Looking to the Feast of Tabernacles

Well, thank you very much. Happy Sabbath, everybody! Good to see you all. Hope that you had a great week. And in listening to the young adults sing there, I just, I, it harkened back to my days when I used to sing in high school. I think it was probably about 15 years old, and being in the old barbershop quartet. Of course, any of you have ever seen a barbershop quartet before, but anyway, it reminds me of that, you know, the way you guys were singing. I know you're not a barbershop quartet, but anyway, very good job, and always appreciate hearing some good music.

And always have, as a matter of fact. But I asked you here this morning, how many of you want God's kingdom? How many of you want God's kingdom? How many of you want God's kingdom? All right, all right. No, do you desire God's kingdom with all your heart, that in fact, all week long, you're thinking about God's kingdom? How could you not, in fact, think about God's kingdom, looking at the news reports that you see? You know, Christ Himself, remember, when He gave the model prayer to His disciples, when they asked Him how to pray, what did He say? That you need to begin your prayer basically by saying, our Father, who are in heaven, hallow is your name, holy is your name, and your kingdom come. One of the very first things we pray is for the kingdom of God to come. And that's why I asked the question, how many of you want God's kingdom and desire it? It's so easy, isn't it, to get caught up in the world and the things of the world and lose that desire. You can get distracted, you can allow things to get between you and that goal that you have of being in God's kingdom. Well, you know, God has set the festivals, His feasts, such that we go from one step to another in His plan that He has. And, of course, we've observed the Feast of Pentecost. Now it's been some time since we did that, and we now look forward to the fall festivals. And it is coming down on us so very rapidly, isn't it? It's going to be on us before we really know it.

But God wants us, because it is a step-by-step plan that He has, to look ahead to the fall festivals and to prepare for them, to get ready for the fall festivals as we get ready for the spring festivals. You know, after you get back from the feast, you start preparing for the spring, right? You begin preparing for the Passover. Well, we're preparing now for the fall festivals. Now, why does God want us, brethren, to get involved, as He does, with the festivals? Why does He have us go through, you know, the things we have to go through when we observe the festivals? You know, Mr. Herbert Armstrong used to say this time and again. If I heard him say it once, I probably heard him say it 150 or 200 times. To the degree that we have our hearts in the work of God, He used to say. How many of you remember that, by the way? Am I the only one that remember what He used to say? To the degree we have our hearts in the work of God, He would say, He said, You are converted to that degree. And, you know, of course, all we have to ask ourselves is, How converted are we? How involved are we in the work that is being done today? You know, are we praying for the success of the work? Are we backing the success of the work in every way that we can? And so, to that degree, He again said, If we have our hearts in the work, we are converted. I'd like to add something to that. Well, to the degree, brethren, we have our hearts in the keeping of God's Sabbath and His festivals. We look toward the kingdom of God.

You know, you can talk about how you want the kingdom of God and how you desire the kingdom of God. But, brethren, if we're not observing the Sabbath and God's holy days and we don't look forward to them, we don't desire them, well, brethren, we don't desire the kingdom either.

You know, to that degree, brethren, we look forward to the festivals. To that same degree, we look forward to the kingdom of God. And why does God want us then to prepare for His feasts? To look forward to His feasts? Well, He wants us to focus on His plan, to really put some thought into His plan. Because every time you think about the holy day, something new comes to your mind. You know, I had one of those moments last night, sort of as they call it, an aha moment, that I said to God after I understood the concept, and I'm not going to tell you what that concept was, but I saw it in a way that I had never seen it before. I said, oh, I see God. I understand. Now, you may wonder if I talk to myself, you know, and I have talked to myself, but that happened in my mind. But I was telling my wife about it, and she was astounded by it as well. But this is what God does. He continues to fill our minds. He continues to help us understand in a greater and greater way. And so keeping the festivals, preparing for the festivals, helps us to focus on His plan. And, brethren, if we didn't focus on the Holy Days every year, soon we would simply forget God's plan. A lot of people have in the world. You know, they have forgotten once they knew. You know, read over in the book of Jude about how, in fact, in Jude, Jude mentions about how some once knew the truth over there. And he talked about contending for the faith that was once and for all delivered to the saints. And so we can at one time have known. And if we do not keep the Holy Days, brethren, and again the Sabbath, then we would soon forget God's plan. Because it forces us to dwell on it every year. Every year that it comes around. And the reason is, is because we don't grasp at all at once. We simply do not. We don't grasp of being the Sabbath all at once.

We don't grasp, again, the meaning of the Holy Days all at once. You know, there are so many distractions in the world that are going on at any one given time. It's amazing. Any of us can focus on anything. I read a book some time ago called The Power of Focus. And it really did have an impact on me. I was so impressed by the book. I gave it to my wife to read. I gave it to our sons to read because I felt that that was a missing dimension in our world today. That we don't focus on things the way we should. And we need to, of course, focus on God's festivals lest we forget the plan of God. Like you said, there are many distractions in the world. Let's go over to Luke 21. I remember when I came out of college in 1974 from Ambassador College.

