Feast 2020 Chronicle: To God be the Glory

Well, I mentioned that this is a feast unlike any other feast. Sometimes when we go through the things that we do, it's awfully good, I've been told, to chronicle the things that we have gone through. Many people over the years have said you should journal things so that you can go back and look at them later and remember what it is that God has done or what the events in your life that add up to who you are are. I know in the times past, a few times, when we've been a feast, I've written a little journal on postcards. We were here and we did this and this and that and whatever. And as we move from place to place, I pull those cards out and I think, oh yeah, that's right. We did learn that this year and that was an interesting thing to happen. I don't do it well enough, but I know that God tells us and the Bible tells us to remember the things that we've been through. To remember and tell of His glory and tell of the things that He does. And wherever you are at the feast this year, I know that there are stories that you have to tell about how God worked and what His hand that you could see His hand in the feast site. And certainly in Daytona, there were many things that I looked at this year and it was crystal clear from as we were planning the feast all the way up until just the last few days that I could see God's hand clearly. And today I want to talk about that. I want to give a sermon that's not like my typical sermon. I'm going to tell you some stories and I want to take them and I want you to glorify God. The whole purpose of this sermon is to glorify God because that is who we are here for. The reason we have any future, the reason we have any hope at all is because of God and to Him goes all the glory. So I want to have got four or five specific things and I could probably fill two or three sermons with a lot of detail of what went on at the feast. But I'm going to talk about four or five things here that as you experience the feast in Daytona and you can put your own record in if you went someplace else, the things that you saw, because if we look for God's hand, we see it. And it's so comforting and so encouraging and inspiring when we do see that. So I'm going to talk about some things and I'm going to give you some verses that popped into my mind during the course of the feast as these things were happening that helped me see this is what God's plan is. Wasn't always clear, but to see it unfold was amazing. The first verse I want to turn to is Matthew 5.

So if you'll turn with me to Matthew 5, a very well-known verse. It actually, I guess if we had a theme in Daytona this year, it would have been perhaps the verse, the scripture that was on our cover page of our brochure.

And we had on there a picture of the Ponson Litt Lighthouse and Matthew 5.16 on that. Let me begin in Matthew 5 verse 14, because as events unfolded in Daytona Beach, these verses became very evident to me and showed us just who we are and the difference that having God in our lives make us and the effect that we have and the impression that we leave on people that we may not even realize.

Matthew 5 verse 14 says, you are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. And wherever we were at the feast this year, we were like that city on a hill. In Daytona, in Daytona, the 700 people that were there, we were alight. They were watching what was going on.

They were well aware that this was the biggest group that they had in Daytona since this COVID crisis began outside of the graduations that they had that just lasted for a few hours. They were well aware. If you were in Gatlinburg or wherever you were, they were aware of what was going on there. And there was a reason they even allowed you in to that city. And that became evident to me in the course of planning.

He says, you are the light of the world. A city that's set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. That they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

You know, before the feast ever began, when we were planning it and all the COVID thing hit, you know, we were told first by Daytona, they couldn't allow more than 300 in that building at a time in the room that we had contracted for. But then they said, you know what, we can move you into this room.

And then there was a bigger room, the 94,000 square foot building that we had there. And they said, you could take up to 1,116 people in this room, safely distanced, approved by the city. And I watched these things unfold, and I kept hearing about the city has approved it, because as I would go around and talk to the host, not hospitals, but the hotels and some other vendors there in Daytona Beach, they would say the city is allowing that many people to come into that convention center.

I said, yeah, it's all been approved. All the seating has been approved. We've got social distancing to every letter that you can imagine. And people were surprised, but they allowed it to happen. But I watched what was going on with that. And I knew that God was watching over us because the city just seemed to give us favor. Now, I know there were some people in the convention bureau that remembered the church back from the 1980s when they met there several years.

And they had very good things to say about the church back then. It was always a very good group. And it taught me, look at our example here, 30 years later, there are people who still work at that convention center that still remember the example set by the people back in the 80s. Some remember 2010, a very well-behaved group. So they were very in the city. I must have been told that because they approved, you know, up to 1,116 to be in that room that we had, all with six-foot distancing, everything laid out, no surprises to anyone.

You know, we are God's people. The way we behave, I think we take it for granted because we're very good people. We are led by God's Spirit. And we are different than the world around us. I think we would be amazed if we were convention planners or hotel managers, and we saw other groups come in that destroy, keep people up all night, that are just respectful. You know, it's a mark of God's people that when people see us, they like us, right? They like the way we behave, the way they like the way our children are. We do set a good example.

And that's because of God's Spirit, and that's because of our belief and our following Him. And it's so gratifying to hear. You know, every year we, these coordinators, and you probably hear, you know, the standard things, what a nice group you are, etc., etc. And those are all nice things to hear. But this year was a little bit different from some of the things that I heard. You know, as we were talking about, or this 800 that we had registered, only 700 showed up in Daytona Beach, which 700 showed up, which was a nice number, and still a big number there in that hall.

You know, there were things that were said that I kind of tucked away in my mind and thought, I wonder what they mean by that, or what are they thinking? But as we did the 800, you know, as we got the convention center approved, you know, then it was like, well, what can we do? We must have one activity so people can be together, so they can bond together, and just have fun together, and not just in that convention center.

