Living the Holy Days

Well, thank you, brethren, for a wonderful song. Actually, I don't seem to be very familiar with the song we just sang, but I appreciate Tom leading it. It's obviously one that we wrote.

And I'm only saying that because the words are extremely meaningful. I know the lady who wrote that. She was actually a very respected individual at college when we were in college.

Certainly, she served in, I don't even know, I assume she's still alive. I don't know where she lives or even what she's doing, but she is quite an accomplished pianist. And yet, whenever you read through some of our songs, some of them are obviously taken right out of the Psalms, and that's certainly wonderful. And yet, others, like this particular song that we just sang, it has such applicable words, such applicable meaning to what we want to be learning, what we want to be growing in. And so, to sing that or to enjoy singing that, that's even a greater benefit. So, I wanted to focus on something today, as of course we're in the fall Holy Day season. We have the wonderful blessing of keeping the Feast of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement, and then the Feast of Tabernacles and the Last Great Day every year.

And yet, and often we're looking forward to that time, because we're building toward that every year. We're saving our tie throughout the year in order to go to the Feast itself, because we usually are traveling somewhere to be able to attend the Feast. But here recently, we had a letter. Dr. Ward wrote this, and I mentioned this, I think, last week during Sabbath services. But as he was describing, he was encouraging us toward the Feast, and yet the focus of what he was saying was that we should be living the Holy Days at all times. And certainly, right now, that the Holy Days themselves are not just a shadow of things to come for us, but they are active and alive and dynamic. As the Word of God is to be active and alive and dynamic in everything we do. So I thought I would focus. I don't know that I've thought about living the Holy Days in the way that he presented that. And again, you know, you could go back and reread the letter. I've read it several times because it seems to have a focus that is beneficial for all of us, and one that I had not really thought about much. And of course, the focus is that we want to be guided by the Word of God. We want to be guided by even in a manner of how God put things together. And of course, we do appreciate the fact that God has given us a handbook for human life.

And we see that as the Holy Bible, a book that God put together over a long period of time with many authors under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Whether, you know, you see all different types even of characters who were writers in the books of the Bible, most of them either prophets or apostles, and yet all of them, you know, had some kind of failings. They all had certain problems that they, you know, they tried to deal with or dealt with. And yet, what God says is, well, I've written this book under my direction by the power of the Holy Spirit, and so we have something to rely on. And I'd like for us to think about, in connection with living the Holy Days now, Dr. Ward brought up Hebrews chapter 6. And Hebrews chapter 6 has a brief listing in the beginning of Hebrews 6, and many of us, perhaps, although if we haven't read it recently, we might not be able to think of the very clear, at least six, doctrines that are mentioned there. But he points out that there's the seventh one being going on to perfection. And yet, whenever you go through what we read here in Hebrews chapter 6, verse 1, he's actually telling us that we need, actually, we could back up to verse, let's see, verse 13, for everyone who lives on milk, being an infant, is unskilled in the word of righteousness. So clearly, Paul is talking about, and actually, see, Paul's talking in the book of Hebrews to individuals that God had drawn into the church, but who have a Jewish background, who were even familiar with the Bible, the Old Testament, and familiar with the word of God, per se. But were they needing to grow in understanding? Were they needing to more deeply comprehend the significance of why or how God would write what he would? Well, he says, everyone has need of growing out of infancy. And in verse 14, solid food is for those who are mature, those who are maturing, those who are growing and being completed.

And he goes on to say, for those whose faculties have been trained by practice to distinguish good from evil. You know, clearly that's talking about, and he was pointing out to them, well, yes, obeying is what you need to do. You don't just need to know, you need to obey. And clearly, you need to understand God's revelation. But he goes on in verse 1, therefore, he's actually talking about, don't be remain an infant, grow up, be mature. And so, in essence, says that here in verse 1, therefore, let us go on toward perfection. Let us go on toward perfection, leaving behind the basic teachings or the principles of the doctrines of Christ, not laying again the foundation. And then he repeats six different doctrines that again, in some ways, we probably should be aware of. We should have them, in a sense, firmly in mind. And this is actually what Dr. Ward even points out, that the Holy Days, see, you can look at the Holy Days in some ways, you can look at them and you see, in essence, there's a good amount of prophetic connection to the Holy Days. Clearly, whenever the Passover was being observed in Israel, it was all about something that was yet to happen. It was going to happen whenever Jesus came to the earth. It was going to be looking toward the time when the Lamb of God would be slain for the sins of the world. And then when that has happened, when that has occurred, then, of course, it starts taking on a different meaning. Not that it's yet to occur, but that it's already happened. And how does that affect Christian life? And, you know, the days of Unleavened Bread have a significant teaching with them. And certainly, when we look at the day of Pentecost, we have a day that in Israel was regarding a first part of the harvest. And then, pointing even to a greater harvest or a bigger harvest that would be gathered in the fall.

