I See Men Like Trees, Walking

Turn to Matthew 16. Good afternoon, brethren! It's that time! It's good to be back here with all of you on this beautiful Sabbath day. I hope you're all enjoying that nice, cool weather we're getting now for a change. It's a little bit more bearable. You don't come in here, and it's warm still. But welcome, everybody, to Sabbath Services today. We're glad you could all join us. Welcome to any guests we have here as well. Let's go ahead and get started by picking up our hymnals and rising. If you turn with me to page 102. Page 102. We'll start out with, God Speaks to Us.

We can't disquiet and You trust in God, believe and trust in me. You trust in God, believe and trust in me. In God's best realm are many opposites. Were in our soul absolutely what I've said. For I must go, a place for you prepare. For I must go, a place for you prepare. And when this place has been prepared for you, I will return with thee you shall be too. So that where I am, you may also be. So that where I am, you may also be. Alright, nice job, brethren! Great way to start out today. If you turn with me to page 188. For the second hymn, we'll turn to page 188. This one's called Crown Him With Many Crowns. Crown Him With Many Crowns The Lamb Upon His Throne Our cow, the henly ant, the dress of His late God is told. Awake my soul and sing of Him who died for thee. And hail him as our matchless speak, through all eternity. Who hath in the Lord of life, the triumph toward the grave? Who rose victorious to the strife, for those He came to save? His glory's now we sing. Who died and rose on high? Who died eternal life to bring, and lives that death be died? Crown Him, the Lord of Lords, to Him our voices raise. Crown Him, the Lord of Peace and Love, who over all the reign, to thee be endless praise. For thou for us has died. Be thou, O Lord, through lamest space, adore and magnify. Excellent, brethren. For our third hymn, we'll turn to page 78. We'll sing Praise God's name. After this, we'll be led in the opening prayer by Mr. Joshua Amita.

Hallelujah, praise God's name. Praise His name, a fool who's served. You who stand within God's house shall praise His name within His course. Praise the Lord, for He is good. Sing your praises to His name. God hath chosen for Himself as His priceful session is dry now.

God is great above all gods, but He pleases that He does. In the heaven on the earth, in the seas and depths of oceans wide, Praise His face for all the earth, sends the lightning and the rain. And in Egypt He is was struck the first for both the planet and beast.

These are signs and waters great, in the midst of Egypt's land. Many nations living strike, many mighty kings for Israel. Great our name, eternal God, great your faith forevermore. Both endures to every age and to generations yet to come.

Please remain standing for the opening prayer by Mr. Amita. O most gracious and everlasting God, we come before You, this wonderful Sabbath. The day You have ordained before mankind was created. We thank You for this blessed day, and we are very grateful to meet here in safe and peace. We thank You for all the wonderful things, Lord, You have done for us. We thank You for the healing for our family members.

And we commit those who are still going through some tough time. Father, we pray for healing for those that are sick. We pray for those who need job, those who are in distress. We pray for relief and restoration on their life. We pray, commit to the services unto Your hand, and we ask You, O Lord, that You will help us to incorporate whatever we're going to be hearing here today, and that You will help us to put those in practice so we can be Christ-like.

We thank You, Lord. We commit the services unto Your hand. We love You, Lord. We praise You by the authority of Your Son, Jesus Christ, and then we pray. Amen.

Okay, brethren, please be seated.

Now to bring us the sermonette for today, here's our brother and friend, Mr. Bert Mearing.

Good afternoon. Every day we should strive to follow the model Jesus Christ has set for us. It is probably one of the most difficult tasks that we'll ever do in our lives, but it's one of the most rewarding. If it's not hard enough just to follow the model He set, He's also asking us to also be leaders in this world, which adds an extra complexity to it.

Throughout the Bible, God selects or identifies various people to be leaders, whether they're ready or not.

A couple of examples of this. Moses, Noah, even David. David, as a young child, was pitted against Goliath. He had faith in Christ, and he was able to lead his troops to victory.

However, being a leader in today's world is very difficult.

If you were to go to a local bookstore, you will find thousands and thousands of topics that address leadership.

On Amazon, I did a search out of curiosity. What would come up? I did a search for books on leadership. Over 200,000 different books came up. I could not believe there were that many books available on leadership. I did a similar search on ucg.org, just under sermons to see how many times we've given sermons or are posted online. I found over 80 sermons had the title, Leadership in their Name. And multiple of those were multiple sets of sermons. So, part one, part two of the sermon.

With all this information, this probably could be the longest sermonette ever.

If I tried to cover all of it today, it'd probably be my first and more than likely my last.

So, I plan to focus this sermonette on the topic, a pitfall that we need to avoid as we develop as leaders in Christchurch. So, the title of this sermonette is Avoiding a Leadership Danger.

A few weeks ago, while I was at work, I was reading my weekly email about leadership. Our work is very focused on developing leaders.

And it contained an article titled, The Biggest Leadership Danger.

The article warns leaders about a big danger in leadership, and that is self-importance.

And how dangerous it can be. As I read the article, one of the things that kept dawning on me is a lot of the examples I used in that article were very similar to things that were told and taught in the Bible to be careful about.

Here's what the article said about self-importance.

Self-importance is behind most of the stupid things leaders do. Self-importance keeps leaders ignorant and isolated. Self-importance blinds you to your weaknesses and distorts your view of strength of others.

Even insecurity is a symptom of self-importance.

Self-importance is the biggest danger in leadership.

So those are some pretty strong words about self-importance. But the article goes on to describe what a self-important leader looks like.

They look like, this is the explanation they gave, self-important leaders live with a sense of underappreciation. They love to be noticed, and they need acknowledgement at all times. They expect agreement. Self-important leaders feel offended when challenged. They idolize the trappings of power. They love big perks like big offices, executive limousines, and being rushed to the front of the line.

They support a weak team with members who aren't a threat but are able to compete with other strong members of other teams.

Self-important leaders work to advance themselves even if it disadvantages the team. And they bristle about being under authority.

So again, this article really got me thinking about the model of Jesus Christ set before us. He was the greatest leader ever on this earth, but yet he never suffered from self-importance.

So let's take a look at what the Bible has to say about self-importance. So if you'll turn with me to Proverbs 24.

Proverbs 24, verse 17.

And the Bible verses today are coming from the NIV version.

So Proverbs 24, 17 reads, Do not gloat when your enemy falls, when they stumble. Do not let your heart rejoice, or the Lord will see and disapprove and turn his wrath away from them. This Bible verse makes it very important about self-gain and self-importance at the expense of others and how bad it can be. We as leaders should also rejoice and make sure we are happy with the success of our fellow people. Another example in the Bible, if you'll turn with me to Mark 9, Mark chapter 9.

