The Glorious Things That Are Coming

Wow! End of sermon? We're good. Let's close for prayer. Oh boy, somebody's got to follow the Inspire music, but thanks to the offeror, Tori, as well. That was wonderful. Megan, I wrote your name down because I want to give you credit. So welcome to God's Feast! He's our host. Wonderful to be here. We appreciate all the servants, and there's been a lot of work here. I talked to an audio video man the other day, and he was saying, well, his garage has been filled with audio equipment all summer long, virtually.

So it just didn't happen like on Thursday afternoon did it. But I'm pretty impressed, and you see all these cameras and gadgets, and I'm just waiting for the camera to zip around here and kind of do the 360, but I guess that's not gonna happen this year. So welcome all of you. Glad you're here. Yeah, a lot of packing, and one gentleman we know from our area. I said, Jim, how you doing? He says, well, I said, how the trip go yesterday? He said, well, actually I forgot three things. I went back to the house three times, and so I thought, you sound like me.

So good to see. I know there's some health issues. Certainly, pray for the gentleman up north up in Alberta. Serious situation. I know of the family, and so pray for him. And all of you are going through a number of things, and we pray for the kingdom, and certainly for God's blessing and God's way of life.

We're off to a great start. Again, I thank all of you who are serving, ushering, and those who are involved in activities. It's so nice to see all of you. We've known a number of you almost 20 years since we moved from the Midwest to Boise in that area about 20 years ago, but camp especially. I've been out of camp program just a year or two, but it's just part of my life, and it's so good to hear from you and how some of you actually were met at camp for the first time, and then you have married, and that's always a good story.

So camp has a lot of purposes, and one of the big things I think for a lot of us but welcome to all of you, wherever you are from. We certainly welcome those who are on the webcast today, those at home or traveling, and from other areas as well.

So really delighted. You know, I feel like you do the God will tailor-make your feast if you ask Him to, and to meet the right people, say the right things, and really inspire you because this is God's feast for you. The family of God has a feast of tabernacles that God has designed, and it's your feast. God has made it for you. Feast is for family, and so your family and God will make this feast for you and customize it in that sense.

And I know it's been a hard year for some. You've had trials and tests, and yet we're here. Good for you, and that's the way it should be. We're certainly delighted to be here and have God's blessing, and His reminder of the wonderful Kingdom of God, as we just heard in the special music, and really last night as well. And that opening, the two opening nights, messages last night were wonderful.

I thought the music was really inspiring, uplifting, I think one of our best videos we've ever had. So we didn't get a chance last night. Go online, because it really was inspiring and helpful and encouraging. So you know how you have a good feast? You give a good feast. So let's be givers, and that's how you have a good feast, is by giving a good feast and thinking of others, and to have God's way of life. So we are family here, and I'll get to my newsletter.

Look at this old paper. See that? We'll get to it a little bit later. So that's an oldie but a goodie. So stay tuned. We're gonna go through our newspaper. It's called the New World News. The world news, world, New World News. So we'll get to that in a little bit in the sermon today. But before I really get started my message, I'd like us to turn with me over to Deuteronomy chapter 16 and verse 13.

It kind of gives the, as we just heard in a message here, very good sermonette and last night as well, but kind of gives a backdrop of what the Feast of Tabernacles and the Eighth Day are about. And Deuteronomy 16, please, in verse 13. And so God says here, you shall observe the Feast of Tabernacles seven days when you have gathered from your threshing floors and from your winepress and you shall rejoice.

Now there's two words, there's a one word repeated here and it was actually repeated in the sermonette message a few minutes ago. And here it is. You shall rejoice. You shall rejoice in your feast. You and your son and your daughter and your male servant and your female servant and the Levite, the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are within your gate. Now that's inclusive. God is family. He is having a family. So God says this is your feast. I designed it. I made it.

It's commanded to be a part of that and it's for you. Now what does rejoice mean? It just means to have joy and a lot of it. Now when you go for an ice cream cone, what do you like? One tiny scoop? You're probably like three or four scoops. I'm not just piling it on, right? Like two thousand calorie ice cream cone. Yeah, a little too much. But a rough analogy, when God says to rejoice, He's saying really pile it on. I want you to have a good feast. I want you to enjoy today and next Friday and Sabbath and the eighth day on the weekly Sabbath as well.

I want you to really relax and enjoy fellowship and laughter. A little bit of wine, God says, is fine. Have a better cut of steak or chicken or whatever you like. But let's all enjoy that. God says, I want you to do that. And verse 15, seven days you shall keep a sacred feast to the Lord.

So there's a meaning to the feast. There's a sacredness. And this is, of course, meaningful for all of us because it's celebrating the return of Jesus Christ and us being there as first fruits. So that's why we're here. But also God says, I want you to enjoy the time you're here physically and most of all spiritually. So a sacred feast to the Lord your God in the place which the Lord chooses because the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and all the work of your hands and so that you shall surely what?

