Feast of Illumination

This is actually a shot from the festival brochure you can see up in the upper right from your angle. Festival brochure for the feast site at Davao Mindanao, Philippines. Again, Denise and I would appreciate your prayers as you will be in hours, but we'll be trying to get up and leave and go to the airport at 4.30 in the morning, which is the normal time it seems like when we leave for the feast. So that's just tomorrow morning. So we've got laundry to wash and a few other things to do when we get home tonight, and then try to sleep a few hours. We'd appreciate if you keep your calls before 10 p.m., maybe before 9 p.m. Anyhow. So this is the cover. I happen to have that, and so I've used a couple of things that I was sent from over there. And so this will be what you'll be hearing is what I plan to present on the opening night as we're starting the Feast of Tabernacles. And the title of the message is, The Feast of Illumination. God turns on the light so we can see.

And the reason that I choose that is that with just the other day we observed a festival, an annual Sabbath, that took place on the new moon. And I'll show you a couple of shots here in a moment of just a little faint crescent. But it's one of, when you have clear skies, it's one of the darker nights of the year.

And that is on the Feast of Trumpets, which pictures the time when Christ returns. And it's looking really at a very dark and bleak moment in human history. A lot of warfare, a lot of suffering. We have had trumpet plagues where you'll have a major portion of humanity that has just been killed. And it's a very dark, depressing, gloomy time. But on the 15th of the same month, when we get to the full moon, God turns on the lights. And when that opening night comes, probably all of us remember some of the more memorable opening nights that we've had from our years in keeping the Feast of Tabernacles when there's been just an exceptionally gorgeous full moon. I think Denise and I will never forget the one that we saw at Nusa, Queensland, Australia one year, because it was coming up over the ocean. And so you literally saw every bit of it as we had the moon rise that particular evening. Let's begin back in Genesis. Let's go to Genesis 1.

And with the creation story as it is given here, let's focus on verse 14, because this is where, as the creation story unfolds, we have lights that are placed up in the firmament.

Genesis 1, verse 14, let there be light in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night. Let them be for signs and seasons. We'll come back to that word, seasons, shortly. And for days and years.

So as we look at this shot where we have the beautiful universe out there, there's a sun shining brightly and there's a moon. And there is this beautiful, beautiful earth that truly is a most glorious sight as man got to the point where they had space probes going out into the solar system, but would look back when we had men who went actually and spit on the earth. You had pictures of the earth rise from the perspective of the moon. We realize what a marvel this planet is that God created for humans to live. And of course, all the stars on beyond that. But that word, seasons, it comes from the Hebrew word, moed. And you've probably heard us refer to that before, m-o-e-d, as it's transliterated from one language into the next, moed. And from Strong's Concordance, the number in Strong's, of course, that's the Hebrew number, 4150. And if you look that up, it says properly an appointment.

So as a part of the creation, there are certain appointments that God made with mankind, as it was here with this story. That is a fixed time or season, specifically a festival, conventionally a year, by implication, an assembly.

An assembly is a convocation for a definite purpose. Technically, the congregation. Because there are places in the Old Testament where moed is translated as the congregation, the congregation of Israel, or the assembly of Israel.

So it doesn't always, every time you find moed, or moedim, the plural, it doesn't necessarily mean a festival, but that's one reason for it. Now, in determining dates annually on the Hebrew calendar, the calendar calculations are very complicated.

And essentially what it does is in a given year, it determines the date of, and in Hebrew it's the molot of Tishri. Molot is the new moon, Tishri is the seventh month. So it determines the date of the Feast of Trumpets, and then you count backward and forward, and you have the dates of the entire Holy Day year as that year unfolds.

Now, here are a couple of examples of a new moon. Notice the faint crescent that denotes the beginning of a new month. The Bible doesn't specifically, clearly tell us exactly, precisely when a new month begins, but that's a part of the practice that has been handed down and makes you wonder where it came from.

But we don't have all the pieces of the puzzle. But when the moon was fully black, then when the first crescent was observed. And of course, there are now calculations as well. But that is a time when it, the night, and a clear night, it is at its darkest. Now, let's look at Psalm 81.

Psalm 81. Here's one verse that refers first to the new moon and then to the full moon.