Mark chapter 9.

Mark 9, verse 33 through 35. Just to set the stage, this is talking about a trip that the disciples were making with Jesus, and they were on their way to Capernaum, and they were arguing on that trip. So Mark 9, 33 through 35 reads, They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, What were you arguing about on that road?

But they kept quiet, because on the way, they had argued about who is the greatest. Sitting down, Jesus called the twelve and said, Anyone who wants to be first must be very last and a servant of all. Again, here, the disciples, who were closest to the greatest leader on earth, were still trying to figure out how to be the greatest. They were trying to figure out what is the determination of greatness. So it's very important to realize that Jesus says, You must be willing to serve and be the last, or even unimportant, to become great.

So I decided to dig a little deeper, and let's look at an example of a leader in the Bible and what the effects of self-importance actually did. So we're going to take a look at Jeroboam, son of Nebat. He was granted rule over ten of the twelve tribes of Israel after Solomon's death. So let's pick up the story in 1 Kings 12. So if you'll turn there with me. 1 Kings 12.

And as you turn there, just to set the stage again a little bit, this is as Jeroboam is settling in Shechem, an area that they discuss early in the Bible, and it related to Abraham and also Jacob. So if you'll please turn with me to 1 Kings 12. And we're going to go to verse 26-28. 1 Kings 12, 26-28. And it says, So those are pretty severe things that Jeroboam did at that point.

Jeroboam didn't trust God, and he decided to do it his own way. Self-importance got the best of Jeroboam in that case, and it led his people away from God for his own personal gain. We need to trust in God and make sure that we don't take matters into our own hands. As I was reading this, this reminded me of a quote from a famous great future philosopher, Darth Vader. In the movie Star Wars Rogue One, Darth Vader says to his Imperial Director, Be careful not to choke on your own aspirations.

And that kind of sums up a lot of what Jeroboam actually ended up doing, is he made some mistakes and it ended up costing him dearly. So I would guess everyone here has either worked for, known, met someone with some of these traits. Self-importance is definitely a tool Satan uses to distract or disrupt us as God's chosen leaders.

So, brethren, in my remaining time, I'd like to help give a couple of suggestions on how we keep ourselves in check to avoid this pitfall. So I'm going to give you five suggestions on things we should think about or ask ourselves to avoid the danger of self-importance.

So, number one, be important enough to make others important. Be important enough to make others important. So again, very simply, be humble. Humility is the key to leadership. So if you'll turn with me to Matthew 18.

Matthew 18, we're going to look at verses 1 through 5. And again, it's set the stage of disciples, again, who are around Jesus all the time, are arguing again over greatness. So, Matthew 18, verses 1 through 5. And it says, So it's just an example of being important enough to make others important. Suggestion number two, very simply, show up to serve.

Show up to serve. You don't have to turn here, but 1 Corinthians 10.24 says it in probably the simplest terms. No one should seek their own good, but the good of others. Very simply put, putting others first is an example of great leadership. It's a way we can serve others as leaders.

Putting someone else's need first and serving others is the key to avoiding self-importance. This shows others that others are important, and your willingness to help others, just like God did when He sent His Son to earth. So number three, my third suggestion is admire everyone on the team. Admire everyone on the team. So we need to reflect on people's strengths more frequently than we ruminate on their weaknesses.

We need to let others win. Better yet, let's help them win. As a leader, we should think of ourselves as a coach of a team. The greatest coaches of all time are also great leaders, and typically they weren't the best that played the sport when they played it, but they have figured out a couple key traits.

A good coach is not interested in the spotlight for himself. He is measured on how well his players perform. The greatest coaches have figured out how to help their players win. They figure out how to exploit each player's strengths, and to minimize their weaknesses, just as God has asked us to do is how to use everybody's strengths. We as leaders in a church need to be coaches. Just as coaches utilize everyone's strength, we should do the same, and that will strengthen everybody's relationship with God.

Suggestion number four. Realize as leaders, we are nothing without the people we serve. So if you'll turn with me to Jeremiah 23. Jeremiah 23. Jeremiah 23, verse 2. Therefore, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to the shepherds who tend my people, Because you have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you, for the evil you have done, declares the Lord.

Again, remember, it is important to remember being a leader means you're leading others. If you allow self-importance to enter the equation as a leader, then you'll end up only leading yourself, and that's a pretty lonely road. And for my last point, suggestion, acknowledge the temptation of self-importance, and follow the model God has provided us. Acknowledge the temptation of self-importance, and follow the model God has provided us. James 1, verse 12, you don't have to turn there, says, Blessed is the one who preserves under trial. Having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life, and the Lord has promised to those who love him.

We must pay attention and be self-aware of self-importance. We will all have this temptation from time to time, because it is a very simple tool Satan uses to get us off track. The reason self-importance is so bad is because it actually turns into selfishness. When you become selfish, you are only worried about yourself and not others. When this happens, your relationship with God tends to start to take a backseat, and you're only focused on your own desires.

So in summary, as we grow as leaders in a church, we need to do the things to keep self-importance in check. So remember, be important enough to make others important, show up to serve, admire everyone on the team, realize leaders are nothing without the people that they serve, and most importantly, acknowledge the temptation of self-importance and follow the model God has provided us. We are told in Galatians 5, verse 3, You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free, but do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh.

Rather, serve another humbly in love. We are called by Christ to be leaders in this world. Take every chance as a leader to help others, not for selfish reasons, but to be the example of Jesus Christ in their lives. Do not let self-importance drive your actions as a leader in Christ's church. Remember, as Christian leaders, we are not measured by titles or positions, but how willing we are to be humble and serve others.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Okay, brethren, we have another opportunity to sing a song of praise to our great Father in Heaven. So, if you'd pick up your hymnals and rise and turn with me to page 16. Page 16 will sing, My Shepherd Will Supply My Need. My Shepherd will supply my need. Eternal basis made in pastors fresh. He raised me free, inside the living stream. He brings my wonderings great with that, when I forsake his ways. And leads me home, his mercy saved, in paths of truth and grace.

When I'm all through the shades of death, my presence is as high as wind. One word of God, supporting bread, dies all my fears away. That hair inside, of all my throat, doth still my table stray. My love, in blessing's come, and flows, thy oil, my noise, my hair. My should, provisions of thy love, attend me all my days.

