The Glorious God and His Family

Wonderful, wonderful, thank you. Those of us who can't sing, you make us jealous every time.

So what a wonderful feast, brethren. Delightful to be here. I've seen so many wonderful friends from back in the Midwest. We spent, I think it was 29 years in the Midwest altogether. So we have a lot of friends back there. Good to see a lot of you back here as well and enjoying this great climate. And I say that in a meaningful way because no one has complained.

I talked to a couple of families from the South and they said, oh, we're so glad to get away from the humidity of the South and they enjoy this. So we're glad you're enjoying that. It's a family reunion here, isn't it? So good to see all of you. And you've been so attentive. You could hear a pin drop.

In fact, it's almost scary. Some of the song leaders have talked about that. And then I said, you know what? It is a very quiet congregation here. So we've had our fun. We've had our laughter at the fun show and everything. I've taken a news fast this summer. You know what a news fast is? You just don't listen or read news. And you know why. And now I have seen a few headlines and I read maybe the first paragraph and then I say, I'm going to go back to a news fast as soon as I can.

But politicians are always promising, you know, a better way. And if you take the word politics, it describes the process very well because poly in Latin means many and ticks means blood sucking creatures. And so the word politics means many bloodsucking creatures. Now that may not be correct, but anyway, that's why I'm taking a news fast. It's just this much. I'm a much happier camper as a result.

I want to talk about, and this is my title. I'm just going to get right into things here today. It's going to talk about the glory of God, the glorious God and His eternal family. The glorious God and His eternal family. I don't want to win the last time, brethren, you really did a series of Bible studies about God, about the glory of God, the awesomeness of God. So let's take a few minutes to talk about that in the sermon today. You know, brethren, we really do not understand what it means to be spirit because we're fleshly.

And that's just one of the big surprises, huge surprises that God has in mind for us. But I think once we are spirit, I think within minutes, if not seconds, we're going to be able to really understand God's glory a lot better, don't you? What it is to have glory. God is saying, I'm going to give you glory in the family of God and my kingdom. I'm going to share a part of my glory with you. And God is a glorious God. He is so magnificent, so wonderful. And so within minutes, I think of our collective resurrection and the first resurrection, we're going to begin to understand a lot more about the glory of God, who He is, His glory, His beauty, His love, everything that God is.

God has given us a little glimpse about it. That's certainly true in the Bible, but we really see through a glass starkly, don't we, as Paul wrote. And so I'd like us to turn over to Exodus 19, verse 10, and get started in the scriptures here this morning. In Exodus chapter 19 and verse 10, we're going to read here a couple of sections of the book of Exodus and how God introduced Himself to ancient Israel. Exodus 19, let's start in verse 10. Now, this is the third month, brethren, after they left Egypt. And notice in Exodus 19 and verse 10, it says, Then the Lord said to Moses, Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes.

Now, He said in verse 11, Get them ready for the third day. Now, understand, brethren, God is saying they're not ready even for me to give them a little bit of an introduction to me. I want them to wash their clothes. I want them to clean up. Now, isn't that an interesting thing? Now, of course, they've been in the desert here for three months, and it wasn't a routine thing out there because water was fairly scarce.

But God is saying, I want you to do a little bit of a nip and tuck before these next couple of days happen. I want you to get ready for what is about to happen. And so, they were getting ready, verse 11 says, and then on the third day, the Lord will come down from Mount Sinai on the side of all the people, and you shall set bounds for the people all around us, saying, Take heed to yourselves that you do not go up to the mountain or touch its base.

Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death. Not a hand shall touch him, but he shall surely be stoned or shot with an arrow, whether man or beast, he shall not live. And when the trumpet sounds long, they shall come near the mountain.

So, you're not going to go up and peer before God until God is ready for you to be called up.

And we can think rather about us even assembling before services on the weekly Sabbath or a holy day festival, or in fact before we pray. Are we really ready for that? Are we ready for that convocation, that coming together with God? Before we pray, do we really think about, have I thought about what I want to do here? Have I thought about coming before God's presence?

So, we can draw that analogy here. And then in verse 14, Samosas went down to the mountain to the people and sanctified the people, and they washed their clothes. God used Moses as the spokesperson. And he said, The people be ready for the third day. Do not come near your wives, and then it shall come to pass on the third day in the morning. There will be thunderings and lightnings. So, God is explaining through Moses what is going to happen. And a thick cloud on the mountain and the sound of the trumpet was very loud, so that all the people who were there in the camp trembled. And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God. Now, how is that for an introduction? Israel, brothers and sisters, I want you to meet God.

That's what Moses' job was. They didn't know God. They came from a very pagan culture in Egypt.