We were all so young in those days. And, of course, some of us still are very young, by the way. But by that, I mean we were all in our 20s back in those days. I would say most of you were probably in your 20s or maybe your 30s back in 74. And I probably hit the mark here. Maybe some of you were younger than that. Some of you weren't even here. But I remember coming out of college, fresh out of college, and how some became focused on making it in the world.

I had a friend of mine, the fact that made it in the world. And he called me. I had been in the ministry by that time. Let's see. I think it was in Phoenix by that time. So I'd been in the ministry, oh, I don't know, 15 years, something like that. And he told me, he says, Jim, he says, I got more money than I ever thought I would ever have. But he said, my life is empty.

Because he had walked away from the truth. And he said, I want to gain it back in some way. What do I do? What do I do? And I encouraged him to rediscover those things that he had lost, and to begin to come back to church, and began to serve again. Because, you know, there were, he had been sent out of the ministry, by the way, gone back into the world and, you know, was making a good living.

He was making a lot of money. But again, his life was empty. And so, he began to attend again. But unfortunately, you know, things did not turn out that well for him, in the sense of, he expected too much to serve.

You know, he expected much more in terms of being able to return to service quicker, I think, than really he should have. He should have been willing to go back to church, serve, show himself a faithful servant to those who were observing, and be a good example to other people. And in the course of time, I'm sure that his abilities would have been recognized, and he could have been used in a greater way. But he lacked the patience to endure. And last I heard, he was not in the church anymore. But people get distracted. And back in those days, a lot of young people got distracted by money. That was very important back in those days.

A lot more than it should have been. Now again, nobody's going to discount that you have to make a living. But to focus on that so much that you forget about the spiritual is a very bad mistake people often make in this world. Let's go to Luke 21 here. Luke chapter 21 and down in verse 34. And notice what Jesus Christ said when he talked about how that when the ends of the world began to come upon this society and this world, he talked about prophecy being fulfilled and things beginning to really happen.

He said in verse 34, But take heed to yourselves. Be careful about yourself lest your hearts be weeded down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life. You know, somebody might not be a drunk. Someone might not be, you know, of that demeanor. They might not be involved in the drugs of the world, but they can get caught up in the cares of life so much that they lose sight of what is really important.

And notice it says that day comes on you unexpectedly. It's like Mr. Armstrong used to say, he said things basically the same way each time, so you almost got the point where you could quote him. He said they're going to be like rats in a trap. I remember him saying that. You know, they get caught like rats in a trap. So we don't want that to happen to us, brethren, to be stuck out there in the world and things begin to happen unexpectedly because we're distracted doing things that we shouldn't be doing.

For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. The world is going to be like those rats in the trap, as Mr. Armstrong used to talk about. And he said, watch therefore and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man.

So, brethren, are we praying for the kingdom to come every day, every day? And are we also saying, God, I want to escape the time of trouble that's going to come upon the whole earth? And we ought to be praying that as well as God's people. And then, of course, we need to pay attention to our own life and how we're living and make sure that we're living according to a godly way. That we are moral people in an immoral world that we live in today. Again, there are so many things to distract us. And many of you young people are going to have to somehow weather through those distractions.

I hope that you're not casualties, as many have been. And in your parents, I pray that they have taught you what is important in life and that it's important to you as well. And, you know, Christ was an example of what a young person can think and think in the right ways.

Twelve years old, remember, he was able to argue or to discuss with the doctors of the law, the Bible. And, you know, when you're 12, you should be able to have, you know, a conversation, a spiritual conversation about spiritual things. Christ set the example for all of us.

So don't allow Satan to wear you down, young people, with troubles and other things in your life that you lose focus and you grasp for something that only really, truly he can give.

You know, the Bible says the promotion comes from above, that God is the one that promotes us.

And there is this individual, there is that individual that can work so hard to be promoted that he forgets who is the one who does the promotion, and that is God. And if you put yourself in God's hands and you do your part, you educate yourself, you set a good example in your old life, you build the character that you need. Remember, God sets us in the body as it pleases him. And he will channel you in your life, you know, as well in those areas he feels that where you're going to be best, in development of your human potential, that God will help you and guide you in your life. If you ask for wisdom in guiding you, young people, you know, this is not necessarily a speech for graduates, but certainly, you know, we're talking about things that pertain to young people stepping out in the world, you know, and basically beginning to make more of their own decisions. And I know parents, one of the things that parents are always concerned is that your children will make the right decisions. And, of course, they pray for you on a daily basis, and I'm sure that our parents are praying for you on a daily basis, that God will be with you, that God will give you favor in this world. I'm not going to go to Proverbs 29 verse 18, but I'd like to quote it from the King James Version. You know, it says, Where there is no vision, the people perish. You know, if we lose focus on the vision that God wants to give us, brethren, we will perish. And preparing for the Holy Days, getting ready for the Holy Days helps us to never forget the vision, the vision of what God is doing.