O, in thy house, be my elbow, and all my word be praised. There good I find, the sands of rest, how the waters flow and flow. No more a stranger, nor a guest, or a guide, but a child, and a home. Very beautiful, brethren. Please be seated. Now to bring us the announcements and the message for today, here's our pastor, Mr.

Rick Shaby. Well, good afternoon, everyone. Good to see all of you here today. Hope you are having a very nice Sabbath on this nice fall day here in Florida. It's been pleasant, the temperature is this week. But our children come in from Sabbath school here. We do have some announcements here before we get to the sermon today.

Most of you know we will have a... First, let me welcome any visitors that we have with us today. Those who are listening in on the web, good to have you with us as well. We do have a potluck after services today. We hope that you will all stay. And we're going to do the potluck here in this room this afternoon. I understand that they have the temporary walls that they had in the kitchen for months gone now. But we will have the post-free slideshow.

Always an interesting post-free potluck that we have here. After it, we're going to set up the potluck here in this hall and have the slideshow right here in this hall as well. In line with that, let me give you an announcement here regarding the food, how it's all set up, and what we need you to do after services. It says, following services today, there will be a potluck and video. Please, if you will, remove your personal items and make way for the set-up crew.

So after services, if you'll move your belongings to the car or in the back of the hall someplace so we can kind of set up the tables in this room, the food will be served in the kitchen area. You will enter through the back hallway for that. And we will ask parents to watch their children this time. And as a courtesy to our older people, we're going to ask that we would allow our seniors and handicapped members to go through the line first, and that children be with their parents as we go through the potluck line today.

So if you'll remember those things, I think things will go very, very smoothly for us. We have some things coming up next week as well. We have a special Sabbath next week. We'll have Sabbath services, of course, right here at 2.30. But we will have the teens be coordinating a lot of what's going on next Sabbath.

They will be providing the ushering in some of the standard service areas that many of the adults have. We'll have a songleader who's a teen, a sermonette by the teens as well. Not the sermon, though, so we will reserve that for someone else. But anyway, that'll be an interesting Sabbath next Sabbath, so I know you'll all enjoy that. And teens, I know you'll be preparing and ready for next week as well. And then on Sunday, next Sunday the 4th, we have kind of a double activity for the teens, the pre-teens, and the young adults who are interested in an activity called Sky Zone in Claremont.

I understand it's quite the arrangement out there. It has trampolines, a lot of things that you can do. We have an outing there sometime around 1.30 next Sunday. So I will send around tomorrow or Monday, the particulars again, I sent it around a couple weeks ago, to talk about the costs. We do have discounted rates because Ali Montero works there, and she was able to negotiate some good rates for families with children. So that'll be next Sunday at 1.30. At the same time, for the rest of us who may not want to go to Sky Zone, we will have an outing at the Rotter Front Park there in Claremont.

It's a very nice park, and we won't have a planned meal, but if you want to bring some food and come around anytime between 11 and 2 or something like that, we'll just have an opportunity for all of us to be together.

There are some activities at the park that you can enjoy. Understand they have volleyball and some other activities for the young people to enjoy. So if we get there before 1 o'clock, kids can go over to the Sky Zone. If you want to get there at 1 o'clock when you bring your kids, that'll be fine. There'll be someone at the park all the time. There'll be someone at Sky Zone to meet you there as well.

So that'll be next Sunday. We will send the more detailed announcement around later on. And then we will, if you have any questions, I'm going to let you get with the Merring's or Allie, Montero. They'll be able to answer all your questions since they know the park and they know the venue out there very well. One more thing. I know there's been a few questions about the Tuesday Night Bible studies that we were having before the feast. We will begin those again in November. I don't have an exact date yet, but just in looking and planning with everything coming up in November, it looks like it's going to be Tuesday evening the 13th, but we'll let you know for sure on that next week. So I think that is it for announcements.

Well, you know, there's times in life that a verse comes to mind. When we say a verse, you know, we recognize exactly what we're talking about, and when we're younger, we memorize some things, and there are just certain things that catch our attention. I'm going to introduce a topic today with something that Joyce Kilmer, and when I gave the sermon earlier in Jacksonville, I was reminded that Joyce Kilmer is a male and not a female, because I said she later on when I was referring to it.

But Joyce Kilmer, you know, said, I think that I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree. And we've all heard that, right? And trees are just one of those things that God has created that are just, you know, one of the things in nature that we look at and we can marvel at. The earth simply can't exist without trees in a physical sense.

They provide so much for mankind in terms of the leaves, the cover, the lumber that provides our shelter, the fruit that comes from them, even in the environment. The trees absorb some of the harmful gases that would come our way and they produce oxygen. And so you've all heard of the, you know, preserving trees in a lifetime and how trees are just felled. And it's kind of amazing how many trees are on the earth because of all the things that we use trees for, even the paper, when you understand how much many trees are cut down each year just for paper, how many are used, and yet we have to preserve those things because if trees weren't there, we would all be there, very sorry people.

You know, one tree, you know, one tree, they say one large tree, provides enough oxygen for four people to live a day. And in one way, that's amazing when you think about what the power of one tree is, but then you think of how many people are on earth, you know, and there's a lot of trees that are required for us to live the way we do. You know, trees are there, you know, God created them early on in creation and they're there at the beginning of the Bible and when God was teaching mankind and building choice into the universe, He used trees.

You know, we have the tree of life, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Two trees right there in the garden and He said, you know, you choose, you choose which one. Mankind, of course, made the wrong choice and there at the end of time, at the end of the age, the tree of life is there by a river for people to take of as the end of this age closes and the new heaven and new earth comes to earth. So let's turn to Revelation 7 because trees do have a prominent place in the Bible.

In Revelation 7, as the earth, as the world is ending its time of age and the trumpets are blowing and the seals have been opened, you know, God says this in Revelation 7. It says in verse 1 of chapter 7, it says, After these things I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, on the sea, or on any tree. And I saw another angel sending from the east, having the seal of the living God.

And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and sea, saying, Don't harm the earth, the sea, or the trees. Don't hurt the ground they live on.

Don't hurt the sea. And don't hurt the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads. So God says, you know, I'm going to shake the earth. I'm going to make my power known. But don't you touch these until the servants of God are sealed so that they don't have to go through the things that the rest of the world will have to go through as they learn about who God is and learn to worship Him, which will take a long, long time for them to do that.

