The Kingdom Effect

Wow, thank you so very much. That was fabulous. Didn't know how they knew that was one of my favorite songs. The only thing wrong with that song is it's not three times longer. But I think maybe the one singing would get tired. But just such rich, meaningful words and time we look forward to, frankly, the time we devote our life towards seeing. And certainly do appreciate the time and the effort that goes into practicing and then performing special music and giving up that wonderful sound that brings glory to our Father in Heaven. We get to sit and listen, but ultimately is directed towards God. And the praise and glory goes to Him. And how wonderful that is. Very nice to be with you. For my family and I, this is our first time in Oceanside, California. Many years ago, we attended the feast in Reading in the early years of United Church of God. We strapped our son in the car seat, made the 14-hour drive to Reading from Eastern Washington, and he cried the whole way there, unless we play Barney.

And we cried the whole way back with Barney. But you know, it's nice to be back to California once again. And for us as a special feast as well, it's the first time we've been together as a family since 2015. I had the opportunity to travel to English-speaking West Africa, as was mentioned, Nigeria and Ghana predominantly. And so my last three years have been spent in the feast over there. And every fourth year, I keep the feast stateside. And with my son in college and our daughter in high school during these last few years, it's hard for them to get time out of school to keep the feast and the additional travel days that need to be added to it.

So for us to be together this year is very special and exceptional. I'm grateful we can keep it with you. It is nice to be at the feast as well, because there's so many faces you recognize from other places, other feast sites. And for me, oftentimes, I have to stop and ask somebody to repeat their name. I've met them before, but maybe it's been a few years.

I appreciate the introductions that Mr. Weber had us do this morning. And if I have to ask you your name again, please forgive me. I do actually have a photographic memory. If you know me, you know I have a photographic memory. It just hasn't developed yet. So one of these days we will be there, but probably not in this flesh. This is a wonderful time to be together, to worship before God. And this coming week, as we assemble each day for the Feast of Tabernacles and then the eighth day to follow, we're going to direct our focus to the wonderful world tomorrow.

And we'll think how much better that world will be than the world we currently live in today. These feast days, brethren, they picture a time when the politics of man are put aside in a whole new form of government reigns. This world-ruling government of the future will be a government that engenders trust, engenders confidence, as we heard this morning in the first message.

Perhaps it'll take a little time to get the ball rolling and to earn the trust of the people, but this is a government that people will look to with hope and confidence for the future. Because, you see, this government is going to have the best interest of the people in heart, in mind. This is a government that will seek to help people come along and achieve the potential for which they were created. And just think about it in your mind, what government in the course of human history could ever boast such a thing? Life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness is a wonderful thing, but what government or kingdom could ever say?

It is our goal and our function to bring you along, to achieve the purpose for which you've been created, to be a part of the eternal family of God. So what a wonderful time that will be and a wonderful event that we look forward to and that we will be able to share in as well. Over the course of this next week, we're also going to spend much time considering how that world tomorrow will function, how it will be managed under the rulership of Jesus Christ, and we'll consider the roles that you and I will get to play in all this as well as we reign alongside Jesus Christ for a thousand years.

We had our speakers meeting before the feast and we discussed our topics and I'm excited. Last feast I gave seven thermons, I think it was. I'm excited to sit and open my Bible with all of you and to be taught and to hear what it is that there is to be said. So again, so many exciting aspects of the future we're going to explore together through God's Word over the next eight days. And all of these things are going to be focusing on something that I've labeled as the kingdom effect. The kingdom effect, that's a title for the message today, the kingdom effect, but it's a term that is a Paul Moody-ism, I guess, if you could call it.

I made it up for the purpose of this message, but I think it's real. The kingdom effect. The kingdom effect, as I would define it, is essentially the consequences and the blessings that come as a result of living under the reign of the kingdom of God. Again, the kingdom effect, it's the consequences and blessings that come as a result of living under the reign of the kingdom of God. It's the influence that that kingdom has over people and places and things.

It's the effect of living in the shadow of that kingdom and the blessing that comes as a result as mankind yields to the kingdom and its rulership in their life. It's the kingdom effect. And, brethren, if you're watching for it over the course of the next eight days through our studies, we'll see it. It'll be brought out, it'll be explored each and every day.