Rejoice. So let's make that a thing because God does. So again, pray about every day all the messages. God will bless you with the right conversations, the right people. And it's been so delightful to have some of you come up and say, remember me? And of course it's like...

sort of. I had a gentleman call me a few weeks ago about something from the Midwest. We spent a lot of time in the Midwest and so I hadn't talked to the man in about 19 years. And so he says, Mr. Knudson, I said, yes. And he says, you remember me? This is over the telephone. What do you say? I'm trying. I'm already repenting because I don't. But he told me his name. I said, oh yes, I do remember you. So it's kind of late, you know, but we do remember each other and give each other a hug and a handshake. And this is a family reunion, indeed, from God himself.

All right, I'd like to talk about, this is my sermon titled, The Glorious Times That Are Coming. The Glorious Times. They're not average times. They're glorious times that are coming. That's what this feast means. And I've got two simple points today. The first point is the glorious return of Jesus Christ as King of Kings. The glorious return of Jesus Christ as King of Kings. Make no mistake about it, the King is coming. He's coming to town. He's coming to Jerusalem. And he's going to make this a worldwide government. Christ will not be voted in office. He will not be elected office. He won't ask for permission to come and be in office.

And he won't take a poll. He is coming. And he is going to give peace and joy to this world.

So make no mistake about it. Notice in Zachariah 14 and verse 1. Let's go to Zachariah.

Wonderful prophetic book. And we're going to start the sermon today in Zachariah 14. We're talking here about the glorious return of Jesus Christ to this earth as King of Kings.

And Lord of Lords, Zachariah 14 and verse 1. I know it's in the Bible here. All right. Chapter 14 verse 1. Behold, the days of the day of the Lord is coming. We celebrate that today. Today is the high holy day of the Feast of Tabernacles. And it celebrates Jesus' return. This day of His return is Trumpet's pictures and then going into the kingdom of God for a thousand years plus. Remember, the kingdom of God includes not only a millennium, the thousand-year reign, but everything after that. So Jesus Christ is just going to get started in a thousand years. That's just the first thing. And then comes the second resurrection that we'll hear about a week from today. That's phase two. And then the third phase is called eternity. So this starts, you might say, eternity, even though the Father and the Son of Jesus were eternity. In fact, for the whole world, when Christ returns and He starts to reign from Jerusalem, He says the King is coming. Things are changing. A new King is in town. So behold, the day of the Lord is coming. Your spoil will be divided in your midst, and I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem, and the city shall be taken. And then notice down in verse 3, the Lord will go forth and to battle those nations as He fights in the day of His battle. And in that day, as we celebrate on the Feast of Trumpets, His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east side, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west, making a very large valley. Half of the mountain shall move toward the north, and half of it toward the south. And notice at the end of verse 5, if I can drop down to the end of verse 5, please, thus says the Lord my God will come with all the saints with you.

To return to Jesus Christ, of course, the Feast of Trumpets pictures that, and the resurrection of the saints, the firstfruits, at Christ's return, and the saints will be with you.

And then in verse 8, it talks about that beautiful time when in that day it shall be that the living water shall flow from Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea, and half toward the western sea, the Mediterranean and the dead, the Dead Sea. In both summer and winter it shall occur.

And the Lord shall be king over all the earth, and that day it shall be the Lord is one, and is named one. That's the first point here I'd like to cover today. In fact, glorious times are coming because Jesus Christ is coming. And we celebrate that these fall holy days. And notice toward the end of the chapter how important the days of God are, the holy days. It talks about verse 17, it shall be that whichever the families of the earth do not come to Jerusalem to worship the king, the house, the Lord of hosts, rather, on them there shall be no rain. It talks here, of course, in verses 16, 17, 18, and 19 about the Feast of Tabernacles. So as ancient Israel trek to Jerusalem three times or three seasons a year, early spring, late spring, and the fall Feast of Tabernacles, etc., they're going to be doing the same thing. And if someone, nation doesn't attend, doesn't come, doesn't want to submit to God and love God, God says, I've got a little tap on the shoulder for you. And we're going to remind you how important these days, because it's a good plan, it's God's days for you. So we're here by God's invitation. Now God's newly minted spirit family, those resurrected in the just past first resurrection, will be sent by their king to help rescue planet earth. We know about the great tribulation, which is Satan's wrath on a particularly modern-day Israel and the house of Judah, the Jews. And yet it's upon the whole world, but that specific group in mind. We know the plague's coming. We see in prophecy, brethren, that upwards of half, perhaps, or even more of mankind will not survive. Planet earth will be on its last legs. There could be radiation poisoning in the air, the land, the water.

One of the first things Christ does after, in fact, was we just read here in Zachariah 14, after putting down the rebellion of Satan and his armies on this earth, and of course putting way of Satan and the demons, is going to start healing the earth. We need healing even now, but our world is going to go through such an upheaval, such a curse under Satan's wrath and mankind's blindness. It's ironic to me that we're trying to save the planet. You hear that all the time. Well, who in their right mind doesn't want to save the planet? Is there another planet? Of course, we all want to save the planet, but it's ironic and it's very sad at the same time, because in the sense of trying to save planet earth, we come within a hair's breath of destroying earth, the earth that God created, Jesus Christ, on behalf of his father, and that is Satan's deception. Mankind tries to save when, in fact, it's going to end up where he curses the earth.