And so I tried a number of things, and the door was shut on all of them. You know, early on, we had the restaurant restrictions and things like that, and it's like, no, can't do more than that. No, can't do more than that. And it's like one by one. But the Daytona Lagoon, you know, is right next door. And I think many of you went to that family day activity.

And I have heard not one complaint about it, about it. I think it was a wonderful activity. I was impressed with everything they had there, and the fact that we were able to get that for just the church people was such a blessing.

But as we were working on that, the owner and their event manager, you know, wanted to do it, but they said, we're going to have to get this approved. And I thought, well, okay, we'll see what happens. So then they called back after a few days, and they said, okay, you're approved for up to 500 people to come.

And that surprised them. And I thought, well, we won't have 500 people go. But, you know, we ended up with 387 going that day, which was more than half of the attendance of the feast, which was good. But how they explained it was, you know, the city said, well, they've got this group of 800 that are there in the Convention Center, and they're kind of going to be to themselves. They're a group that's there. They're going to be contained in that area. And if that group goes to the lagoon, kind of the impression was they're kind of a family.

And if they're there, and they have this place all to themselves, and no one else coming in, we're okay with it. We'll approve the 500 people to go there. And I got this sense, well, first of all, that God was guiding this, but they kind of saw us as a family. This group, if they are there by themselves in the center, and if it's just them in there, everything will be okay. And as it turned out, everything was okay.

But it was a gratifying thing to hear that they saw, and since there's something different, there's something different about this group, that it'll be okay, okay, if we allow them to go to that park and have complete, you know, complete and exclusive use of it. You know, that continued. That continued. After the feast, I had to stay on a few other extra days to wrap things up, and then some matters with some people in the hospital as well. And I went back to the lagoon on Tuesday, and a lady by the name of Brittany was there. She was the one who we worked with. She was our event coordinator, if you will.

And we hit it off the first time we met because we started talking about things, and she mentioned that she used to be the event coordinator for the Indiana Pacers. And, of course, we spent 20-21 years of our lives in Indianapolis, and I'm a Pacers fan, so we could exchange all those stories about that. And she was talking about all that, and she got tired of Indiana, which I understood. And so she came down here, she took this job to be event coordinator down here, and she was excited about doing this. It was going to be the largest group that she had had in the year that she'd been down there, half of which was consumed by this COVID crisis. And so afterwards, you know, I came by, we were talking, and I could tell she was sincere. She wasn't just being, you know, the polite self. And she said, you know, Rick, she goes, I want to tell you, your group, your group that was there, is the finest group I have ever worked with in my life. Of all the events I did with the Pacers, of everything I have ever done in event, in coordinating events, I have never worked with a better group of people than yours. They were polite, they were kind, they didn't fight, they didn't muscle each other. She goes, it was a pleasure. And the owner was impressed as well.

And she said, I sure hope you come back next year. And I said, oh, we definitely are. We definitely are. But you know, it's gratifying to hear those things, because it says, what we believe and what we do does make a difference. We are examples to the world. We are lights to the world. And when they look at the other groups they have, and they think, and they measure it against, what's different about these people? Well, as it says here in Matthew 5, give God the glory. He's the one, He's the reason that we are the way we are, because of His Spirit and because of what He teaches us. If you turn over to 1 Peter 2, you know, just being through some of the things, and the other things that were said from the convention center as well, and how they handled the early COVID, singular COVID case that we had, you know, made new, gave me, I guess, new meaning, if you will, not really new meaning, but enhanced meaning of 1 Peter 2, verses 9 through 12, verses that we read often. But it made me realize who we are, and that God is working with us, and that's something that should be so comforting to us. 1 Peter 2 9, you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Always to His glory, always the things we do to have God be praised, to have Him be honored, to have Him be recognized, that when people see us, they glorify God. You were not once, you were once were not a people, verse 10, but are now the people of God who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

And then he says in verse 11, Beloved, I beg you, as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, when you go out in the world, behave appropriately, behave like God's people, behave with the respect and everything that we learn and are taught, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that even when they speak against you as evildoers, and no one was speaking against us as evildoers in Daytona or any other fisight you were at, but there may become a time that they will, that they disagree with the things that we say, disagree with the precepts that we teach, and when we don't give in to the ways of the world and the ideas of the world.

That's not today, but likely in the future. Having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works, which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation. So every time we step out, every time we go to the feast, every time we're in public, every time we're visible as a people, they will glorify God.

One day they will understand why we are the way we are and why the kingdom that we picture at the Feast of Tabernacles is going to be such a tremendous, or the millennium, is going to be such a tremendous time for people on earth. Well, you know, speaking of the family day, we had an unusual occurrence, if you will, in Daytona. The first three days of the feast were overcast. They were very, very cloudy, and they rained every day. And it was unusual, and it appeared, looking at all the forecasts, that that was going to continue throughout the entire feast. And so on Monday, I went over to the lagoon because we had the family day activity on Tuesday, just to make sure everything was in place, that we were, you know, going to be orderly when everyone came in, how it was going to work, how the tickets were going to be distributed and everything. But we talked about, you know, the weather as well. What happened if, you know, it was going to rain? Everyone agreed to that. There wasn't one forecaster anywhere in Florida that was saying it's going to be anything other than overcast and rainy on that Tuesday as well. So we talked about that, and they said, well, their policy is if it rains, as long as there's not thunder and lightning, the show goes on. So everyone's at wet anyway, so we would do that. But if it's thundering and lightning, if it was more than 30 minutes, you know, we talked about, well, do we have to have a rain day? Do we have to reschedule it? But we never got to that conversation because it was like, well, we haven't seen any thunder or lightning. Let's just take it and leave it as it is. But we all left, and everyone assumed it was going to be overcast and rainy because that's what it was. On Tuesday morning, I woke up, and I thought my wife had turned a light on in the in the bedroom. So I thought, why is she turning that light on?

