Fall Festivals

It's been a long, cold winter in the Southern Hemisphere. South America, South Africa, Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand. These areas are completing their winter. Winter is a time that is absent from a growing season. It's a time where people live off the stores that they've been able to set aside. And spring is now coming soon. The onset of spring brings longer days, more sunlight. People are beginning to plant. They're excited about the prospects of some quick crops, some vegetables, some things that will spring up quickly, some of the grains that have been sown in the fall. And now they're able to look forward to getting a little food to get them by until the summer growing season comes on. Here in the Northern Hemisphere, across North America, Europe, Russia, across some of the areas of Northern Asia, we are completing a summer. And now cooler weather is setting in. Plants are dying off. People are bringing in the harvests from this summer's sunshine and rainfall and all the effort that has gone into the crops. It's yielded a bounty of fruits, vegetables, of various grains. And this harvest is going on right now at the top of the world.

God made festivals to celebrate these two growing seasons. We find that the harvests of the early seeding and the growth is a small harvest. It's an important one. It's one where you come out of having used up what you have and you need something, and you need it rapidly, you need it quickly. The Feast of Unleavened Bread, that growing season, finishing up with the harvest of the first fruits, that small early harvest, is very instrumental in telling us about our calling and the hope of the resurrection of the first fruits that God is calling now. And now come the great harvest festivals. At the end of this long growing season, with our long rains, as they're called in East Africa, we have Feast of Trumpets heralding the return of Jesus Christ and the conquering of nations and the conquering essentially of wills. The will of Satan, the will of human nature, self-will will be put down, followed by atonement and a resulting unity of mind, a unity of thinking, a unity of living, the way of living, of purpose and thought will begin to transform this earth once the big troublemaker has been put away. And that's followed by the Feast of Tabernacles, which speaks to the thousand year millennial reign of Jesus Christ on the earth with the saints, and how He will finally have the opportunity, without the involvement of Satan, to let His way be known to all peoples and all nations, beginning with the twelve tribes of Israel, a small remnant of them, as an example nation, as they were always intended to be, finally realizing that and seeing God's way cover the earth as the water covers the ocean. Following that, the last great day, as we call her, the final eighth day of that in-gathering celebration, celebrates the second resurrection, the second general resurrection, where all humanity that's never had a chance to sample God's way, with, in conjunction with His Holy Spirit, will be resurrected to be able to live God's way, unhampered, and finally to extend hands to God and to each other in a way that they've never even considered in their previous life. And these four fall festivals represent hope for the entire world, past, present, and future. It is the hope, even though they don't know it, but it's the hope for the entire world from its inception, back when God created it.

In Matthew 16, verse 28, Jesus gave the disciples a glimpse of the reality of life in His kingdom. We go to Matthew 16. We'll begin in verse 28.

Assuredly, I say to you that there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom. Jesus was going to give them the opportunity to step into that time and see it.

In verse 17, after six days, Jesus took Peter and James and John and led them up on a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them, His face shone like the sun, His clothes became white as the light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with them. They had entered an artificial vision version of the future.

And Peter answered and said to Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here. In other words, this is great. And if you wish, let us make here three booths, one for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah, and we'll just live here. We'll just hang out a while. This is great.

And while He was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him! And when they heard it, they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid.

But Jesus came and touched them and said, Arise, don't be afraid. And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.

And now as they came down from the mountain, He commanded them, saying, Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man has risen from the dead.

They had to come back to reality. They had to come back down to the Roman controlled state there of Palestine, as they called it.

As they would later call it. They had to come back to the politics and the fighting, the selfishness.

What was that like for them? To experience a foretaste of the Kingdom, and yet have to step back in to real life?

Well, will you attend the Feast of Tabernacles this fall? Will you attend these other fall feasts of trumpets, atonement, and the last great day? And if so, what will they mean to you?