Pluralistic gods, all kinds of idols. And so now God is saying, You're ready. You've washed and cleansed yourself. You mentally prepared as best you can in those three days. And now you're coming to appear before me. And God is introducing Himself to them. So, going on in verse 17, And so to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Now, Mount Sinai was completely in smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire. It's smoke descended like the smoke of a furnace and the whole mountain quaked greatly. And when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him by voice. Then the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai on the top of the mountain and the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain and Moses went up. And the Lord said to Moses, Go down and warn the people, lest they break through the gaze of the Lord, and many of them perish. And also let the priests who come near the Lord consecrate themselves, lest the Lord break out against them. But Moses said to the Lord, The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for you warned us, saying, Set bounds around the mountain and consecrate it. And the Lord said to him, Away. In other words, Moses, it's okay. It's time for me to move this forward. And Moses did remember the instructions. He was a good student. And the Lord said, Away, get down and then come up, you and Aaron with you, and do not let the priests and the people break through to come up to the Lord, lest he break out against them. So Moses went down to the people and spoke to them. Really, that's some introduction, isn't it? We can learn from that. We can say, This is a glorious God, a great God. We just can't come to his presence like, Oh, well, it's just another meeting. Or this is just another prayer. I'll just kind of do my thing in the prayer and I'll get it over and then I'll go about my day. You know, there's things to learn here about the glory of God, His awesomeness, His power. And yes, we should stand in awe of God. It's okay, brethren, actually have fear of God, isn't it? We sometimes shy away from that. If we don't fear God, how can we worship Him? How can we respect Him? How can we serve Him and obey Him?

If you don't respect God, truly obey Him, I love Him, and stand in awe of Him, well, why would you obey? So God actually does introduce Himself as a powerful being to His ancient Israel, because any of the gods they knew in Egypt were not powerful. God is saying, I'm the Creator. I'm this awesome God. I want you to clean up and get ready, and then I'll be your God. And of course, He was. He introduces the Ten Commandments here.

Something interesting more here in verse 18 after the Ten Commandments were given. Now, all the people witnessed the thunderings and the lightning flashes and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar. And then they said to Moses, you speak to us, and we will hear, but do not let God speak with us, lest we die.

Well, that was a good reaction. You and I would have had the same reaction. It's good for them, brethren, to tremble and say, wow, this God is sure different than any other God we've ever heard about. And brethren, the true God that God has introduced you to is different than any other God we knew before God opened our minds. So we go on here. And so Moses said to the people in verse 20, Do not fear, for God has come to test you. In other words, you don't need to worry, Israel, that God is after you and going to hurt you. But he's testing if you're learning a lesson here about his awesomeness, his glory, his power, his might, and how much he really wants to work with you. But you need to also be in reverence of him. So God has come to test you that his fear may be for you so that you may not sin. If you mark your Bible, that's a good scripture to mark, isn't it? So why does God introduce himself in such a very dramatic, powerful way? Again, he was testing them to see, in fact, if they were alert and they weren't going to be teachable people, and if they understood the awesomeness of God, that he is to be revered and respected in awe and love, then, in fact, that will lead over to obedience. But again, if we don't fear God, rather, and in the proper way, we're not going to follow him. Isn't that interesting that fear begins the relationship, in a sense? That's what God is doing here. Now, again, this is not a negative fear, but a positive fear. You know, we have fear sometimes. You drive down the highway, and you see this car coming toward you, swerving, and that's fear. Or you're down a blind alley, and you hear someone behind you, and you say, that's a scary thing. This is not the same thing, but it is a deep reverence, a deep awe and respect that leads, in fact, to obedience.

So that's a very powerful verse and a very powerful lesson. Again, let's just read that. Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that his fear may be before you, so that you may not sin. And that's what keeps us from sinning quite often. Have you noticed when you get in trouble, or I get in trouble, brethren, it's because we don't fear God? God is way distant. God is out of our mind. He's just not there. And then we do what we think is best, carnally. But when God is with us and we respect God and fear Him, we obey Him. We follow through. All right, so let's go on to verse 21. So the people stood afar off, but Moses drew near the thick darkness where God was.

And then the Lord said to Moses, thus you will say to the children of Israel, you have seen what I've done, or I've talked with you from heaven. He goes on here and explains more. It's interesting, and we're not going to turn to Hebrews, but Hebrews 12 verse 21 says, and so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, quote, I'm exceedingly afraid and trembling, unquote. That's in Hebrews. Moses was trembling. And again, that's not a bad trembling, is it? That's a good trembling. That's a good fear. The awesome, the greatness, the power of God. All right. So that's the introduction of God to ancient Israel right there in these two chapters. Let's turn over to Leviticus chapter 10, please.

And there's only three verses here I'd like us to focus on. Leviticus 10 and verse 1.

Remember this account of Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron in Leviticus 10 verse 1?

So these two boys of Aaron each took his censer and put fire in it. Well, that's what they were instructed to do. They put incense on it and offered profane fire to the Lord, which he had not commanded them. They didn't fear God. They didn't stand in awe of God.

They were doing their own thing, as we would say today, that God hadn't commanded this.

