How the Gospel is Proclaimed Within God's Holy Days

Well, thank you again, gentlemen, and once again, happy Sabbath! Happy sunny Sabbath to all of you with us today. We often think of the gospel, good news, of God's kingdom is something that Jesus Christ preached. And indeed, that's true, and the Church continues that commission from Jesus Christ today. However, what we may not fully grasp is the fact that the Holy Days also preach the gospel.

As we begin to think about the Spring Holy Days, as I mentioned earlier, less than eight weeks away, I would like to remind all of us today of what the gospel is, what the gospel is not, and then conclude with an understanding of how the gospel is revealed in God's festivals in Leviticus chapter 23. And we'll see that there is a connection between the good news that Jesus proclaimed during his physical ministry on earth and the good news that's proclaimed in God's festival days in Leviticus chapter 23. So let's begin Mark chapter 1 and verse 13. If you'll turn there with me, we'll begin by looking at a scripture that confirms that indeed Jesus Christ's ministry was centered around preaching the gospel. Mark chapter 1 verse 13. Mark records, and he was there in the wilderness 40 days, tempted by Satan, and was with the wild beast, meaning he's in the real wilderness, right? There's no civil... even wild beasts are running around here. That's how isolated this wilderness that Jesus is in, and was with the wild beast. And the angels ministered to him after he confronted and overcame the god of this world, the prince of the power in the air. Verse 14. Now, after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God and saying the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. In other words, the kingdom of God is within reach. The message that I'm giving you and proclaiming to you is now within reach of you being excited about it, accepting it, and allowing it to change your life. That's what it means when it says the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel. Accept it. Allow it to change you. Allow it to transform your life is what Jesus is saying here. Now, the word gospel, the Greek word, is euanglion, which means a good message. That means a message that's inspiring, that offers hope, that provides encouragement. That's what the gospel is. Something inspiring in which you have a positive view of the future you anticipated with joy. You almost can't wait for it.

Brother, Jesus Christ was not in the sound bites or simple cliches. When it says here that he preached the gospel, he went far more than what Mark and the other gospel writers record. He went into detail about what that kingdom would be like. Summing it up, as we know, considering the fact that the gospels are rather short, when you think about his ministry of three and a half entire years, they really don't say a whole lot. In contrast, at the length of time that he actually preached and had a ministry, when he said the kingdom of God is at hand, believe the gospel, far more than is recorded in that statement, he would explain to the crowds, he would explain different characteristics of that message and of that gospel.

There are five things necessary to constitute the kingdom of God. Here they are. Number one, a savior and a king to rule in that kingdom. A savior and a king, those are two different roles. Thankfully, they're fulfilled both by Jesus Christ, but he was a savior first before he returns as the messiah king upon his second coming. So that's number one.

Five things necessary to constitute the kingdom of God, a savior and a king to rule in. Number two, saints and servants to rule under the king. The kingdom needs organization. It needs management. It needs structure. It needs leaders. And that's the role that the saints and the servants of the king, who are preparing in their lifetimes today, to rule under that king. That's the second of the five characteristics.

The third are subjects or citizens within that kingdom. In the kingdom of God, the citizens will begin by being those who survive the tragic events of the great tribulation in the day of the Lord and all the horrendous events that occur on earth. The survivors will be those who live into the ushering in of the kingdom of God when he returns to earth. And of course, they'll live in a wonderful world, and they will have children, and their children will have children, and it won't be long before the population of the earth grows dramatically.

And those, too, will be part of the citizens and the subjects within that kingdom. The fourth characteristic of the kingdom of God are values and laws that form the government. God's values, God's laws, we call them the law of God, or the Ten Commandments, or God's Commandments, those are the regulators, the values, the laws, the statutes of how that kingdom will be organized and managed, and what is acceptable, and what is unacceptable.

All of that is part of having a healthy kingdom. And then the fifth characteristic is the territory within a specific location and boundary. Of course, the territory begins in Jerusalem as Jesus Christ comes down upon the Mount of Olives, and it's founded in Jerusalem, and it begins to encircle the entire globe.

So, ultimately, the geography, the specific location and boundary of the kingdom of God, will be the planet earth. We'll talk more about these five qualities as we go along in the sermon today. This message of the gospel was so important that Jesus taught his disciples to pray in Matthew, chapter 6, 10, Thy kingdom come. I want you to think about what we call the Lord's Prayer.