Psalm 81, verse 3. Let's read just the first part.

Blow the trumpet. And that word that's translated trumpet is the ram's horn. It's the shofar. Blow the trumpet at the time of the new moon. Now, new moons are mentioned in the Old Testament. We'll comment on that when I get back to part 2 of the sermon I gave a week ago.

New moons are not listed in Leviticus 23 among the feasts of the of the eternal. However, if you go back to, I believe it's Numbers 28, the first few verses, there were certain sacrifices that they gave on the new moons. And basically, it's more for marking time. And you and I do that. We probably will see a new moon or a full moon.

And we'll think, well, great. One more. And we're at the feast. We all do that. It's exciting. But there was, again, the feasts of trumpets was this specific new moon of the seventh month. And all of the other new moons, there's no scriptural command that they are holy time. Just the one with the seventh month.

Now, keep your place here. And let's go to Matthew 24. Think of a new moon again on a clear night, and there's not much light out there. It's pretty dark on those nights. Matthew 24. And notice verse 29. Immediately after the tribulation of those days. So, again, we're breaking in on the story. But we went through Matthew 24.

Somewhat in depth this summer. And we followed through the five steps that are equivalent with the seals that are open in Revelation. And the tribulation was the fifth one. And following on the heels of that, we have the heavenly signs. After the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light.

The stars will fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven. And then all the tribes of the earth will mourn and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. So, let's think for a moment of the contrast. Trumpets came and went and trumpets was a new moon. It was a dark night. Denise and I, on the way back, we saw this crescent moon to the west. A dark night. But then when we get to the full moon, it is one of the brightest nights of the year. Is there a spiritual contrast between the two? Well, I suggest that there is. But let's look back up at verse 22. Because it says, unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved. But, for the elect's sake, those days will be shortened. So again, it underscores those are dark, dark days. And prior to the return of Christ, the world and all humankind will be facing some of its darkest moments. And unless Christ would return, there would be no one saved alive.

Keep your place in Matthew 24. We'll be right back. But let's go back to Psalm 81. Here you see the latter half of verse 3 and also verse 4. At the full moon on our solemn feast day, for this is a statute for Israel, a law of the God of Jacob. And as I mentioned last week, holy days are statutes. They are part of the law of God. And when they were given, when they were listed, I should say, they were given before, when they were listed as an entire group in Leviticus 23. When you get to the end of each one, it says this is a statute forever throughout your generations. The full moon, the solemn feast day. Actually, the new moon of the seventh month is a feast day. The full moon of the seventh month, but also the first month, the first day of unleavened bread. Those two full moons are solemn feast days, and these are statutes. These are a part of the law of God. Let's look at some examples. These are, I'll admit, a little exaggerated by the perspective, but I found some beautiful shots of full moons. Yeah, it has to be exaggerated, but beautiful. Dark orange, a little bit of red in that one, which you can have a red blood moon anytime, depending on what's out in the atmosphere. And here's another one. Must have been in southern Arizona, northern Mexico, south eastern California, where the Saguaro cacti grow. But anyhow, beautiful, beautiful full moons. Quite a contrast between a little faint crescent moon and the darkness of that night, and the brightness that there would be with a moon like that shining brightly. Well, when we start the feast, and amazingly, that's just a week from tomorrow night, when we start the feast, and that will be a night of a full moon, why would God want a full moon to start the feast? Is there a divine design there? Well, I think there has to be. Trumpets were the time of picturing the darkest days of humanity's 6,000 years. And then, when the full moon comes, God turns on the light, and it is a beautiful, bright night out there. Let's go back to Matthew 24. We're through with Psalm 81 for now. For today, I should say. Psalm, excuse me, Matthew 24. And this time, let's look at verse 27. He has spoken above of the tribulation. He speaks below of the heavenly signs. But notice what it said in verse 27. For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. And so, it likens this light as going out and going forth. And in a spiritual sense, light begins to go out as the Feast of Tabernacles begins to be fulfilled. And the government of God begins to spread out across the earth. Let's notice another statement in passing about the brightness of Christ's coming. We find this in 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 8. 2 Thessalonians 2. And let's read verse 8. We're breaking out on a story here, but it has spoken of this Man of sin, the Son of Perdition, this one who set himself up as one to be worshipped as if he were God. Well, he will find, like everyone else, back through history, that no, he wasn't God. But just notice in verse 8. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of his coming. And so here it speaks of the brightness of God's coming, of Christ's coming to rule, to reign.