And the fact of the matter is, we could probably sum the gospel itself up into, basically, a couple of sentences. The gospel of the King of God is this, in short, brethren, is that God is reproducing himself in you, in your life, so that he will have you as a companion for the future. And so, brethren, let us believe the gospel. You know, the two hardest things to do are this. Number one, to admit you're wrong, and number two, to repent and to change. Those are the two hardest things in life. And I hope, again, if someone has not made their commitment to obey God's law and give their alliance to God and to live according to his way, that they will do so, you know, while there is time, you know, ahead. And, you know, none of us have any guarantees that we're going to be around tomorrow, or at the end of this day, for that matter. It is amazing the things that can happen in just a period of a couple of days. You know, and that's another thing you learn, you know, as a parent. You learn that every day can bring, you know, its own troubles, as Jesus said. He talked about sufficient under the days, the calamity thereof. You know, you can't think too far enough ahead, because if you do, it will be very disturbing to you to think too far ahead. And that's why, again, parents pray every day for their children, because they know what can happen in one day, you know, during the course of time with their children. And I always felt that one of the reasons that God put me, you know, as a parent, is to keep our children alive. I don't know about you parents, whether or not you feel that way, but I think that's one of the goals of the minute of the parents, isn't it? To keep their children alive. That's why, young people, we say, don't do this, don't do that. To keep you alive, to help you at the latter end. But again, we want to keep that vision and focus on that vision. And the holy days, brethren, give us that vision when we study, when we inculcate it into our minds, and we understand God's plan and what He's doing and what He's trying to accomplish. I remember when I was growing up, my father would gather us together and he would tell us what he wanted to accomplish. You know, there were, I have five brothers, by the way, so there were six boys and he sort of had us all together and he'd tell us what he wanted to do. Usually, that though, what he wanted to do, we were going to be sweating. That's what I remember. But he wanted to catch the vision of what he was trying to do. And, brethren, in the same way, our father wants us to catch the vision of what he's trying to accomplish. And yes, there will be sweating involved.

There will be toil. There will be difficulties. There will be suffering in the course of time. But when it is finished, you know, you're going to be so happy. You're going to be so thrilled that you endured to the end with it. I remember my father and I used to work together.

And we, for a while, you know, he and I worked, I think I've told you this before, we hauled hay together. And here I was, this is my weight training program, young people. This is how I weight lifted. How many of you have ever bucked a bale of alfalfa? Okay, Mr. Waters knows what it's like. Mr. Malecia and Mr. Orrith, here, knows what it's like to buck a bale. I would say it's about eighty hundred pounds, maybe. Depends if it's wet. If it's wet, you're talking over a hundred pounds. But imagine loading fifty to seventy-five bales of alfalfa sometimes wet on the truck. By the way, my father was the one driving the truck. So guess who was the one bucking the hay? It was me. And when you, I'll tell you, if you do that, young people, every day, six days or weeks, eight hours a day, you will never have to go to a gym. Never. You, in fact, I'll guarantee you, at the end of eight hours, you have no trouble sleeping.

And when the sun comes up, you will say, oh, Lord, it's morning.

It was not an easy proposition. And so, in the same way, brethren, the work that we have to do is not easy. Got a lot of challenges ahead for us. But my father used to say, let's work hard so we can rest. And I love the sound of that. Let's work hard so we can rest.

And, you know, that's what God wants us to do, brethren. He wants us to work hard so that we can rest. And when the millennium comes, what's it called? It's called a time of rest for us all. Then, brethren, we get to rejoice. Not that we don't get to rejoice along the way, but then it's going to be—talk about fireworks. Talk about an excitement, brethren, of what it's going to be when the kingdom of God comes. It's going to be so, so wonderful. But, brethren, God wants us to realize that, again, we don't want to have sort of a Pollyanna approach about what he's asking us to do. But he wants us to catch the vision of what he's trying to accomplish. He's bringing multiple billions of sons into glory. And imagine, brethren, that you're going to rule with Jesus Christ for a thousand years. A thousand years. I was meditating on that last night, and I thought, that is incredible. That after a money of a time, all of us will have been kings for a thousand years. I think we might be ready for when the great white throne takes place, don't you think? I guess the reason why there's a thousand years—some of us might be a little slow about learning, but in a thousand years, I think I can get it—about what it is that God wants us to do. And then imagine this, brethren, that after the thousand years is over, then everybody who has ever lived or existed is going to be brought up in that resurrection. And they're going to be under our responsibility. And we're going to say, we say right now, well, who am I that I would be a king over this many people? Well, brethren, you've only been ruling for a thousand years. That's who you are. You've been in the family of God a thousand years longer than they will have been in the family of God. You'll have all this experience of Christ teaching you for a thousand years.