They come to Jesus, and they say, Jesus, teach us to pray. What should we say when we pray? And what does he tell them? The first sin you do is you humbly acknowledge God's sovereignty.

Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. I recognize you as my Father, my God. Your name is sacred. You're the epitome of holiness. I acknowledge that, and I thank you for being my Father. What's the very next thing Jesus taught them to say? Watch world news? Check your internet feed? No. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, because rarely today are things done on earth as it is in heaven.

We need to pray for that. There's a difference between God's will and what he allows. He allows a lot of sickness, perversion, dysfunction to exist on this earth.

That is not his will, but presently he allows that to happen because it's part of a plan that he established from the foundation of the world. Christ continued this message, the good, encouraging message, the hopeful news about the kingdom of God, his entire ministry. This message was his ministry, and it should be ours as well. Matthew chapter 4 verse 23. We'll take a look at a couple of different chapters here within the book of Matthew.

We'll begin Matthew chapter 4 and verse 23. Matthew chapter 4 and verse 23. And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sicknesses and all kinds of disease among the people.

Verse 24. Then his fame went throughout all Syria, and they brought to him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon possessed, epileptics and paralytics, and he healed them. Great multitudes followed him from Galilee, from the capitalists, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan.

Now I want you to notice what happens in this scripture, because most people separate the healings as if there's something different from the message.

Jesus is healing because as he's describing the message, he says, this is what it's like in that kingdom. People will be healed of their physical and mental illnesses. Demons will no longer possess people in that kingdom. The healings are part of the gospel, and most people separate the healings as if they're a different event and not somehow connected to the message the healings are part of his message. Individuals were healed both physically and spiritually to show what it would be like to live in that future kingdom. People followed him in droves because the gospel was attractive. It was encouraging. It provided inspiration and hope for their lives. Most of the people who heard this message and accepted it were living in abject poverty. We talk about the one percent. We have that phrase in the United States about those who are the wealthiest. In the Roman Empire, it was the one-tenth of one percent because 99.999 percent of the people who lived in the Roman Empire lived short and violent lives. There was no middle class. There was no way that you were going to change your economic status from birth until you died. There were very few opportunities. Many people literally lived in slavery within the Roman Empire. This was an incredible message of hope. They could look into the future and say, it won't always be this hard for me and my family and my loved ones. Things won't always be this bad. Near the end of his physical ministry on earth, he gave the same mission to his disciples. Let's go now to Matthew chapter 24 and read something that he told them. Matthew chapter 24 verse 14.

He said, And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. So he's saying, this is your calling, each generation, till I return again. This is your mission, and this is not a message for Jewish people. This is a message for everyone, all nations, the whole world. It's an inclusive message, not an exclusive message. So who would be preaching the kingdom of God for thousands of years before the end time when Jesus Christ would return? Well, of course, his disciples. The Church of God is trying to do this throughout history. Now, Jesus told his disciples in Mark chapter 16 and verse 15, he said to them, Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned because you don't have a Savior. If you don't believe, there's no one shed blood to save you from your sins. The only thing you have looked forward to is eternal death. But the good news is that there is a Savior, and his name was Jesus Christ. And again, I want you to notice how Jesus links the gospel to being baptized, because that's also part of the gospel message. People believing the gospel and changing their lives through that encouraging that dynamic message. So part of the message so part of the gospel message is believing it and personally responding to the message. And we call this acceptance of the gospel. God's calling. It was mentioned about Father calling in the Sermonette today. Thank you, Mr. Scafura, for your sermonette. Tied in very well with our message here. Now, in order for someone to be saved, there must be a Savior and the Redeemer. So part of that good news also includes the announcement that a Savior has been provided for our sins so they can be forgiven. That's one of the five characteristics of the kingdom of God. The first, as a matter of fact, it's actually the most important, a Savior and a King. The two roles that Jesus Christ would fulfill within God's plan.

Notice Christ connects the acceptance of the gospel and baptism as part of His message.

Even in the last 48 hours of His physical life, Jesus was talking about the coming kingdom. That's how important it was to Him. That's why He taught them the first things to pray after acknowledging the supremacy of God in what we call the Lord's Prayer. Thy kingdom come. The last hours of His life, He's thinking about that kingdom. Let's go to John chapter 18 and verse 36. Let's see what He said during His examination by Pilate. Pontius Pilate. Pilate says to Him, in essence, what are you doing here? Your own religious leaders and your nation despise you.