And all the creation, as Paul wrote in Romans 8, grieves and groans for healing, but Jesus Christ is going to be the healer. He created the heavens and the earth, and he also restored after Satan's wrath. When he comes back, one of the first things that we're going to participate in, brethren, is the healing of planet earth. So that's when that will occur.

So that's when that will occur. Notice in Micah 4 in verse 1. Micah 4, please, in verse 1.

Micah chapter 4 in verse 1, There shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established at the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted. We just heard that in the very nice special music, above the hills, and peoples shall flow to it. It's a pattern. I saw one or two of the choir members kind of, we shall go up to the mountain of the Lord. You kind of do want to tap your foot a little bit. And there's a rhythm to this, and I think it makes sense, the way it's written here in Micah chapter 4 verse 1, is there was a trek by ancient Israel up to Mount Zion.

Mount Zion, ancient Mount Moriah, where Abraham attempted to sacrifice his son Isaac, it was, and still is virtually, the highest point in Jerusalem. Now, if you take one of the local landmarks here, those of you who from Spokane, some of these mountains out here, you say, look, here's the highest one, and you're trying to trek into that mountain area. You can see that from a long way off. And that's what ancient Israel saw. A long way off, Mount Zion, that was their gold, but either for the feast. This was a time of rejoicing, fellowship, good food, good wine, and thanking God for being their God. And that's very similar, except we're going to have God's Spirit. And yes, the first fruits will be Spirit, but we're going to have the trek, these people around the world coming up to worship the King, up to Mount Zion, where the new temple, where Jesus Christ resides, during that thousand-year reign around the world, over the world. And verse 2, many nations shall come and say, come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. And He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His past. Now, that's a lot different than today. If people hear the truth, it's not necessarily they're going to walk in the past, because the missing dimension we know is God's Holy Spirit, the drawing and the opening of the minds of God the Father. This is not the day of salvation. It's a day, but not the day.

This is referring to the time, in fact, all minds will be opened, and they will learn the truth of God. For out of Zion, the law shall go forth in the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, and then He shall judge between many peoples and rebuke strong nations afar off. Now, will Jesus Christ have to do that? Yes, Scripture says that. Will that be His choice? Not necessarily at all, but when people do rebel and they want to continue to rebel, they're going to be stopped, and you're going to be a part of that. You know, we talk about the voice behind us walking the way, Isaiah 30. That's the first fruits that are now resurrected. You're going to be, as we get into the sermon here a little bit more, a teacher. You're going to be showing people how to do it, and yes, they'll be the nudge occasionally.

Uh-uh-uh. No, no, no. Just a reminder, that's not God's way of life. So Christ will have to, at times, rebuke nations so they get the point. And after one rebuke or two rebukes, they will.

But it's going to take a while. There won't be peace on earth just a snap of a finger.

It's going to be, again, we don't know the time, but it's going to be as people convert, one after the other, one at a time. But notice in verse 3, he shall judge among many peoples, rebuke many nations afar off, and they shall beat their swords into plowshares. He will teach peace, showing them how to have peace spiritually, and there's spirits into pruning hooks. A nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war in any any more. West Point is gone, the Naval Academy is gone, the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado is gone, all the rest of them, because peace will reign. And Jesus will be there to teach, along with all of the resurrected firstfruits. Verse 4, everyone shall sit under his vine and his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid, and for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken it, for all people shall walk in the name of his God, but we will walk in the name of our Lord, Lord our God, forever and ever. And notice the healing here, the compassion, starting in verse 6, and that day says the Lord, I will assemble a lame, and I will gather the outcast, and those whom I have afflicted, and I will make the lame a remnant, and the outcast a strong nation, so the Lord will reign over them in Mount Zion, from now on forevermore.

The compassion of Jesus Christ. Remember Christ healing the man of blindness at the pool of Siloam? We were there years ago, and they've discovered even more parts of the pool of Siloam, as you read probably in a few weeks ago. But Jesus Christ spat down, made a little ball, and put them on his eyes, and he touched him. The compassion, the hands-on, Christ will not be a faraway God who, in fact, puts us on autopilot. He's going to be there in Jerusalem. He's going to instruct and teach, and yes, have his large family, the first roots, and more and more, as the kingdom of God unfolds, assist him and help him. More about that later.

But he will be a hands-on king, not a distant king, but a caring, loving hands-on king.

So yes, in fact, the earth will need healing, spiritually and physically, and it will be a theocracy. God rules. Jesus Christ, the king of kings. Every person's mind will be open as the Father opens his or her mind to the truth. They will repent.