But imagine, brethren, what it's going to be like when 50 billion—this is what mathematicians sort of calculate. I remember I did a calculation when I was at Northeastern, and I came up with about 50 billion back in those days, back in 68. How many might be brought up in that second resurrection? You could actually do a, you know, math problem where you can actually come up with an estimate. I don't know if Dr. Orth can help you with that that arithmetic or not, but I don't want to put you on the spot. I'm sorry, you only know about physics. He might know a little bit about mathematics. Don't ask me. I've forgotten everything I learned over the years. Is it one plus one is two, right? Now, I've got some of those things, but imagine, though, you're going to be ruling over, I would guess, into the millions of people by that time, and all of those people then will be brought into the family of God, and eventually there'll be no physical human beings. And, you know, I was meditating on this yesterday about how what it's going to be like beyond the second resurrection, when there's a new heavens and a new earth. Well, you know, it says in Isaiah 9 that there will be a government without end. Now, what that means beyond that, of course, is anybody's guess, but it's a big universe. And, you know, there's some indications that the universe, as we know, it will be folded up as a curtain, and perhaps, you know, we will all dwell in the place that God dwells, which is eternity. Now, what is that like? We don't really understand. We don't understand what the universe is like. I'm sorry, I got into pontificating here, but about some of these sayings. But, brother, your future is so awesome. Our future is so awesome. If we could catch the vision, and unless we catch the vision, brother, you know, we are going to perish. And the Holy Days give us a vision of God's plan every year. And the physical things that we do have deep spiritual implications for the future, because the Holy Days teaches God's plan of salvation for all mankind. Now, I'm not going to go through all of the Holy Days, but in the sense of going through the Scriptures, I'll give you some Scriptures to read, if you like to read them later on, the first festival we observe is Passover.

Now, the Passover is not a holy day, but it is a festival, because Holy Days you cannot work on. On a festival, you can work on a festival. But Passover, at least if the festival is not a holy day. But the Passover, what do we do with the Passover? In ancient times, they had to prepare the lamb. I'm not going to go back to Exodus 12, but over in Exodus 12, it talks about how they had to choose a lamb without blemish. Now, that sounds very simple, doesn't it? First of all, how do you raise a lamb without blemish? Can you imagine? You have to raise this lamb, and you have to pamper it. The closest thing that I've ever seen to anybody pampering an animal is I've known of people in Future Farmers of America, when I was in high school, that would pamper, that they'd be raising a hog. Start out with this little piglet, I guess they call them. And just, you know, they put a bow on there, you know, and they can look, doll them up, scrub them down, you know, try to keep them all. I don't know whether they massage them or what. But, you know, you do all this work in preparing the animal, and they hope that they're going to win the prize at the fair. Well, with a lamb, this was to be a lamb without blemish because of what it pictured. It pictured, of course, Jesus Christ. And then they were to kill the lamb. They were to kill the lamb, as you recall, between the evenings. And then they had to prepare the lamb. And remember, this lamb was for the whole household to eat. How many of you have ever butchered a lamb or a goat? Anybody ever done that? Surely, I'm not the only one that has done that. Oh, you're one person here. But how many of you ever butchered a chicken? Okay, more, more of you. Good, I'm not alone. But some of you may think I'm a murderer of animals. But I remember it wasn't a lamb, it was a goat. And you know, actually, killing the goat, of course, not an easy proposition. Who wants to kill a poor, defenseless little goat?

But then, skinning the goat is not easy. It's not easy. It's work! It is work to do that. If you don't believe me, ask those who have done it. And frankly, even preparing a chicken, you know, is not easy either. And you know, I've been involved in the killing of pigs. This was my pre-calling years, by the way. And hopefully, the pig is out of me after so many years, you know. Apparently, your, you know, your cells replicate. So I don't have any pig in me now. But anyway, a lot of work to prepare, you know, a lamb without blemish. Of course, they were to do the herbs and so forth. And so there was a lot of work that went into that to prepare for the Passover.

A lot of care that went into it. Well, in the New Testament time, when we observed the Passover, a lot of work goes into preparing the Passover. A lot of setup that has to be done. People are assigned to bring, you know, the wine for the emblem of wine during the service. Some actually prepare the bread. The hall has to be set up in a certain way. Remember that Christ told his disciples, go prepare for the Passover. And so they prepared for the Passover. And, you know, in 1 Corinthians 5 and verse 7 shows another way that we have to prepare. We have to examine ourselves. In the wild and ancient times, they had to prepare the unblemished lamb. Brethren, we are to focus on ourselves and to examine ourselves. I'm not going to go to 1 Corinthians 5 or 7, but it tells us to purge out the old levity, that we might be a new lump.