They brought you in here so that I can find something wrong with you and condemn you to death. He says, what have you done? Pilate is confused. Jesus is not a criminal.

He's not enraged. He knew what it was like. Pilate knew what it was like to interview zealots and criminals. Bains popping out of their form screaming, being held by two people, trying to kill everybody. And here is Jesus as calm as can be. He obviously wasn't a troublemaker.

He wasn't a criminal like the others. He said to him, what have you done to deserve this? Here's what Jesus says in John chapter 18 verse 36. Jesus answered, my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight so that I should not be delivered to the Jews. But now my kingdom is not from here. It is someday I'm going to be king of that kingdom, but not right now. It's not here and it's not now. Verse 37 Pilate therefore said to him, are you a king then? You're talking about a kingdom and you're saying the kingdom isn't here now. So I can conclude from that. Is that you're a king of something?

Are you a king then? Jesus answered, you say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born and for this cause I have come into the world that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice. So Jesus confirms that the kingdom he preached about in his ministry is not part of this world in any way. No political party nor any human government on earth is second best to the kingdom of God. We can't have the attitude that, well, I'm going to seek the kingdom of God, make that first in my life, but if I can't have the kingdom of God then this particular political philosophy is okay. It's second best, it's acceptable. No, brethren, there is no second best. Every human institution is thoroughly corrupt, rotten to its core and to its foundation. Nothing is close to the kingdom of God.

So did the early church preach this message? Oh, indeed they did. Acts chapter 8 and verse 9. Let's see an example of Philip preaching the gospel in all places. Samaria. Yes, that land of despised people that the average Jew would avoid traveling through Samaria because they despised the people so much. Remember the history. The Samaritans were brought in, they were of pagan background. After northern tribes were sent into captivity, they, these people, were sent in to populate northern Israel. They were pagans, but they were kind of attracted to Judaism, so they created this new religion. They had their own temple in their capital and they were quasi-pagan, quasi-Jews, and for that reason the Jewish descendants absolutely despised them. Chapter 8 and verse 9. There's a certain man named Simon who previously practiced sorcery in the city and astonished the people of Samaria, claiming that he was someone great, to whom they all gave heed from the least of the greatest, saying, this man is the great power of God. And they heeded him because he had astonished them with his sorceries for a long time. But this is all about the change. Verse 12. But when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, I want you to notice what is tied in with the gospel. What it's tied in with talking about the kingdom of God, the Savior, and the King, and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized. Then Simon himself also believed, and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip and was amazed, seeing the miracles and signs which were done. And when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, who when they had come down prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. You see, they had only been baptized. We know that conversion is a two-step process. There's baptism for the repentance of our sins. Immersion represents going to a water grave and dying to the old life, coming out of that water grave, a new creature in Christ, desiring to grow spiritually. And then the second part of that is the laying on of hands in which we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. They received baptism, but they had not had hands laid on them. Verse 6, for as yet he had fallen upon none of them, they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

I didn't bring this up to talk about Simon. He, unfortunately, becomes a very wicked man and tries to buy the gift of the Holy Spirit and is condemned for it. But that wasn't my reason for going to Acts 8 here. My reason was to emphasize that the same message that Jesus talked about was the message that Philip and Peter and John are proclaiming, even to undesirable areas, according to Jewish people. So we see here the example of the early church after the Holy Spirit was given on Pentecost. Philip is preaching the kingdom of God, individuals. I want you to notice the Gospel also includes who and what Jesus Christ is. One of those five characteristics I talked about is understanding who the Savior is, understanding who the future King is of that kingdom. I want you to notice the Gospel is universal. It's to Jews. It's to despised Samaritans. It's to Gentiles and people from cultures and languages and religions all over the face of the globe. It's for everyone. The Apostle Paul has been accused by some as distorting the Gospel that Jesus preached and preaching a Gospel about Christ, not the Gospel of the kingdom of God.

So is that true? Is that a fair accusation to make against the Apostle Paul? Well, rather than first seeing what Paul said, let's go to an independent source. Let's see what his independent, Gentile traveling companion said Paul was doing. After all, he has no fish to fry. In this, we're going to take a look at what Luke says here in the book of Acts. It's actually the final verses in the book of Acts itself, some of the final verses, Acts 28 and verse 30. So let's see what Luke writes and says Paul was preaching and Paul was doing. Acts chapter 28 and verse 30. Paul is under house arrest here in Rome, but he's not feeling sorry for himself.