As we hear about the fulfillment of these days and what the future will be like, what the world tomorrow will be like, it is exciting. We all gather for the feast. We're keeping not those literal days, we're keeping the portrayal of what will be fulfilled one day in the future, and we're excited to simply be here. To participate in the portrayal, imagine the thrill and the excitement of participating in the fulfillment of these days. And all that has God has in store for mankind. What a wonderful thing that will be. So we sit here, we come together during these days, and we look forward. We kind of get just a snapshot of what God has planned. We don't see all the details, but as we look through those days, we can almost in some ways maybe feel like we're missing out today. Because God called us in this age. And, you know, those people in the future, they'll live in this beautiful, maybe it's an agrarian society, the plowman overtaking the reaper, and we see the vision of the prosperity and the abundance, and we say, I want to live there, but God called me today. And we can almost start to draw comparisons, and we can almost feel like, well, maybe I'm missing out now, because I was born in this age, and I'm living in this world. Because we can step outside the door, we could turn on the news, and we could understand very quickly, this isn't the world tomorrow yet. This is the world that you and I live in, and again, we can start to make a comparison, and we can think, I'm missing out, because I was born in this age. And, brethren, the truth is, we should never make comparisons like that, because it is not true. You and I are not missing out. God has called us today for a purpose, and if we're willing to see it, the kingdom of fact has been poured out in great abundance in our life today as well. You and I today, as God's people, as the firstfruits, we live in the shadow of the kingdom of God, and the kingdom of fact is in place today in our life, and we can benefit greatly. So today, for the message, this is my SBS, I'd like to show you from the scriptures, that the very same kingdom of fact we see portrayed by these feasts of tabernacles is, in fact, at work in our spiritual lives today, as you and I today submit our lives to the reign of the kingdom of God. The kingdom will reign over this earth, but, brethren, it is reigning in our life today. Let us submit ourselves to it. Let us experience the abundance of the kingdom of fact. When we consider the millennial age to come, what is it about that time specifically that makes it so abundant, and so rich, and full, and so exciting as we would anticipate it? What makes the millennium so desirable? Desirable both to anticipate, but also desirable for the people that will live there. We can find the answer in a very familiar millennial prophecy. Let's go to begin with here to Micah chapter 4. Micah 4, this is probably the most difficult to find scripture. I'll give you in my message today.

Micah chapter 4, we're going to begin in verse 1. We've already had this prophecy, these words, read to us. It's contained in a number of places in the Old Testament, and hopefully we keep bringing our focus back here during these days. Micah chapter 4 in verse 1 says, Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established on top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and people shall flow to it. You know, when the Bible talks about mountains and hills in this prophetic way, it's often referring to kingdoms and governments, and the kingdom of God will be established over all the governments, over all the nations of the earth, over all the mountains. That's what this scripture is telling us. Verse 2, In many nations shall come and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, for He would teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths. For out of Zion the law shall go forth in the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And so what we find is that the laws of God and the words of God will flow over the whole earth as a standard for living. And people will say, I want the blessings that God has to offer. They'll seek after it. They'll say, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord. Let us hear what He has to say. Let us be taught His ways. They'll seek the ways of God. They will find the ways of God, and they will live the ways of God. Verse 3 says, He shall judge between many peoples and rebuke. Strong nations are far off. They should beat their swords in the plowshares, their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation. Neither shall they learn war anymore. But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid, for the mouth of the Lord or post has spoken. What a beautiful picture, brethren. What an incredible snapshot into the future. There's not a lot of detail, but there's enough. It's a future of hope, a future of blessing. It's a future of people living under the rain and the kingdom of God. And so, this millennial age, that the feast pictures will be such a wonderful time because God's kingdom will reign supreme above the hills and the mountains over every establishment on this earth. God's kingdom will reign supreme, and as the peoples of the earth submit themselves to that rulership, blessing pours forth. It's a matter of cause and effect. You submit your life, your words, your ways, to the kingdom of God, to the words that God gives us in his scripture, and blessings will follow. And that is what, brethren, we can call the kingdom of fact. Again, submit to that kingdom and the blessings follow. Now, by comparison, for you and I, we should be able to recognize that the way that will govern life in the millennium, let's go up to the mountain of Lord, let us seek his ways, let us live it. We should be able to recognize that that same way governs our spiritual lives today for those who submit themselves willingly to the reign of the kingdom of God now.