When we gather when the feast begins and we keep that first night, that first day, we gather there at one of the annual festivals, an annual Sabbath. It is one of the great appointments of God. It is a time of a great convocation. We have waited. We have anticipated. The older we get, it seems that we just got home from the feast. At least it does in my mind. I tend to think back, and I think all kinds of thoughts, and some of them aren't as positive as others, like how my trail end, I'll say it that way, how my trail end feels after, what, 20 hours on airplanes to get back home. But it's also, we're on a glow inside because of how exciting it was. And it really is, as though God pulls back the curtains and allows us to see with greater beauty and clarity and depth than at any other time of the year. What a glorious thing that is. But we wait, we anticipate, it finally comes, and we assemble. Let's look at Numbers 1. This is one place where the word mo'ed is used. I think we should point out. And it's for the tabernacle, or the meeting, or the congregation. Numbers 1, and we just read verse 1. It says, Now the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai. Notice the tabernacle of meeting. That's the New King James. The King James says the tabernacle of the congregation. On the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, and that's as far as we need to read, but the tabernacle of meeting, the tabernacle of the congregation, meeting or congregation coming from the Hebrew mo'ed. The tabernacle was the rallying point for ancient Israel. That was when God wanted to meet with them. They were called to come and appear before God there. That is where God met with Moses and the leadership to reveal His will to them, and they then passed it out to the children of Israel. We attend the feasts to learn more about God and more about the purpose that He has, not just for us, but for all humankind. We gather where God sets His name. We do not just go anywhere. We go where God has obviously made it known. It's amazing how the pieces all seem to fall together and the process plays out, and God makes it apparent that, yes, this place is one of the places I want you to come and appear before me. We do not go to the feast just to play and have a vacation. We go there to meet with God. We truly are the tabernacle of meeting. Now let's go back a few pages to Leviticus 23. Here we see that these are convocations. The word convocation means a convoking or a calling together. And the Almighty God is the one who, from the very beginning, created the world, designed the world in such a way that there would be these appointed times. When we are to convoke and appear before Him, He establishes the meetings and He intends for us to be there. Leviticus 23, verse 1, and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, the feasts, Let's pause there. That's the Hebrew word, moed, the feasts of the Lord which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations. These are my feasts. And again, feasts is from moed.

But ancient Israel, you had those at this time, Moses and Aaron, others with them, were in charge. They had a responsibility. Later, that mantle was passed to Joshua and it passed on down through the ages. In the New Testament age, determinations have to be made, but the church is to proclaim these to be holy convocations.

And we should be reminded that these are God's feasts. It's always good to be reminded that the first one mentioned is the weekly Sabbath, the weekly Sabbath, and then after the weekly Sabbath, it is as though all that follows the annual Sabbath. Give us greater and deeper understanding in what the weekly Sabbath teaches us every week. So these are commanded assemblies. We should never take them lightly. God expects that if at all possible, we be there and we go where God sets His name. It is God's appointed time between His people and Himself. The feasts are shadows. There's a scripture in Colossians. There's a scripture in Hebrews that refers to holy days being shadows of things to come. These days are shadows of coming great events in the plan of God. I think I recently used the example here sitting out on the porch and you see this shadow coming across the yard and as it gets as whatever it is gets closer, you can narrow it down and realize what it is that's coming. If it's a lady and she has her finger out and she's doing this, then you might want to run because it might be, well, I think a few people here might be looking for you to chastise you. My grandmother's, once upon a time, would do things like that with my brothers and my sister because they wouldn't mind. Anyhow, he laughed. Why? But the holy days are shadows of things to come. The fall holy days, foreshadow the great spiritual harvest that is to come. We'll go briefly at Exodus 23. Exodus 23 and notice verses 14 through 16. Speaking of the feasts and these seasons, it mentions and uses another name for this fall feast that we'll be observing soon. Exodus 23 verses 14 through 16. Three times you shall keep the feast to me in the year. And again, looking at the feasts are grouped in seasonal times, the spring, the late spring, kind of a stand-alone feast of Pentecost. And then you have grouping in the seventh month. A lot of festivals then, a lot of feast days then. You shall keep the feast of Unleavened Bread. Usually done Unleavened Bread seven days, as I commanded you. At the time appointed, interesting, once again there's the Hebrew word moed, at the time appointed in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. None shall appear before me empty. And the feast of harvest.