They were very disrespectful, impudent. So fire came out from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord. And Moses said to Aaron, this is what the Lord spoke, saying, by those who come near to me, or near me, I must be regarded as holy, and before all the people, I must be glorified. And again, if you mark your Bible, take notes. That is a good verse. That's not a negative thing, brethren. That's a positive thing. God says again, let's read it, by those who come near me, I must be regarded as holy. In other words, I am God. I am not just another whatever you think. I am holy, and then before all the people, I must be glorified.

We must glorify God before the people. At church, out of church, wherever we live, wherever we are, we must glorify God, because God is to be glorified through us. We're His ambassadors. We live His way. We have His Holy Spirit with us or in us. That's a very important principle. If we get to know God, brethren, then we come to Him in a holy manner, in a respectful manner.

He says, I must be regarded as holy.

Well, let's turn over to Isaiah 6, please. There's more about the glory of God. In fact, it's all through the Bible, isn't it? We'll notice in Isaiah 6, verse 1. So the whole world will know this glorious God, and God introduced Himself to ancient Israel, as we read today, that way. And that's how God will introduce Himself with quite a show, as we might say, as Jesus Christ returns. He's not going to come, brethren, in a minor way, in a secret way. He's going to come with very dramatic power and might and rule and reign. Isaiah 6, verse 1, this is in the year that King Uzziah died, and I saw the Lord sitting on a throne. Now, this is an insight that Isaiah was given, a vision of the Lord. And here's the vision, the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His rope filled the temple.

And above it stood Seraphim. Each one had six wings. With two He covered his face, with two He covered his feet, and with two He flew. And one cried out to another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, and the whole earth is filled with His glory.

Well, that's just really a repetition of what we saw in Exodus. And that's the way it is in heaven, the third heaven. Glory to God. Holy is Him. Verse 4, the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of Him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke. And so I said, Woe is me, for I am unclean. This again, Isaiah in this vision, because I'm a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. And He's saying, Why am I here? I don't want to be here. I'm a human being.

I have sins. And so one of the seraphim, verse 6, flew to Him, having in His hand a live coal, which He had taken with the tongues from the altar. And He touched my mouth, He said, and said, Behold, this has touched your lips. Your iniquity has taken away, and your sin is purged. Brother, everything you read in the Bible about God, it is, again, He's holy, to be respected, and to really be obeyed, of course. And I'm much appreciated for what God is.

Psalm 145. Let's go back to the book of Psalm 145, please. Psalm 145 and verse 1. Psalm 145 and verse 1, please. Psalm 145 and verse 1. Notice how David writes here about the wonderful, eternal, glorious God. Psalm 145 and verse 1. I will extol you, O God, my O King, and I will bless your name forever and ever. And every day I will bless you, and I will praise your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and His greatness is unsearchable. Verse 4. One generation shall praise your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts. I will meditate on the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works. Men shall speak of the might of your awesome acts, and I will declare your greatness. And they shall utter the memory of your great goodness, and they shall sing of your righteousness. For, sayeth, the Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and great in mercy. The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works. And all your work shall praise you, O Lord. And your saints shall bless you. And they shall speak of the glory of your kingdom, and talk of your power, to make known to the sons of men His mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of His kingdom. Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations. Isn't that fabulous, brethren? Did we declare the praises of God over one generation to the other? I hope we do. I think we are. I'm going to talk a little bit about the team program a little bit later in the sermon. But what a fabulous kind of a, thus, let's do this. Let's go here. Let's do this as a congregation and as the people of God. Fabulous. Wonderful.

All right. Let's go all the way back to Revelation chapter 4, verse 1, please.

Now, you're familiar here, brethren. Remember, this is the vision that, in this case, John had into the very throne room of God. Revelation 4 and verse 1. Revelation 4 and verse 1. After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice, which I heard, was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this. And immediately I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne set in heaven. And one sat on the throne. And he who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance. And there was a rainbow around about the throne in appearance like an emerald.

Around the throne, twenty-four thrones. And on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white robes, and they had crowns of gold on their heads. And from the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices. Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God. Before the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal. And in the midst of the throne and around the throne were twenty-four living creatures, full of eyes and in front and back. And the first living creature was like a lion. The second was like a calf. The third had a face like a man. And the fourth was like a flying eagle. And the four living creatures each had six wings full of eyes, around and within, and they do not rest. They are night, saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. Verse 9, whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne, well, he's explaining that's what they say, who lives forever and ever. And the twenty-four elders fell down before him who sits on the throne and worships him, who lives forever and ever and casting the thrones before the throne, saying, You are worthy, O Lord, to give glory and honor and power. For you created all things, and by your will they exist and were created. You know, it's fabulous. We have seen kind of a vision now, really starting with Israel and repeated by David and then Isaiah and all the way here to the book of Revelation. And, brother, it's to glorify God. And he loves people. He loves sinners. We're sinners. He doesn't love to sin, but he loves sinners. But we are to glorify God, we're to praise him, extol him, and live a godly life. You know, the great God desires, of course, all of us to be guests of his, eternal guests in his kingdom. He's inviting us, calling us. When we were baptized, God gave us a new identity.