So I want to talk about trees today. And there's an interesting verse back in Mark 8. Mark 8 that I want to begin with. Because trees, of course, are something that are important, but God uses the tree to compare it to what we should be like. Mark 8 and verse 22. Interesting set of verses as Jesus Christ is among the Pharisees, and as He's going about His travels, it says in verse 22, He came to Bethsaida, and they brought a blind man to Him, and they begged Him to touch Him.

So He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town. And when Christ had spit on His eyes and put His hands on Him, He asked Him if He saw anything. And the man looked up and said, I see men like trees walking. Now, Christ didn't just make a mistake. He didn't just, you know, not heal the man all the way. He knew exactly what He was doing. When He wanted to hear what the man said, He said, I see men like trees.

That's what I see out there. They look like trees. I see them walking. And so Christ put His hands on His eyes again and made Him look up, and He was restored and saw everyone clearly. But I see men like trees. Men are like trees in God's eyes. And He has built many different properties into trees that it talks about in the Bible. Things that we can learn with as we go through our lives and how we are supposed to be developing and growing, just like a tree would grow, maturing from a young sapling up into however the age is and what properties they have.

You know, trees come in all shapes and sizes. They all have different properties. The trees don't look all alike. God could have made just one tree and just dotted the world without one tree. But there are so many varieties of trees, and not all of them grow in every element of the world. But we can learn a lot from them. Let's go back to Psalm 1.

When we read Psalm 1, you'll recognize a hymn that we sing often in the church. Psalm 1 talks about trees and men like trees. Psalm 1 and verse 3. So see, let's just read the first three verses. Psalm 1, verse 1. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the eternal, and in his law he meditates day and night.

He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf will not wither, and whatever he does shall prosper.

This man who looks to God, this one who meditates on God, this man who walks with God, he's going to be like a tree planted by the water, and there's going to be three things that you can count on him. His leaves will always be green. His leaves won't wither. He'll always be alive. He won't go dormant in part of his life, like the trees that we see around us. And if we lived up north, you'd see plenty of trees going dormant for the winter.

But he won't be like that. He will be evergreen. He will always be alive. When you look at him, you'll always see the things that he does. He'll bring forth fruit, as God takes his fruit should be. And not every tree brings forth the same fruit. There's a variety of them. Let's say some trees bring forth some fruit. Other trees produce fruit in other ways, not just the kind of things that you can eat, but they produce fruit in other ways that are very useful to man, because just about every tree is useful to man and produces fruit as they grow. Every person of God should be producing fruit in some way that they're useful to God and useful to each other.

So they will stay evergreen. They'll always look alive. They're not going to go dormant for part of their lives. They will bear fruit. The fruit that God ordains for them to do, the fruit that will be beneficial to the people that they come in contact with, fruit that is pleasing to God.

Psalm 92 talks about the same concept as David continues in this line of thought and in this comparison. In Psalm 92, verse 12, says, The righteous, those are the people that follow God, those are the people that are yielded to Him, led by His Holy Spirit, that try and make the effort, a continual effort, to improve and be the way that He wants them to be. The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree.

He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Look at the comparisons that God is making here as people follow God. Those who are planted in the house of the Eternal shall flourish in the courts of our God. Those who God calls, those who are planted in His Church, in His body, those who find their life force from the Spirit of God, and who allow Him to work with them and change them and mold them, those who do those things, they'll flourish. They'll be the vibrant trees. They'll be the ones that everyone looks to. Those will be the bright green, beautiful trees that are out there.

The righteous will be like a palm tree. They'll be like a cedar in Lebanon. So let's look at some of the characteristics of some of these trees that God compares mankind to. When He says, you and I are supposed to grow. If we're righteous people and if we aspire to the righteousness, if we're putting our lives and dedicating ourselves to be righteous, what are some of the things that we learn from these trees that God specifically states we will be like, that maybe we can learn something from?

A palm tree is the first one that's listed there. And palm trees are, of course, great here in Florida. I know when we moved to Florida, the one thing that our house had to have was a palm tree. I just wanted to look at a palm tree all the time. And we had palm trees in the front of the house and a few palm trees in the back.

And it was interesting to see the variety of them. The ones in the front kind of just grew to one size. The door in the house, the ones in the back were very tall and very straight. You've all seen palm trees. And if you've never lived in Florida, the people up in the north, that have maybe never been in the south, palm trees are fascinating things.

They're easy to draw. So when you're a kid, if you're going to draw a tree, palm trees are great. Man, you just draw a line, you draw a few leaves around it, you've got a palm tree, right? You don't have to worry about all those branches and everything.

But a palm tree, boy, it's like they just shoot straight up in the air. You know, we moved here, the palm trees in the back of our house, they were good size, but they weren't tall. And I watched them, and I watched them, you could almost see them grow from season to season. And they just went straight up. It was just like they were just being pushed up out of the ground, and the top stayed the same, never a branch, never anything coming out of that. It was just shooting straight up into the air. It was kind of a nice sight.

It was a very clean, very clean type thing that the palm tree did. And you know, God would tell us, as we are growing with Him, He wants us to grow up straight. He wants us to be looking up to Him, just like that palm tree. It's almost like when you see that palm tree and those leaves are at the top, it just keeps reaching to heaven, reaching to God.

And He wants us to be the same way. We should be straight people, growing straight. God talks about our paths being straight. Let's look at a couple verses here. Here in Psalm, we're in Psalms. Let's go back to Psalm 5. Psalm 5.

And in verse 8, Lead me, O Eternal, in your righteousness, Lead me in your righteousness because of my enemies, make your way straight before my face. Let me just take a straight line to follow you. No crooks, no curves, no detours, no side trips. Let me just look straight to you. Proverbs 4. Proverbs 4 and verse 25.

Proverbs 4 verse 25, Let your eyes look straight ahead. Just keep them straight on the goal that God has for you. Let your eyes look straight ahead, and your eyelids look right before you. Ponder the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established. Don't turn to the right or to the left. Remove your foot from evil. Just keep going straight toward the goal that God has established for you. Don't look to the right or to the left. Just look ahead, and just follow Him. And finally, over in Luke, Luke 3.

Luke 3 and verse 4.