And then, of course, even today. See, what are you going to be able to teach in the world tomorrow about the Feast of Trumpets? Well, it's already gone in many ways beyond what happened when Christ returned, what led up to His return, and how He did intervene and stopped mankind from obliterating themselves and from the ridiculous hypocrisy and confusion that we have, as we've explained here in the political world. It is just kind of beyond belief, although is it if we understand that, well, this is Satan's world. This is a world that the God, or a world where Satan as the God of this world is dominant. He rules things. He foists all kinds of stuff on people. People don't really know any better in many cases. And clearly, and even as Mr. Jackson mentioned in the sermonette, what you could say, you know, the attitudes that can pretty easily be described in the Bible, even when you if you wanted to look at the Bible, although I didn't hear him quoting too much about the Bible. But you can see all of those being negative attitudes, being destructive, being sinful attitudes, as we would look at them. But in essence, what were they? They were a description of human nature. That's how we have come to see or to know what's wrong. Well, you know, we have a carnal mind that is hostile toward God and hostile toward God's law. And when you are infected by that human nature, we call it, well, then you're in opposition to God in so many ways.

All of the ones that were listed, as well as, you know, complete disobedience, defilement, and just out and out rebellion. Although, again, we don't usually look at it that way. Most people don't look at themselves in that way. And yet, we've come to see that, well, I want to learn what it means to live in the Spirit. That's even a description that you find in Romans 8. It says you shouldn't be continuing to live in the flesh, but you need to live in the Spirit or being guided by the Spirit of God and being inspired by the words of God in such a way that it talks about the dead in Christ. If people happen to die before Christ returns, the dead in Christ. So it means in Christ or in the Spirit as it describes there in Romans 8.

So it's amazing to see how many connections God makes with so many of the different descriptions that we read here in the Bible. We're reading Hebrews 6, and I just point out where it says, let us go on to perfection. What that means, does that mean that we go on to being absolutely sinless? Well, perhaps ultimately whenever I'm changed, that would be a time when I could say I was sinless, but in this life, that's not talking about that. It's talking about going on to being complete, going on to be more mature. Actually, the words that are used here are talking about maturity, even in verse 14, I think. It says, solid food is for those who are mature. And then he goes ahead to describe, let us go on that particular path to maturity, leaving behind the basic teachings about Christ, the basic doctrines of Christ, and not laying again the foundation.

And then he goes through the foundation. See, what is that foundation? Does that foundation reflect what we observe every year in the Holy Days? Well, we can read them, repentance from dead works, and faith toward God, and baptism's instruction or doctrines about baptism, and the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.

Is there a connection to the way God put those together through Paul? And the way that we see reveal even in the celebration of the Holy Days. Well, clearly, the Holy Day year starts off with the Passover. It starts off with an understanding of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. It starts off with an understanding that it's the blood of the Lamb that is able to cover our sins. And then, beyond that, we move to try to live as we are exerting, or I guess it wouldn't be exerting, it would be looking to God in faith. Because that's what we ultimately do. Whenever we become repentant of our sins and we see our need for Jesus Christ in our lives, well then he shows us we need to repent and that we need to be baptized and that we need to be not only forgiven, but then we need to rise and walk in a new way of life. See, there's some similarity between what we go through in the Holy Days every year and even the way these doctrines are written down from repentance to faith in God. See, we have faith in God that God not only, whenever we're baptized, forgives us of our sins and cleanses us and allows us to be fully clean at that point, but we also have faith that he's going to provide us the help to be able to fight against sin. Because that's what the Days of Unleavened Bread, of course, picture of coming out of sin, feeding on the bread of life, truly seeing how much we need Jesus Christ. And then with the power of the Holy Spirit, you know, that's kind of signified here with not only instruction about baptism, but laying on of hands.