He expunged our sins. They're gone and scrubbed from our record, so to speak.

And so that is God, the good God, the wonderful God of love and graciousness.

You know, brother, sometimes it's hard to break free because we know who we are. We've done this problem or sin and we've had issues. And realize your identity is not those issues and what we grew up. It's different. It's holy. God is holy. He's calling us to be like him and to convert us, to change us, and develop his character, his love, his patience, and that positive spirit.

You know, the worst attitude of all is complacency, isn't it? It's, I don't care. I just sit in church and nothing happens with me. Well, a good attitude, like we heard in the sermon at, brother, is actually having a transmission of God's Spirit to get us moving. And it is God in us. We can't do it ourselves. We're humans, so it's God in us, that great, wonderful God. I'd like to talk to you parents just a bit. Turn with me to Ecclesiastes 12. In fact, let's all turn over there.

But the role of parenting is so important. Let's go back to Ecclesiastes 12 and verse 1. This was actually our United Youth Camps theme a couple of years ago, and it turned out to be a very inspiring theme at camps across the country. In Ecclesiastes 12 and verse 1, every word here is really important. It says, Remember now your Creator. And when do you remember your Creator? Well, Solomon is saying, In the days of your youth, we should not wait to learn God and love Him and obey Him and know Him when we're 30 years of age, 40 years of age. No, when you're a youth, that's the best time. Remember your Creator youth now. That's such a blessing, such a gift. You know, I had to wait until I was about 16, 17 or so. I would have loved camp. I would have loved the feast, all these friends, all these activities, a community, but didn't have that. But verse 1, again, Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth. Notice it goes on in verse 1 to say, Before the difficult times come, and the years draw near, when you say, I have no pleasure in them. What does that mean? Well, it means that life will grab you, and if you don't have a foundation laid with God, a relationship with God, then life will slam you hard. Life will just slam you hard, and you won't have a relationship with God to turn to and to get you out of those difficulties. You'll be on your own. So God is saying, the best time to develop a relationship with me is not when you're an adult. It's when you're a preteen and a teen. And then you can change your life. You don't have to go through those hard knocks. So verse 2 goes on, While the sun is in the light, and the moon and the stars are not darkened, we can understand what He's saying here, and the clouds do not return after the sun, and the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men bow down. Let's just drop down to verse 6. He repeats, Remember your creator before the silver cord is loosed, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher shattered at the mountain, or the wheel broken at the well, and then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the Spirit will return to God who gave it. Now again, he's drawing a contrast. Young people, now is the time to develop a relationship with God. If you wait, life is going to happen, it's going to slam you, and then pretty soon you're old, and you know, it's just a repeat of what the world has done generation after generation. Why do that? So God is reaching out here to all young adults and all preteens and saying, Now is the time to develop that relationship. That's the best time. You know, I did something last summer with Compass Check. Here's our Compass Check. This is the fall issue. The fall that festivals are coming, our lead article. We've had, I think, six issues. The Compass Check started about a year and a half ago, and this was a great photograph on the inside, multicultural, national, around the world. Of course, that's what God's plan of salvation is about, all people, and a lead article on the Holy Days. And then this article is interesting, answering some of your questions about homosexuality. Now, the reason we put that in there is because that was the number one asked question at camp a year ago, last summer, because it's an issue, isn't it, for teens at school? They're friends. They are many are accepting that out there, and our teens wanted to know, well, how do you answer questions about homosexuality? So it's a Q&A short and to the point, which teens like. So that's one of the more direct articles. And then this article, How to Prepare for Your Future Marriage.

Because, of course, that's in the works for a lot of our youth. So a little bit about also how I learned to get the most out of serving of the feast. A young lady was saying she was a little shy and having a hard time to get involved. She said, you know, one way I got involved with serving at the feast. And what we did, though, through Compass Check surveys last summer at camps, we asked, what are some future articles that you'd like to read about in Compass Check? Listen to these articles. Okay, a lot about relationships. Many requests. I just want to know about relationships. I want to know how to develop relationships with my parents and friends and certainly foremost about God. Now listen to this. Several said, I want to learn about game addictions to screens and video games and how to steer away from them. Now, I want to know how to get out of that. Should we play video games? Black Ops, Halo, etc. Should we even do that?

Another one said, dealing with school or how social media can influence society. This one, several asked, I want articles about how to be in the kingdom of God.

Isn't that great? How to get closer to God and paying more attention to God.

All right. Listen to this one. Transgender bathrooms.

Now, this was, I put this out in June, in July, at our camps. I was at Camp Catubik in late June. And I happened to see this come in, but actually, The Current Beyond Today Magazine has an article in there by Mr. Scott Ashley about that. But transgender bathrooms.

