there's a deceived world out or a cloudy world, they're not getting the truth. Then, 2 Peter 3, verse 9, he says he wants all to come to repentance. How can you come to repentance if you're going to be resurrected and thrown in the lake of fire? So everybody's going to have a chance, except those who committed the unpardonable sin. If it's unpardonable, it must not be pardonable. It's unpardonable. Don't ever get in that state. I've seen some pretty sad people. One man who was in the church for 5 or 6 years, a beautiful family, left the church.

He called me, wanted to know if I would come visit him. I said, sure! So I met him downtown in Toronto, had lunch with him. He said, I know this is the truth, but I just don't have the energy or strength to do it. He was baptized. Seemed to be doing well.

He and his wife had a little family. Something got in the way. I know it's the truth. I just don't have the energy to do it anymore. That was one of the sad, sad cases of people. Maybe for his sake he wasn't converted.

I'm not going to be his ultimate judge, only God is. But based on what I knew of him and what he told me, that was very sad, very disheartening. You don't want to get into that state. But God wants all people to have an opportunity, a clear opportunity, a plain opportunity for eternal life. And you and I will have the opportunity to model that, to teach them, to guide them, to say, this is the way, walk you in it, and show them the way. We will have the opportunity to show them we care.

We'll have the opportunity even to walk alongside of them if we want to. It appears flesh. Go fishing with them if we want to. Talk about some of the scriptures that they have a question with. They have to learn God's way. They have to believe in God again. No Satan or world to cause a problem.

Everybody in the world will be living a good way. We will have prepared for a beautiful time for them when they come up in the resurrection. Why? We will have had a thousand years to do it. And they will come up into that kingdom of God, come to the kingdom of God, not in it yet, to be led into it. Brethren, it's such a fantastic time that we have ahead of us. You see, God wanted people to set the tone and show the way, and they weren't able to do it. Israel said, oh, you've asked us to do what we will do. And they didn't do.

He said they didn't have a heart. And I understand that. You understand that. But He's going to give them a new heart. Ezekiel 36. He'll give them a new heart. Verse 26. A new heart and a new spirit. Because that first heart, they had, oh, that I wish they had a heart to obey me. Always, they didn't. So we're going to have an opportunity to guide them and help them through, to use their new heart, to use the Spirit of God working with and in them to help them through.

When Jesus Christ came to the earth, His own people rejected Him. Came to His own, they refused to accept Him. John 1, verses 9, 11, and 14. And even though He was born of the tribe of Judah, He was a Jew. They didn't accept Him. They liked Him, but they killed Him.

You killed Him, too, by extension. They rejected the Son of God in the flesh, who came to lead them the way. Israel failed. But you know what? God had a plan for them. Who do you think is going to be the model people to show the way physically? Israel. Zechariah 8, 22, and 23. They're going to come and grab ahold of a man in the skirt of a Jew and say, teach us of God because we heard He's with you.

God's plan will not be foyed, will not be impeded by Satan the devil's prior teaching. God's going to show those people the way. And that is so awesome. The Apostle Paul, when Israel rejected God, he turned to the Gentiles. God loves all peoples. He loves all peoples. He loves all races. He wants everybody to have an opportunity for salvation. And He will give it. You and I have that opportunity to help. All will have an undecieved opportunity to know God and follow the truth. And you and I will have the excitement as our offeratory message brought out.

Are you excited? I look forward to this day so much. I've had the blessing and privilege of speaking on this last day many times. I don't use the same sermon, but frankly it's hard to avoid some of the same scriptures because those are the ones that are key.

What did he mean when he told the disciples or the people of his day? He said, it's going to be easier for those in tired sight than it is for this city. It's going to be easier for the people of Nineveh, for Sodom and Gomorrah, rotten people, in their examples of their day. It's going to be easier for them in the judgment. Why is it going to be easier? Because they'll repent quicker when it's pointed out what they did.

That didn't mean he was giving up on Israel because the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 11, verses 25-27, all Israel will be saved. And Israelites will be the leading people. Why? Where are they going to come to seek the law of God? Not in Bonn, Germany. In Israel, in Jerusalem. And who will they find there? People living God's way. There will be a model people, which God planned for them to be, but they turned away, which they did because they didn't have the heart.