Is it just a vacation? A chance to go see some friends? A chance to go see some other area? What will these feasts mean to you? Today I'd like to give some steps that you can use, like the disciples, to experience a foretaste of the Kingdom of God.

These things are really possible, in a sense. You're not going to be going into a vision. You're not going to step into that. But the feasts were actually created so that you can experience a foretaste of the Kingdom of God. The title of the sermon today is, The Fall Festivals, Sampling the Kingdom of God. And I'd like to give you several points here. The first is which, let Jesus Christ be your ruler.

Now this speaks directly, of course, to the Feast of Trumpets, because Jesus Christ is coming back to rule. But, consider this. Without Jesus Christ as your ruler, there's no point in attending any feast, is there? There's no point in coming to church. There's no point in trying to live life. Because you're going to die, eternally, and that's it. That's really what it all boils down to.

But if you repent, repent of not submitting to God, repent of rebelling against God, His laws, His way, and submit to Jesus Christ, and let Him rule your mind, your life, and rule your eternal life for all eternity, then you're going to have wonderful success. And these feasts and the Sabbath and this life that you're pursuing will have great value and meaning and great success. So it really comes down to this one point. Let Jesus Christ be your ruler.

In Psalm chapter 1, let's notice how David begins this book. Psalm chapter 1, verse 1.

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf shall not wither, and whatever he does shall prosper. We want to be tapped into the Holy Spirit, God living in us, into that source of life and letting Him rule and guide us.

Verse 6, For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

In Psalm chapter 23, which many people feel very emotional about, get comfort about, we find that David once again says, I will submit and be ruled by God. That's what the whole chapter is about. It's about submitting to the rule of God. The Lord is my shepherd. That's not a cute term. It means He's the one who tells me what to do. He's the one who owns me. He is the one who's going to shear me when He wants, feed me when He wants, put me in the truck and take me where He wants, and the Lord is my shepherd. I recognize that He is the shepherd.

In verse 2, He makes me to lie down and grieve. He didn't say, oh, if you want to, it might be a good day to go lie down in the green pasture.

He leads me beside the still waters. He leads me in the path of righteousness.

In verse 4, the middle part, You are with me, Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

A rod and a staff are used for a couple of things. One is leading. One is correcting. Wrap that staff around a neck. Pull it back. One is protecting. You can beat off some wolves with a staff.

But there's submission here. And David said, These things comfort me.

In verse 6, he says, Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. And he doesn't say that empty. It's not kind of like a blessing out floating on the Internet.

I mean, goodness and mercy follow you all the days of your life. No, this is a result of having God directing you. These things will happen, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

So there's a whole lot of meaning right there, and it all revolves around letting Jesus Christ be your ruler. So the point is, submit and follow and rely on God and follow His lead.

These are integral to all the events that the Fall Festivals point to. Following Jesus Christ, return of Jesus Christ, conquering the nations. You need to follow atonement.

You don't follow Me. You're out of here, Satan. And the rest will be at one. They're going to be of that submissive mind, Feast of Tabernacles, the whole world following God. Last great day, the entire resurrected world following God. Or, you know, Revelation 21.8.

You're going to die. You're going to be burned up if you don't.

So, let Jesus Christ be your ruler is just a foundational concept to take into the observance of the Fall Festivals, along with every day of our life.

But if we're not going to submit to Jesus Christ and let Him rule us and be submissive, then what's the point of participating in those things which speak to our demise?

You see? That's the reality of it. Point number two. Be at one with God. We just saw how David wanted to be with God and let God be the one who did the thinking. Jesus Christ said, I don't do my own will, but I do the will of my Father. We need that at one attitude that the Festival of Atonement really speaks to.