How to answer, what is your religion? You know, as they're talking to friends, well, who are you? What are you? You keep Saturday. You don't keep Christmas and Easter. Like, what? Isn't that a very relevant point? How do you answer that? So, how to answer the question, what is your religion to people who think Christianity is keeping Christmas and Easter?

They have real-life issues. Now, how to deal with the world around us? How to defend our faith? And how to interact with the world? That's a very good question. How to defend your faith, and yet, interact with the world? You can't draw out of the world. We have to be a part of it, but we don't want to be mixed in with the society and spiritually. What if someone is pressuring you to drink? I tell you, I think every teen has had that happen in high school. I sure did.

Just tremendous pressure. Now you have all kinds of drugs.

Cursing. I want an article on cursing. Probably an article about not cursing, probably, but I get it. And then an article on prophecy and revelation. Several, and they were older teens, and they were males because we had the survey and put down your age bracket and male or female, but this came in from several of the older teens, male teens. I want things on prophecy and revelation.

So our teens are really facing a lot, but they're searching for God's will and His direction.

Let's go on to talk about more of the surveys.

These are actually camper surveys. Camp is a huge part of who I am today. It will forever be a part of me. Keep up the good work. Keep molding godly teens. That's a nice way of putting it. What camp is it about? Well, it's molding godly teens. And this one I love. I love this camp. It has changed my outlook on everything and everyone. Isn't that something? And then they go on to write, I just wish there were UCG high school. Anybody have a million dollars? We could...

But I just wish there was a UCG high school where I could always be around young people who share the same beliefs. That's a great idea, but we're probably going to have to wait for the kingdom on that one. It was a very active and energetic camp, and there were so many positive things about god made in the instructions there and the classes, and it makes me want to learn more about god. I kind of ad-libbed a few comments here. But yeah, we have such great campers and pre-teen campers. We almost have now as many pre-teen campers as teen campers. And we've seen the pre-teen population grow and grow and grow and grow, and they're almost the same number as our teens. And that means, again, we have plenty of teens coming into the program. We consider our pre-teen program, you know, our feeder program for the camp program, the teen camp program, but both groups are wonderful. So just a little bit about camp and how camp is going in our Compass Check magazine. This turned with me to John 17 and verse 1. The Big View Brethren about the glorious god and his eternal family. This is what God is doing. This is really a fundamental here as found in John 17 starting in verse 1. So Christ spoke these words, of course, the prayer after the Passover service. And he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come, glorify your Son, that your Son also may glorify you. Isn't that fabulous? Interesting. Christ is asking his Father, glorify your Son, that your Son may also glorify you. And as you have given him authority over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as you have given him. Now, verse 3. This is eternal life. What is eternal life? When you boil it all down, here it is, that they may know you. It says, the only true God. That's what we saw in Exodus. The only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. Now, brethren, when you boil it all down, do you know God? That's kind of the most fundamental question you might ever ask yourself. Do you know God?

Do you know the Father? Do you know Jesus Christ? Do you? Are you getting to know them better?

That's the calling. That's the commission, we might say. That's the future. Every day, getting to know God better and better. And then they want to get to know you, of course. So do you think you're fulfilling that during the feast? You know, let's go out of the feast, brethren, and change people. Let's not go back to the same ruts, okay? I've got my ruts. Boy, once you get in a rut, it's hard, isn't it? It's just hard to get out of ruts, because they're the easiest thing. You know, we, like here in Oregon, and we pass through in Eastern Oregon, Idaho and Utah, but we have the Oregon Trail all the way from Utah into Southern Idaho into Eastern Oregon, and then clear out, of course, to Oregon City, where the Oregon Trail officially ends.

And have you ever visited the Oregon Trail? Any of you gone on the Oregon Trail itself and seen the ruts? There's little ruts to this day. Yeah, there are. My wife and I took a day or day and a half some years ago, and we visited the Oregon Trail. And, of course, it's just continuing to erode with the rain and the snow, but they're still there. And all of a sudden, the sagebrush will kind of open up and you look and you see these two deep furrows. Literally, this is where the people, 150 or so years ago, trekked from Missouri on the way to Oregon, you know, Oregon or bust.

And those ruts were very deep yet, 150 years later. So once you got in a rut with your team of oxen and frut, you stayed in that rut. It was no getting out. And so spiritually, we don't want to get in a rut because they're hard to get out of. You have to really ask God to direct and to help and get us out of that rut. So do we think rather than we're making progress there? That's really a fundamental, isn't it, of worshiping God, this great, awesome God. Now, let's go back to the book of Psalm again. Or Psalms. And the book of Psalms, chapter 119, the big, long one. That's the easy one to find. Psalm 119. Let's go to verse 37. Psalm 119 and verse 37, please.