They will accept Christ as their Savior. They will have the laying on of hands and God's gift to the Holy Spirit. They will be, in fact, as we say, in the church. Now, there will be some rotten apples here and there, as we just explained, but Christ will make rotten apples into sweet cider. They will learn. They will appreciate. They will love it. Now, you and I are the same way when we kind of started into God's way of life. Maybe you jumped in with both feet. Chances are, you said, well, I don't agree with this, and then there's this, and you kept after it. You kept praying about it. You kept the good examples of people. Maybe you came to church for a while. Maybe you didn't come to church for a while, but you kept reading something, drawing you to the church, to God. Well, it took a while. I've known brethren who probably were reading four, five, six, eight years, and then they said, I give up. I give up. God's answered all my questions.

It's time now for me to follow God and learn His way of life. War is going to be outlawed.

Isaiah 11 talks about that, people not being permitted to hurt each other.

So it will be, as we heard from Mr. Shabe last night, a peace-making kingdom of God. It takes work. Do you know that peace has a high cost?

It took the life of Jesus Christ to heal, to forgive our sins. So peace is not going to come because it's cheap. It has come at a high price very much. But that's the love of God. Again, a glorious way of life coming to this earth as Christ comes to this earth to rule and reign in love and to create a whole different environment for mankind. Now in Isaiah 35, let's please turn to the prophet Isaiah chapter 35. This is, you could make a whole sermon or two on just the book of Isaiah in terms of prophecy. Chapter 35, please, and we'll just start here in verse 1.

Mr. Shabe mentioned this last night in his opening message. Verse 1, The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them, Isaiah 35 and verse 1, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as a rose. It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice, even with joy and singing, and the glory of Lebanon shall be given it. The excellence of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the Lord and the excellency of our God.

And verse 3 talks about strengthening the weak hands and making firm the feeble knees, and say to those who are fearful-hearted, Be strong and do not fear. Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God, and He will come and save you.

He will save the world. He's called Savior. And then in verse 5, Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped, and the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing, and the water shall burst forth in the wilderness, and the streams in the desert, the parched ground, shall become a pool, and the thirsty lands, springs of water. In the habitation of jackals, where each lay, there shall be grass with reeds and rushes. A highway shall be made there. A highway shall be called the highway of holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it, but it shall be for others. Whoever walks the road, although a fool, shall not go astray. It's kind of like, well, you walk this highway, or you drive this highway. You maybe started in a bad attitude, but by the time you got there, you were good.

You know, it's called conversion. It's called repentance in the kingdom. And we all look forward to that and being a part of that. No lion, verse 9, will be there, nor shall the any ravenous beast go upon it, and shall not be found there. For the redeemed shall walk there. The ransom of the Lord shall return, and to come to Zion with singing, with everlasting joy on their heads. And they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. So healing, yes, spiritual, physical healing. Right now, planet earth has about 29 percent land surface, consisting of continents and islands. The remaining 71 percent is covered by water, mostly by oceans, of course, also lakes, rivers, and fresh water. We do see terraforming by God in the scriptures, where the seas will be no more. And we need it. Why? Because of the population explosion. It'll be enormous. God is having a family. So we need a lot more land, and we need a lot more food. We need a lot more houses, and clothes, and work, and everything. And you're going to be a part of that.

You're going to be on foundation of that. So the healing touch of the Savior is very clear in Scripture. The healing highway, the healing waters, and the healing of people's infirmities.

The Center for Disease Control has this question, what percentage of the population has a disease? In 1918, it was about 52 percent of U.S. adults had at least one chronic illness or condition.

And just over 27 percent had multiple chronic conditions. I probably have a couple, I guess, if I stopped and think about it. Ooh, ouch! I've got some arthritis in the shoulder. That's not fun.

I'm going to ask for a showing of hands, how many have arthritis, right? But it's like, what happened? I've had hip surgery, I've had eye surgery, I have no surgery. I can't wait for the next surgery. But that's how it is as humans. We're not perfect, we're not going to live forever and as humans. But the asterisk there is flesh and blood, thankfully, because God has a plan.

So yeah, the healing touch of the Savior. Diseases won't be like today. There will be the healers of God, the family of God, the touch of God, and we can't wait for that.

Now, Mr. Shabe did emphasize, let's turn please to Isaiah 25 and verse 6 last night, I spoke early in the feast and late in the feast, and those of you who are speaking late, gentlemen, lots of luck on that because so many scriptures are taken. But it's God's scriptures, we can use two or three of them, four of them, given the same time during the feast. That's all good. Isaiah 25, please, and verse 6. Now, in this mountain, again, what mountain? That's the kingdom of God, Jesus Christ's rule from Jerusalem. The Lord of hosts will make for all people a feast of choice pieces, a feast of wines on the leaves, and fat things full of marrow of well-refined wines on the leaves. So he's just saying quality things, quality food, quality health, quality people in every way. That's the kingdom coming with Christ. He will destroy on this mountain the surface of the covering cast over all people and the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord God will wipe away all the tears in her faces and the rebuke of his people he will take away from all earth, for the Lord has spoken it.