And that's one of the titles for the feast of Pentecost, or feast of weeks, or feast of firstfruits. The firstfruits of your labors, which you have sown in the field. And, here's the last one, the feast of in-gathering at the end of the year, when you have gathered in the fruit of your labors from the field. So, the feast of tabernacles is also known as the feast of in-gathering. And in-gathering speaks of the far larger harvest that will take place at the year's end of the year, as far as the Holy Day year, and all that it pictures. It is a feast that pictures the Millennial reign of Christ. It pictures the saints reigning over cities and assisting Christ. It pictures light going out in a world of darkness. There are prophets that speak of, when I read the one where it talks about there be this highway from Egypt to Assyria. It is as though, maybe first in Egypt, there is this beachhead of the kingdom of God that is established, and from there it spreads forth. And perhaps up in Europe, you have the area where the Assyrian peoples are, and it begins to develop and then spread and grow from there. But it is a foretaste. That's a word we've used for a lot of decades. The feast is a foretaste of the kingdom of God. A foretaste of the world tomorrow. We are given the opportunity to experience a short seven day, but then one more day, the eighth day, a completely separate festival. But we are given the opportunity to experience and to have a little taste of what it will be like under the reign of Messiah. Most of us, when we were young, I certainly remember when it was time when Mom would bake a cake. We knew it was time to hover nearby, because, especially with the icing, but also the batter too, it tasted so good. That was before we knew that eggs are bad and might have salmonella. You know, you had the batters all mixed up, and if there's the bowl and the spatula and all that, the beaters, thank you, the beaters on that figment jig that goes in circles. Yeah. What she said. She'd hand it to one of us, and we'd get to lick off everything on it. It was a little taste, and it was great, and it was glorious, but the real thing was going to come out of the oven later on and be covered in that glorious icing. But, anyhow, it was a little taste. This is what we're going to have for, you know, whoever, whatever occasion, whoever's anniversary or birthday or whatever.

So, we all know what a foretaste is like. Leviticus 23, once again. Leviticus 23. And let's go well into the chapter over to verse 33, where it begins speaking about the Feast of Tabernacles.

Verse 33, then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month, so the fifteenth day, will be that full moon, shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days to the Lord. On the first day, there should be a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work in it. There is an allowance for just the basic effort that it takes to feed everyone. There's a certain amount of effort just to get ourselves up, going, moving, and ready to go up here before God. But it's a day we certainly don't pursue our worldly employment that day.

For seven days, you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. On the eighth day, you shall have a holy convocation. And you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. It is a sacred assembly. And you shall do no customary work on it. So the eighth day, likewise, is an annual Sabbath.

These are the feasts. Yes, that's the Hebrew moed, the feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations. And it goes on with some of the offerings and the sacrifices of that day that were part of the Sinai covenant. Then, let's go to verse 39. Also, on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruit of the land, you shall keep the feast of the Lord for seven days. On the first day, there shall be a Sabbath rest, and on the eighth day, there shall be a Sabbath rest. Now, I'm going to pause right here. It's something I want to point out that you see so clearly in these verses.

Some of you remember, or you have heard of, the fact that way back when, that was probably in the fifties and early sixties. I once called a couple of longtime evangelists due to a personal correspondence answer I was working on. The person wanted to know, when did the church stop observing all seven days of unleavened bread at Big Sandy? I never got a clear answer, but based upon the best estimates, it was around 64-65. But you see, early on, the church looked at these and they thought, well, we need to get together and keep all seven days of unleavened bread. Now, if you go back up a little bit to verse 24, not 24, where is it?

Early in the chapter, you have Passover, then unleavened bread is verse 6, and mentions, feeds to unleavened bread, seven days, eat unleavened bread, first day, verse 7, the first day should be a holy convocation. Middle of verse 8 to 7, they should be a holy convocation. You should do no customary work on it.