He's keeping himself busy and active, just like we should if we're stuck at home during pandemics.

He's doing something productive with his life. He's not sitting around feeling sorry for himself or wallowing in malaise or depression.

Then Paul dwelt two whole years in his own rented house, again he's under house arrest, and received all who came to him preaching the kingdom of God and, because to Paul this is a very important part of the gospel, the kingdom of God, teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior, and the King, with all confidence, no one forbidding him. You couldn't stop Paul from doing this. Very beautiful scriptures. So notice, according to this independent source, Luke, Paul is preaching about the coming kingdom of God and Paul, and by the way, this was the hallmark of all his writings, Paul has his own special emphasis on that kingdom. All ministers have topics and things to them in which they place a special emphasis on. It may be their personality, it may be their training, it may be them trying to counteract something that they see that's negative going on in church congregations. Every minister, particularly every pastor, has a subject or a theme in which they place special emphasis on in their ministry. The Apostle Paul was no different. He always focused on the Savior and the King of that kingdom. That is, Paul always focused on Jesus Christ, and he always focused on the saints and the servants who were to rule under the King. That's why when we look at his epistles, we see so much emphasis on him telling people, grow, avoid sin, stop doing that church congregation, start doing this, clean up your act, no that's wrong, no that's good, because he's trying to prepare the saints and the servants to rule under the King in that particular kingdom.

In Ephesians chapter 6.15, Paul refers to having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. So why does he sometimes refer to the gospel as the gospel of peace? Well, it's because peace will reign in the kingdom of God. He's not contradicting Jesus Christ, he's not preaching something different, a different gospel than what Jesus Christ taught. In Acts chapter 20 and verse 24, he mentions that the ministry he received from the Lord was to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. Why does he mention grace of God? It's because in that kingdom, we have a Savior and grace will abound within the kingdom of God. Paul believed in and he preached the same gospel that Jesus Christ did with Paul's own special emphasis on two of the five qualities of that kingdom that were very important to him. Paul focused on a Savior and a King to rule, and that's why he talks about Jesus Christ so much, and saints and servants to rule under the King. That's why he talks about Christian living and does so much correction and pointing out to people better ways to do things. Those were the two of those five characteristics that were so important to him. And there's one other reason. I read commentary from scholars and sometimes former members of the Church of God, and they make comments about how Paul never talks about the Father enough, that he's too much focus on Jesus. Those are the kind of criticisms that I've read, and here would be Paul's response. Will you tell me, how can you learn about the Father?

There are only two vague references to God the Father in the Old Testament.

Jesus said he came to reveal to the Father that the Father and I are one. So you tell me how you can ever learn about the Father. I'll answer that question. The only way you can learn about the Father, his values, his laws, his characteristics, are to learn about the values and laws and characteristics of Jesus Christ. That is the only way you can ever learn about what God the Father is like. So Paul would make no apologies to anyone for having an emphasis on Jesus Christ throughout his ministry. Let's see a classic example of Paul's emphasis. As I've mentioned that he had Romans chapter 1. We'll go through verses 1 through 9, and I just wanted to give what many would say is a classic description of Paul's emphasis on the gospel and what he emphasized regarding the gospel. Romans chapter 1 verse 1, and we'll read through verse 9. Romans chapter 1 verse 1. Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God. So he was called out of this world. He was separated even from the disciples and apostles in Jerusalem and sent on a special mission to the Gentiles, separated to the gospel of God, which he promised before through his prophets in the Holy Scripture. So Paul's basically saying we're going to talk about a little bit later, and that is the gospel was actually in the Old Covenant. The gospel's mentioned in the Old Testament through the prophets in the Holy Scriptures. Verse 3, concerning his son Jesus Christ our Lord. There you go. He's tying in Jesus Christ, the Savior, the soon-coming King, with the gospel, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God, with power according to the Spirit of Holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. All this was made possible because Jesus, after he was killed, he was resurrected from the dead. Through him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for his name, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ. There you go. The saints and servants under that King. He's mentioning who they are. It's the Church. Verse 7, to all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints, grace to you in peace with God our Father and Lord Jesus Christ, first I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. For God is my witness whom I serve with the Spirit in the gospel of his Son. First he called it the gospel of God. In verse 1, now he calls it the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers. So this is a classic example of the two areas of the gospel that Paul emphasized in his entire ministry. The Savior and King, and the saints and servants, their growth, their development, their preparation to rule in that kingdom. Let's go to Galatians chapter 1 and verse 6. Galatians chapter 1 and verse 6. Paul did preach the same gospel as Jesus Christ and the other disciples with his own special emphasis, but Paul knew a false gospel when he heard it. He knew a false gospel when it was given. And he begins early here in the book of Galatians, warning the church against having false gospels, a false gospel in this case. Let's read about it. Galatians chapter 1 and verse 6.