And then verse 9, it shall come to be said in that day, behold, this is our God. We have waited for him, and he will save us. This is the Lord. We have waited for him. We will be glad and rejoice in his salvation. I don't think people consciously say, well, I'm going to wait for God to come, Jesus Christ will come to come to this earth and restore all things. But somehow, I think, in the human consciousness, there is what God has put there, and that is this. There has to be more.

There has to be more than this world out there. There has to be something out there.

People have various names for it, but we are firstfruits. We're so blessed to know God. But they're saying, in a kind of almost a subconscious way, we have waited for this. We didn't understand it, but now we are coming to understanding and the fruition of all of these prophecies that deal with the transformation of this earth, and Jesus Christ is our King.

That's a wonderful thing for the world. They'll learn it. It may take a while, but it'll be there for them. Isaiah 61 and verse 1, please. Isaiah 61 and verse 1.

In the Spirit of the Lord, God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings, of course, referring to Jesus Christ, to the poor, and has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prisons to those who are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord in the day of vengeance, our God. To comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn it to Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, and the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the Spirit of heaviness, that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified. So what a change from this discouraging, depressed world under Satan to the world tomorrow, the kingdom of God, Jesus Christ, on this earth as king of kings, and the family of God supporting him. Notice verse 4, the reconstruction. They shall rebuild the old ruins. They shall raise up the former desolations. They shall repair the ruined cities, the desolations of many generations. And notice verse 6, but you shall be named the priest of the Lord, and they shall call you the servants of our God. And you shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory you shall boast. You shall be named the priests of the Lord, and you shall be called the servants of our God. What does that mean? What does that mean?

Well, that ties into my second point, and that is this. Stay focused, brethren, on your calling.

Stay focused. Satan is a great deceiver. He has the wavelength, he has the intelligence, he has the insidious nonsense of always lying, or half-lies, which are all lies, in effect. Stay focused zealously with that kingdom of God in mind. Why you're here, why you were born, as we say. Now, I'd like to get to the New World News. This is an old one. I've kind of glued it together. Nobody beefs about India's record beef. You've got to use your imagination here.

An awesome demonstration. Christ praised my million-voice choir of angels, king of many nations, in humble prayer. That's going to happen. What about these angelic armies? You won't need angelic armies as much as angelic singers. You know? I mean, this is the kingdom of God. Rejoice.

So it's a make-believe, right? Going back, I think, to the 70s. Some of you have seen this way back when. Total disarmament announced. And weather and revolution for the better.

Every capital around the world, the world reports beautiful weather. No floods, tornadoes, typhoons, destructive hurricanes, all of that. I know it sounds make-believe. We're not going to read this in any newspaper today, if in fact there are newspapers anymore, but online. But it's coming. Pure language sweeps the earth. It says, pagan words eliminated. And there are a lot of bad words in our language. Cuss words. There won't be cuss words. There won't be pagan words in the new language. All nations convert to new tongue. And the Jew-Arab animosity overcome, gather for feasts and trumpets. They're friends. They're not enemies. God made all of us. And this talks about, as we read earlier, the highway of holiness from Egypt to Jerusalem to Germany. It says right here, the Bible, basic textbook for all public schools. I mean, the truth. Right? Supplementary textbooks, rewritten. Errors edited out. Educators discover Bible.

You know, we used to say, and this used to be at Ambassador College Pasadena, the word of God is the foundation of knowledge, and it is.

The Bible is the foundation of all knowledge. So I'd like to talk about, again, stay focused on your calling, your glorious calling. Jesus Christ is our ruler on planet earth, and there's a calling for His first fruits. Luke 12, please, in verse 31. Luke 12, verse 31.

Luke 12, verse 31. By the way, the Bible study Friday night, I am thankful to give it. I appreciate the opportunity, but I did give it in Montana last year, so if you were there, just make a note. It's the same proofs of the Bible. The proofs of the Bible have not changed since last year.

But I thought, I'm gonna give it again. All right? Okay, I'm lazy. No, I'm not. Well, okay, let's not talk about that, but I'm gonna give it. So that's Friday night. PowerPoint. It's all PowerPoint. There's no video on me because it's all here on screen Friday night. Okay, Luke 12, please, in verse 31. Luke chapter 12, verse 31. All right, so Christ says, but seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you. Seek the kingdom. That's right. Verse 32, do not fear. Do not fear. Now, that word in the Greek means what we would think it means. It means, don't worry, don't be frightened. It's fobeho, p-h-o-h-e-o in the Greek. Do not fear. Don't be frightened. Little flock. It's your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Good means, or pleasure, sorry, means to be well pleased. It is the father's good pleasure. He's so pleased to give you the kingdom. It's a gift. What an honor. What a privilege. Eternal life.