But we began to realize the wording is a little different because it just wasn't realistic that everyone could take off two different times a year to go off somewhere to a feast site. And so, basically, the decision was made, keep first day of unleavened bread and seventh day of unleavened bread back at home congregations, or get two or three congregations together, but we do it locally. But when you get to tabernacles, the wording is a bit different here.

Notice at the end, again, of verse 34, shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days to the Lord. So the wording is, you go where God sets His name, you assemble, and you're there rejoicing before God's seven days. Down to verse 36, for seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. Down to verse 39, right in the middle, you shall keep the feast of the Lord for seven days. At the end of verse 40, you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days.

Verse 41, you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. You shall be a statute forever. Verse 42, you shall dwell in booths for seven days. So here are one, two, three, four, five, six different places right here. There are similar statements in Numbers and in Deuteronomy and in one place in Nehemiah. You go where God sets His name, you appear, you rejoice before God seven days, and then the eighth day is also an annual Sabbath.

Okay, just a side point there. But as the latter verses, it speaks of verse 42, dwelling in booths. All who are native Israelites shall dwell in booths. These are temporary. Now, whether it's someone setting up a tent. How many of you started keeping the feast and your family camped in a tent? Okay. I remember. That number is getting smaller all the time. But that was an exciting thing to be there on the side of Big Sandy, or some of you were at Jekyll.

More likely, I suppose, would have been at Jekyll. This gigantic tent and people camping all over, especially at Big Sandy. One year they estimated over 8,000 people camping right there. In the tiny woods, they had 32 rows of periodic bathhouses, and it was a sight to behold. It really was. But these, whether we are in a tent, or actually one of the feast sites in the Philippines, they have some treehouses that would be really neat.

They're where you have a nice breeze coming all the time across Lady Gulf. Whether you're in a rent of the house, a hotel room, a hostel, it's temporary. You're going to turn around and go back home somewhere down the line. And it's done that way to remind us that our life here is temporary. We have so many years, and then it's over. Now, let's go to Hebrews 11.

Because here in this chapter that speaks of the great men and women of faith, it's not just what I mentioned about Abraham and Sarah and family. Hebrews 11, and let's begin in verse 8. Hebrews 11, verse 8, "...By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out not knowing where he was going. By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise." And you remember stories back in Genesis where the God of the Old Testament and the two angels came up to Abraham's tent there on the plains of Mamre in that area around Hebra.

They dwelt in tents. It wasn't there to land. They were strangers and pilgrims. When we go to the feast, we tend to think of our home. Well, that's home. It's always going to be there. But we also have times like people up the eastern seaboard are reminded that those homes can be blown away. They can be swept away or destroyed to such a point where the best thing is level it and start all over. He waited for the city which has foundations whose builder and maker is God.

Verse 13, These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, were assured of them, embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. Well, verse 16, They desire a better that is a heavenly country. So it's abundantly clear that these great men and women of faith, they were strangers and pilgrims. And it should be just as obvious to us. We live life so long we are judged in the amount of time we're given.

And yet what we have is not the real thing. But we go to get a little bit of a taste. What we have today is temporary. We look to the promised land. We look to the kingdom of God and all that will be when God's plan unfolds a bit further. There are lessons that God wants us to learn as we go to the feast.

He wants to, can I say, illuminate our path so that we can learn what He wants us to learn. We are here to learn about Him, but He also wants to learn about us. I'm going to give you five points.

Five points. And the first one, and let's go to Deuteronomy 12. We will be looking at some verses in Deuteronomy 12 and 14 basically to substantiate these points. Deuteronomy 12 and verses 17 and 18. Because the first point is, God wants us to rejoice at the feast. Strange that we have to be told that. But you know, sometimes we go to the feast. I know one year we went to the feast. We missed the opening night. I think the only time we ever missed the opening night because we had a family funeral.

And you can't plan those. There are times when we go and life has just clouded up and just stormed all over us. But we go and we get there where God places His name and sets His protective hedge. And we can hopefully begin to rejoice. Chapter 12, verse 17. You may not eat within your gates the tithes of your corn or your new wine or your oil of the firstborn of your herd or your flock of any of your offerings which you vow, your free will offerings, or of the heave offering of your hand, but you must eat them before the Lord your God in the place which the Lord your God chooses you, and your son, your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, your God in all to which you put your hands.