It gets rid of division and other secondary concepts and conflicting concepts and brings or leaves a unity. It begins to usher in a unity among people once the leadership is all at one. It's important for us who are being called today to be leaders with Christ, to be co-heirs with Him, to be of one mind with Him, and one mind with each other. Jesus said in John 17, verse 17, Lord, let them be one as we are one, I in you, you in me, and we in them. That's the unity that Jesus will have with those who are going to reign with Him at His coming. Just because we say we're in this church, just because we have some noted position in this church, doesn't mean we're going to be with Jesus Christ if we don't have that unity of mind with God, that loving, serving mind. The Bible says, let this mind be in you, which Jesus Christ had. Seek to perform His will as He sought to perform His Father's will. That's how we are at one with God.

The feast experience going to the Feast of Tabernacles begins with traveling through hostile territory. Just as the disciples came off of that mountain, they traveled through some areas and some politics and some other things that eventually would rise up and kill them towards the end of their life or at the end of their life.

You and I, on our way to the feast, will travel through society. We may be on planes that are targets. We may be on roads where things are unsafe. We may stop at facilities and be around people who are trying to take advantage and harm and hurt. We are like sheep in a world of wolves, and we are to be careful.

But this is a very strong witness to us that this is not the Kingdom of God. This society, this time, is not what we are looking for.

Society continues on its course. We will be passing by people. We will be seeing news. It seems like in the fall of the year, the news can be very shocking.

Events take place. Global conflicts, terrorism, weather issues pop up, concerns for safety. But the Day of Atonement promises a time in the future when all will be at one with God's way. That's what Atonement tells us about. We are going to be unified, and humanity is going to eventually be unified.

And these things will be a thing of the past. It says in Isaiah 2, beginning in verse 2, "...Now it shall come to pass in the latter days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established on top of the mountains." The mountain of the Lord's house, the kingdom, mountain referring to a kingdom, a large kingdom, shall be established on top of the other mountains, or on top of the other kingdoms.

It's going to dominate. It's going to conquer. "...And shall be exalted above the hills," the smaller nations. "...And nations shall flow to it." In verse 4 of Isaiah 2, "...Many people shall come and say, Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. And He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.

For out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He shall judge between the nations, and shall rebuke many peoples. And then it says, they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore." Atonement speaks to the beginning of that concept, the end of conflict, the end of self and greed that locks horns and clashes and kills people.

But for now, we exist in that world, and so we have a festival to celebrate that and the means through which that will happen. The third point I'd like to give you is to seek the good life of living God's way. This is represented by the Feast of Tabernacles in the last great day.

Most of us know what it's like to go to the Feast of Tabernacles and have saved our festival tithe. And at the feast have money to spend that is uncommon. One tenth of your income to spend in a little over a week is a lot of money.

And the good life of living God's way is represented by the use of that money. It's intended for us to do something special with it. In comparison, society pursues quick pleasures, quick riches, quick excitement. And the result of those quick endeavors is what we're living with as a world, economically, politically, within human relationships on a local level. And we as humans are paying the price for all of these quick things that we want to jump into.

But ask yourself, how well do you like the world we live in? How well do you like the bed that humanity has made for us? Jesus said in John 10, verse 10, The thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy.

And that's what we're experiencing on the human level is thievery. Thievery of property, thievery of ownership, thievery of relationships, thievery of commitments, thievery of money and goods. People are stealing, and wars are being fought. Families are breaking up. Sometimes people aren't even bothering with the families. They're just going out and stealing what should be families for themselves. And all of this theft ends up killing and destroying. The byproduct is not good. But God offers a different way, and He promotes a different way because He is different.

He is love. He is love and serve and give. And He promotes a kingdom full of loving and serving and giving. Lifelong service is what God is asking of you and me. Lifelong service and assistance to Him and to each other. What is the result of that? Loving and giving and serving your whole life with commitments to God and your fellow man. What is the result? Who knows? Nobody's tried it. I mean, hardly anybody has ever tried it. So it's dismissed out of hand.

Well, that won't work. How good would that do? Only those who live God's way would know. And who does that? Who lives God's way? Most people are busy discounting it. Most people are busy disqualifying that it applies to them. They're compromising with it and saying, Oh, I can get out of it. I can get around it. Who is really, truly living God's way of love and give and serve and obedience in all areas and is therefore living the result?