See, now some of us, maybe in our past, may have had some understanding about laying on of hands.

I don't know. I have to say that in my background, I'd never heard of that. You know, I thought that I had no idea what that would possibly be. I don't recall it being taught in a Christian church that I was attending for 15 years. I don't recall, you know, growing up ever hearing that. I mean, it's clearly in the Bible. But see, what is that talking about? Well, it's talking about us yielding ourselves to authority that God has set in the church and actually in faith looking to God to give us a gift that there's no other way for us to have. A gift of the Holy Spirit that's going to empower and uplift us. And again, see here, this is in verse 2, and I guess it concludes in verse 2.

But repentance and faith toward God and being baptized and then the laying on of hands, which involves a gift from God, where He particularly has drawn us to Jesus Christ, has caused us to yield to the direction that He gives us. And then He gives us a gift of the Holy Spirit and expects us to walk, what do we read in Romans 6?

Well, to walk in a newness of life, to walk in a resurrected type of life. It's a completely different life for we're to be dead to sin. You know, we understand that that's what's been holding us back in the past and that we are then completely forgiven of that and we are struggling against that because it doesn't go away since we still live in this world.

But we are to live a resurrected life knowing that judgment is upon us today. See, now, whenever, obviously there's more to it than each one of those, but I'm simply applying those directly to each of us as a Christian who is growing in an understanding or appreciation for the Word of God. And I think it's interesting to connect these great doctrines of Christ to the Holy Days because you can see a connection there from the Passover to ultimately the receipt of the Spirit and ultimately not only trumpet signifying the return of Jesus, but a resurrection that all of us would like to be in.

A resurrection to eternal life, understanding that, well, God is going to continue to work with people through the Millennium and through the White Throne Judgment beyond that. There is yet work to do for God and for Christ in causing the harvest to expand, in causing the Kingdom of God to grow.

As it's described in Matthew 13, I think it is, being like a mustard seed, tiny, and then growing into a big bush, a bigger tree, and branching out just exponentially to where it consumes the whole Earth. I think I can keep these doctrines in mind better, repentance and faith and baptism, and laying on of hands, and resurrection and understanding eternal judgment. I can keep those in mind better when I recognize that there's some connection there to even the way the Holy Days remind us each year of what we need to be living. So it says in verse 3, and I wonder even where Dr. Ward made this statement right at the very end of his letter.

He said, as we think about these things, as we analyze whether or not we're really living the Holy Days, living the meaning of the Holy Days, he said, hopefully we can say yes, we will do. I thought, that's not saying I do, or I will, or I want to. I thought, where's he getting that? Well, verse 3 says, if we go on to perfection and leave behind the foundational doctrines of Christ, and verse 3, we will do this if God permits. See, that was even what Paul was saying. I thought, well, you know, that's something that's just saying I'm agreeing with this. No, this is what's in the Bible.

This is what's in the Word of God. And of course, here in Hebrews 6, Paul continues, he continues to write about the importance of being faithful, the importance of not falling away, the importance, maybe we should just read this, it's impossible to restore again to repentance, those who have once been enlightened and have tasted the heavenly gift and shared in the Holy Spirit and tasted the goodness of the Word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then falling away. Since on their own, what they're doing is crucifying again the Son of God and are holding him up to contempt. You know, that is, in a sense, somewhat of a remarkable statement to make, and that clearly, if we do understand these things, if we are growing and maturing, as it tells us, well, we want to continue on that process.

We will do, and we will continue to live the Holy Days throughout the year, live the meaning and the impact. The Holy Days not only have prophetic importance, and they clearly, you know, much of them are yet in the future as far as Christ's return and the millennium and the banishment or the banishment of Satan and then the millennium and then the white throne judgment, a physical resurrection.

It's very clear that God talks about far more than one resurrection. Most people would not, you know, have any concept of that, but clearly there is a resurrection to eternal life. That's when Christ returns. Clearly, there is a resurrection to physical life because it says, the rest of the dead live not again until a thousand years are finished.

And so they're going to be given information as they are once again caused to rise and given life. But amazingly, they're also given an understanding of the Bible, an understanding of the Word of God, of the books of the Bible, an understanding of a need to repent, an understanding of a need to be a recipient of the Holy Spirit, because ultimately that would be the only way that their name would be written in the book of life. See, that's all yet to happen in the future for most people.