John here in verse 4 says, As it is written in the books of the words of Isaiah the prophet, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord, Make His paths straight. The palm tree grows up straight. It's recognizable. You can spot a palm tree. Everyone on earth can spot a palm tree and say what it is. You don't have to worry about whether it's an oak or an elm or know the leaves. You just kind of know because it's so distinguished. Christians should be that way when people get to know us well as well. We should be very distinguishable by how straight we are and how committed and how we live our lives the way that God would want us to live. So they grow up straight. I mentioned that they're evergreen. One of the things that I noticed when we moved here is we had to water a number of things. It seems like for a while I called where we lived almost like kind of a tropical desert. I mean, some summers it just never rained, and so we were always having to water plants and whatever. Never had to water the palm tree, though. Never had to do it. It always looked the same whether it didn't rain for months or when it was cold or even when it froze. It always looked exactly the same. The weather just didn't affect it. It didn't look tired. It didn't look will withered. It didn't look anything. It just looked the same. And so it was not affected by the drought. It didn't matter at the bad times or the good times or the heat that it enjoyed. It always looked the same. It always looked the same. In Jeremiah 17, God talks about trees. Again, in Jeremiah 17, verse 7, as He compares, again, man to trees, verse 7, it says, Blessed is the man who trusts in the eternal. Blessed is he who really trusts God and whose hope is in him. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river and will not fear when heat comes. But its leaf will be green and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will it cease from yielding fruit. Always growing, always vibrant, not getting knocked off of its feet because of a trial or a test that comes its way. Always moving forward, always looking the same, always solid, not losing its leaves, not even bending in the face of the winds that come our way. When you look at a palm tree, it almost is like a toothpick up there, right? And I remember the first time we were in a hurricane, and bystanders of what we've seen recently with the hurricanes, the hurricanes that we went through with the 80 mile an hour winds, seemed like nothing compared to what happened up there in the panhandle a few weeks ago. But I would look at that palm tree and it would just be like it was bending over, you know? And it would be like, it's just going to crack. It's just going to fall right over because it's just bending so far over. But it never did. And you know, as we drove around the neighborhoods, those palm trees never, other trees were uprooted, but the palm tree always was there. It stood all the winds of time. It's just one of the features that they have. And so God would say to us, no matter what winds come our way, maybe we bend, but we don't break.

Maybe we feel, maybe we feel the wind and maybe we feel the storm, but we don't buckle. We don't break. We don't fall apart. We rely on God. We trust in God, as it says here in Jeremiah 17. And when we trust in God, storms may come, trials may come. They'll affect us, but they won't break us. If we rely on self, and if we are someone other than what who God wants us to be, then indeed we'll break. But a palm tree doesn't break. You simply can't kill it unless you cut it down. Unless you cut it down. And God will never cut down the trees that he's growing. Only we can do that. Let's go back to Romans 8. Romans 8. You know, we were talking about the resilience of the palm tree and the strength of it. And the fact that it doesn't bend. Maybe I'm very used to mind these verses in Romans 8, 35 through 39. Romans 8, 35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? What will break us? What would have us fall apart? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? Are any of those things going to be when those winds come our way? Are they going to be the things that topple us, that we break into? We might bend a little, but will they break us? Verse 38. Paul writes, I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created things shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Jesus Christ our Lord. Nothing. Nothing will topple that palm tree. Nothing should topple us if we have our eyes on God, if we are living and becoming the righteous people that He wants us to become. Those are all qualities of palm trees, one that I found very, very interesting. I didn't know until I was looking at the qualities. The palm tree. The palm tree, you cannot graft anything else to a palm tree. You know you've heard of grafting. You know you can go out to the nurseries and you can kind of see you have other trees that have been grafted into. You can even have multiple fruits. You can have limes and lemons and oranges growing on one tree now. You can't graft anything. It's unable to be grafted. If you try to graft it, it will die.

That has quite a lesson for us. The palm tree is pure palm. It's not going to be compromised with anything else. You're not going to mix it with something else. When you see it, it is 100% palm.

What does God want us to be? 100% Christians. 100% living by the Bible. 100% living by every word of the Bible. And as we grow, purifying ourselves so that we look more like Jesus Christ, act more like Jesus Christ, speak more like Jesus Christ, that we become who He wants us to be.

There's no such thing as a hybrid palm. There's no such thing as a hybrid half-Christian. The Christians that God is looking for, what He's looking for in me and you, is someone who is pure, single-minded, looking straight to Him, not compromising, not allowing other things to be put into us through whatever it is that they may be. Through what we watch, what we read, the people we hang out with, not allowing other things to permeate these trees that God is growing in us, not allowing anything to be grafted into what He has called us to be. So we can look at palm trees and we can learn some things about us that God is looking to us to become like.

Let's look at the cedar, the cedar tree. Back in Psalm 92, he talked about the righteous man will be like a palm tree. He'll be like a cedar, the cedars of Lebanon. I think we've all heard of the cedars of Lebanon. I don't think there's any cedars of Lebanon in Florida. But you've all seen what a cedar of Lebanon looks like. You know, the palm tree grows straight, straight and very distinguished, very easy to identify. Straight up in the air, the cedars of Lebanon were exactly the opposite. They're the trees that look absolutely beautiful when you see them. They spread out their branches, they cover the earth. When you see a cedar of Lebanon, you see them in so many logos. Sometimes churches will have a big tree that's part of their logo. It's typically the cedar of Lebanon. If you ever see a picture or a depiction of what the tree of life looks like, it's usually a cedar of Lebanon.

It's the beautiful tree that has the nice trunk and that just kind of spreads out and covers the land. It's not as tall as a palm tree. It can grow tall, but it has that beauty about it. Let's go back to Ezekiel 31, because God describes what he sees, this cedar that he created to look like.

Back in Ezekiel 31, in verse 3, he's comparing Assyria, which is a very strong nation. Assyria eventually conquered Israel. God allowed that to happen. God is comparing Assyria here to what the cedar would be like, how dominating it is and how beautiful, I guess, it is. Let's look at Ezekiel 31, verse 3.

All the birds of the heavens made their nests in its boughs. Under its branches all the beasts of the field brought forth their young. And in its shadow all great nations made their home. Thus it was beautiful in greatness and in the length of its branches, because its roots reached to abundant waters. The cedars in the garden of God couldn't hide it. The fir trees were not like its boughs, and the chestnut trees were not like its branches. No tree in the garden of God was like it in beauty. I made it beautiful with a multitude of branches, so that all the trees of Eden envied it that were in the garden of God. As you see, a cedar of Lebanon, it's a special tree. You remember, as God was building the temple, and as David was gathering materials and as Solomon was looking to build the temple, it was the cedars of Lebanon, the wood that they wanted in the temple. God said that some of the wood in that temple was going to be cedar. Some of it was palm. Palms were represented in that temple as well. But the cedars of Lebanon were a special tree. They were highly valued for their beauty, highly valued for their resilience, their strength for their wood. It was a tree to be recognized and a tree to be like.