I opened my eyes, and it was the sun. It was the sun that was shining against every forecaster's forecast anywhere in the area. And I looked out the window, and I couldn't do anything but thank God and just be in awe at the fact that for our simple little family day, a feast activity in Daytona, that he had parted the clouds, and that the sun shone against, and no one expected it. Now, as we went to services that day, people were talking about the sun, even the convention center. It's like, what did you do? The sun is out today and whatever, and they knew we were having a family day. I went over there, and they said, what did you do? We didn't even see, didn't even think there was possibility. It's a perfect day for family day. Well, they kind of knew. They kind of knew what the answer was. But, you know, it's an opportunity to glorify God when you see these things, even in little things like that that are so, you know, when you think of everything that God is involved in, that he would be there and that he would clear the air for a family day at a feast site was comforting and warming to me, knowing that he cared that much about his people, and he was showing his power. He was showing that he has command over everything. And sometimes we forget that. Sometimes we look at things and we think, oh, we can't do that. I'm afraid to do this. We can't do that. I can't go there because it's going to rain. And we listen to everyone's forecast, and we listen to everyone's complaint, and we forget God is in control of everything. If it's his will, he will make it happen. And it was his will that that family day was going to be on. And I knew the family day was going to happen. I never worried about that because I saw the doors opened. I thought, oh, this is of God with everything that's been approved, everything that's going on. This is God's. This is God's. Put his blessing on this, and this will happen. I have to say I didn't expect the sun, though. I didn't expect the sun to shine. I thought it's just going to be an overcast day. I hoped it wouldn't rain, but I never expected the sun. So it was an impressive thing to me to know that God cared much about that. But it did remind me, as I thought about the weather, of an episode back in Matthew 8 with Jesus Christ. And there was a time of weather there where his disciples were a little concerned about the weather, what it was going to be like. And he made quite a statement for them that we can remember in our lives, not just for a family day, but anything that comes our way to remember that our God can move mountains. Our God can do things we can't even imagine. He certainly commands the weather. Matthew 8 and verse 24. Here are the disciples. They're in a boat. A great tempest comes along in verse 24, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But Christ was asleep. His disciples came to him and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us. We're perishing. But he said to them, why are you fearful, O you of little faith?

Over a wind, because none of them saw anything other than this wind could tip us over. We could sink here. Why are you fearful, O you of little faith? Then he arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. So the men marveled, saying, Who can this be? That even the winds and the sea obey him. Even the winds and the sea obey him. Even the sun obeys him. Even the clouds obey him when he says, part and depart. God has control over everything. And all too often, we don't give him the credit. All too often, we don't think of the majesty he has and the power that he has. And give him credit and give him due for what he does for us. Back in Psalm, Psalm 147.

David. I'm assuming this is David who wrote this Psalm. He talks about God's might as well. You know, I won't turn to Job 38, but you can turn to Job 38 and read through that when God, you know, as he's making Job aware of his power, talks about all the things that he commands. You know, who sends the east wind? Who sends the snow? Who sends the ice? Who melts the ice? Who does all these things? And Job is brought to recognition of him. Yeah, all these things we take for granted, God is in control. And it's good for us to be reminded God is in control. Psalm 147 in verse 15 says, he sends out his command to the earth. His word runs very swiftly. He gives snow like wool. He scatters the frost like ashes. He casts out his hail like morsels. Who can stand before his cold?

He sends out his word and melts them. He causes his wind to blow and the waters flow.

It's all in God's hands. And when we watch, and when we see God's hands, and when we stop back and meditate and just don't think, oh, that was just a coincidence. The more I live, the more I realize where God, there is no coincidence, he is in control of everything. The good things in life, the bad things in life, the trials that we have, even the incidents that occur in our conversation, sometimes there's a reason for them. A little later, I'll talk about, you know, one of those things that happened to us at the feast in a conversation that was so interesting in the aftermath of it. But God is in complete control. We saw that at Daytona this year. Maybe you saw that at whatever feast site you were in as well. Never discount. Never just overlook it and just shrug it off and say, oh, that's just, you know, that was just coincidence or that was a nice thing that happened. Now it was God. It was God who did that. Well, the other thing that I think that, for me, that really set the feast apart are the messages that we heard. I don't know how many of you know, but every year before the feast, the coordinators have a speakers meeting where everyone who's scheduled to speak at the feast, we get together by Zoom or another computer thing, and we talk about the messages that people are planning to give. It's a good opportunity to just kind of see that we don't have duplication of messages, opportunity for other ministers to say, oh, did you think of this first? Did you think of this? And this might fit in well with it. And it's usually done, you know, three to four weeks ahead of the feast, so people have time to go back and do that.