Let's notice the apostle Paul's words Philippians chapter 3 and verse 20.

Philippians 3 and verse 20. This is speaking to us.

Again, the apostle Paul, Philippians chapter 3 and verse 20.

Here Paul says, For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, when our citizenship is in heaven, what that means in a nutshell is that the kingdom of God reigns supreme in our life, that we submit ourselves to the ways of the kingdom of God, to to the words that God has given us here in the instruction book. And when your citizenship is in heaven, you look first and foremost to that kingdom as the highest governing authority in your life, and you live accordingly. You submit your life to it in action, in word, in all that you do. Through our calling, brethren, we have essentially gone up to the mountain of the Lord so that we might learn His ways, so that we can walk in His paths, and we can receive the wonderful of richest of blessings that God has to pour out on His people today. For you and I, the kingdom of God is already reigning. It's reigning in our life today.

Claustines chapter 1. Again, Paul had a number of things to express about the fact that, you know, the kingdom of God is not just some nice, far-off, distant idea that someday will be a reality. For those that God has called and given His Spirit to, the reign of that kingdom is a reality today. Claustines chapter 1 and verse 13. Paul says, he, speaking of the Father, he has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, through Christ's blood, the forgiveness of sins. So what God has done for us through the blood of Jesus Christ is to redeem us from the kingdom of darkness. That's a kingdom reigned over by Satan the devil. It's a counterfeit kingdom, and He's taken us from being under the reign of the kingdom of darkness, and He's transferred us to be under the reign of the kingdom of God in the blessings of that kingdom today. Again, we can look around at the world around us, and we can say this is no world tomorrow, and the kingdom of God is not raining yet. But, brethren, it is raining in our lives. And that kingdom effect, the blessings that we can see that come from living in the shadow of the kingdom of God, those blessings are evident in our lives today, if we're willing to look for them. And so for the remainder of the message today, we're going to look at three ways, three illustrations in which the same kingdom effect will be at work both in the millennium to come and in our lives today. Because we can read the prophecies, we can see the promises and the blessings, and again, if we're making comparisons, we think, well, maybe I'm living at the wrong time, but we'll see, brethren, that indeed God has poured the blessings and the kingdom effect out on His people today. What a wonderful thing it is. So again, three points. This will be simply a brief overview, and it's hopefully just to set the stage for us to see the kingdom effect more clearly and to set our minds for looking for it as we go throughout the feast, as we hear the other messages, and as we commune with God the Father and Jesus Christ in our relationship. Three aspects of the kingdom effect. Number one, first kingdom effect I'd like to consider is that under the reign of the kingdom of God, there is healing. There's healing. Healing today, healing in the age to come. When Jesus Christ returns to the earth as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, He's going to claim the nations of this earth as a part of the kingdom of God. But that's just the beginning of the process, brethren, because the reality is this world will be in shambles. This is what we heard in the message this morning. Think in your mind the snapshot we have in Scripture of the condition of this world at the return of Jesus Christ. It's going to be in shambles. It's going to need and desperately need healing that will come from God and Christ. Ezekiel chapter 47 is a section of Scripture that describes the healing that this planet will begin to receive as the living waters of God flow out from the temple during the millennium. Let's turn there. Ezekiel chapter 47.

Ezekiel 47 and verse 1.

Again, this is this vision of Ezekiel. It's prophetic of what God will fulfill when the kingdom comes. Ezekiel chapter 47 verse 1, it says, Then he brought me back to the door of the temple, and there was water flowing from under the threshold of the temple toward the east. For the front of the temple faced east, the water was flowing from under the right side of the temple south of the altar. And as the passage goes on, it simply describes the waters as they flow out. They become more abundant, more prolific, deeper, wider, farther out from the temple that they flow. Let's jump down now to verse 8. Ezekiel 47 verse 8 says, Then he said to me, This water goes towards the eastern region, goes down into the valley, and enters the sea. And when it reaches the sea, its waters are healed.

You recall, brethren, the prophecies taking place by the time of the return of Jesus Christ. Basically, all the water will be poisoned, all the life within it destroyed, all the fish and the living creatures within the bodies of water are dead. And in fact, much of the earth is decimated. It's not a pretty place. It won't be a pretty place to be.