So verse 33, Christ says, sell what you have and give alms and provide yourselves money and bags. Of course, he's sending them out. But he said at verse 34, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. And then the lesson of verse 35 begins, let your waist be girded and your lamps burning, and let you yourselves be like men who wait for their master when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks, they may open to him immediately. And blessed are those servants whom the master, when he returns or comes, will find watching. Surely I say to you, he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat and will come and serve them. Now, verse 38 says, what if the master comes at the second watch or even the third watch? He says, if he comes and finds them so, blessed are those servants. Now this refers initially to the Israelite traditional wedding ceremony. There's various traditions, ways they did it, but one of them is, it was a five to seven day wedding, five to seven day wedding. And one of the things that the bride and groom appreciated was that the groom could appear at the bride's home, her parents' home, any time, unannounced.

That's really what Christ is saying in a veiled way. It wasn't like responsibile play, we're going to be married Sunday, whatever, whatever, at two o'clock, and you all be there. Have a good time. She did not know when her beloved was going to be at her house, her parents' house. Now, it was very typical for an Israelite and even a Jewish wedding in some areas to this day to be in the evening. They had a good time during the day, and then they put the torches out at night, and they lit the wonderful recession, a groom coming in with his attendance.

You know, very beautiful. And then he came, though, unannounced eventually to her house, to the parents' house. That's why he says, even if it's late, that some of you have been waiting, not just first watch, second watch, third watch, maybe fourth watch. Got to be still alert.

We don't know when Christ will return. We don't think it's that far off.

World conditions. But I can't put a date on it, and you can't even. I have to be ready.

Not just, I think I got 10 more years ready to go here. I can do that. Christ says the groom, him, or he could come later. It doesn't matter. Eternity is an awful long time.

So if we're going to wait a little longer, fine. Christ has that in mind. The Father, of course, will tell the Son when to come to this earth. Notice verse 40. Therefore, of course, as the New Testament is written quite often, it's like a conclusion. So in conclusion, you also be ready. You be ready for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. So there's one prophecy there that is fascinating. You don't know when He's coming. Bank on it. Be ready. Bank on that.

So again, my second point is stay focused on your calling. It's from God. It's special, and God wants to give that kingdom to you. All right, let's go to Revelation chapter 20, please, in verse 4. Revelation chapter 20 in verse 4.

Revelation chapter 20 and verse 4.

John writes here under Jesus Christ, revealing, that I saw the thrones and they that sat on them, the judgment was committed to them, and then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the Word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or His image, had not received His mark, or on their foreheads, or on their hands, and they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. Now it says, reigned with Christ. Christ is the ruler, the king, and He says, I'm going to have, would it be proper to say co-regents? But anyway, I'm going to have others assist me. So we, the firstfruits, will be reigning with Christ under Him for a thousand years. Plus, verse 5, for the rest of the dead did not live again for a thousand years were finished, for this is the first resurrection. And blessed and holy is He who has part of the first resurrection, over such a second death has no power, for they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with Him a thousand years. Again, reigning. But we've also had priests introduced here. Now, I'd like to, at this point and the second point, is talk about what does it mean to be a king and a priest. Let's break that down. So I mentioned a little bit earlier, and we're going to look at this in 2 Chronicles chapter 15, please, 2 Chronicles 15.

And this gives us insight of what a priest did in the Old Covenant. And how does that like, how does that equate to what we read here in Revelation? Well, directly, actually. 2 Chronicles 15 and verse 1. 2 Chronicles chapter 15, verse 1, please. Now, the Spirit of God came on Eaziiah, the son of Oed, and he went out to meet Asa. He was the third king of Judah, Asa.

Hear me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin. The Lord is with you while you are with him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you, and if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.

For a long time, verse 2, Israel had been without the true God. Notice, without a teaching priest and without the law. So what did a priest do under the Old Covenant? And yes, what will a priest do under Christ? The same. A priest was a teacher. He was a teacher by heart, by background, by knowledge. What did a priest teach in the Old Covenant? He taught the spiritual laws of God, A through Z. And he also taught the civil laws that were, of course, many. And he also taught the sacrificial laws. Well, we're not going to teach the sacrificial laws in the kingdom of God as priests. We will teach, though, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And that's the foundation of salvation itself, the Father giving His Son and the Son giving His life. And the civil laws, we could debate that in the sense of what we'll carry over, but most of those laws, if not all of them, were based on the law of love, the law of give. So civil laws, again, will let Jesus Christ give us that determination.

But the spiritual part, the spiritual laws of God, is what a priest in the Old Covenant certainly focused on. So we're learning today to be teaching priests for the future. This is how I put it. Learn today, teach tomorrow. Learn today, teach tomorrow.

You don't have to be a teacher today in this life to be a teacher in the kingdom of God at all, but we do have to be good students. Learn today, teach tomorrow.

Remember, you can't teach what you don't know.

Did any of you have a teacher way back when in college or high school or middle school where the teacher was faking it? They didn't know their subject?