And this year, as we did that speakers meeting, and I haven't told Debbie when it was done, it lasted longer than normal, but I said, you know, that was probably the most enjoyable speakers meeting I've ever been part of. The messages that people have prepared that they're planning to give are just really, really good. And what a good group of men we had working. It was just a great atmosphere in that. It always is, but this year was just a little bit different. And as I sat in the feast and listened to message after message after message, I was so impressed. And I was always, and I was consistently thanking God for the way those messages were delivered because they were so good. They were so timely. They were so appropriate. They were so well presented.

And unlike, you know, I don't say this lightly, you know, I think it was the best. I do say it was the best feast we've ever been part of. And from the speaking and the messages that were given there, I was just so, so pleased with what everything that went on. And I know God inspired it. And I know that He made it all possible. And we give Him glory because the messages that are given are not given, you know, by people. They're inspired by God, the good messages. And that's what that's what we all recognize. You know, as I was sitting there during the feast of Psalm 23, popped into my mind. Psalm 23 and verse 5. Psalm 23 verse 5 says, You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

You know, at Daytona this year, we might have been limited in some of the things that we could do with restaurants and things like that. But the spiritual feast was beyond compare. God prepared a beautiful, full feast for us in Daytona Beach. And I'm sure wherever you went, you experienced the same thing. The spiritual food and the spiritual provision that was made there could only have come from God because it was so, so satisfying. It was so, so rich. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup runs over. You know, we might not have been able to have the wall-to-wall activities that sometimes the feast is that could kind of get in the way of the meaning of the feast. But this year, this year, the spiritual meaning of the feast, I hope for all of you, because it did for me, shone through like it had not been before. You know, we go to the feast not just to participate in activities and go to the amusement parks and to, you know, see the greatest sights that are out there and everything. We go to the feast to learn of God's way of life, to learn of His kingdom. Or, as He says in Deuteronomy 14, go to the feast so that you have the fear of God before your eyes. Every year we do that. The fear of God, when you see His hand at work, when you see what He does, it should give us fear, the right kind of fear, the awesomeness of who we worship, and the God we follow, and the God that has chosen us to be part of His family. He prepared quite a rich meal. He prepared quite a rich meal for us back in, or forward, I guess, in Psalm 104.

It talks about the meals that we have as well. And we can see in these verses where God is talking about how He feeds the animals of the earth and takes care of them. Of course, we know He feeds us, and He has our provision at heart, our physical provision, but we also see the spiritual element of His feeding as well. Psalm 104, and verse 10, says, He sends the springs into the valleys, they flow among the hills, they give drink to every beast of the field, the wild donkeys quench their thirst. By them, the birds of the heavens have their home, they sing among the branches.

He waters the hills from His upper chambers, the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your works.

God makes provision for every animal, He makes provision for all of the earth, He provides what we need on a physical basis, and watches over all those animals, His creation in addition to us.

He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, and vegetation for the service of man, that He may bring forth food from the earth. Verse 15, He says, and wine that makes glad the heart of man, oil to make his face shine, and bread which strengthens man's heart. In a wine, oil, and bread, they are staples of people's diets, things that God gives us. But you know in that verse, there's a spiritual element as well. Wine, oil, and bread that makes mankind's existence, that strengthens his heart. The wine, every Passover that represents the spilt blood of Jesus Christ. The bread that represents the unleavened bread that we are to be eating every day, and the oil of his spirit. He feeds us physically, and He feeds us richly, spiritually too, in ways that we can only imagine, and that He is constantly doing, if we are looking for it, if we are aware of that, and if we have His will in His way, always at the forefront of our minds, even when we're doing those mundane, everyday things in life that we do. They're all there. They're all there for a purpose. God feeds us. He takes care of us. You know, the sermons were very well, very good, but there's another part of the service there in Daytona that I thought was very good as well. You know, before the feast, it came out that there wouldn't be any choirs, there wouldn't be any orchestral ensembles to accompany hymns and things like that, and I know that some of the special music coordinators are like, what do we do without a choir?

But I'll have to say, I'll have to say that I thought the special music at Daytona, and a few of you here in this congregation had a part in that special music in Daytona, and I hope maybe we can do an encore one day here. I thought the special music at Daytona was absolutely outstanding.

In fact, I've mentioned to the sound people, when they get done with posting the sermons, that we should have kind of a CD or something on there of the special music, because the choir pieces, the virtual choir pieces were good, but the solos that were sung at Daytona Beach were some of the most inspiring I've ever heard. It was just a really rich feast. It was almost like that was the dessert. That was the dessert to the very fine meal that we had.

You know, whenever you look at God and His people celebrating, singing is always part of it.

You know, singing is there. People rejoice. When people rejoice, they sing.

You know, you can go back and you look at the songs in the Bible. Miriam, when she, when Israel passed or came out of Egypt, they sang a song to Him. Moses in Deuteronomy 32 sang a song. We read in Revelation of the songs that are being sung to God in glory to Him and in praise to Him, singing is part of our life. And people sing when they glorify God. And I hope that we remember that and we appreciate the special music that's there. And the words that are in some of those songs are very, very riveting when we look at them and when we pay attention to them and take them to heart. God is so, so pleased when He hears His people singing. He is so, so pleased at the special music. He is so, so pleased when He sees the complete palette of what He's given us and His people appreciating the fine meal that He has given and that they recognize it came from Him.