He says, I marvel that you were turning away so soon from him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel. You see, there's the genuine authentic gospel, and then there are things that morph in the false gospels. He says, which is not another. In other words, Paul's saying it's not really a gospel. He just called it a different gospel. He's implying they're false gospels. He doesn't even like to use the word gospel regarding these messages. But there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. That means, de-emphasize the genuine gospel and replace it with messages that have nothing to do with the gospel. To degenerate to the point where church organizations preach everything but the gospel. And this is what Paul is mourning against here in Galatians. Verse 8, but even if we are an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. That's pretty strong. He says, if anybody preaches another gospel, damn them! Let them be under a curse, Paul says. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you receive, let him be accursed. So how does one pervert the gospel of Jesus Christ? It's when we put emphasis on the wrong things. It's when we put a major focus on something other than the good, inspiring, encouraging news of the coming kingdom of God. The things that we are to focus on as a church are the Savior and the King to rule within the kingdom of God, the saints and the servants who will be ruling under that King, the subjects or citizens within that future kingdom, the values and laws that form that kingdom, and the territory of that kingdom. Now, in context with what Paul's talking about in Galatians, Paul is harshly judging the fact that there were teachers who were saying that you had to be circumcised to achieve salvation. Jesus Christ was no longer enough.

Yeah, of course, yeah, he shed his blood. Yeah. But that wasn't enough to be saved. Accepting him as your Savior wasn't enough. You now had to have... I'm not even going to go there. You had to be circumcised in order to be saved. Now, first of all, just between you and the Lamb Post, what does that mean about the other half of the human race that doesn't have one of those? You know what I mean? But they're teaching to achieve salvation. It's not good enough to have been baptized, laying on hands, accepting the shed blood of Jesus Christ. You must also have yourself circumcised. And this is an indication of a typical, different gospel. We have to always be careful not to confuse things that are interesting or entertaining with the genuine gospel. We must always be careful not to take things out of context and begin emphasizing things that are unrelated to the gospel in place of, or as an alternative to, preaching the gospel to the world and that powerful message of the gospel to preparing a people. And that includes you and I. These may be occasional topics for discussion, and that's fine. But we may have a little discussion after services in the back of the hall about some things that are unrelated to the gospel. Wonderful. Great. But we should never get to the point where everything we're focused upon gives more emphasis and greater importance to stuff to another gospel than to the genuine gospel. I'm going to give you something very quickly. These are only three. I could give a whole sermon on these and probably list many, many more. The first one is the Gospel of Pet Doctrines. We all strive for truth and doctrinal purity, and that's good. The Church of God prides itself in making that emphasis. However, no one's particular interest or obsession or, to them, an important doctrine should ever be emphasized at the expense of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul himself warns in Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 14, he said that we should no longer be children tossed to and fro carried about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery of man in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting.

I've seen so much of it in my lifetime within the Church of God, pronouncing God's name, observing the new moons, living by the Hebrew calendar. I could go on and these became the most important things, almost obsessively fixated, that determined whether you are righteous or saved rather than the shed blood of Jesus Christ who died for our sins.

The first thing people do to attract a following is to emphasize a special truth that they say that they have that has nothing to do with the genuine gospel in order to appear knowledgeable or appointed to something. That's just what human beings do. That's what a lot of ministers who go off the deep end do. They want to draw attention to themselves, and the attention is drawn by taking some pet doctrine of theirs and blowing it all out of proportion as if it's an important part of the gospel message or salvation. And that simply is not true. These are typically not good news. Most of these pet doctrines are usually judging other people for not doing what they insist other people must do to be Christians. There's nothing good about the gospel of pet doctrines at all. And again, we may have an occasional discussion. We may even have a rare occasional sermonette on should we observe the new moons. The many different things that float through the church of God community, asking a question, a difficult question, and answering it. I understand that. But whenever we get to any doctrine and magnify it and use it as an alternative to preaching the gospel that Jesus Christ preached, then we start getting ourselves in trouble.