But again, verse 8 says, When it reaches the sea, its waters are healed. Verse 9, And it shall be that every living thing that moves, wherever the rivers go, will live. There will be a very great multitude of fish because these waters go there, for they will be healed, and everything will live wherever the river goes.

And so there's a miracle that will take place in the presence of these living waters. Wherever they flow out, the waters are healed. The fish and the other living creatures are restored. Wherever the living waters of God flow, a transformation takes place. A renewal. Life returns.

We won't turn there, but you can jot this down in your notes in Zechariah 14, verse 8. Zechariah 14, verse 8, because it also describes these waters flowing out. And it says, And in that day it shall be that living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them towards the eastern sea. That's the dead sea. And I imagine in the millennium we'll have to think of some new names for some of these places because you see the dead sea will become the live sea, as the transformation takes place. I was thinking about California and some regions around this part of the country. I was thinking, you know, Death Valley may get a new name. But again, these living waters flow out and bring vitality. Half of them towards the eastern sea, half of them towards the western sea, which is the Mediterranean. It says, In both summer and winter it shall occur. And so it's an incredible miracle that this world we're desperately need, it will need healing, revitalization, rejuvenation, again, a transformation that will need to take place. But beyond the physical healing, these waters have spiritual significance as well, because they represent God's Holy Spirit, God's Holy Spirit. In the world tomorrow, mankind will be given a true knowledge of God the Father and Jesus Christ, and they'll have opportunity to develop a personal relationship with them as God pours his Spirit out on the people of that age. Again, think of all the scriptures that come to mind for the Millennium, all the miracles that you can think of. What will be the greatest miracle in the Millennium, would you say?

It's the same miracle that is the greatest miracle to take place on the earth now in our time as well. It's conversion. It's spiritual healing. It's the opening up of the hearts and minds of individuals, the move from the carnal man to the stature of the fullness of Jesus Christ. Again, conversion by the living waters, by the spiritual healings that God pours out.

Brethren, you and I have been granted access to those same living waters today.

It's a kingdom effect. The waters that flow out from the throne of God, that impact us, God's Spirit, God's presence, the change that takes place in us, it is a kingdom effect. For those who've been baptized and live under the reign of the kingdom of God today, God has poured his Spirit out on us.

And as we yield to its work in our lives, the parts of our nature that were once dead to the ways of God, okay, the wages of sin is death. We were under that penalty. That death is healed. Life is given. A transformation that takes place. And we begin then to walk in newness of life. Listen to this Jesus Christ comments, linking these living waters to the Holy Spirit of God. John chapter 7 in verse 37.

John chapter 7 in verse 37, it says, On that last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. And he who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. He says, But this he spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in him would receive. For the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Again, rivers of living water. For those who would accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, come into covenant relationship with our Father in heaven. And clearly God's waters, brethren, are not simply for the restoration in the millennium. They refresh us today. They revitalize us today. They heal us today by God's grace.

Brethren, God's not remodeling the old ways of this world when the kingdom comes.

Sometimes we can walk through the Feast of Trumpets and we think, wow, why does God have to be so dramatic? Why does he have to be almost so brutal, as it would seem, dealing with the people of this world in that age and dealing with those who resist them at the end? Why can't Christ just come back and sit down and say, well, can't we work out a deal here? God's not bringing about a remodeling project of a structure built on an existing foundation. God is clearing out the structure, clearing out the foundation, and He is starting a new building from the ground up with righteousness. And so what God is doing in this world is not a remodeling project, and what He has done in our life today is not a remodeling project. He's called us to live under the reign of the Kingdom of God today, and He is establishing something completely new in your life and my life. I'll just remind you of the words of the Apostle Paul, 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 17. He says, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, not a remodeled creation, not something that's got a little window dressing so that it looks nicer, but it's still the same structure underneath. He says he's a new creation. Old things have passed away. He says, behold, all things have become new. And that's what God is doing as this millennial age comes into effect. He isn't going to extend through man's corrupt ways of doing things, a new age. When Christ comes, it has to be wiped clean.

Because we can look around today, we can say, yeah, there's a lot of evil in this world, but isn't there good too? No, this person's good, that person's good. This form of government is maybe kind of good. And the truth is, yes, there is some good fruit in this world. And brethren, we can pick the good fruit, or people of this world could pick the good fruit, or we could say, I'm going to get involved in this politics here and help them pick the good fruit, but what's the problem? The problem is, it's still the wrong tree. It's the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Poor mankind said we can decide for ourselves. But God is building a structure on a foundation of righteousness that leads to life. And so the old ways have to pass away, and all things become new, and it is what God is doing in our life today, personally and directly. It is the kingdom of fact.