God says, my people should be like the cedars of Lebanon. There are a couple of traits that we've already talked about when we talk about the cedars of Lebanon. They are beautiful trees. When you look at the cedars of Lebanon, you just stand and look at it because it has such beauty. That's why it's used in logos for hospitals and health care centers and even churches. That's why when artists depict the tree of life, it's often the cedar of Lebanon that they have used to depict it because it's so beautiful and it looks so much like a tree. Beauty. The people of God are beautiful people. When God looks at us, He wants us to be beautiful people. Not necessarily all of us are the best looking, you know, that God is called. Just like Jesus Christ wasn't the best looking man on earth during that time. He was very ordinary looking that they even had to pick Him out with a kiss when they were going to arrest Him. But the people of God should be beautiful people and people that know us would look at it and say, Those are beautiful, beautiful people. Let's go back to Proverbs 31. You know, God says this of the women, the women who are the more beautiful sex.

And as in Proverbs 31, He identifies some of the traits of the Proverbs 31 woman, which I know everyone in here emulates. Proverbs 31. And in verse 30, He concludes His description of the ideal wife, the woman who's fulfilling her role perfectly, the woman, mother, and wife.

Verse 30 says, That would be the outward beauty is passing. We all recognize that the older we get. The more different we look. Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing. But a woman who fears the eternal, she shall be praised. That's where the inner beauty is. When she reflects the Spirit of God, when she reflects the inner beauty that God has built for women. When she's following these principles that God has set for her. Yes, she's the more beautiful of the sexes. Yes. Every woman in here is the most beautiful woman in the world to her husband.

Every woman, when God looks at him, He looks at what is the inside. A woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands and let her own works praise her in the gates. Well, that's for women. But back in Isaiah 52, when God talks of beauty again, He says this in Isaiah 52. Paul repeats this verse when he's speaking in Romans 10. Isaiah 52 and verse 7.

He says, Jesus Christ was a beautiful, beautiful person. The message that He brought to earth was a beautiful message. The world rejected it. They didn't see the beauty in Him. The beauty that we have when we preach and talk and live the same words that Jesus Christ did. When we teach our children, when we live the example that He set. When we allow God to purify us and make us more like Him.

When we consciously say no to the weaknesses that we know we have, when all of us know the weaknesses that we have, we have to be strong enough and we have to use God's Spirit to say no. That's not beautiful. When God defines beautiful, that's not beautiful. Blessed are the people who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings to the world. When people look at us, do they see beautiful people? When they see us at work, do they say, those are beautiful people.

Good employees. They give a good day's work for what I pay them. When they see us out in society, when we're dealing with people who may work for us or people we have even come into our homes to work for us. Would they say, those are beautiful people? They're fair? They're honest? They expect that we're going to do the job right, but they're beautiful people. They're beautiful people. More and more, as we grow, just like the cedar, doesn't start out as a beautiful tree, it gets more and more beautiful the older it gets.

As we become more and more spiritually mature, the more and more beautiful we should become. The more and more pleasing to each other, to our mates, to our families, to the people in church, to the people we work with, we should become more and more beautiful in God's eyes, so when He looks at the trees that He's creating us to be, He looks at that tree and He's pleased.

He's pleased to see. And I'm sure a smile comes to His face when He sees that tree growing in the way that He wants it to. So when we think about the cedars, and God says, the righteous will be like a cedar. They're beautiful people from the inside out. They become people who are there that people behold and are impressed with. But of course the cedar is best known, probably, for its wood.

It's wood. It was a desired element back then. The cedar is still a desired element today. In the lexicon that talks about the cedar of Lebanon, it says this about the wood of the cedar. It says this wood is odoriferous. That means it has a pleasant smell. You know, back a while ago I gave a sermon on the fragrance of Christ. Do you remember what that was about? Christ. The way He lived. What did people think of Him? When you think of the fragrance of Christ, what do you think of when you think of cedar wood?

You think of that unique smell and fragrance that comes with it. The people adorn it with their chests, that they want to put their precious things in, their clothes, and build homes with it. Certainly it was part of the temple. It's wood is odoriferous. Without knots, it's perfect. It doesn't have those holes in it like the lumber you go to Lowe's to buy, and you try to find a piece that doesn't have the knots in it when you're trying to build something.

Cedar doesn't have it. Without knots, not liable to decay, use therefore for building and adorning the temple and royal places. Well, we read in Ezekiel 31 that the cedar has deep roots. Remember that? It goes back to the water that it is continually watered with.

When you look at what cedars do, it says, for every 10 feet of height that a cedar tree has, Lebanon, cedars of Lebanon, the roots go 30 feet into the ground. So if it's 40 feet tall, it goes 120 feet down into the ground, seeking that water, and it's continuously watered by that water from the ground.

Well, God looks at us, and He wants us to be firmly rooted, too. You know, cedars aren't easily toppled because of their deep roots, but they are fed because they're deep-rooted. Let's go back to Ephesians. Ephesians 3. Ephesians 3 and verse 14.

Paul writes, Deep roots. Deep roots that continually feed us. Deep roots that never leave us dry. Deep roots that don't rely on someone else to come and feed us and water us. But deep roots with God. Constant contact with Him. An ever-increasing relationship with Him that feeds us and that grows us and that helps us to grow into what God wants us to be.

Paul says the same thing over in Colossians. Let's look at it. Colossians 2 and verse 6. He writes, You therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord. Walk in Him. When you receive Him, walk with Him. Walk in Him. Do what He says. Rooded and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. What you've been taught, what you've been called to. Be rooted in it. Be rooted in Him.

Be rooted in faith. Be rooted in the Word of God. Get your sustenance from the things of God. Well, the roots feed that cedar tree. But the roots, when you read about what they do, they are so widespread and they filter out so well through it, even to neighboring trees, that it's almost impossible for a cedar tree to be blown over by wind. They kind of interact with each other. The way God would expect you and I to interact with each other, and we have our roots in God, we have our roots in Jesus Christ, we have our roots in the Spirit, we are fed by Him, but we need each other to stand.

And so we see the root system of the cedar tree. It intertwines with other cedar trees and the other trees around it, that it stands, and it's almost impossible to topple. And so they live for up to a thousand years, some of the scientists say. They just simply survive because they're not easily toppled by storm, wind, or anything else. And the unique feature of the cedar wood is the sap that runs through it. It's the sap that's in the cedar wood that prevents it from decay.