Okay, another gospel. The gospel of prophecies. The gospel of prophecies. I try to talk about prophecy every Sabbath. The ultimate prophecy is the establishment of the kingdom of God on this earth. And I try to talk about that every week. And yet I've been accused of not talking enough about prophecy. Well, I mentioned the greatest ultimate prophecy at all of all time, and that is the kingdom of God virtually every week. But that's not good enough because I'm not giving names, dates, and GPS coordinates. We have the gift of understanding what's going to happen in the future, and that's good, and that's wonderful to understand biblical prophecy.

But we have to keep the importance of biblical prophecies in balance. They are not a substitute for the gospel. They are not an alternative to what the gospel is and what the gospel teaches. You know, just before Jesus ascended to heaven, he was asked by his disciples if he was going to restore the kingdom of God. I'm not going to turn there, but I'll read it. It's Acts chapter 1, verses 7 and 8. The very last words that the risen Jesus Christ utters before he ascends into heaven to be seen no more. They say, Lord, we really love prophecy. Right now, are you going to restore the kingdom right now?

And Christ replied in his final words, he says, again, this is Acts chapter 1, verse 7, it is not for you to know the times or seasons which the Father has put in his own authority. Jesus is saying it's not in pure business.

You know whose business it is? It's the Father's business, and he'll do it when it's time to do it. Continuing, verse 8. But you, in contrast to thinking about that stuff, you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. Why? Because transforming your life is more important than speculating about a prophecy and taking a world event and trying to magnify it and exaggerate it all part of out of proportion in order to somehow prove a prophecy has been fulfilled. Jesus says that's not your job. Continuing, but you'll receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria to the end of the earth. Jesus was saying to them, you know what? You've got a job to do. Stop focusing on this, because it isn't the gospel. Might be interesting, fun to talk about, great to speculate, great to speculate over, but it's not the gospel. Jesus says you do your job and go and preach the gospel. Get out of here and go and do your job is what Jesus says. Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 13 and verse 8, he says, love never fails, but whether there are prophecies, they will fail. So why would Paul say that? Well, first of all, prophecies do fail. If you don't believe me, have a discussion with Jonah and see how that turned out. God can change his mind. God has the right to cancel a prophecy or delay a prophecy or not even reveal to us a prophecy. He's God. He gets to do whatever he wants. And the reason that Paul says that love never fails, unlike prophecy, he says that'll fail. Love never fails because it's part of the gospel. It's part of one of those characteristics of the values and laws that form the kingdom of God. God's law is of love. Love is the essence of God's law. It's eternal. It's part of the gospel message and discussion.

So this is very important. That's the gospel of prophecies.

And then there's the gospel of world news and its dysfunctions.

In this message, often a weekly rant about how bad everything is in the world news today, often naming names and making personal judgments and slander on people and how bad world events are week after week. Even though this may be entertaining for some to hear, it has nothing to do with the genuine gospel. Jesus never said, watch world news. Jesus said, watch therefore. In other words, observe what's going on around you. What we call world news today is created by human beings and it's all slanted and it's all towards a position or an agenda. Now, personally, we may agree with a particular position or agenda, so we like that, but we should never lose fact that world news reported today is by mere flawed human beings who have an agenda and a reason that they present the news in the way that they do.

Remember that Christ told Pilate in John 1836, my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight so that I should not be delivered to the Jews, but now my kingdom is not from here. The gospel of world news and its dysfunctions week after week is not good news. It's depressing news. It reinforces negativity. It creates frustration and anxiety from here over and over and over again. Everything's bad, bad, bad.

And the thing is, if you study the four gospels, it is amazing how non-political Jesus Christ was.

Study the four gospels. I encourage you to do that. He never rails or complains against Rome, never rails or complains against Pilate or any other secular rulers of that time, never slanders them, never talks about them because that's not part of the gospel.