Another scripture showing millennial healing is found in Isaiah chapter 35. Let's go there.

Isaiah chapter 35, picking it up in verse 5, says, Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Says the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb the tongue of the dumb shall sing. And let's notice why. Why are these things taking place? What is the cause of that effect? It says, For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, in streams in the desert. Again, it's a beautiful prophecy about the healing of the people living in the world tomorrow. Again, just imagine what this world would be like after the Great Tribulation, after the Day of the Lord, the things that those surviving few people would have seen and experienced. What it is that they will need to recover from. There's going to be many traumatic injuries that will have occurred. Many people who will need to be physically restored. Imagine what it will be like, brethren, when someone who is blinded from warfare, how wonderful it will be when they are healed, and they realize the source of their healing is their Creator God. And as was mentioned earlier, it's almost as God reaches out and touches their life in a very direct way. Opens their eyes and says, I want a relationship with you. Imagine what it will be like for someone who was paralyzed. Again, maybe it's a piece of shrapnel embedded in their back. Maybe it's some injury. Maybe it's a birth defect. Whatever it might would be. But imagine when they are healed and they leap for joy before the Lord. Again, and they know who has brought that blessing about. It's going to be a very joyful, very exciting time to see and have a part in as God's people.

In addition to the physical healing, brethren, that will take place. There's a spiritual element to this as well. Because the people, having come through the Great Tribulation in the Day of the Lord, and coming into the first part of the Millennium, they will have lived under the influence of Satan the Devil. They will have known a world that was ruled by the God, small g, of this age, and the effects that his blindness has on mankind. They will have experienced that firsthand. And this world will have much in terms of spiritual disabilities to be overcome. During the Millennium, God's going to bring spiritual healing to those who've been handicapped by sin, by Satan the Devil. The kingdom of fact will go to work in their life. Again, as they say, come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, the house of God of Jacob, and he will teach us his ways. And we will respond. We will walk in his paths, and the blessings will flow out from there. Again, the kingdom of fact. Very beautiful time yet ahead. It's a type of healing that's already been realized in the lives of those who have submitted themselves to the reign of the kingdom of God today. And this spiritual healing isn't just future. It's not just a snapshot of something that's out of grasp and unobtainable for the people of God. It has taken place in our lives today, if we've submitted ourselves to the reign of the kingdom of God.

Brethren, before our eyes were open to the truth of God, we were spiritually blind, were we not? Before our ears were unstopped, we were spiritually death to God's truth. We did not hear a calling. We were lame. We were crippled. We walked according to the course of this world. We weren't able to walk according to the paths of the Lord. And before our tongues were spiritually loose, we cannot proclaim the praises of him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. The truth is, for you and I today, living under the reign of the kingdom of God, the kingdom effect is real. God has poured these blessings out on us in great abundance.

Under the kingdom of God, there is healing.

Second kingdom effect I would like for us to consider today is peace. Peace. Under the reign of the kingdom of God, there is peace. Micah chapter 4 verse 3 that we read earlier says, "...they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore." The millennium will be a time of great peace and harmony for mankind, but you know it isn't going to be peace because there are no weapons. It isn't going to be peace now because suddenly your plowshares are turned into farming implements from spears, right? It was swords into plowshares.

Not that you just took this piece of metal formed in one way and formed it into another form of metal and now there's peace. It's not because you took your spears and turned them into pruning hooks that there's peace.

People are killed every year in tribal warfare in various parts of these earth by pruning hooks, by farm implements.