If you will, turn back to 1 Thessalonians. 1 Thessalonians 2.

In verse 13, you know, it's such a blessing to be able to go to the Feast of Tabernacles and to have, you know, eight days and plus the opening night. So nine days in a row that we are in each other's presence, that we're in God's present, and that we have a message every single one of those nine days. It's a tremendous, tremendous blessing. And we should never, ever discount why God had us, has us go away to the Feast. If we don't do it, we don't understand. We don't understand what He's working with us. And we are cheating ourselves out of part of the calling and the blessings that He wants us to have. Chapter 2, 1 Thessalonians, verse 13.

Paul writes, he says, Every single one of us have heard the word of God from preaching, from sermons. Every single one of us have learned and grown as a result of what we've heard over the years. It came from God.

And as Paul says, we thank you without ceasing, because when you receive the word of God, which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, you recognized it's not that guy who's saying it. You welcomed it not as the word of God, or the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe. You know, the Bible is the basis for everything we do, everything we preach. Every sermon I'm sure you heard at the face, and certainly every sermon you heard at Daytona was based in the Bible. And when it's based in the Bible, believe it. Believe it and give God glory that you're hearing it and you have the opportunity to hear it. And pray, pray that he continues to provide that to all of his people, all of his people, all over the world. It's a rich, rich blessing that comes from God. Certainly we experience that this time in Daytona and wherever you are at the feast as well.

Another thing I want to talk about is health. You know, as we approach the feast this year, and for the last six or seven months, COVID-19 has been on everyone's mind. You can't turn the TV on without hearing about COVID-19. You can't have a conversation almost. It's affected every area of life. It's affected the church. It's affected, you know, even our assembling together at times. And sometimes people choose not to assemble because of COVID-19. And the church is very orderly in that. In fact, one of the nice things that I heard at Daytona this year is that they appreciated how we handled the balanced approach to the masks. You know, there were times when we had the one, the one, okay, the one scare, I want to say scare, the one incident of a COVID-19.

You know, I was concerned about what would happen. What would the center do? You know, I called Victor Kubik, the president, and I said, I just need to resell you this. We've had someone. She was not, she's never been in the building. She hasn't had the face. She apparently contracted before she got here, knew that she wasn't feeling well, didn't come to the Friday night service, didn't come to Sabbath, and has been diagnosed. We didn't know what they would do, but I knew I needed to talk to the center and get their input on it because we wanted to do things the way they wanted. I was concerned that they would shut us down for a day. That's what I thought because one of the things they had said early on is, you know, they don't want, they don't want to be on the national news. And I think every single fisight operator thought that. We don't want to be on the national news, but for some reason they still allowed us to come there. Understand that's God's blessing. The fact that we had fisights, God opened those doors. But we had this thing, and I, you know, I mentioned to them on the morning that we had this case, and they were surprisingly calm.

And they said, okay, has she been in the building? No, she hasn't been in the building.

And they said, and I said, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to ask the people, you know, everyone to wear their mask, you know, during the fellowship time and whatever. And I said, we can have them on the entire time you want. And they said, well, you know, during the services and whatever, if they take the mask off, we're not going to worry about that, but we do would like to see that happen. And then they went to the director and he said, yeah, that's a fine plan. They seem to have a good balanced approach to everything. And so, you know, it was like no big deal to them.

And I thought, well, wow, I am really, I'm really impressed with that, because I thought there might be a little bit of panic, but I thought, well, God is giving us favor again. He's watching over this.

And then we watched as God, you know, God absolutely shut down that virus. Every single day I was in contact with the family that had that. Every single day I was told no temperatures, no symptoms by the other family members. Only the one who was in the hospital, she was quarantined in the hospital. They kept her there through the entire feast and they went home as planned on the Sunday after the feast. But not one other incident until the seventh day of the feast.

No breakout, no problems. People kept coming to church. You know, I was a little disappointed that a hundred, the attendance dropped by a hundred, and I thought, have some faith, people. Have some faith, people. God is in control. This is His feast. He brought us here.

Not that we do things foolishly, but we do things in order and in compliance with the world so that they see us and they glorify God by the things that we do. But not one. And I knew that it was God who did, who stopped that virus. After the seventh day when we had the second case, not one thing occurred from that. The feast wasn't shut down. There wasn't any pandemic. And all the, all the other things that would have indicated that might happen, I knew that God stopped that cold. As He did at the couple other places that had some COVID cases during the feast as well.

You know, we can trust in God. Satan will do whatever he can to attack the church. He'll do whatever he can to shut down services. He'll do whatever he can to keep us away from what doing God's will is. And we do have to be judicious. We do have to be cautious. We do have to be compliant and show the world that we are not rebellious people, but that we are working with, with what we are given and what their, what their regulations are or suggestions. But we have trust in God. He, it was His feast and it went on. And that was encouraging to me. And COVID, of course, always has that, you know, it's going to be over everything we do, maybe for the rest of our lives. I don't know. I don't know. But, you know, that's in God's hands and I'm not worried about that. He's in total control. But there was something else that happened at the feast in Daytona that made COVID pale in comparison. It had absolutely, COVID made it look like child's play.

And I'll give you a story here because it's, is one of the things that I'll remember the rest of my life.