Now, this is very interesting in our media-driven culture today. We used to just have the radio back in the day and then television, the one-eyed monster. And now we have all sorts of media. Brethren, I am not anti-technology. I love technology. I use it. I've got three or four computers of all sizes and shapes, a cell phone. I like cell phones. I like smart ones. I had a dumb cell phone. I had a semi-smart cell phone. And I finally graduated to a really smart cell phone.

And I love it. It's not technology that's bad. It's the use of it that can be bad.

In the Kingdom of God, brethren, we're going to have a high-tech culture, I believe, don't you? We're not going to go back to the Oregon Trail days.

I want to be able to see people of God that we're serving enjoy technology to its fullest, to make their lives somewhat easier. If they're traveling, I think having a GPS, a mobile GPS, would be fantastic for them. I've had it with maps and getting lost.

I spent probably, and I'm in my 60s, I probably spent six months out of my lifetime in lost areas.

I was trying to visit a lady back in the Midwest years ago, and I got instructions, directions, wrote them on down, and I went to the country. And I kept driving around. I couldn't find her. I went to a pay phone, enough with pay phones. I love the cell. And I called her. I said, ma'am, I can't find you. She gave me instructions pretty much like I had. And I toured this countryside for a long time. I never did find her. I called her back and said, I'm very sorry, ma'am. I cannot find you. It's like, duh! I can't find where you live. If I had a GPS, bingo. So, brethren, we're not anti-technology in God's church. Look at the Bible. If God doesn't say anything about anti-this or anti-that, unless it's sin and the bad evil thing, but, you know, the use of inventions. God gave us a mind to think and reason and invent. God is the greatest inventor, the greatest designer. And we have a little bit of that DNA today. So, that's my speech today. I think in the kingdom of God, we're going to have tech. We're going to use it in a godly way. That's the problem. So, whatever media we have is going to glorify God.

We're not going to pervert it and misuse it as we do today. All right. Now, verse 37. This is Psalm 119, verse 37. Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things and revive me in your way. Now, can that be an issue with our media-driven culture? Absolutely. Whether it's TV, whether it's internet, you know, that's a prayer, isn't it? If you have an issue with too much of the media stuff, this is just ask God to turn away your eye from the worthless stuff, because it's really a waste of time. It doesn't do you much good, any good, maybe. I use the internet all the time, probably five, six days a week, but it's the right use of it. You know, years ago, I joined Facebook. When Facebook came out, FB, you know, got to join Facebook. I was on it for about 10 days, but I left Facebook because I didn't have any friends. So, I decided there's no need to have Facebook. Brother, I frankly don't have time for Facebook. Now, I'm for Facebook, if it's used correctly. I don't have time, honestly.

I'm so busy with things. And so, I think when I retire, I'll get a Facebook page. But right now, I honestly don't have time. I'm not against it, per se, but just don't have time. Verse 59. Verse 59. David continues, you know, I thought about my ways and turned my feet to your testimonies. Well, how can we glorify God better? Because, well, we can think about it, as David did. Think about your ways, like David. That's a growth pattern. And then he says, hmm, this is a waste. This is not good. This is not proper. So, I'm going to do away with that.

I'm going to turn my feet away from that. And, verse 60. I made haste and did not delay to keep your commandments. Isn't that something? I made haste. I burned rubber. I wanted to do what's right. But I had to think about it. I had to meditate. How often do we meditate anymore?

Life is so busy, isn't it, brethren? How much? Remember the big three? Prayer, Bible study, and what? Meditation. And then the last, the fourth? Fasting. That's right. How much do we meditate? It's almost a lost art in our culture. Maybe in God's church. But David is meditating here. Just thinking about his life. Let's go over to verse 129. Verse 129. 1-29. 1-29. David writes, Your testimonies are wonderful, therefore my soul keeps them.

Again, meditating about God's way. I say it's David. It's a psalmist. Sorry about that. 1-30. Therefore my soul keeps them. The entrance of your words give light, and it gives understanding to the simple. I open my mouth and pant it, for I long for your commandments, and look upon me and be merciful to me, as your custom is toward those who love your name. Now, verse 133. 1-33. Direct my steps by your word, and let no iniquity have dominion over me. No iniquity. Whatever sin, bad thinking, ruts. Just pray about it. Go to God, the glorious God, the powerful God. He will help. And then, let's go down to verse 135. 1-35. Make your face shine upon your servant, and teach me your statutes. Rivers of water run down my eyes, because men do not keep your law. You know, Brethren, it's so easy to judge the world, condemn the world. All those evil people. But David's approach was, I feel for them. They're doing such terrible things. They don't keep your law, but I have empathy. I have feeling for them. I don't castigate them as lost. You know, the good news is, again, good tidings. It's a positive message of salvation, not hellfire. God doesn't want anyone to be in the Third Resurrection, does He?