And it talks about how we have to examine ourselves, that we partake of the Passover in a worthy manner. In 1 Corinthians 11 verses 23 through 30. And, you know, you read through there. You see how important it is, because it does say also over there that because some were not focusing on the meaning of a Passover in the right way, that many slept. That many were dead, because they weren't being healed by the strikes of Christ, because they were not showing respect toward the Passover. So the Passover involves preparation. And, of course, the Passover in ancient times looks forward to the time when Christ would come, and that Christ would die for us. And, of course, it looks forward also to the time when the world is going to be able to partake, you know, of the sacrifice of Christ. The whole world is going to avail itself of Christ's sacrifice. The next Holy Day festival is on leavened bread.

And, you know, they were to put a lot of effort in putting the leavening out. And, of course, we do the same thing. Except, of course, we know it means we need to put effort into putting sin out of our lives. As verse 8 of 1 Corinthians 5 and verse 8, 7 and 8 talk about putting sin out of our lives, purging out, as it says, the old leavened, that we might be a new lump. So we are to prepare for it, you know, by doing that as God's people and throughout the days of unleavened bread. Next, we have Pentecost. And Pentecost has to do with the calling of the firstfruits. And we are to observe the feast of firstfruits, which is also the feast of weeks, or the firstfruits of the early barley harvest, as we understand in ancient times. And a lot of effort had to go into harvesting those firstfruits in ancient times, and preparing those firstfruits. Remember, the priest was involved in that process, and the people were also involved in it as well. And there's a lot of effort, brethren, that has to go in to being a firstfruit. And so what I'm trying to say to you, brethren, is that God's people have to put a lot of effort. They have to put a lot of preparation into the keeping of the feast. And each one of the festivals depict God's plan of salvation. Let's go to Romans 8. Romans chapter 8. Romans 8.

You know, in verse 16, it says, "...the Spirit itself bears witness with our Spirit." Romans 8 verse 16, "...that we are children of God." You know, does God's Spirit reside in you? If it's not in you, is it working with you?

Is it moving you to do the right things? For you did not receive the Spirit of bondage, again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, Abba, Father. We're related to God. And the Spirit itself bears witness with our Spirit that we are the children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ. If, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may be glorified together. You know, this is showing us, again, going God's way is not easy. There is suffering that is involved in the process. But if we endure to the end, you know, and wait to the end, we're going to be astounded. It's what God is going to give us, of what He's going to offer to us at the end. And so, by all means, and do it at the end. In verse 22, for we know that the whole creation grows and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves, grown within ourselves. And so, here, He's saying that we've grown within ourselves eagerly. See that word, brethren? Eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. And, you know, I don't know about you, but when I sometimes get up, I groan. Maybe it's the hitch in my get-along that's causing it. But physically, our bodies do begin to wear out, don't they? You know, we're not like we were when we were in our 20s, and we could bound here and there, and we had all this energy. You know, we had our grandsons, you know, Stephen and Melanie visited with us, and they came to services last week, here, as you know. And I'll tell you, Joseph is all over the place. I mean, he just, I forgot how much energy little guys have. Now, they just, and at the crack of dawn.

And, you know, they go and go and go. And, but, you know, wouldn't you like to have a little bit of that energy? Just a little bit. Just give me a little of that. But obviously, we wear down, don't we? But also, I think we groan, rather than from the standpoint of seeing the world as it is.

You know, and the world, again, becomes a very unsightly place, and we groan to get on with it, you might say, the kingdom of God. We want to get on with it. Let's begin. You know, of course, we know there are a lot of troubles that are going to come in the future.

But I think eventually, I think we come to realize, well, let's get over it, so we can have the wonderful world tomorrow. So it can start. So the people of this earth are not suffering as they are in so many ways. People are so miserable, brethren, in so many ways.

You know, most people are. I wouldn't say everybody. Some people are not probably that miserable. At least, not yet. Their time is going to come, though. The next vessel is Trumpets.

And, by the way, I'm not going to go to Numbers 10 in verse 10, but it's a day of sadness because of what it depicts. It depicts a time of trouble that is coming in the world. And, you know, we ought to, by the way, we are to prepare for Trumpets as well.

But in Numbers 10 verse 10, it shows us a day of gladness, a day of joy as well, a day of excitement. It's a day of sadness, though, because the book of Revelation tells us the trumpet plagues are going to remind us that we need a way of escape.