So God tells us to rejoice. And He reminds us, and we'll focus on family a little later, but He reminds us to make it a family affair. There are those who may say, well, I'm the only one God called. Well, yes and no, because Jesus said, if you lose father and mother and brothers and family, I'm going to give you many, many more. And hopefully in the body of Christ, we continue developing this sense of home, of family, where we know when we are among people of like mind.

So we are to rejoice. Second point, we are to learn to revere God. Now, I chose revere. You probably know the Scripture says fear. But there's a negative fear. Like the parable of the pounds of the miners, remember the man who was given the one, he buried it in the earth. And when he was called to give an accounting, he said, I feared you. You were a hard and austere man. That was a wrong type of a fear.

The Israelites had a wrong type of fear. And they told Moses, you go up there and you talk to him and you tell us what he said. But Moses had a proper fear. He had an awe, a reverence. A positive fear, a positive reverence draws us toward God to seek to understand more about Him. Chapter 14, Deuteronomy, verse 22. You shall truly tithe all the increase of your grain that the field produces year by year. Now, the wording that is used becomes obvious. This is a different tithe than the one that was spoken of in Numbers 18 that you would give to the local Levite for the Levites' needs and for the work of the tabernacle.

This one is something you keep. It is for a holy purpose, and that holy purpose is to go and appear before God. And you shall eat before the Lord your God in the place which He chooses to make His name abide. Now, let me pause there. There are times we have those who cannot go. And I believe fully that God's name is there at your house or at the house where maybe a handful or a couple of handfuls of people are able to gather and webcast.

The tithe of your grain and 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. One way of looking at this is that God is our future employer. He is the one who will be giving out positions of responsibility over two or five or more cities. God is the one who does the hiring. We are asked to learn to love God with all of our might. And in order to do that, we have to have the deepest, proper, positive fear, awe, and reverence for everything about Him that He becomes, the embodiment of everything we want to be, everything we want to become.

Fear God always, it says. Let us go and appear before God. We do not want to be late. We do not want to miss our job interview for the positions of eternity. Another lesson, number three, is follow instructions. Now, we could have said obey and follow instructions. And we have the same two verses that we just read. If you had an interview with a potential employer, if you had an appointment with your present employer, and then didn't show up, depending on who that employer or that supervisor is, they might be missed.

They might be very understanding. They might be ready to let the hammer fall. They're all different. They're all different. If you didn't show up, though, with God, he'd be disappointed. But he's in the business of adding sons and daughters to his family. And so, he's patient. Like in Malachi, it says, it's close to this, I am the Lord your God. I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob are not consumed.

God will give us a lot of time. You've got to wait. He's looking at the desired end result on down the line. But as we just said here, I just read these verses. We have to tithe. That's something we do throughout the year, as far as following the instructions. So that, when we get to the end of the year, we have the wherewithal to be able to make the trip to go where God sets His name.

And in doing so, we show God that we are willing to follow His instructions and submit to His lead. And as we do, we grow in unity and harmony. We go to where God sets His name and be reminded that God is the one who sets us here.

God places us in the body as it pleases Him. We will always be under authority. Always under authority. We have a lot of jobs and positions that are already taken. The Father will always be supreme and the Son at His side. But there are apostles that will be reigning over tribes, and of course, so many like Abraham and Isaac and Jacob will have great responsibilities. David will be king over Israel. And yet, we always have to be under authority and respond to it in a godly way.

Another point, number four, is learn to rule. Learn to rule. That, after all, is why we're called. We're not called just for our own salvation today. We're called to be a part of a work, yes.

But we also have to look on down the line at what God is working in our lives. In Matthew 25, the parable that I mentioned a while ago, we find the parable of the talents. Excuse me, I referred to the pounds a while ago. This is the talents. And there are some similarities. Verse 14, down through verse 30, we have the parable of the talents. He gave to one five talents, another two, another one each, according to his own ability, and immediately went on a journey, and that's verse 15.