Well, Jesus says here, I have come that they may have life. He's not coming with the thieves and those who are killing and destroying with that selfish mentality. I am come that they may have life and that they may have it, as the Greek would say, extremely abundantly. It's hard to get those words across that the Greek is telling us.

I've come that they may have life. Well, He didn't come to give them physical life. They're already alive. So He's trying to give them some other kind of life, eternal life. And that they may have life extremely abundantly. Or another definition from the Hebrew would be that they may have it super added. Another one would be over and above. You get the idea there. There's a concept of a type of life that God has that is over the top, that's unfathomable.

It's massively great. And Jesus Christ came that some may have that life. When I read that and try to digest that concept, my way is to remember the analogy of the human and the fly. You have the human, that's you, and you have this fly going around.

Now, fly is a pretty cool little animal, actually. Not an animal, per se, but he's a little living organism that can fly. He can fly, so it's pretty cool. He's got eyes. He can see. He can smell. He's got a little thing that dobs down there. You can taste.

It's pretty neat. Flies can go have fun with other flies and fly around. Being a fly, that's pretty cool. And flies like their life, by the way. If you ever try to take the life from a fly, you'll find out that they want to hang on to that life. They're pretty cool with it. So now you come up to the fly and you say, Now fly! I'll tell you what you do. You let me lead you around with a little staff, a little fly staff.

And I'll tell you what to do. And I'll feed you what you ought to eat. And fly you where you ought to go. And you do what I tell you to do. And at the end of your life, I will make you into a human, like me. Now that'd be pretty cool, wouldn't it? Because you're a human and you know what it's like to be a human. You know all the things humans know and can do and wow! So much better than being a fly, even though you can't fly. Now, try convincing the fly of that. Talk to him about it. See if you can get him to understand even a little bit about it.

Well, that's like God trying to tell you about his kingdom and this life where Jesus says that you can have life that's super added, extremely abundant. It's over the top. But we don't really understand. You know, God doesn't really go to any great lengths to try to explain to us something that we can't understand. Because like the fly, we are so limited in our ability to even perceive what it's like to be a spirit being in the God family, on the God level.

So it's indescribable as what it's like in the kingdom of God. It's unimaginable. God really doesn't even try too hard to write a book there of definitions and formulas and explanations. Rather, the feasts of God provide us with good understanding on a human level. They're good experiences for us to sample. To sample the things that go into the making of those who will be in the God family and the pleasures that will be in the God family. So it's a sampling of types. It's very important then that we, as the title of the sermon says, sample the kingdom through the feasts.

That we don't let this get away and become something else and miss the great lessons. It'll be the same during the millennium, the great white throne judgment, evidently, because they will learn about the excellence of godly living.

They will sample the various types of the kingdom of God, of being under the government of God at that time, of seeing the beautiful surroundings here on earth. But it's physical. It's not the real spiritual kingdom of God. It's just the type. They will sample repentance, living the way of God, salvation. In Isaiah chapter 25 verses 6 through 9, we see that everybody is going to sample this. Eventually, Isaiah chapter 25 will begin in verse 6.

And in this mountain, the Lord of hosts will make for all people a feast of choice pieces.

We experience this at the Feast of Tabernacles, but here their life is going to be this. A feast of wines on the leaves, of fat things full of marrow, of well-refined wines on the leaves. Is that what it's about? Is it about just picking out and getting fat and having everything really easy and everything tastes really good?

Or are these things just types of how good it will be to be a spirit being and live forever in the family of God? Just some visual or human sensation that lets you know with God it's going to be really great. Trust Him.

And He will destroy on this mountain the surface of the covering cast over all people. It's going to open their eyes.