And, believe me, brethren, when these things begin to happen and descend upon the world, we are going to be so thankful we prayed for God's kingdom to come, and we'll be so thankful that we asked God to help us escape the time of trouble that's going to come upon all the world to try the earth. But, you know, we will eventually, if we hold fast, and Trumpets shows, brethren, that we will realize our efforts if we can endure the fulfillment of the Feast of Trumpets, because the Bible in 1 Corinthians 15 verse 52 shows that we're going to be changed in a moment in the twinkly of an eye. You know, and I think when we are changed, brethren, out of this flesh, we're going to honestly be saying, oh, what a relief it is.

Imagine, you know, what it's going to be like, brethren, to not have an acre of pain. Imagine, brethren, how you're going to have a thousand times the energy, who knows how much energy we'll have, than we ever thought. Imagine when we're changed out of this flesh, that God is going to give us that wonderful opportunity. And, of course, the next holy day is the Feast of Potomac. And, you know, that, of course, pictures the world coming at one with God, with Jesus Christ, who's going to be the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

And we know also it means that Satan is going to be bound for a thousand years.

But how do we prepare for this time when these things are going to happen, brethren? Well, we have to sacrifice our own personal desires, and we have to refrain from eating and drinking as adults on the Day of Atonement. It shows, in fact, our need for God to sustain us.

And if you don't recognize, you know, that need at the end of the day without eating and drinking, go ahead and go another day. You'll get it eventually.

And, you know, really, also, if we fast on the Day of Atonement, it shows our desire to draw close to God and to be like God. It shows God we want to be like Him. I'm not going to go to Revelation 20, verse 1, but it talks about Satan being put away for a thousand years over there.

And, of course, we are at home by Christ's sacrifice to God. We are reconciled by Christ's sacrifice.

We're pulled away from God by Satan in His Spirit because He's the God of the world. But, according to Christ's own sacrifice, we are atoned for and drawn to God.

Through Christ, we're drawn to God. Next holy day is Tabernacles.

And it's a feast of in-gathering, and all of us are preparing for the feast of Tabernacles, even now. And if we're not, maybe it indicates we don't see how important it is.

You know, we should be preparing for the feast of Tabernacles after the next one takes place.

We ought to be thinking about it as soon as the next one is over, about the next feast that's going to come. What am I going to do? And so, for them to begin to prepare for it. And so, you know, these are things that we need to do. In ancient times, of course, preparing for the feast of Tabernacles was not an easy proposition. You had to go down and cut down bushes and trees or palms to be able to build, you know, a temporary dwelling.

Thankfully, we don't have to do that. I'm not sure Escondido and other places would appreciate it if we go cut their trees down and build little sheds for the time of the feast. Or any city, for that matter. Of course, all we have to do is stay, you know, today. And maybe this shows the level of our inability to deal with discomfort. Choose a bad Holiday Inn or something like that, you know. I'm just kidding with that. But, you know, your idea of camping is a bad Holiday Inn. That's what up mine is. You know, that's camping. And I enjoy camping, though I shouldn't say that. I do, but, you know, my back doesn't enjoy it at the end of it all. But then, of course, we at the tail end of the Tabardacles, we have the last Great Day. And that depicts the time of salvation for almost all that have ever lived or existed. And that, of course, is depicted by Revelation 20 verses 11 through 12, talking about the Great White Throne Judgment. And so, brethren, this is what gives us the picture. It gives us the vision. And the more we look forward to these days, and, you know, we, to that degree, brethren, we're going to look forward to the Kingdom of God. We want the Kingdom of God. We desire it with all of our hearts. You know, we want to get away from the world that we're in right now, so we can be with God's people, so that we can be where others are talking about the Kingdom of God.

I'll tell you, if you don't want the Kingdom of God, brethren, and the feasts are not all that important to you, go ahead and have at it. Stay! Remain home!

Go to your work. Do all that. If that'll make you happy. But I can guarantee you, if you're like every Tom, Dick, or Harry that is walking the face of this earth that has a job, you know what? It'll be the same old same old for you.

But if you do what God commands, it will give you a vision and an enjoyment of life that you could never have. Christ said, I've come that you would have life and that you would have it more abundantly. And this is a part of what He means. You obey me. God is saying, you stick with what I tell you to do, and you will enjoy life to the fullest. Not only in the world to come, but now.

And you know what? I was reflecting on singing in the barbershop quartet when I was in high school. Another thought I had, I speak, think about this week, about that old barbershop quartet is back then I was beginning to think about this book back then. I was going to the Culture School of America, Roland High School, by the way. You do know, by the way, Oklahoma's the culture captor. You do know that, right? You don't know that. Well, I didn't either. But I remember back then, vestiges of understanding started to slowly creep into my mind.

I was a sophomore and I gave a speech on becoming superpower. And it's because I had a friend give me a plain truth that talked about Japan.

And maybe some of you old-timers remember the old plain truth that had a picture of this Japanese supertanker on it. I don't even know who wrote the article, but I took the information in it. I made it into a speech for a club. And not club, I'm sorry, for my class, my speech class.