My apologies, but I did see a few substitute teachers who came in. We respected them, but they didn't have a clue where the real teacher was in terms of the curriculum. And again, jump into the deep end of the pool. I don't throw anyone in that. I'm just saying, how could they perhaps understand, begin to understand what the teacher has been there for months really was teaching? Brethren, God is not going to have any substitute teachers. Just gonna, oh, where am I? Oh, the kingdom? What do I do? Somebody clue me in. No, we're learning today. God always prepares the class before he calls school. He's preparing the class today. Teachers. So learn today, teach tomorrow. And then also, very importantly, learn the book and then apply the book. Learn the book and apply it. Head knowledge is worth little value if it's not lived. God demands those who have the heart of God, the law of God entrenched in their heart. There's an old English saying that says this, teaching is the purpose of learning. Teaching is the purpose of learning.

Now that applies practically in all occupations. You think, well, look, I'm not going to teach it my job. Well, you might when you retire or before you retire. You're going to mentor somebody else.

So teaching is the purpose of learning. God says, I have a plan. I want you to learn to be priests. They're teaching priests. They know the law, they know the book, and they live that book.

So teaching priests is a key here, as found in 2 Chronicles and, yes, going into Revelation chapter 20. Now, how do you apply to be a ruler in the kingdom? Can we talk?

How much time do you and I take on that one? I mean, can we talk about it? We don't see ourselves as a ruler. I want to address the who-me question first. Like, who am I? Who am I to be a future king and a future teacher? I think we've all had those thoughts. Okay, let's start with Matthew, one of the apostles. A tax collector, you know, were those IRS guys who take your money and work for the Romans?

Right? Matthew, you're one of my future teachers. All right, what about Amos? Remember Amos, the sheep herder and the grower of figs? Let's turn to Amos 7, please, and verse 10. Amos 7 and verse 10. Let's read a little bit about Amos here. It's quite interesting. Amos 7 verse 10. So, Amos chapter 7 verse 10, and then Amazigh the priest to Bethel sent to Jorabohm, the king of Israel, saying, Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear his words. You can just see the world's smallest record player going around and around and around and around and around, right? No, this is horrible. Nobody like Amos. He's no good. He's durable. We can't put up with him. Verse 11, and thus says Amos, for thus Amos has said, Jorabohm will die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive from their own land. Well, we could see kind of why that didn't go over too well. Verse 12, and then Amazigh said to Amos, go get out of here, you seer, flee to the land of Judah. So that was south. You know, we're in the northern house of Israel. You get down south. You go bother those people down there. I don't want anything to deal with you. And their ebrad and their prophesy, but never again prophesy Bethel. That's in the north, for it's a king sanctuary and it is the royal residence. Oh, excuse me, right? And then Amos answered and said to Amazigh, this is very interesting.

You know, he didn't come back, read that, please. I was no prophet, nor was I a son of a prophet.

But I was a sheep breeder and a tender of sycamore fruit. I dealt with the land. I dealt with animals.

Now, you would expect Amos, who has just been told to get out of Dodge, well, how dare you attack me, a prophet of God? You know who I am? You know who you're talking to?

He says, I wasn't a son of a prophet. I'm a nobody. I tend to sheep, and I grew some pigs. So that's my background. Okay, so we're talking about here, can we deal with this who am I issue to be a future king, future priest? Can we deal with that? You got Matthew, now you got Amos. Okay, we're connecting the points here. Let's go down the line a few more.

Okay, a third of the future apostles were what occupation aligned?

Like, what's my line, the old TV show? Any of you remember that? Yeah, that was on TV yesterday, right? What's my line? Okay, a third of them were small-time fishermen. Nothing wrong with that. I love fishing. I don't catch too well, but I love fishing. Christ called common people, common people, often. Not all of them, not all of them. But a third of those future apostles were fishermen, and they're going to be ruling—Christ promised them—you're going to be ruling over the house of Israel. Thank you very much in the kingdom. All right, let's talk about Sarah. Who was Sarah? The wife of Abram, Abraham. She was a wife and mother. She was a wife and mother.

Also, a mother of dozens of future kings and hundreds of millions of people, including the king of kings. She was a wife and mother who had faith. David—who is David?

A ruddy young man, maybe age 16 when he took on Goliath. But he was a shepherd boy in the hills of Judah, outside of Bethlehem. And yet, he became ruler of ancient Israel. He will become ruler over all of Israel in the kingdom of God. Lydia, in the book of Acts, who was Lydia? A business owner, business lady. She had a lot of drive, a lot of business experience, a whole variety of people here that God has called in the Bible. Rahab—who is Rahab? A lady of faith. But she's not identified as a lady of faith originally. That's in the book of Acts, chapter 11—Hebrews 11.

And she was identified by her occupation as a prostitute. And she's the one lady in the whole village that had the faith. So, who am I? Well, we're a pretty much common man, aren't we? So we've kind of dealt with that, I hope. That's who God deals with, and that's common people. So learning to rule is a very challenging task, but we learn that day-to-day. That's our life.