You remember on the last day, not the last, the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, the seventh feast of Tabernacles, we had a lady named Jennifer Red-Larczyk who gave special music. And she did an outstanding job. As you listened to her sing, you could tell she was singing to God. And, and she did a great job. Well, I had met Jennifer the day before she did the special music. And, and when I saw her name on the special music list, I knew who she was because Red-Larczyk is not a common name. So I, you know, in my high school class, I had a Red-Larczyk and I knew, had heard that she and her husband years, 30 years ago, had come into the church and we'd seen them. And her brother then came into the church. So I knew exactly where the Red-Larczyk's were from, or from the same area that I grew up in in Northwest Indiana, where you could see names like Red-Larczyk and Shavey. And people here would say, how do you pronounce that? But up there, it's like, that's just kind of everyone's name. It's that way. You just learn how to pronounce them. So when I saw it, you know, I was talking to her and I said, what's your, what's your, I didn't know Jennifer. I said, what's your husband's name, Jennifer? And she said, Greg. And I said, I know him. I know him. He went to my high school. His sister was in my high school class and she was, you know, very happy. Boom, boom, boom, and of course you have something, something, you know, kind of a little bond there, if you will. So then Greg comes over, I guess it was after services on Friday, and he's talking and we hit it off very well and whatever. And, you know, he says, oh, let's go out to dinner. Let's go out to dinner tonight. And we had had dinner plans for, for that Friday night anyway. But the night before, things got changed around. The people were supposed to see Friday ended up being on Thursday and after another situation. So we kind of had Friday open, which we didn't expect. And so we called and said, yes, we'll go. We'll go, we'll go to dinner with you. And it was an extremely enjoyable dinner.

You know, a lot of reminiscing, a lot of comparing notes about what Hammond, Indiana is like, and Gavitt High School and all those things that, that you grew up with. But then, in the course of the dinner, you know, Debbie's parents, you know, Glenn and, Glenn and Mitty Metz went to that church as well, same church that I grew up in. And we asked if they remembered them. Yes, they remembered them. And Debbie's two brothers were in that church as well.

And Debbie made the comments, I guess when they asked about Daniel, you know, she said, well, you know, he died two or three years ago. He fell asleep one night and he never woke up. He never woke up. His heart just stopped beating. They don't know what happened, but he just didn't wake up. Jennifer said, that same thing happened to my sister. That same thing happened to my sister. Ten years ago, she was 55. She fell asleep and wasn't sick or anything. But some other night, her heart just stopped beating. And so there was this interesting thing that how in this conversation, all of a sudden, do we have this common bond that's going on with heart stopping beating?

And Greg made the comments about ever since he heard that, he watches Jennifer and what is going on with her. Everyone went home. Everyone was happy. Early the morning of the eighth day, Greg called. And he, I could tell he was tired. He was, the word isn't frantic, but you could tell when someone's in a state that isn't calm. And he said, he goes, you know, I've been at the hospital. He goes, Jennifer's heart stopped beating last night. And I'm absorbing this on one side, thinking, wait a minute.

He goes, her heart stopped beating. And then he made the comment, this is exactly what we were talking about last night. Her heart stopped beating last night. And he goes, and so I woke up, and he goes, I don't even know why I woke up, but I heard her gurgling. And so I started pounding on her chest, and I called 911. And it took them forever to get there. But then they finally, after so many minutes, were able to get her heart beating again. So they rushed her off to the hospital. I've been here ever since. They've got her into some kind of induced coma.

I don't even understand all the science in it, but they're going to be cooling her down, whatever that means, in the next two to three days. He goes, but she, he goes, it happened. He goes, I've been worried about this. I've been, I've been, and I was like, we just talked about this last night. And I found myself asking God, why? Why would this happen? She just sang special music.

We just had a fine dinner. And then she dies, or her heart stops beating in the middle of the night when we've just been talking about that? How does that happen? How does this a good end of the feast? A feast that's been so positive and so, so filled with your hand and your power in it? And so he went home, and he went home, and I went to services. And my mind was kind of in a fog as I gave announcements that day, and explaining what had happened to her and for people to pray for her.

But as I listened to the sermon, there were some verses that came into my mind. And during lunch and after lunch, people would come up to me that knew them, and I kept telling them, Jennifer's not going to die. I don't believe Jennifer is going to die. That's not God's will. And I don't know why I was saying that, except that I really didn't want her to die. But I also believed that it was just there was something in this. And there was a verse that came to mind that I'll give you in a little bit, that I thought, Jennifer's not going to die.

So as we watched the days go by, you know, Greg was over there all day Sunday with her. And then Monday, I had some other things planned to deal with some of the Daytona people. The stuff from storage had to go back up to Brunswick. And I thought, well, you know, Greg kept saying something's going to happen at 11 o'clock on Monday morning. Should I be there? Or should I go up to, should I get all this other stuff done? His daughter had flown in on Sunday, I guess it was. So, you know, she was there to support him.

I thought, you know, I'm just going to go ahead and do what I need to do. And then I'll come back and see them that night. It'll probably be better for him to be there by himself with his daughter than me. So I went up there and did that. And I thought, well, he'll call me around 11 or noon. I didn't hear anything, you know, so two o'clock I texted him. I said, Greg, what's going on? And he said, nothing. She's just laying there.

She's not coming back awake. She's not, she's no different than she was before.