And I remember I was the editor of the newspaper as well. And I wrote an article that I had been reading. It was one of the first that I ever read. I was just so enthralled by it. Some of you may remember, there was an article years and years ago written, I believe, by Ms. Armstrong. And it was about, is there a past eternity of matter?

And I read that. I was very much into science, by the way, and I read that with great interest.

And I wrote one of the editorials I wrote, then for the newspaper. And by the way, the newspaper was not much. Back in those days, they had the mimeograph type thing.

They didn't have regular newspapers like they do today. But anyway, that's how the vestiges of the truth began to come in to my life. And I never regretted it. Not one second regretted knowing the truth. And so thankful in so many ways. I think my wife and I have done things, you know, we just never ever thought we'd ever do. You know, we, of course, we never thought we'd have family, did we? Never thought we'd have grandchildren. Never thought I'd be called grandpa. And yet here we are. And God willing, though it won't be too many more years, will be to the final end and will be in the kingdom. And the vision will be finished. No, but keeping God's holy days, brethren, builds that vision in us and helps us to grasp. It helps us to understand. And brethren, the holy days and the plan of salvation prepares us to help us to govern with Jesus Christ in the time of the millennium and the wonderful world tomorrow. I quoted to you Isaiah 9, verses 6 through 7, that talks about how the increase of God's government, there will be no end. And brethren, do you want to be on the ground floor of the government that God is going to establish? Do you want to be a part of God's family for all eternity? Well, keeping the holy days, it may astound you, helps you in preparing to govern with Jesus Christ. You'll learn so much that you can't imagine, you know, what God is teaching. And sometimes we don't understand fully how it's going to all gel and all come together, but God is going to bring it together.

And you know, I'm not going to go over to 1 Corinthians 14, verse 33, where it says that God is not the author of confusion. But God is the author. I think in verse 40 it talks about you know, that God wants us to have order in all the churches of God. That God is the author of order. That God is the author of unity. God is the author of a cohesive plan that works. And God wants us, brethren, to learn in that plan and how God does things. Let's go over to Exodus 16. God wanted ancient Israel to learn. He wanted to learn certain things from them. He wanted to learn from them certain things. And God is learning from us, brethren. When God finally opens our mind to the Sabbath, you know what God wants to know? What are you going to do with it?

When He showed you the Sabbath, what did you do with it?

When you saw how important it was, well, I take it that you did something with it because you're here, right? When you learned about the Holy Days, what did you do with it? What did you do with it? Well, hopefully, brethren, you're going to do the same. You're going to obey them. You're going to do them. But here in Exodus 16, verse 4, it says, Then the Lord God said to Moses, Behold, I will reign bread from heaven for you. And so that God gave them wonder bread in those days.

Of course, it was a wonder what it is, a kind of bread. But to them, the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day that I may test them. I'm going to test them. Uh-oh. You mean God gives commands and He tests us? You better believe it. And one of the greatest tests that God gives is the Sabbath. That's a great test commandment. And next to it is the Feast of God, the test commandment. See whether or not we'll do it. But, you know, God is pretty particular. When He instructs us to do something, you know what He means, what He says. And, you see, if we can learn that from God, and why does God want us to learn that, to do what He says? You know, young people, why do your parents want you to do what they tell you to do? Why do they want you to do that? Why do they want to do that? Let's just analyze that from that perspective.

Why do they want to do that? Well, they're hoping someday that what they're telling you that you need to do will be a part of your character. That's why God, brethren, tells us to do things. That's why He tells us and instructs us in His ways, do it this way.

He wants us, brethren, to become like Him. And hopefully somewhere along the line, you know, that will happen. In other words, it's not God saying, well, God says, I need to do this.

See, pretty soon we are that ourselves. Just as God is that way. Remember what the gospel is, brethren? The good news is God is reproducing Himself in us. So He's trying to make us like Himself. God is trying to do that, brethren. And this is why we need to inculcate His truths into us as God's people. And by keeping the holy days, by learning to work together in unity, brethren, as God's people, not allowing your emotions to get in the way, learning to be submissive about what needs to be done, following instructions, brethren, and the organization that God has in the keeping of the feast and the rules are involved. And God uses that, brethren, to teach us how to rule with His Son in the kingdom. Guess what? And when we learn it, and when we learn it, when it's a part of us, we're going to teach it to another group of people.

We'll teach it to someone else. You know, you are what you are, brethren. And that's why, by the way, when Mr. Armstrong died and everybody, you know, they were on their own pretty much back in 86, it took what? What? Nine years for the church to fall apart? Because there were so many people that didn't have the Sabbath as a part of the character. It wasn't in them. It wasn't in them to do it. Brethren, it needs to be in us. Are we able, as God's people, to follow instructions and to do as God instructs us to do? God tells us to, you know, through the church, to make arrangements for the feast. Do we do that?