Let's go down to verse 153. Consider my affliction, the author writes, and deliver me. God says, just open up, for I do not forget your law. Plead my cause and redeem me. Revive me according to your word. Revive me. Salvation is far from the wicked. They do not seek your statutes. Great are your tender mercies, O Lord. Revive me according to your judgments. You know, maybe we're in need of revival. When I ever hear that word, I think of a tent, you know? But, honestly, there is a spiritual revival in the Bible, and they're all over. And the psalmist here is saying, I need a revival. I need to restore, renew, reboot, just change, just grab God and do better.

That's what he's talking about. You know, let's talk about trigger points.

You know what a trigger is for a gun. What are your spiritual trigger points? I have mine. In other words, a trigger point is a specific circumstance that triggers a bad response. That's a trigger point. Boy, when that trigger point hits us, boom! We pull the trigger, and it's not a good result. What are your trigger points? Meditate about that. Pray about that. Go to God. That's how we grow. So what are your trigger points? Make that a point of growth. Let's go back one chapter, Psalm 118 and verse 5. Psalm 118 and verse 5, please.

Psalm 118 and verse 5.

The encouragement here, I called on the Lord in distress. The Lord answered me, and then what did God do? He set me in a broad place, a quiet place. That's awesome, isn't it?

The feast is a quiet place. Camp is a quiet place. Sabbath is a quiet place. Congregations of God are quiet places. Hopefully our home is a quiet place, a broad place. But the psalmist is saying, I called on God. I was in distress. I had some trigger points hit me, and I just asked God to give me a broad place. Just a nice quiet area, some respite, quietness, peace, protection. We can do that. God is more than willing to intercede and help. You know, the other night we enjoyed the fun show, and we heard about a reading from comedian George Carlin. And George Carlin said this some years ago. He said, I was thinking about how people seem to read the Bible a whole lot more as they get older. Then it dawned on me they're cramming for the final exam.

You know, there's some truth to that. Don't you think, seniors? I think you're cramming.

But we don't have to wait until we're seniors to do that.

That should be for young and old as well. But of course, there is a judgment.

In fact, that's one of the basic doctrines of Hebrew 6. And you know what Hebrew 6 says about the judgment? The eternal judgment. There's one judgment, and it's eternal. In other words, it's for all the marbles. It's for everything, isn't it? When we played marbles back in the day, showing my age, some good kid, really a good marble player, would come up and say, you want to play for all the marbles? That was a challenge. Oh, I'm not sure. How good are you?

And so the eternal judgment, brethren, is for all the marbles. But often when we hear the word judgment, we think in a negative way. Actually, from God's perspective, judgment is a positive thing. We really have to get our minds around that one because in the world today, judgment is always bad, the judge. And with God, Christ is the judge. The Father has delegated all judgment to Him, but He's a merciful God. But He also expects results. The biggest gap, as James says, is not just knowing, it's doing. So He does expect performance because of His Spirit in us, God's Spirit in us. So eternal judgment, brethren, is not a bad thing. Why does God have judgment? Anyway, in the church, in the plan of God. Why not do away with all judgment?

Because, brethren, it's a test for us to see if we're serious with God, isn't it? It's so simplistic, but it's so necessary. You know, when we have a nice trooper stop us, he or she is testing our ability to obey. Aren't they? It's usually a question, isn't it?

Ma'am, sir, did you happen to see that spin limit sign back there?

I know from your experience, okay, and you do too. But they often say, sir, do you know how fast you were going? They ask you a question, and they want you to think about it. Well, what was I doing? Oh, you know, I was thinking about my business or school or whatever, and I didn't have my mind on my job here driving. So God is saying, I want you to think about what you're doing. That's why there is a judgment. It's not a bad thing at all. If we didn't have civil authority, just imagine the culture would have. Pandemonium! Pandemonium! I live in a subdivision where we have CC&Rs. We have rules, regulations. I'm the president of our board, and some people don't like them. And yet, when you buy into our subdivision, you buy into our CC&Rs, our rules. But it keeps all of these extra things off of the street, off your yard. You can't paint your house pink in our neighborhood. You can't. And I kind of like that. It keeps things spiffy. But if you don't like that, you don't have to move in either. So the judgment, brethren, is a positive thing from God's view. I want you to remember, as you're driving down the road, I want you to remember the laws. I want you to remember the regulations, because they're good for you. I want you to see how much you love me. That's really what it's about. So it's not a negative thing. It's actually a good thing, as we saw from Psalm 119, about meditating and loving God and serving Him. Part of that is also in Luke 12. Turn with me to Luke 12 and verse 31.

Luke chapter 12 and verse 31, please. Luke 12 and verse 31.

And we'll note several verses here. Luke 12, starting in verse 31.

Jesus Christ says, But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you. So you seek first and foremost and always that kingdom. And then He says, All these things shall be added to you. Do not fear. We've talked about fear in the sermon and other messages. Do not fear. So this is the negative fear. We are to fear God. We have to do that, brethren. That's part of God's spirit in us. But He says, Do not fear. Do not fear of circumstances. Do not fear trials and people and problems, He says. Little flock. Because, He said, it's your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Pleasure here, brethren, means to think well of, to approve, and to think good.