I was in Nigeria in 2010 around the central region of Joss, which became shortly after that ground zero for Boko Haram. And there were some activities that went on over the Christmas weekend, some bombings of some churches. We were out there on a backpacking expedition with the young adults, leadership mentoring in Nigeria. And as we're exiting out just before the first of the year, suicide bombers had blown themselves up in Christian churches and even somebody about a mile and a half up the road from our drop-off point had blown themselves up trying to send an explosive. And so the villagers were on edge and they saw us hiking out across the territory, across the terrain. We had backpacks on our back, fuel canisters. We looked rather suspicious and it wasn't very long that we had a group that came and surrounded us and would not let us proceed. They said, you're bad men. And I remember before the sheriff came or the police chief and got involved, over the hill I remember seeing 30 to 40 locals just running in our direction. And what they had in their hand was a hoe, short-handled hoe about that long. They were scared. They were coming to protect their families, to protect their property, and they didn't know who we were. Eventually it was resolved, but the fact is it's not just turning a sword or a spear into a farm implement that brings peace. Peace comes through the heart, through a change of heart, through a change of spirit, by God's blessing. And so peace is an effect of being under the reign of the kingdom of God. You know, Cain was a tiller of the ground, right? And he still rose up and slew Abel, his brother. So this is about a change in the man's heart and nature that takes place. Change that comes from yielding yourself to the reign of the kingdom of God, living according to the words of God, letting the living waters of God's spirit work in your life. As the people of the millennium submit themselves to the ways and the laws of the kingdom of God, peace will break out on the earth. Again, it's not a remodeling project. This is a restoration of all things as God intended them from the beginning.

Brethren, God has called us to peace in our lives today, as well. In the manner in which we achieve that peace is by submitting ourselves to the reign and the laws and the standards of the kingdom of God today. It is a kingdom of fact. Proverbs chapter 119 verse 165, this speaks to us.

Proverbs 119 verse 165.

Psalm 119, 165 says, Great peace have those who love your law. Do we love the law of God? Do we love the word of God? Do we internalize it? Do we dwell on it? Do we live it?

What's the effect of that going to be?

Again, great peace have those who love your law, and nothing causes them to stumble. Or as the original King James says, it says, Nothing shall offend them. So the principle is, if we love the law of God and we live it, peace will be the result. It's a kingdom of fact. It's a matter of living according to the ways of God and seeing the consequences and blessings that flow out. Isaiah chapter 11 contains another beautiful millennial prophecy pointing to peace.

Isaiah chapter 11 and verse 6. Isaiah 11 verse 6, it says, The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, The leopard shall lie down with the young goat, The calf and the young lying in the fatling together, And a little child shall leave them. Says, The cow and the bear shall graze, Their young ones shall lie down together, The lion shall eat straw like the ox, The nursing child shall play by the cobra's hole, And the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper's den. It says, They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain. And notice why. Why will this be? What will bring this effect? Notice verse 9, For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

I want to step aside for just a quick second. Look up here from my seat, from my vantage point. This is an incredible picture. Just take a second.

Is that not peaceful?

But it's a symbol. It's a type. It portrays a reality that will be not just among the animals, but globally. But again, as I was at my seat, I guess I hadn't really focused as deeply as I could on that picture this morning, but I was just gazing at it here this afternoon and thinking, what a beautiful environment. What a plan God has in store. This is a reality, but it's also a type that points to something even greater. But again, it's because the knowledge of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. These animals will no longer be harmful to anyone or anything in God's creation. The skunks will spray potpourri.

A number of years ago, my wife got sprayed by a skunk on a Friday evening right before sundown. It wasn't a millennial skunk. Put a damper on the romance for a few days.

She took a number of showers. She did make it to church. Sat all the way in the back in her own pew.

Again, nothing shall hurt nor destroy because the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

And the behavior that we see from the animals here is a reflection of the fact that the peoples and the nations of this world are be living at peace as well and in harmony with one another. Isaiah 19 verse 24 says that in that day, Israel will be one of three with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the land.

Brethren, that's never happened before. It's never happened in the history of man. Israel and Egypt and Assyria in a tight brotherly bond of nations in a way that wasn't just good for them, but it says a blessing in the land, a blessing to others. God does that. His Spirit does that. The kingdom of fact, it's peace erupting as people yield themselves to the way of God. Say, let's go up to the mountain of the Lord. Let's learn what God would have to teach us. Let's live it and let's see the effect.

Proverbs chapter 16 and verse 7 says, when a man's ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. That's speaking to you and I today. The blessing that we can enjoy today is the same spiritual peace we have in our lives today that we see portrayed in the millennium under the reign of the kingdom of God.

John chapter 14 verse 27.