Even Herod, you know, Luke 13, the Pharisees come to him and they try to bait him. They make a comment to him about Herod, so they can run back to Herod and say, oh, this Jesus condemned you or said something bad about you, and that would get Jesus arrested and possibly imprisoned, or maybe lose his head, maybe die through the situation. Jesus refused to take the bait. He just referred to Herod as a fox and said, I've got a mission to do, and certain days you're going to go by and my mission will be fulfilled. He refers to him as a fox, and then Jesus moves on. It's incredible how non-political he was because he saved his wrath for religious frauds and hypocrites. You know, politicians are what they are, right? But religious leaders, a fraud, a religious fraud, is offending God by using God's name and vein to manipulate or use people. That's what Jesus condemned, not some secular individual babbling about something they don't know about.

So today, we've talked about the genuine gospel taught by Jesus Christ, the early church and the church of God today. Now I want to show you—take a few minutes to show you the good news of the kingdom as proclaimed in the Old Testament, if we know how to look for it and if we know how to understand it. So let's go to Leviticus 23. We're not going to read the whole chapter. I'm just going to pull out a few key verses from Leviticus 23 as we begin to think about the spring holy days just around the corner. All the holy days will be earlier this year than we're used to it. So it's going to be a very interesting year in that regard. I think the feast is over by September, as my wife mentioned this morning. All of October will be clear because everything is earlier this year than it has been in recent years. Leviticus 23, and the Lord said to Moses, speak to the children of Israel and say to them, the feast of the Lord—as I like to say, they're not my feast, they're not the United Church of God's feast. They're God's. They are God's feast. Not any church's feast, not my feast, not your feast. Which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations or a convention. These are my feasts. Again, God takes ownership of them. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work on it. It is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings. So we start right there. The seventh day Sabbath pictures every week the peace and the righteousness and the grace of God that will exist in the millennial reign of Jesus Christ on this earth. That's what the Sabbath day pictures.

Every week we're reminded of that kingdom and the restfulness and the peace and the grace that will be extended. Very powerful. The holy convention or the holy convocation pictures the time when all of humanity will worship their creator, God, together all over the earth. Think how wonderful that will be when the whole world is celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles together.

Imagine the sound that would make. Verse 4, these are the Feast of the Lord, a holy convocation. Which you shall proclaim at their appointed times. On the 14th day of the first month at Twilight is the Lord's Passover. Remember that the first characteristic of the kingdom of God that I mentioned, I mentioned five, the very first one, it all starts there, is a Savior and the King. First a Savior. He'll be a King a little later on in the plan. Right now he's a Savior. He's the Lamb of God.

Whose shed blood saves the world from its sins. Just like anciently in Egypt, the shed blood of that physical animal lamb put on the doorpost protected the Israelites from the death angel.

The shed blood of Jesus Christ protects us from the eternal sentence of death because of our sins.

Without the opportunity for salvation, everything else is meaningless and temporary. There would have been no need to finish this chapter if we didn't have a Savior. Without redemption, there's no future. There is no plan. Everything is nothingness. Everything is meaningless.

Verse 6, and on the 15th day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord. Seven days you must eat unleavened bread. A major characteristic of the kingdom are the values and laws that form that kingdom. Remember me mentioning that earlier? During this Holy Day period, we seek to repent, to remove sin from our lives, to accept the righteousness of the Savior living within us through the gift of His Spirit, the bread of life within us. So we eat that unleavened picturing the righteousness of Christ and our desire for Him to live through us. We recognize our need to live now by the values and laws that form the kingdom of God. After all, we're going to be living by those values and laws forever. We might as well learn how to obey them and live by them right now. Verse 16 and 17, count 50 days after the day after the seventh Sabbath, then you shall offer a new grain offering to the Lord. You shall bring from your dwellings two wavelengths of two tenths of an ephah. They shall be a fine flower, and they shall be baked with leaven. This represents the two congregations that God has worked with throughout history. The Old Covenant, Congregation of Israel, they had sin. That's why it's baked with leaven. The New Testament Church of God, I hate to break the news to you, but we're sold under sin. We need the shed blood of Jesus Christ to forgive us of our sins. We're carnal. So that's why both of these laws were baked with leaven. They are the first fruits. They're still, though they're flawed, they're very precious, very special to God. They are first fruits to the Lord. A major characteristic of that kingdom are the saints and servants who rule under the King. God is preparing a people to serve in that kingdom, his first fruits, that is you. That is me. He also provides his Holy Spirit to them to keep them growing and help them to achieve sanctification as his spiritual children. Of course, we understand the day of Pentecost and its meaning in 31 AD. The Holy Spirit was given to the church on Pentecost.