You'll be there to help. 360 billion people will need us to show them the way. There have been a lot of people who have died through the years. Many have died. World wars, diseases, heart disease, by the way, is the leading killer, cancer. All kinds of global disasters. You went through hurricanes, but the Noatian Flood, three to seven million people were estimated to have died in the Flood at Noah's time.

Earthquakes have consumed millions of people through the years. Auto accidents, over millions of people have died since the invention of the automobile 119 years ago. The great, all the leaders, the world leaders, they're going to come alive. The small, the little people, the average little people, they're going to come alive. They're going to all need you and me to comfort them and to show them the way to the kingdom of God. What a great opportunity you and I have. It's a great honor and privilege to help them.

I'm going to just quote a couple of quick quotes for you from past feasts. Let's see if I can find that here where I put it. Here it is. These are quotes from past feasts of what God's people meant to those when they were around them. One from Pocono's, Rhineland Inn and Cottages, when we had the feast in Pocono's. I'm sending this letter to you to express how I feel about the festival that occurred here in Pocono's.

It says in October. Your people exemplified this quote, everything one could possibly want or wish in a human being. Their patience, thoughtfulness, courtesies and manners in young and old alike were beyond belief in this day and age. It certainly restored my faith in humanity and we can all learn a great deal from them. Here's another one. California Highway Patrol, Squaw Valley area. We have noted with interest that the number of attending your annual event increases each year.

Unlike every similar large-scale annual affair, our personnel actually look forward to your people's presence. The unfailing courtesy, consideration, excellent demeanor, deportment and cheerful cooperation is an extraordinary change from the problems we usually face with large groups of people. Just one more. Brethren, you will have the opportunity as spirit beings to influence others. Here's one restaurant manager in Tucson, Pinnacle Pete. He said he's had the opportunity to serve people.

Here's what he gets down to. Your members are a delight to have as guests. They truly exemplify the adage of living your faith. By the dignity, kindness, obvious deep belief in their religion, they have served as an inspiration to us all and as a credit to your organization.

Brethren, you make a difference because God is in you. God is with you. You're going to have that same opportunity in the second resurrection at the Great White Throne Judgment. I'm going to conclude with just two small people share briefly with you. And then we're going to play a song called, Welcome to My World. And I want you to be thinking about somebody you would like to see who didn't die before they had the opportunity to know the truth.

I want you to think about them. And I want you to think how you would feel when you welcome them back to life and into a world that's been built just for them. Our two grandmothers, my wife's grandmother on her father's side, she lived and died in 1984. She was a wonderful lady. She was a great example of kindness, of sweetness, of friendliness. We never heard her say a bad word about anybody in all the years.

We were married in 63, so we knew her for 21 years. I did. My wife knew her longer. She was wonderful, a great example. And then I think about my dad's mother, whom I never met, who's buried in a cemetery in western Pennsylvania that we can't even find her grave.

And I tried. My dad hadn't even tried to go to the cemetery when she died in 1920. We knew approximately where she was, but even the records they had at the funeral home, which my dad remembered, had been washed away. So my wife and I took my dad. We trudged up and down in this small cemetery, looking for a plate, and she'd have a gravestone. Her husband was not very nice to her. Her second husband. This lady died of a broken heart, but she couldn't bring her fourth son, fourth child, across the Mediterranean, the Atlantic, to end up in Pittsburgh area, sponsored by a man who would not let her send for her son that was over there at 12 staying with relatives.

She promised him, I'll save money and I'll send for you. She couldn't speak English, but she went through the streets with little, selling thimbles and spools of thread to make money, clothespins or safety pins.

When she saved it up, the sponsor took it from her. He said, look, when it's time to send for your son, I'll send for him. Give me that money. She saved $50 in one year. She said, I'll never see my son again, and she didn't. She died in childbirth because the ogre that he helped her marry, a 40-year-old bachelor, and I don't mean to say that's anything wrong with 40-year-olds, but this guy, something wrong with him. He abused her. He abused her kids.

And when he died, my dad said, I never hated anybody in life except him.

Couldn't find her grave. We looked. She'll be in that resurrection. I look forward to welcoming her and getting to meet her for the first time in my life. I don't know whom you would like to see, but I'm going to play a beautiful song. It's copyrighted, so I can't play it for the vast audience. I would say you can look up on and go to YouTube and ask for Jim Reeves, our E-E-V-E-S. Jim Reeves, welcome to my world. And you listen to the clarity with which he says this and picture yourself welcoming whomever you long to see at that time back to life. Let's play it.