And of course, we see in the end of Revelation 20, you know, a resurrection that would simply be to those who have refused to yield to God, refused to submit to God's purpose for their lives. That's really what it comes down to.

Now, brethren, we've been granted the blessing of knowing God's purpose for human life. And to us, maybe even more important, God's purpose for our lives.

And of course, that purpose is to become like God, to become like Jesus Christ, to be transformed by the Holy Spirit and take on His heart and His mind. See, that's what it says even about in Ezekiel 37 about the physical resurrection that's described connected with the dead bones of the house of Israel. God says, I'm going to give them life. I'm going to breathe into them the physical life once again. I'm even going to give them my spirit.

Without that, it wouldn't really help much. And see, I'm pretty sure that Lazarus continues to live after Jesus raised him from the dead and he died again. I don't know if he had God's spirit or not. It doesn't say. Doesn't tell us anything about that. But see, without the spirit of God, we can't take on the nature and the mind and the outlook and the attitude of God. And so, it really is fabulous to think about how the God, well, as I was saying about what we would call a third resurrection, simply to be a part of the second death. See, the second death is a description that, again, most people would have, what's that talking about? You know, that sounds like somebody's being given a second chance or something. Well, no, second death is just something to avoid at all cost. It's something to recognize that, you know, I don't want, I want to choose to follow God. I want to choose to be transformed by Jesus Christ. I want to choose to have the spirit of God guiding and dominating my mind and, hopefully then, many of my actions.

See, that's what living the Holy Days is about. And whenever we put them all together, I recall, and I have to go back a few years now, I recall observing the Holy Days and having no idea what they were about, which all of us had at one point. You know, we knew a little bit about them, or at least we knew enough to know that we needed to keep them, because we understood, well, this is what God says, they're annual Sabbaths. They curve whenever they occur, you know, sporadically throughout the year and then throughout the week, because it isn't always on Saturday. And then, after a while, we learned more about, and perhaps even the Church at that time, 50 years ago, was learning more about the significance. I think the focus was much on, you know, the world tomorrow, you know, the world to come. The description that you can read in Isaiah 11, or Isaiah 35, or Isaiah 32, or Isaiah 9, or Isaiah 2, or in Micah 4, or in all the other places that you read about, what? A kingdom of peace. A kingdom of peace that is completely different than what we have today, completely different than our lives. See, just even focusing on that, which I'm pretty sure was kind of the first thing I came to understand anything about the Holy Days, or perhaps coming to know more about the Passover and about the significance of Jesus' life and his death for us and my need for his atoning blood to cover my sins and to rectify me before God and to reconcile me before God. And then we learn more about, in many ways, you know, the example that we have in the days of Unleavened Bread, of how it is that we don't eat leavened products and we eat unleavened products again at one point. You know, we're probably just doing that because we're doing it. That's what we're supposed to do. It later becomes far more meaningful to fully understand that, well, you know, I'm struggling against a nature that is a downward pull. And to feed on the bread of life, to feed on the Word of God, then that's what gives me success. That's what gives me life. And even beyond that, the dwelling, indwelling of the Holy Spirit. When Jesus talks about the Holy Spirit, he talks about, as he was telling the disciples in mid-John there, he says, the Spirit of God has been with you, but it will be in you. It's not enough just to be with you. It's not just to help you see. And at that point, they saw who Jesus was, kind of. They understood who he said he was. They understood, in some ways, as Peter had been given understanding from God, this is my divine Son.

And Jesus told him, you've had that revealed from the Father.

But he would later, in John, I think it's 14 or 16, tell them, you know, the Spirit of God has been helping you, it's been with you, but it needs to be in you. And see, as a recipient of the Holy Spirit, then all of us, in a sense, have a caretaker responsibility to be stirring that up. Not to just take that for granted, but to be stirring it up, which, of course, the day of Pentecost reminds us of that and encourages us to perhaps even grow in that. And then, to be able to look beyond that in knowing, see, just in looking back at these, faith or repentance, faith, baptism, laying on of hands, and understanding the resurrection of the dead.