The veil that spread over all nations. Verse 8. He will swallow up death forever and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces. Eventually, this is where it's headed. Life in the family of God and the spirit family of God. The rebuke of His people He will take away from all the earth. Verse 9. It will be said in that day, Behold, this is our God. We have waited for Him and He will save us.

This is the Lord. We have waited for Him and we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.

Over in Jeremiah 31, verse 11, there is a parallel to this. God is going to eventually redeem Jacob. He's going to bring back the twelve tribes of Israel or a remnant of them from captivity. And you are a type of that event. You and I have already been redeemed by the blood of Christ as a type of Israel, a spiritual type of Israel. To work with Jesus Christ in the millennium to bring back Jacob. Jeremiah 31, verse 11. For the Lord has redeemed Jacob, just as He's redeemed you and me, and ransomed Him from the hand of one stronger than He. He pulled us back from Satan. Therefore, they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, streaming to the goodness of the Lord. Just as He pulls Satan out, pulls them away, and now the Feast of Tabernacles and the world tomorrow, they stream to the goodness of the Lord for the wheat and the new wine and the oil for the young of the flock and the herd, their souls, and what's a soul? Themselves.

They, as people, shall be like a well-watered garden, and they shall sorrow no more at all. And then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance? There will be activities, there will be fun, socializing, the young and old men, together. For I will turn their mourning to joy, I will comfort them and make them rejoice rather than sorrow.

I will satiate the soul of the priests with abundance, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, says the Lord.

So seek the good life. The good life now in living God's way of life is important, and the results of that are types of what it will be like to live in His family forever.

When you go to the Feast of Tabernacles, seek the good life of living God's way, and the results will be kind of like all those nice things that you have at the Feast when you saved your second tithe. It's a type.

But we need to come out of this world every day, and during the Feast, and seek the goodness of God's way of life.

And the fourth point is to enjoy the abundance. We've already seen that in God's kingdom there's going to be extreme abundance, extreme pleasures.

That His right hand is joy forevermore, and just incredible things.

Remember, Jesus Christ said, I'm come that they may have life, and they may have it extremely abundantly.

He's talking about in the kingdom. He's not talking about your business pursuits now.

He's talking about if you really want to live this way of life, and we'll get tested in it, that eventually you're going to have it extremely abundantly.

Now, rejoicing the abundance is geared at the Feast towards obedience to God's command to save festival tithe.

And again, we can drift, we can make excuses, we can compromise, and you get there and say, oh, you know what?

I don't have enough to really rejoice and have the abundance. This really isn't typifying or picturing anything.

Festival tithe is an interesting thing. There's a family this month that cannot afford to buy enough groceries to eat.

But they're going overseas to one of the nice, luxurious feast sites, and they're going to have a great time. How do you figure that?

Well, they saved their festival tithe when they were making good income, and now with the economy downturned, they have their festival tithe, but they're not making enough to eat.

And what a wonderful thing to go off to the feast and rejoice and enjoy the abundance that God intends.

God's festival tithe command is his blessing to a unique people, and it really is a blessing.

It's God's thing. It's not about the church, it's not about you and me, it's not about compromise, it's not about us using our logic and figuring it out.

To those people who obey God and let Jesus Christ rule over them, and they are faithful in that, there's a unique thing that takes place. It's just very unique.

And it's his blessing to these unique people. These people, he said, are not typically wealthy.

He didn't call the high in the world, the high and the mighty and the noble. He called us fairly common people, and yet we do uncommon things. Each feast with a tenth of an annual income, there are just unusual experiences that God is able to bring to us as his people. And over a lifetime of these experiences adding up, it is amazing how a person will develop, how the worldview will change, how some of the worldly cravings will disappear simply because those things often are ours, only for eight days.

But we sample and experience and bump into things that God wants us to, and it's a wonderful, wonderful thing.