And so I said, well, just hold on. These things don't happen all the time. Don't lose hope. Just, you know, just hold on to the belief that she's not going to die. So through three hours later, around five o'clock, I talked to him and he goes, no change. No change. She's not coming out of the coma. And I talked to him again at eight o'clock and he sent me a text and he goes, and he just said, you know, I always remember, he said, all it said was, I am totally destroyed.

I am totally destroyed. And I knew what he was feeling because it was like, how, you know, how could this happen at the Feast of Tabernacles? How could this happen after everything good? And on the very day she sings, on the very day, anyway, with all the things that were going on.

And so at 10 30 that night, he calls and he says, he's got hope in his voice. And he goes, oh, the doctors were just here. And they said, well, I don't even understand all the science of it. Well, blah, blah, blah, blah, tomorrow, tomorrow, something about sedatives and whatever.

And he goes, so there is hope. And I said, Greg, there's always hope. There's always hope. I was just hoping that they didn't tell and pull the plug because I knew that was one of the things that was going to be on the on the agenda. So he was hopeful. And so I said, I'll be there in the morning. I'm going to come over to the hospital first thing in the morning. I'll be there.

I'll be there with you. Well, it wasn't first thing. It was nine o'clock to me. First thing is, you know, seven, but I knew the visiting hours weren't till eight. So nine o'clock, I go to the hospital. And I was surprised Greg wasn't there. So I, you know, talked to the nurse and I said, has her husband been here? She goes, No, he hasn't been here. He was here kind of late last night and everything. So I went in and I, you know, I looked at Jennifer and she was just gray. You know, she had all these tubes in her.

The only thing that was going on was the ventilator breathing for her. She was just a corpse that was moving up and down with no life or anything else. But it was, it was, it was just a, I don't even know what the word would be, just a time that, a time that I just had time to talk to God. No one else in the room. Just Jennifer laying there in a coma, lifeless. And it was just me and God.

And I remember, you know, just telling God, I know that you've got the power of everything. I know you can bring people back from life. I know that you can heal anything that comes our way. I know that you can do this. And I would just ask you, God, if it isn't apart from your will, give Jennifer back to her husband. Give her her life back. And it was a moving thing for me, unlike any emotions I had ever felt before.

And when I was done, you know, I went out and there was another person, John Allen, you know, some of you remember was in the hospital from a stroke that he had during there. He was discharged later that day on Tuesday. And I went and I told the nurse, I said, I have to go visit someone else in the hospital.

But when Greg comes, just tell him I was here and I'll be back in, you know, I'll be back in a half an hour, 45 minutes. And so I went over there, saw Mr. Allen, found out he was getting discharged that day. And I came back over and Greg was there. And I looked at the bed and Jennifer's eyes were open. And I've never experienced anything like it in my life when I think about it, because her eyes were open.

And the look on on Greg's face was just incredible that this had happened. And I was watching her because, of course, the doctors repair you, even if she does come out of the coma, you know, you have brain damage, you have all these other things that can happen. And I washed her eyes and whenever he would speak, her eyes would go over to him. She couldn't turn her head, but her eyes would go over to him.

Then the daughter would speak and their eyes would go over to her. And I thought, she's fully aware of those voices. She knows who those voices are. And that was encouraging to me. And I thought, she's going to be fine. She has no brain damage. So anyway, I stayed for a while. I went did the other things. Came back on Wednesday morning. That was Tuesday.

Tuesday, Wednesday morning. And I walked in. Jennifer was sitting up. All the color was in her eye. All the color was back in her face. She was there. She was still on the ventilator machine, but she was wanting to talk. And she kept mouthing things, but she couldn't say it. And I said, Jennifer, you don't have to say anything. You don't have to say anything. You know, we can talk later. But she was just fully engaged in everything that was going on in that room. She would turn her head. She would do this. She was aware of everything that was going on. And I thought, this woman, this woman is fine. So Greg said, you know, later on today, well, I guess it was that was Wednesday. I guess it was later on that day or Thursday. I lose track of the days. They were going to take her off the ventilator. And of course, they had prepped him for that, that, you know, sometimes there's problems with breathing when you take off ventilators. And there's not going to be any problem with ventilators. God's already taking care of her. He's done everything. He's done everything. It's ready. So they took her off for the ventilator. I wasn't there when that happened, but he called and he goes, it was just like she had always been breathing. No problems at all. She was just breathing on her own. And then when they took the tubes out, she started talking. And he said she hasn't stopped talking since. So, you know, and it was just kind of amazing to see what was going on. I stopped there last night. I went up to Jacksonville last night and stopped there on the way. And Jennifer was just as happy and bubbly as ever. And he was right. She just couldn't stop talking. She just was amazed at what had happened. She knew that God had done it. Greg had called me on. Again, I might have my days mixed. I think it was Thursday night. And he said, you know, Rick, there was a nurse that was just in here. And she said that I was here. She said, I was here the night they brought your wife in. And I looked at her condition. She goes, I've seen cases like that before. And I thought there's no way she's going to make it. There's no way she's ever going to wake up. She goes, and I've been off since then. But seeing her today, she goes, I want you to know this isn't anything to do with medicine. This is 100% a miracle. These things don't happen.