Notice in Matthew 23, Christ said, apply what you're learning as a good student, a good disciple, and then live that. And by doing that, you're going to be preparing for a rulership in my kingdom. Okay, Matthew 25, verse 31. Matthew chapter 25 and verse 31.

Now, the point is very specific. When the Son of Man comes to His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit down on the throne of His glory. This is Matthew 25 and verse 31.

And all the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on the right hand and the goats on the left. Now, we know this story, right? And so He said in verse 35, I was hungry, and you took me in. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you took me in, etc. And they respond to Christ, well, we, you weren't here. We're not accountable for that, serving you. You weren't in our territory. Today, you and I would say, well, Christ isn't here on earth. What do you mean? I can't be accountable for this. And notice the lesson here. The lesson here.

Verse 44. Then they will answer Him, saying, Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, in the prison, and did not minister to You?

They were defensive about it. Why hold me accountable? And then He will answer to them, saying, Assurely I say to You, and as much as You did not do it to the one of the least of these, You did not do it to me. And so we need to serve people. That's who we serve. When you serve people, you're serving Christ. Now, He talks about the stranger, and He talks about, yes, those that had no food, and those that were in need, and to help them serve. It's not about service.

It's talking about helping people, being there for them. The feast is a great way to kind of reboot your service. I mean, I could not set up one of these video cameras to save the feast of Charberdakles. I couldn't do it. I mean, I can open a laptop up and hit power, but I can do other things. You can, too. Remember Sarah? Remember the fishermen? Remember Rahab? Who are we? Well, we can serve. That's our accountability. No excuses. Now, it doesn't mean you and I can serve the same way, the same person, the same situation, but we can serve where God directs us to serve if we have a humble heart. 55 years ago, feast Charberdakles, Squall Valley, California, how many were there?

Look at that. Squall Valley 55 years ago, wave your hand. Isn't that something? Wow. You're not old enough to have been there, Mr. Sohkum. Oh, he's a baby. Okay. Well, that counts. But 55 years ago, after services, one day, I don't remember what day of the feast of Charberdakles, we were going to our student dorms after services. That was my first feast. I was straight off the farm. I did not grow up in God's way of life, unfortunately, but... And I heard this voice behind me. He says, young man, and I turned. He says, do you plan to have dinner tonight?

I thought, are you serious? I weigh 140 pounds? Of course I'm going to have dinner, but I thought, interesting question. I don't know who he is. I said, yes, sir, I do. He says, here, there's a $10 bill. Now, back then, probably 20, 40 bucks, right? I mean, can you see the price of food today? Versus five, 10 years ago. But anyway, $10, a total stranger. I thanked him, and I should have asked for his name. I didn't. I ate that night. Oh, I would have eaten okay, but that's his way of service. I'm a total stranger out of the crowd. Sir, young man, are you going to eat tonight? Yes? Here's some money. So, lots of ways to serve. You have to decide that, and I do too. Where we do it, how we do it, but service is a key to future rulership.

Well, let's end over here in Revelation 19, please. And verse 5, Revelation 19, verse 5.

So, I've just covered some of the basics, brethren, about Jesus Christ, his glorious return, and Christ saying to the servants, keep your eye on the prize. Keep yourself focused. Don't let anyone steal your crown. That's yours. That's, of course, in Revelation 3. But we're going to look at here Revelation chapter 19, and we'll conclude here in Revelation 19, verse 5.

Now, I find this, as you do, brethren, very encouraging. This is prophetic.

Christ says, let us be glad. It's contained here in his words.

This is the day of victory, and his wife has made herself ready. That's encouraging. The church of God, God's elect, has made herself ready. That's very encouraging, as we conclude the sermon today.

So, let's rejoice together these next seven and a half plus days. Truly, brethren, glorious times are coming. Stay tuned. They really are, and you're a part of that.

Thank you very much, Mr. Knudtsman. All right, we have one last opportunity today as a congregation, as a feast, to be able to praise our God altogether in music. So, let's take that opportunity. Please rise. Turn to page number 133.

We're going to sing We Are God's People. Page number 133. After this, we're going to have the closing prayer by a member serving in the Seattle area, Mr. Keith Lippincott. But first, page number 133. We are God's people.

We are God's people.

We are God's people. We are God's people.

We are God's people.

We are God's people.

Father in heaven, the great almighty God who has called and gathered us and has brought us together as your people, Father, we're so thankful to be here at your feast of tabernacles. We thank you for the encouragement that you give to us, that you bring to mind this glorious day that's coming. We thank you for these messages. We ask that you'd please help us to remember them, to put them in our hearts as we go about your feast of tabernacles. Help us to have the joy of your kingdom, that we can share it together and grow together as your family. We're so grateful for this. We're so grateful for the sacrifice of your son and how he made it all possible and for his return as a great and glorious king. We look forward to that day so much, Father. We thank you very much for this holy day and for the days of these festivals that we can enjoy together. And we ask for your dismissal now. We thank you for all these things. In the name and by the authority of your son, Jesus Christ, amen.