In Deuteronomy chapter 14, verse 23, it speaks of the festival tithe. Let's just notice a few things that God says that it's for. Deuteronomy chapter 14, verse 22. Now, I'm not sure of your experience. We could all have a wonderful time. Maybe we could do this afterward while we're having snacks. What are some of the blessings you received from tithing? Tithing the tithe that God expects? We call that first tithe, or festival tithe, or the tithe every three years for the individuals who are specified there in the Scripture. What's that been like? I said on the porch last night with my wife, and we had candlelight dinner, and just reminisced about the incredible blessings that God has given that just keep coming. It's just fabulous when you live this way and you try with your whole heart imperfectly. I'm not trying to be a model, but I'm just saying that cause and effect, God's way does work. And here we see in verse 23, you will eat before the Lord your God in the place where He chooses to make His name abide. There are certain rules and regulations that go with this. The tithe of your grain and of your new wine and your oil, of the first born of your herds and your flocks, that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always. There's lessons here. It's not just, oh, time to go on vacation, and it's me, me, me, me, me. No, it's about God that you may learn to deeply respect the Lord your God always.

But if the journey's too long for you that you're not able to carry the tithe or the place where the Lord your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, when the Lord your God has blessed you, then you shall exchange it for money and take the money in your hand and go to the place which the Lord your God chooses. And you shall spend that money for whatever your heart desires. No, you can't spend that money any way you want. You have to do all of these things first.

You have to save it. You have to convert it. You have to take it. You have to go to that location. And when you're there, then you get to see what your character's like. You can spend it on whatever you want to. And there's some testing there. Are you really a godly person? For oxen or sheep, wine or similar drink, whatever your heart desires, so shall you eat there before the Lord your God and you shall rejoice you in your household. It's not for buying cars and sports equipment, giving yourself a feast gift that you leave home and all this stuff. You see what it's for? It's to go there, to live and to eat and to rejoice you in your household.

Notice, rejoicing family is the primary responsibility. Because you're also told in another place to remember the fatherless, the widow, the stranger, the Levite. In John 13, verse 35, By this we'll all know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. What do we do with that? You can spend it any way you want.

What do you do with that?

God wants you to enjoy a type of abundance. Now, salvation is literal, extreme abundance forever. Those two fit together, and they should fit together if there's going to be any real meaning to you or going to the feast and enjoying the abundance. Because salvation is extreme abundance, and feasts are typed to teach us about these future realities. Like, for instance, the millennial reign of Christ in the saints. It says in Amos 9 and verse 13, Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when the plowmen shall overtake the reaper. Now you've got trouble in the field there. Everything's so fertile, it's time to put in a new crop, and they haven't got the old crop out yet. Wish we had that problem in East Africa right now.

The treader of the grapes is trampling on the one who's trying to sow the grape seeds. Get the next crop going. The mountain shall drip with sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it. It's an extremely abundant life, is what God is saying in His kingdom. And it's God's gift to those who try to emulate Him, to love and to give and to serve. The fifth point I'd like to make is enjoy the beauty of the creation at the feast. Now, we all like the beauty of creation. I think all humans love to run around with their cameras and take pictures, and then come home, put them on their Facebook, and say, Oh, I went here, and I went there, and I went here, and I went there.

But what's all this beauty about? God typically seems to pick sites that are beautiful. Not too many downtown sites, or if they are downtown sites, they're not right next to an ocean, or something that's very natural, very beautiful. These inspiring environments really are biblically motivated, not vacation spot motivated. It says in Romans 1 and 20, For since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead.

And it's a wonderful thing at the feast to be in an environment where you can step out and see things that God made. You get away from things that man has made, and see things that God has made. In fact, when you think of anything that man has made, it involves destruction. From the sowing of a field, you have to destroy it to plant something. When you make a house, you have to destroy a forest, and then you have to destroy rocks and take down mountains.

You just destroy to get copper, and you destroy to get plastic, and you make this big mess, and then you end up with a house that says, I hate that! You can almost say, I destroyed a house. I destroyed a freeway. I destroyed all kinds of stuff, and look what's happened, this nice building.