John chapter 14 verse 27. These are the words of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Speaking to his disciples, he says, peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Christ says this is a peace that's different than the peace of this world because you see the peace of the world is dependent on the conditions on the ground around them. You know all is well or good and nothing is you know the apple cart's not upturned and we can be at peace. Well, we just heard today, brethren, how somebody's classic car can be demolished and they can still be at peace when your heart's not tied up in the things of this world. And when you understand what truly brings peace. Because nations can sit down, they can broker peace deals, they're quickly made, perhaps quickly broken, but consider the peace that comes from God and the peace that he would have us to have. It surpasses the conditions on the ground around you. Because when did Jesus Christ say these words? He said them right before his crucifixion. He knew what was coming. He knew what he was going to be delivered to. Beaten, brutalized, crucified. He had walked the streets, seeing people hanging on the street corners. Romans like to put them out there so people would learn and fear. Christ knew what was coming and he says, you know what, I am at peace and I give that peace to you as well.

Not dependent on the conditions on the ground, it's dependent on a relationship with our father and our elder brother and the peace that comes by the Spirit of God. It's a peace that comes from an understanding of the plan of God and the purpose of God and that peace won't be shaken by the conditions on the ground. Peace is a fruit of God's Holy Spirit. It's the result of that living water that flows in us and through us and out of us as abundantly as we will submit ourselves to in relationship with God. Under the reign of the kingdom of God, there is peace.

Brethren, I hope you're not missing out. I hope you're not saying, well, someday won't that be great? God, brethren, has offered us the opportunity to live under the kingdom effect and to experience that peace for ourselves today. Under the reign of the kingdom of God, there is peace.

Third and final kingdom effect I would like for us to consider now is fruitfulness.

Fruitfulness. Under the reign of the kingdom of God, fruitfulness abounds. Let's go to Amos chapter 9.

I'm hitting these three points quickly and it's just to give you an overview.

But again, brethren, as we go through the feast, as we hear the messages to follow that show the blessings of the future, the blessings that God has in store, let us make the connection in our mind. Let us remember these things are kingdom effects. We've been called to live under the reign of that kingdom today, and these things are very real in our life now. Amos chapter 9 and verse 13, again, fruitfulness abounds. It says, Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when the plowmen shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes, him who sows seed. It says, The mountain shall drip with sweet wine, and all its hills shall flow with it. On the day of atonement, I showed up to one of my congregations and a member said, Is the plowmen overtaking the reaper? I said, Well, yes, literally. We had three and a half inches of snow in Spokane on the day of atonement. Snowplow was on the road. I arrived down in Kennewick and the sun was shining and they were harvesting an immense crop of corn. So I said, Yes, the plowman is overtaking the reaper, but maybe not in the way you think. But in the millennium, again, it will be a blessing. It will be abundance. The world tomorrow will be a time of great physical abundance, and it comes as a result, again, of living in obedience to God's way of life. It's the cause and effect. Submit to God, live this way, put Him first, and the plowman can overtake the reaper. Is that happening in your life?

Is spiritual abundance, brethren, a reality to you? You wake up in the morning just bursting to talk to God and to build that relationship and to study His words and experience the blessing of simply living them?

I would hope the plowman is overtaking the reaper spiritually in our life each and every day as you and I submit ourselves to the reign of the kingdom of God. Isaiah chapter 35.

Again, great, incredible abundance yet to come. Yet to come for the rest of the world, yet for the firstfruits, this should be a daily reality. Isaiah chapter 35 and verse 1, it says, The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as a rose. It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice even with joy and singing. It says, The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it the excellence of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord, the excellency of our God. What a beautiful prophecy.

When we flew from Spokane to LA, my wife was looking out the window of the airplane and commented on the fact of, look how much open space there is out there. You know, in this country, literally north, south, east, west, whatever direction you travel, there's just expanse. And yet, it's not all usable. We were flying over desert regions. I fly to West Africa. I fly over some desert regions, and it's just amazing. You look out and it's just this expanse, but there's really not much in the way of life or vitality. But what happens when you add a little water?

Central Washington is somewhat of a desert region. We live in a rain shadow of the mountains. So those in Central Washington, if you've driven through there, you might think, well, this isn't the evergreen state. I thought it was. But it has its rainy areas as well. But there's places that are dry, but you add the irrigation. You pump the water out of the Columbia, and you spread it out on the ground, and life springs forth, and the crops will grow. But this is showing us a blessing that will take place as the blessings of God are poured out. Rain and dew season will fall on the deserts, and they will be fruitful. There will be abundance. No lack. No need for want in the necessities of life. And again, I would ask us, brethren, are we missing out on the fruitfulness and the abundance that God by His Spirit desires to pour out in your life and my life?