It makes it impervious to the insects and the other things that might come in and calm that wood.

So, so much so, that the cedar wood is so long-lasting and seen as so valuable because it simply isn't going to go through the rot or the stuff that other wood might.

Now, it should be no stretch what the analogy is for Christians. It's the sap in that wood that makes it strong, that makes it impervious to decay, impervious to insects, impervious to disease. It's the sap that God puts in you and me, His Holy Spirit, that should make us impervious to false doctrine, impervious to the pride that might so easily beset us. The self-importance that might tempt us, as we heard in the sermonette. The temptations of the world that could come our way. The things that could come our way that would hurt our feelings and make us just decide, eh, you know what, my feelings are hurt, I don't want that anymore. Cedar wood is impervious to all those things. Christians, with the sap that runs through them, the spirit that runs through them, we should be impervious to those things. They may attack, they may come our way, but the Spirit of God keeps us focused on Him, living toward Him, and ushers out and resists those things that would come that would cause us to decay, to rot, and to be useless to everyone around us. Cedar wood. Cedar wood has all of those elements. Let's look at one more tree here. It wasn't mentioned in Psalm 93, but let's go back to Psalm 52. Psalm 52. Psalm 52. David here writing, and he's contrasting himself to the wicked of the world and those who didn't, as he says in verse 7, make God his strength. And he says this about himself in verse 8. He says, I am like a green olive tree in the house of God. I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever. I will praise you forever because you have done it, and in the presence of your saints, I will wait in your name, for it is good. I am like a green olive tree in the house of God. Olive trees are different than palms, certainly. They're different than the cedars of Levitin. We had the opportunity to be over in Greece for the feast last year. We saw lots of olive trees, acres and acres and acres of them, as they all grow together. They're not the prettiest trees, but they are a very important tree, and they have a lot of qualities about them, even in the temple. There is some olive wood that God commissioned that there would be olive wood in that temple. I won't turn to it, but you can turn to 1 Kings 6, verses 23, 31 and 33, where he says, use olive wood when you're building this. Olive wood is a strong wood, and it has its properties, but it's not the thing that olive trees are really noted for. David said he was like an olive tree, and there are other places that God compares people to olive trees as well. Before we get into the fruit of the olive, let's go back to Psalm 128. Or forward, I guess, to Psalm 128.

Psalm 128, verse 3, It says, Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine, Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house, Your children like olive plants all around your table. Hear that, young people? Like olive plants. That's what God sees you as. Young olive trees. Olive trees in the making. Olive trees in everything that they produce when they get older, when they mature and when they're nourished in that way. Not the only place. At the end of the age, we read of the two witnesses back in Revelation 11. Revelation 11. Two men who will be preaching the Word of God to a world that doesn't want to hear it, a world that wants them dead, but they will stand strong. They will fight the winds. They will be looking straight to God. They will be preaching His message. And they will not allow the hate. They will not allow the words. They will not allow the accusations to bend or break them. They'll stand as long as God wants them to stand. In Revelation 11, verse 3, it says, I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the God of the earth.

So we learn olive trees are important to God, something we can learn from them. We learn these olive trees are strong trees. And when you read about the olive tree, there are some in the Middle East who claim that there are olive trees over there that are up to a thousand. I read one source that said there's an olive tree that's two thousand years old. Through all the wars that were over there, through all the two months that's been there, these olive trees just stand. They're very strong. They don't topple easily either. They have a deep root system just like the cedar tree, just like the palm tree. The people of God have deep root systems. The olive tree has good quality wood. There's good building material that God is making in it. Just like He's looking to us as He builds His temple, He wants us to be good building material. Not weak wood, not things that He's going to build His temple with, or the things that He builds His temple with are going to be the best quality in the world. Just like He built the physical temple, that's what He's looking at as He builds the spiritual temple today. That wood is good, but what the olive tree is known most for is its fruit. Is its fruit. And back in Middle Eastern time, and even today, but in the Middle East, the olive is a source, a source that many people just think you can't live without. And when you read about the olive today and the properties that it has in it, specifically olive oil, you can read about what olives do, you can read about olives oil, and you can see it is a necessary supplement in life. There are so many studies out there that show that it is one of the key things when we have health issues that we should be adding into our lives. I think I've cited before, and maybe it was in the Home Bible studies where we did the study on foods and the foods of the Bible and the diet that we could have, that the olive plant, that when they did a study on it with cancer, when they took the cancer genes from the mice and they applied olive extract to it, or olive leaf extract, within nine days, the cancer cells had died, with just applying that. It shows how strong that element is. You know, the fruit of the olive, it has so many things, and I'm not going to elucidate them all, but you can go back and you can kind of look, what are the nutrients in olives, in an olive oil? They're quite impressive when you look at it. It's no wonder that when God was looking for an anointing oil, when we were going to be anointed for our sickness, that He chose the olive. Olive oil would be the thing that He would use, and He would say, anoint with oil, as He says in James 14. James 14, anoint them with oil when someone is sick. Use olive oil. And there are keys of the foods that God would have us eat as we look at what He chose to use in His temple, used in the administration of His way, and olive oil is a key one that is there.

You know, many people in the Middle East look at the olive tree as the most important tree on earth. And I was reading just this week about the olive tree, and even some of the commentaries will say the Bible would indicate the olive tree. Well, it's not the most beautiful. It's not the straightest. It may be that the Bible looks at that as the most important tree on earth. I will just say what they say. I'm not saying that, but let's go back to Proverbs 11.

Proverbs 11 and verse 30.

The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life.

Well, the olive tree produces a fruit that is reportedly very, very good for us. Some people say that olive oil is just one of those things that we should always have part of what we are ingesting part of our diet. Not as a sole source, of course, but as the supplement that it can be.

The fruit of the righteous. You know, the olive tree, it produces a lot of fruit. It takes some while for it to produce fruit. When you first plant an olive tree, it could take six to twelve years before it ever has an olive on it. But when it produces fruit, it continues to produce fruit. A lot of fruit. And God says of us, and this he's well pleased when we produce much fruit.

When we're first baptized and when we first receive God's Holy Spirit, it may take a while as we grow and as we let God weed out our weaknesses, and it even helps us to identify what those weaknesses are that we need to start saying no to and disciplining ourselves to choose the right way. But in time, there's fruit that becomes evident. Fruit that is helpful for the body, fruit that is helpful for your family, fruit that is helpful for each other. Fruit that is displayed through all the things that God gives us in the fruits, but other things that he gives us through our talents that he gives us individually as well. The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life.