But when God makes something, nothing gets destroyed. He just makes it. It's really nice. We were watching some births this morning on a video that we have, a nature video, horses and cattle and various animals that give birth to the little ones. How interesting! They don't destroy anything. He's got an animal, giraffe, or whatever, and they're walking along, and the mama decides, oh, I think I'll have a baby. Now I've got a baby. Nothing.

You didn't have to chop down a forest or dig out something. There's something there. It's wonderful. And so we can be inspired by the things God made, even His eternal power in Godhead. And of course, it's what the Feast in the Kingdom is about. It's about God being the head of a family. How much will you experience a type of God's kingdom at the Feast this year, in particular during the Feast of Tabernacles? Will you go to the Feast if you're able to? God's presence will be at all of the Feast sites where He's placed His name.

That should be what the Feast is really about. It's not about amusement parks or bus tours or whatever. It's to strengthen our vision of who we are and why we're here and our purpose, our commitment, our relationship, our appreciation for God the Father and Jesus Christ and who they are and what they're doing, and their developing family to appreciate and develop stronger relations, unified relations with the developing family of God. It's time for us, it's a time for us to rekindle our enthusiasm and our commitment for the Kingdom of God. The sixth point I have is to have the proper focus at these festivals that are coming up.

One is prayer involving God and seeking Him. It's good to seek God with prayer the way David did. I'd encourage you to go analyze the Psalms in the way that David prayed in particular. David would speak about an issue that was important to him, but he would immediately flip that into God and then how God will change that thing in the future among the nations. He would speak to the pain that he had and then he would speak to the law. And then he would desire that everyone would come under the law.

And then he would worship God and say, God, how great is your law? It never stays with David. He doesn't just get his list out. Oh, dear God, here's what I need today. Here's how I feel today. Here's what I want today. Here's what I hope for today. And I'm going to leave the list with you. No, he may be dying at the moment or being chased or whatever, but it immediately rolls over into God, into his law, into his way, and that all nations need to ultimately obey that or be destroyed.

Again, that concept is really what the feasts speak to. And if we pray in that way, certainly talking to God about any issue that's important, then getting it off of yourself and onto God, to his laws, to his family, to his plan, which we're living out of the feasts, and the great solution is your kingdom come and your will be done, then we truly will have the proper focus at the festivals.

It's easy for us to think of this world as a reality, said Mr. Roy Holiday in a letter that he wrote to the church back in 2003. He said, we all lead busy lives that place increased demands on our time, our energies, and our thinking. And as wonderful as these daily activities are, do we accomplish them only for their own purposes? Our lives today are to prepare for our future in the kingdom of God and to announce and promote the message of that kingdom today by example and word. Is attending the feasts our prayers, our studies, our personal ambitions, are they in concert with that concept?

He says, when we attend the Feast of Tabernacles, we will hear inspiring messages of the kingdom of God motivating us to take action now. We will once again have the chance to view the real-life picture of the coming reality that will replace this temporary dying world. Satan's world is right now attempting a one-man rule, or a one-world government of some sort. Meanwhile, we are seeking one world under God, one world with God as its head. And we celebrate that every Sabbath day. We celebrate that every feast day. So we need to have that proper focus at the festival of involving Him as the focus of our life's purpose.

Well, in conclusion, please determine today that the fall festivals are going to be a renewal for your walk with God. Look at them as exciting types of the plan of God that you need to jump in and be involved with every day. Let a foretaste of the Kingdom show you the spiritual joy and over-the-top abundance that will exist in the Kingdom. Sample the Kingdom through selfless service, through giving, sharing, assisting, through kindness, generosity, and a big dose of humility.

In 1 Corinthians 2, verses 9-10, "'I has not seen nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.'" It's never even come to the human mind, except to yours. How do you think that happens?

Well, he says in verse 10, "'But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit.'" May God bless you with a wonderful, meaningful Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement, Feast of Tabernacles, and Last Great Day.