So it is the Father's approval or the Father thinking well of to give you that kingdom. That's the Father's goal. That's Jesus' goal. It's not to take the kingdom from us. It's to give us the kingdom. He also mentions here in verse 34, reminds us about where the treasure is, there your heart will be, and let your waist be girded and your lamps burning all the time. And you yourselves will be like men who wait for their master and when he will return from the wedding. And then when he does come and he knocks, he says that they may open to him immediately. In other words, we're ready for Christ's return always. You know, we're not guaranteed 3 score and 10. Or 3 score and 20 is often the case. 80 or 3 score and 30 or 90 today, are we? We're not guaranteed. We know no better than how long we'll live. God will judge that. He will determine that. But he says, always be ready. You can't just assume things. I don't think we need to worry about Christ's return. Only we have to think about our longevity. Right? Because both can happen, or will happen. It depends on, again, the length of our life. And yes, Jesus Christ returned. I thought I'd live long enough to see Christ come back. That's probably not going to happen. Right? Unless I live to be... I mean, I just think so. I mean, at least that's my view. I can't just live to see the end. I've got to live, again, day to day, spiritually. And again, be ready at any time. Now, verse 37, bless your low servants whom the master when he comes will find watching. And most assuredly I say to you that he who girds himself and have them sit down to eat will come and serve them. Well, brethren, there's so many lessons here, but we need to be ready at all times, prepared at all times. That's for certain, and that's a joy, and that's a privilege, and an honor for all of us. Well, please turn with me to Revelation, the book of Revelation. And we'll wrap up here in the book of Revelation, chapter 21 and verse 27. So, the glory of God, the glorious God and his eternal family. We've talked about that today, Revelation 21 and verse 27.

But there shall by no means enter in any that defiles, talking about the eternal kingdom of God. Of course, this is after the new heavens and new earth. And by then, all three resurrections have occurred. And he says, anything that defiles or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life. So, your name, brethren, if you're converted, as we say, converted, in other words, God's Spirit in you, then your name is in the book of life. Those of you who are young or just new to God's way of life, and God's Spirit is working with you, but not yet in you. Well, that'll happen when you repent, accept Christ as your Savior, and then, of course, the laying on of hands and the living of God's Holy Spirit. Then your name is officially, we might say, put in that book of life. Only you can, of course, remove that. And God doesn't want to do that. That's something we do. And hopefully, no one will. But we assume there will be people in the Third resurrection. They actually erased through their bad acts and evil minds for years and years, I would assume, a whole attitude of just, I don't want care for God, I don't love Him, I'm going to do my thing, I'm rebellious. And many times God goes after that person, but that person keeps rejecting God, etc., then, of course, their name is removed. But God wants that name there. Your name there forever.

Now, getting ahead of the story, because this goes through the eighth day of the last great day, of course, on Monday, but Revelation 22. Now, it's very interesting, brethren. You think about the Bible. How did God design the Bible? Here's a very interesting thing. The Bible is written starting with the physical universe, the creation of the physical universe, and physical man.

Man. And then the Bible ends here with the recreation of the universe, a new earth, new heaven, and the eternal family of God. They're not any longer fleshly, they're spirit. And in between, the beginning and the end, Genesis and Revelation, of course, you have the spiritual creation of man.

You have the physical creation at the beginning, physical creation of man, and the rest of the Bible in between, sandwiched the spiritual creation of man, the growing, the accumulation of God's character. And then God ends with, of course, a recreation, but not physical. This is all spirit. This is all a different way of looking at things. It's for the spirit family. And so God is amazing, His mastermind, His ability to do all of this. Well, let's notice a couple of verses in chapter 22.

And verse 1, He showed me a pure river of water of life, clearest crystal. We can only imagine how these things could look, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. And then, of course, there's the duality here. In the middle of the street on the other side of the river was the tree of life. See how God begins and then ends here with bookends, which bore 12 fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there was no more curse, but the throne of God and the Lamb, which shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. Now, I mentioned this years ago in Last Great Day message, and I said, brother, what is your job description for all eternity? There it is.

Of course, God's going to fill in a whole lot, but that's only just a little mini glimpse, isn't it? Just the most succinct little glimpse of what happens post-third resurrection.

So His servants shall serve Him, and they shall see His face, and His name shall be on the foreheads. And there shall be no night there, there's no lamp there, no light of the Son for the Lord. God gives light, and they shall reign forever and ever. Now, I end with a question, and that's maybe not a good way of ending a message, but the question I have is, what shall we reign over? Let's talk about that at the senior's luncheon, should we? What shall you reign over? Maybe God, again, doesn't give us any information about that other than this. So God has revealed a lot, but not everything. You've got to be there. So let's enjoy the rest of the feast and the glorious God that we serve.