See, actually, there are several different facets of the resurrection. Obviously, one of the aspects of that could simply be the resurrection of Jesus, which if people don't believe, then they don't have any hope. They don't have any hope of the future. They don't believe that Jesus rose from the dead, and the Father raised Him from the dead. And, whenever you then study the rest of the resurrections, that, well, there are different ones, and if I understand where I am, then understanding judgment, understanding eternal judgment or judgment from God. He says judgment is upon the house of God today in 1 Peter 4, verse 17, I think. That's what He tells us. He tells us judgment is on the house of God, and yet you can read that and not have that affect our lives. And yet, I think it is, and I hope that perhaps if we write these down and if we think about how they describe what we see revealed in the Holy Days, that it can take on a greater significance in our lives as we live fully knowing that we need to appreciate the cleansing that comes from the sacrifice of Jesus. That's where we began. That's where we started in a relationship with God when we became reconciled to God through His Son, through His blood of the slam of God. Here in 1 John 1, you see a whole section here, and of course there's a lot in 1 John that we could go through. But here in 1 John chapter 1, it says in verse 7, if we walk in the light, as He talking about God is in the light, then we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanses us from all sin. And if we say that we have no sin, then we simply deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we don't understand that, we don't recognize the fact that that's what we continually struggle against. That's why He says in verse 9, but if we confess our sins, then He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now that's a process of being purified, a process of overcoming and growing, and then each day having that in a sense renewed.

And yet that's clearly a part of what we read about. It's not a one-time event, although it did happen and occur at one point when we were baptized. But then that's an ongoing project that we should be reminded of every day. And even as we not only keep the Holy Days throughout each year, and of course that's at the beginning of the year, but that's got to affect us the rest of the year. It's got to affect us in our day-to-day living and in our interaction with others, and even in the fellowship we're to have with one another. And of course, you know, He points out how that we are being cleansed by that. It's amazing to see we went through and trumpets last Monday some information in the book of Revelation about what the saints, how they are written about. You know, they're written about having the seal of God in their mind, in their forehead. And they're written about having not only that seal, but about their connection to God in their prayers. How that their prayers are meaningful, how they are significant, how they are like incense before God, before the throne of God, and how the saints, as they are described there, how they are going to have, and this is a description that you see in several different places they have the fear of God. You know, they truly do have a respect and awe for God and His power, His authority, His direction, and His rule in their lives. And see, and of course, it's important for us to think about that like on a day of trumpets where you can think, well, that's about Christ returning, but it's also about a resurrection of the dead, about the dead in Christ coming up to life, about those who are in Christ at that time being reserved or changed instead of resurrected, changed to having an immortal, an incorruptible spirit, body, and life. And so, you know, in describing the saints in the book of Revelation, you see them having the gift of the Holy Spirit and knowing it, being motivated by it, being changed by it. See, the Holy Spirit, and you read in the book of John how that Jesus said, I'm not going to leave you alone, I'm going to send you the help that you need. You don't even know you need this. He was telling the disciples and, of course, perhaps telling us initially, you don't even know that you need, if you're going to connect to God, and if you are going to be a child of God, if you are going to be a son or daughter in glory with God, you need the Holy Spirit. You need the Holy Spirit, which is, in essence, God imparting His nature to us. And yet, that's what we enjoy when we think about the Feast of Trumpets and the coming of Christ and the beginning of a new age. And yet, at the beginning of that age, you know, there's going to be a great event where Satan is put away, where he is, I guess I shouldn't say put away, although, you know, he is bound, he is restricted, he is restrained, he is contained for the thousand years of the rule of Christ on earth. But then it says, God lets him back out. You know, clearly God's in charge of the plan that he is working out, and that we are learning about and participating in in our daily lives, living the Holy Days. It is described here in Hebrews 6 through even the way the doctrines are listed.

And of course, as we come to a time when Satan will be reckoned with, you know, we have connection throughout the Bible, particularly Leviticus 16, talking about a ceremony that Israel would go through that would show how God deals with sin. He forgives through the blood of the goat that was to represent the Lord. Or he points out that Satan is the great deceiver. He's the one who deserves much of the blame, and he will bear that blame. He and his demons will bear that blame forever, because, you know, perhaps they will always need to be a reminder of the fact that someone rebelled against God. Someone was so arrogant.