Verse 24. Speak to the children of Israel, saying in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a Sabbath rest, a memorial, a blowing of trumpets, a holy convention. A major characteristic of the kingdom is the Savior and King to rule. Earlier, Jesus Christ was the Savior and made all these other things possible. But now, representing his second coming to earth, he's coming as King of kings and Lord of lords. He's returning as a king. A major reason many Jews didn't accept Jesus was in their day, they were expecting the Messiah to come. They were expecting a king to come and restore Israel's greatness. That's what they were looking for. They weren't looking for a Savior. If they would have clearly understood the progression of the Feast of God in Leviticus 23, they would have known that the Savior appears first and then later on the Messiah and the King, both roles fulfilled by Jesus Christ. Verse 27, also on the tenth day of the seventh month shall be the day of atonement, it shall be a holy convocation for you. You shall afflict your souls and offer an offering made by fire to the Lord and you shall do no work on that same day for it is the day of atonement to make atonement for you before the Lord your God. A major characteristic of the kingdom are the values and laws that form the kingdom. Satan the devil has been the main barrier to obedience to God. Satan the devil has divided humanity from its creator since the Garden of Eden. Again, that was mentioned in our sermon at very well today. Satan's influence, his presence, his power has to be removed from the earth. It will finally be time when Satan is removed and people have the opportunity to receive God's Spirit in abundance on the earth, that mankind will be at one month. Atonement will be at one month with God.

Verse 34, speak to the children of Israel. The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days to the Lord. Another characteristic of the kingdom is the territory with a specific location and boundary. This holy day pictures the literal establishment of the kingdom of God on earth, beginning in Jerusalem and spreading all over the world to encompass everyone and everything. The kingdom is a tabernacle of Christ's presence all over the world, all nations living under his protective shelter, the tabernacle of God.

Verse 36, for seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. On the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation. You shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord as a sacred assembly, and you shall do no customary work on it this eighth day. Remember that the first characteristic of the kingdom of God is a Savior, and God wants to save more than just his first fruits, who are mentioned in verse 17. We read a little bit earlier. He wants to offer salvation to everyone who has ever lived an opportunity for salvation, including all who died before his crucifixion. He wants to offer salvation to those who were from ungodly cultures, who worshiped many false gods and never heard of Jesus Christ or God the Father in our lifetimes and expired.

He wants to offer salvation to many who have been victims of religious deception throughout the last 2,000 years, and we're told that rituals shaking it here and shaking it there would provide salvation. Or obedience to a human religious leader would provide salvation. Or a large donation to the church would get your soul out of purgatory or hell to just throw a few bucks our way.

Hundreds of millions of people bought into those deceptions throughout the last 2,000 years deceived. God loves them too, and he has a plan for them. God has a massive resurrection plan after the millennium to offer salvation to the billions who have died and never had a genuine opportunity for salvation. Remember, as Paul stated in 1st Timothy chapter 2 verses 3 through 4, for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God, our Savior who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. That's what God wants. Unfortunately, there will be some who out of bitterness and their own problems will reject the opportunity for salvation. And Jesus condemned some religious leaders in his day who were on the cusp of losing their chance for salvation. It was very, very serious. And there will be some who will reject their opportunity for salvation. But as Paul says, it's God who desires all men to be saved. He makes provision for that in his plan. That too is part of the gospel message.

So what we see here, brethren, what we have seen today is that the gospel, the good news, is the coming kingdom of God and its major characteristics. The five that I mentioned very early on are reflected in the holy days that are outlined in Leviticus chapter 23.

Less than eight weeks from today, we'll begin the spring holy day season by solemnly celebrating the fact that we have a Savior, and we will observe the Passover this year. So let's use that time between now and then and think about the upcoming holy days, how we can use that spirit of God to transform our lives, how we can focus on the genuine gospel and not allow ourselves to be tugged and pulled away from the genuine gospel because something sounds interesting or exciting or new, but unfortunately has nothing to do with the gospel of God.

Let's begin to think about these holy days and how we can accelerate our growth. And our rededication to God's way of life this coming year.

I wish all of you a profitable and inspiring Sabbath day.