And Greg, I think at that time it dawned on him fully. This was God. This was His hand. This was a fitting end to the Feast of Tabernacles. God can conquer everything. We know that Jesus Christ is the victor over death. We know that He can heal anything that comes our way. He can part anything that stands in our way to block our way. But it was such a fitting end to the Feast. Now, Jennifer will be there. They were saying last night, probably until next Wednesday or Thursday, before they discharge her, just to make sure everything is okay. But, you know, she's perfectly fine. She could probably go home today if they insisted on it. But it was a powerful end to the Feast to see what God had done. And our God is an awesome God, people. He is an awesome God. And we should never forget that. We should never, ever discount the things that we see Him do. And we should give Him credit. We should give Him glory. And we should tell His stories for posterity because you and I, and everyone alive today, has seen the power of God.

We've seen Him bring His people through this COVID crisis without huge problems. Right? There's been little things here and there, but He can stop whatever plague is going on. He can stop death.

He can bring life from death. He can bring victory from defeat. We have to give Him glory, and we have to sing of His praises. And the Feast in Daytona this year had many, many things go on on it. I will never forget it because of the things that happened that I would have never even imagined I could see or feel during that time. But it was all about God and what He had orchestrated. The verse that came to my mind regarding Jennifer is in John 11.

John 11 is, we were going through that and I was trying to make sense and asking God, why? Why did this happen? How did this happen? How, you know, how does she, how does her heart stop beating? On the very night we talked about that, how does that happen? And in John 11, we have the story of Lazarus. Right? Lazarus, friend of Christ, brother of Mary and Martha. And he gets sick and they call for Him. But Jesus Christ does not go to heal him, and Lazarus dies. And in verse 4, Christ said of John 11, He said, this sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, but for the glory of God. Jennifer's sickness was not unto death. Her sickness was for the glory of God. Never forget it. I'll never forget it. We have seen God's hand, we have seen His power, and we literally owe Him everything, and we should fear Him in the right sense of the word because He is more powerful, more awesome than you and I give Him credit for. Never, never, never discount what God does and what He can do. You know, other verses that came to mind were in John 14, 15, and 16, where Christ says time three times, you know, if you really believe whatever you ask in my name, and of course there's always that implicit in my name, that means you have to be doing the things that God said. You have to be living in His way. You have to be truly taking on His name and not taking it in vain. Whatever you ask in my name, I will give you. This year it was proved to me, God, we can take God at His word. When is His will? Because even, you know, if it's against His will, of course we accept His will, whatever it is, but when is in His will? And we ask in His name, He will do it. And we can hold on to that as we march forward here from the feast in 2020 into 2021, and whatever the ensuing years hold for us. You know, these things that we learn about God and what He does for us, we should hold dear in our heart and remember, because even greater works than these, He will do. I want to close in Psalm 23.

Psalm 23, of course, is the Lord is my shepherd Psalm. I think this year, you know, we saw everything in this Psalm come to fruition. Psalm 23, verse 1, the Lord is my shepherd.

You know, He watches over all of us. There's none of us that are insignificant in God's eyes.

There is nothing that doesn't happen without His will. He watches over all of us, and He wants what's best for us. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He'll provide all we need. We don't have to fret. We don't have to worry. He can heal our diseases. He doesn't need all the help of the world and our ideas and everything like that. We have to be cautious. We have to be judicious in what we do, but we have to trust in God first. I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures. He feeds His sheep. He will always provide for them, the physical as well as the spiritual. We just have to be aware of that and ask Him to continue doing that. He makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leaves me beside the still waters. You know, the feast for eight days is such a refreshing, refreshing time from the rest of the world. I think I turned the TV on only one time during the feast this year. One time, and I found myself getting agitated by what I was hearing, and I thought, I'm not listening to the news or anything else during the rest of the feast. And you know, it was peaceful. And it taught me, in God's kingdom, there won't be the agitation. There won't be all the consternation that's in the world. The world will be at peace. And we know there's only times in our life that we can understand what that peace is. You know, we don't have it every day in our lives because we're out and about in the world, and God wants it that way, but we can pray for the peace. And when we go away for eight days to the feast, we should experience that peace, which will help us to pray even more fervently for His kingdom to come, when the whole world can experience that rest from the world and its confusion and its chaos and the problems that it has. He restores my soul. You know, one of the sermons we had was on restoration of our hearts that God will be doing for us. He restores my soul. As we go to the feast and we have nine days when you include the opening night of messages, you know, it's heartening for us. We're full. We're satisfied. God is feeding us. He restores my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. We have to be led. We have to be willing to be led.

Yea, though, I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. You know, talk about COVID. Talk about Jennifer Redlarchik. Yea, though, I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.

I will fear no evil. I'm not going to let the fear of death keep me from doing what God says to do. I'm not going to let fear dictate my life. I'm going to let the fear of God be at the beginning of my existence, but I'm not going to let fear keep me from doing God's will. I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. In other words, I talked about verse 5. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. He did it at the feast wherever you were this year. He'll do it. He'll do it physically. In times in the future, He'll do it spiritually for us for the rest of the time that we have here on earth. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemy. You anoint my head with oil. My cup runs over. And if we recount, and if we think about what God does for us, all the little things He does for us, none of us can say our cup doesn't run over. Our cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Eternal forever.

So keep the feast lessons of 2020 in mind, and always, always, always to God. To God be the glory.