And you know this story, after a long time. He returned, verse 19, well, over 1,900 years later, approaching 2,000 years later, he returns. And he calls them to settle the account. And the one with five had gained five more, and he's commended. The one with two had gained two more, and he was commended. And the one with the one talent was the one who had an improper fear of God. He hit it, he hit it, so that he wouldn't lose that.

And verse 25, I was afraid and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours. Well, in learning to rule, you know, as he gave out different times, when he gave out blessings, you'll be ruling over so many cities. You'll reign over so many other cities. Rulership is why we're called. And in this life, God looks at our lives and He wants to know, can He handle or can He entrust power in our hands?

Power is something that corrupts so many. So many. So many have fallen. So many have been faithful servants of God, and then were seduced by power. If God is our potential employer, what qualifications does He look at? Well, I think He'd want to know, do we live by the first great commandment? Do we love Him? Are we fully vested? Are we fully bought into the way by which He lives, which is love? Do we love Him with all of our heart and soul? I think He'd also want to know, how do we interface with other people? Are we known by the love that we have for one another?

I believe He'd also want to look at us and measure the humility quotient. Because pride is how sin entered the universe, and pride is Satan's great tactic. And we have to always be on guard against letting the door be opened to pride. Well, I think He'd also want to look at our lives and ask, what kind of servant is this person? How much of a servant's heart and attitude do they have? Well, take our festival tithe. Are we wise? Are we faithful in budgeting? Careful in spending? Do we share with others? Do we use it to serve others?

Do we use it because our mind is focused on others' needs? You think about, well, just verse 21 here, well done, good and faithful servant. You were faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord. There's another parable that talks about being faithful in the little things. When God realizes that we're faithful in little, then He knows we will be faithful in much. They're hinged together. If we're faithful with the little decisions of this life, that demonstrates to God that we will be faithful in the things that really matter.

Alright, number five, and this is strengthen families. We've already read the verse that I have there. You, your son, your daughter, your male servant. That's old King James way of referring to a husband. You got that, huh? Alright. Your female servant. You go as a family. Go together. Take the little ones.

They need to be there. Most of us who were well into the parenting phase, we went through our time when we had the challenges. We didn't have one or two or three that needed lots of attention. And yes, sometimes you didn't get a whole lot. We were glad that at that time there were these little cassette tapes you could check out later and get caught up.

It's just part of the process. We all have to go through it. But strengthen the family, because God is building a family. Spend time with your family. Include extended family. Include others who are part of your church family. The millennium will be built on the foundation of strong, solid families.

And our example shows God that we agree with that in action, not just in thought. That we apply. We resolve to apply what He tells us to do. So we have the opportunity to learn more about God, His plan, and our part in it. We can rejoice and fellowship with our family. Let's turn over. We've got two more Scriptures and we'll wrap this up. Let's go to 2 Corinthians 4. 2 Corinthians 4. And we notice here that the God of this age wants to darken this world. And we are in, and we are entering darker times in this world. And Satan the devil is the God of darkness. God is the God of light. We're to be the children of light. 2 Corinthians 4. Let's begin in verse 4. Whose minds the God of this age has blinded. Again, notice the analogy there with light. If you're blinded, light doesn't go through the lens and refract back on the retina for the optic nerve to read. Who do not believe, lest the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bonded servants for Jesus' sake.

For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. So our adversary, the devil, does not want the light of God to shine forth. And God has called us to go and keep a seven, or should I say eight-day festival, and on the opening night, it is a light, it is a night where if the clouds are not covering, it will be a bright world out there. Ephesians 1, and we'll wrap it up. Ephesians 1, and let's read beginning in verse 15. But we'll focus on verse 18, mainly. Verse 15, For I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation of the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of His calling. What are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in all the saints? You know the prophet Isaiah long ago, he's called the Messianic prophet. He has so many prophecies that prophesy of the coming of Messiah and the age under Messiah. But you will remember that in chapter 11, he spoke of the time when the knowledge of God, the earth, shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. And I think in one sense, as we gather together on that opening night and the full moon shines, we could also say that the earth, the time is coming when the earth will be full of the knowledge of God, as the moon is shining brightly tonight. So, God will be turning on the lights, hopefully in every sense of the Word, especially in our minds and in our understanding, let us then go and reflect His light to the world.