God would expect us, people who are to be like olive trees, to be displaying some of that righteousness and that life that comes from within. You know, olives have another distinction in the Bible. Of course, we know that the olive oil is symbolic of God's Holy Spirit. You know, when we anoint someone, I often say, I anoint you with oil, which is symbolic of God's Holy Spirit. And we know from other examples in the Bible that olive oil is used as an example of God's Holy Spirit. In Matthew 25, when we read of the ten virgins, half of them have let their lamps go out, and half, they don't have kept their lamps somewhat lit. Half just let the oil run out of their lamps and their lights went out. The other half, their lights weren't shining brightly because they all allowed themselves to fall asleep a little bit in the face of an age that is so against God, and that drums us into that, you know, self-sufficiency into our heads all the time. But when we have God's olive oil in us, when the olives are growing and we're producing fruit, there's going to be light that emanates from us. Just like the beauty that people will see, there are going to be beacons of light. And Matthew 5, Jesus Christ said, you're the light. You're the light of the earth. You're the salt of the earth. You should be lights to the world. When they look at you, they should see that. And the olive oil is the thing that lit the lamps. The olive oil should be the things that help us to become what God wants us to become, that the world would look at us in a vast universe of darkness that's becoming darker and darker. That we would be those little lights out there like we see in the dark night sky, the stars that are so large but so far away that we look up and we're just happy to see the lights that are shining in the sky. And we should be lights to the world as we allow God to produce the fruit in us that He wants, just like the olive tree produces the fruit that it does. Let's go back to Psalm 92. There's a few more verses in there that we can read.

Psalm 92. I'm going to read verses 12 and 13 again and go right on down to the end of the chapter in verse 15. Psalm 92 verse 12. The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree. He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the course of our God. Verse 14. They shall still bear fruit in old age. They shall be fresh and flourishing to declare that the eternal is upright. He is my rock and there is no unrighteousness in Him.

Once we begin producing fruit, we produce fruits the rest of our lives, no matter how old we are, right up until the time that we die, when God decides the time for us to die is. Even in old age, the olive tree produces fruit.

500 years old, 1000 years old, whatever they claim they are, they are producing fruit. When they stop producing fruit, they're dead.

No matter what age we are, God still produces fruit in us. We are still alive. We are still vibrant. We are still green. We don't go dormant for a season.

We don't allow the sap of the world to decay us. We use the sap of God that He puts in us. That's the thing that keeps us fragrant like Christ. That's the thing that helps us to resist the infestations from the outside that would rot us and destroy us and decay us. Those are the things that God would want. That's what He sees as you and me. We continue to produce fruit even in old age.

So whether we're the youngest in this room or whether we're the oldest, everything that we've said and everything God expects in the trees that He has planted here in Orlando, here in Jacksonville, and here around the world, He expects us to continue doing until the very end.

No time to relax. No time to sit and let our arms droop and say, I've done enough. We keep going. We keep producing fruit.

And every single person in this room, no matter how old they are, they still produce fruit. Maybe not the same fruit that they did when they were younger, but we all produce fruit.

And we continue to allow God to work with us and grow us and perfect us because as long as we're alive, there's still more perfecting that He has to do so that we become the pure, straight people that He wants us to become.

Let's conclude back in Isaiah. Isaiah 61.

Isaiah 61.

And verse 1.

Words of Christ that He spoke in the temple that day, as recorded in Luke 4. Words that we talked about. During the fall Holy Days when Jesus Christ would return and what He will do.

Luke 6 or Isaiah 61 verse 1.

The Spirit of the Eternal, or the Spirit of the Lord God, is upon me because He has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor.

He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives in the opening of the prison to those who are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the Spirit of heaviness, that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Eternal, that He may be glorified. Let's go about and let's remember the palm, the cedar, the olive, and the other trees.

Let's become trees of righteousness because God has planted us here to become that.

Thank you, Mr. Shaby.

Okay, brethren, we have one more opportunity to sing a song of praise to our great Father in Heaven, and we came to the close of services today, but it doesn't have to be the end of the day.

We have a nice meal after this for everyone, so we hope you'll all stay for that. For our final hymn today, we're going to turn to page 175, so if you'll turn with me in your hymnals and go to 175, we'll sing, Onward Christian Soldiers, and after that we'll be led in a closing prayer by Mr. Devin McCauley.

We'll also ask him to say a blessing on the meal.

And if I could remind everyone, before we sing this last hymn, after the closing prayer, please make sure you take your belongings with you.

And also, whenever we start the meal, we're going to allow our seniors to go first, so please make sure that they are going first as well.

Alright, thank you everyone, so let's go ahead and get started.

Page 175.

Onward Christian Soldiers, onward Christian Soldiers, onward Christian Soldiers, onward Christian Soldiers, onward Christian Soldiers, on formation of the Church of God.

Brothers, we are trailing, where the state has trod.

We are not divided, homeward body be, what a movement doctrine, what a charity.

Onward Christian Soldiers, Onward many people, Joy our happy throne. When we've got our voices in the triumph song, For we've got an honor unto Christ the King. His new countless angels sing, Hark! Christian soldiers, Marching as to war, With the word of Jesus, Go we galley go!

Brethren, please remain standing for the closing prayer by Mr. Devin McCauley. Heavenly Father, great Eternal God, we thank you once more for your Sabbath day, for the opportunity that we have had to not only rest from our physical labor, but also to gather as your people to worship you and to be instructed from your word. Father, we thank you for the example of Jesus Christ, who was a perfect example of leadership and the perfect example of humility, which you expect us to show. We also thank you for the lessons that can be learned through your creation, such as the trees that you have provided. Please help us, Father, to stand strong, particularly as the trials of this world increase, as we may become weary. We know that you are the true source of strength, and we know that you will prevent us from failing so long as we stay close to you. So please help us to remember that and to never give up, for our time is now and we won't get another chance. Please help us to be sober-minded in this, Father, and to stay true to you no matter what happens in our lives. Father, we thank you also for the opportunity we have today to enjoy a meal. We thank you for those who worked to bring food, to provide for us to enjoy today. We ask for your blessing upon the meal to the nourishment of our bodies. We ask for your blessing upon this activity, that you will help us to be able to look back on the Feast of Tabernacles finally, and to draw some good memories from that time, and to look forward to your next Holy Day that's coming sooner than we realize. Father, we give you thanks for all that you have done for us. We ask for your dismissal now and for your guidance and protection throughout this week. And we praise your name and give you thanks in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.