Someone was so filled with pride. Someone was so filled with anger, so filled with hate and rage and disgust with God that he refused to continue to yield to his Creator. See, of course, that's Satan. Now that kind of ties together with what Mr. Jackson was talking about. And yet, you know, there's such misunderstanding in what you read out of the description of confusing stuff and names that are not even in the Bible. Maybe they are. I'm not aware of a couple of them. People attribute to this or that. And yet, clearly, all the qualities of pride and lust and greed and arrogance, even slothfulness, that would seem to be. Seems like Satan was somewhat active. But, you know, for us, you know, we have to struggle sometimes to get up and get going.

And so, you know, whenever we have, maybe we could drop on down to verse or chapter two, my little children. We're still in 1 John. 1 John chapter 2 verse 1, my little children, I'm writing these things to you so that you may not sin. So John not only understood what sin was, which dealt with transgressing the law, ignoring the Sabbath, being unaware of even the annual Sabbaths. He says, if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father. That is Jesus Christ, the righteous. And He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not ours only, but also for the sins of the entire world. See, ultimately, Satan will be bound, as we'll talk about, I'm sure, here on the day of atonement. But see, that's a day that involves pushing Satan out and pulling Jesus in, pulling the Son of God into our lives to where we come to God in a meaningful way, where we are moved by the Holy Spirit, where we are abiding in His words, in His love. And He even says in John 15 that He has got to be abiding in us. See, that's the process that we are in. And, of course, as we think about the atoning sacrifice of Jesus, then that should be a motivator for our lives at all times and through every facet of our lives.

So again, I hope we can keep in mind not only the listing of the Holy Days that we can often pretty easily think through, because if we've celebrated these for many years, we can remember what they are. We can know how we prepare for them, but we should also know the meaning of them and how it ties together with Hebrew 6. And how that is foundational as far as the teachings of Christ and how then we are to go on to perfection. And in verse 3, you know, so will we do. We will do that if we are going to be maturing, well, then we are going to be seeing a connection between what God points out is even basic doctrines that give us the foundation that will ultimately lead to our being a part of His family. And, of course, here in Revelation 20, we see the conclusion to this, because here in Revelation 20, you see a description of the thousand-year rule of Jesus Christ. It says, Satan is bound in verse 2 for a thousand years, and he was no longer allowed to deceive the nations until those thousand years were ended. But in verse 4, he says, I saw thrones and seated on them were given authority to judge.

And I saw the souls of Ben who had been beheaded, who had died, for the testimony of Jesus, or to Jesus, and for the Word of God. See, how much do we want the Word of God to be in us? We don't simply need to carry around the Word of God. That Word of God has got to be in our being. But he says, I saw those who had in a sense given their lives for Jesus and the Word of God, and they had not worshiped the beast or its image, they had not received the mark of the beast and therefore had their hands, but they came to life. They were resurrected from the dead, and they reigned with Christ for a thousand years. See, that's a description that we commonly use.

We commonly look at that as what we're working toward, what we want to achieve, and yet that's what God is preparing us for, actually. He's preparing us for service during that period of time, and it says in the latter part of verse 6, blessed are the first part of it, blessed and holy are those who share in this first resurrection. And over these, the second death will have no power, for they will be the priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with Him a thousand years. See, that's why when people are fully unaware of the Holy Days, they are completely uninformed about what the knowledge of God is, and about what the purpose of life is, and about what the hope is, and about God's purpose of preparing humans to serve others in this thousand-year period of time. That's what God is preparing us for. And of course, He's prepared others. Jesus mentions, I'm working with the twelve disciples. I've got things for them to do. I've got others even out of the Old Testament that I've prepared for certain roles, and yet, for the Christians of today, for those who will be guided by the Spirit of God and who are praying individuals and are truly fearing God, then I'm going to have them rule and reign with me. I'm going to have them be the priest of God and of Christ. And that's a fabulous blessing to be able to think when you think through the Holy Days, and you connect that with Hebrew 6, you can truly see that the doctrines of God, the things that we study and read about in the pages of the Bible, are what we're to be living by. And so I hope in going over that, it helped me to go over it, to think about it more, because I don't know if I've thought about that in that same way before, but I think it might even be able to help me keep in mind what the six doctrines are, and then going on to perfection, because it makes sense when you put it together in that way.

So I hope all of you, wherever you are, whether you're here or in Kansas City, I guess, at least I'm going to be there. I don't guess many of you might, but I hope you have a wonderful day of atonement, of course, a fast day that we prepare for in that way. And then beyond that, a glorious feast of tabernacles and truly be able to grow in the divine nature of God.