If we are, if we're saying, well, maybe this way of life isn't all that it's cracked up to be, I think we need to go back and consider what foundation are we building upon? Because God is bringing a new creation into being that is to His glory. And you can't compare it with maybe what looks like to be the benefits of the world around us today when somebody isn't working, you know, when they are working on the Sabbath that are not keeping the holy days, they're doing their thing, and they seem to be prospering today. We have an eternal reward with our Father and our elder brother. The blessings of fruitfulness must be in place in our spiritual lives today as God would pour them out. I look forward to this feast as receiving rain in due season, but hopefully we're not a spiritual desert. Hopefully we're a group of people that will produce the fruit that God desires. Matthew chapter 13 in verse 23.

Matthew 13 verse 23. Begin to wrap this up.

Parable of Jesus Christ. We'll just break into the context. It says, But he who receives seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces some 100-fold, some 60, and some 30. Brethren, when the seed of the kingdom of God is planted in us, we're not to just sit on it, or to nurture it, or to grow it, or to be that fertile ground that is just waiting to receive the seed and the water of God to burst forth into abundant fruit. That's a blessing, and some will produce 100-fold, some 60, and some 30. As a result of the kingdom effect at work in our life today, the desert regions of our lives that were once barren to the ways of God will blossom like a rose, and fruit will be produced by his Spirit and his grace. Fruits of love, fruits of joy, fruits of peace, and long suffering, and kindness, and goodness, and faithfulness, and gentleness, and self-control. It's the fruit of God's Spirit. It's the evidence of his work in our lives. Again, brethren, is the plowman overtaking the reaper in your life and my life? He should be. He must be. These are fruits that glorify what God is doing, and they glorify the effect of his kingdom that we live under today. Final scripture for today, Jeremiah chapter 17, verse 7.

Jeremiah chapter 17 and verse 7 says, "...blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is in the Lord, for he shall be like a tree planted by the waters." That must be you and I who trust in God, who hope in God, who yearn for the actual reign of his kingdom, but understand we submit to that kingdom today. It's as blessed as that, man. Verse 8, "...for he shall be like a tree planted by the waters which spread out its roots by the river, and he will not fear when the heat comes, but his leaf will be green and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit." If our lives are invested in a relationship with God our Father and our elder brother Jesus Christ, brethren, we will never see spiritual doubt. We will never lack for abundance in fruit that is produced by his grace in us. It will be like that tree by the river whose roots go down deep. And when the drought and the stress and the trauma of the age around us comes, we will not wither. We will not lose our fruit. Again, those roots go down deep, and God's living waters will sustain us. It is a blessing of living under the reign of the kingdom of God today. It is a kingdom of fact. In the millennium, fruitfulness will abound. Brethren, today in your life and my life, fruitfulness will abound as well as we submit ourselves to God.

In conclusion, the way of life we've been called to live today is a comparable reflection of the way of life we see portrayed by these feasts of tabernacles. Because, you see, God's way works. It works every time it's tried. It will work in the millennium, and his way is working in our life today to the degree that we submit to the reign of that kingdom. Even though you and I live in this world, we shouldn't feel like we've been given a lesser experience or that we're somehow missing out on what it is in terms of blessing that God would have to offer his people the truth he's poured it out on us in great abundance today. You and I can live the millennial life now.

As we keep this feast of tabernacles and the eighth day to follow, as we utilize the rest of our time here, brethren, let us consider the many spiritual blessings that God has poured out on us. Let us rejoice in the fact that he has called us into this his service today to be his people today, to be firstfruits today who understand the blessings of the kingdom. And as we walk through these days, let's rejoice in the understanding of what God will yet do for the rest of mankind, those who will one day live their lives under the blessing and the authority in the reign of the kingdom of God, those people who one day themselves will be blessed by the kingdom of fact.

Again, these are exciting days as a foretaste. How exciting will the reality be?

Brethren, let's live our lives today under the kingdom of fact and be light to this world. Let us rejoice in what it is God has called us to. Let us rejoice in the feast and the relationships we can strengthen. It is indeed a blessing. Brethren, have a wonderful feast.