You know, do we go to the feast, brethren, as God instructs us? It says He puts His name where it pleases Him, and His feasts are where He sets His name. You know, God was not pleased with the way the pagans did things because it says they worship on every mountain. And basically, as Deuteronomy 12 talks about, God said, that's not the way you're going to do it. You're going to go to the place I choose. That's the place you go. Not where you choose, but the place I choose. And so, brethren, these things, if we're following God's instruction, are preparing us to help govern in the world tomorrow. How else is the world going to be brought to unity, by the way, after a thousand years? I hope it will be in unity a lot sooner than that, but it's going to take probably a thousand years to do all that needs to be done.

Another thing, brethren, that keeping God's festival does, festivals do, is it proves we're willing to sacrifice for Him. And, you know, Romans 12, verse 1, says that our personal sacrifices are reasonable service after what Jesus Christ Himself has done for us.

In 1 Peter 2, verse 5, I won't go to there, but it talks about how that we, brethren, ought to be giving sacrifices as lively stones being added to the temple. We ought to be sacrificing, you know, in our lives. And so, when we go off to the feast, brethren, it means we give over our time. It means, brethren, that we are doing those things, such as getting off work, getting off school, because we value what God is telling us to do. And it proves we're willing to sacrifice for those things that God instructs us to do.

You know, maybe a person will lose their job, you know, just by going to the feast.

Or maybe, young people, you might have your grades docked. You may lose, you know, ground in terms of your grades.

Join the club. Happens to everybody. And you know, in the grand scheme of things, in a thousand years, what will it matter if you got a B rather than an A, because you went off to keep the feast? What will it matter?

I wouldn't sacrifice my entire life for an A. I just wouldn't.

You know, I wouldn't do that for man's aggrandizement and promotion. You know, also when we, brethren, do those things which involve sacrifice, we've become a light to other people. How to courageously follow God's laws and not, you know, really think about ourselves. To not think about, you know, our own personal aggrandizement with exalting God, of glorifying God.

Also, brethren, when we go off to the feast, we are to use our second tithe. Deuteronomy 14 and verses 22, it says, you shall truly tithe.

You know, the increase of your field, of your field brings forth year by year. It talks about there, Deuteronomy 14, 22, down to verse 26, and then after you've accumulated this money, you shall be stolen, you know, on whatever your heart rightly desires there.

But, in other words, you're saving faithfully that second tithe. God wants us to learn to do that. And, brethren, when we teach people, new people, about tithing, it never makes sense on paper. You try to write it down. Now, I've got 100 percent, I take 10 percent for this and 10 percent for that. You know, and this money for that, I don't think I can make it. Well, if you do things that way, brethren, you'll never obey God.

What you do is you do what God commands you to do and let Him work out the rest.

You will beg God, and He will take care of you. You take care of what God tells you to do, and God will take care of you. He will bless you. And let's go over to Luke 16. Luke 16.

And over here in Luke 16, just a couple of verses I wanted to read to you here. Very simple verses. But verses 10 and 11, it says, "...he who is faithful in what is least is faithful in much, also in much, and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. Therefore, if you've not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?" And let me say, brethren, none of us are very wealthy.

I don't think I have to convince you that. I think we all know we're not very wealthy.

And so none of us have very much of anything. Well, brethren, are we going to sell our opportunity for the future for a few measly dollars? Some people, by the way, will not save a second tithe or a festival tithe because they're concerned about other things, you know, that they might feel take priority. Well, does anything take priority over what God commands us to do? The answer is no. And remember, saving a festival tithe is commanded. It's not suggested.

And some people think it's the ten suggestions and not the ten commends.

You know, some people feel that same way about all the other laws of God. Well, brethren, beware that you have that mentality. If you want the abundant life, God promises, obey God.

Don't go off to the feast, brethren, and put everything on a credit card and say, oh, how am I going to pay for this when I get back? That's a terrible way to do it, brethren.

You know, someone might, God might excuse us to do that if we could do it, if we were first called. But if we're called, and we've been around for a while, brethren, we ought to be able to save a second tithe.

Faithfully. Or a festival tithe. Faithfully.

You know, and I know it sounds strange for me to use what Christ said, but he says, but where your treasure is, that is where your heart is. And so, brethren, if we're going to take what are holy tithes, as the festival tithe, as a holy tithe as well, brethren, is the original tithe that God commands us to give.

And we're going to use it for unholy reasons. Where is our treasure? Where is our treasure? If we treasure the world, we treasure our own personal lives doing what we want to do and not what God commands us to do. So, brethren, when we do these things, when we keep God's holy days, it proves our willingness to sacrifice for God. And in the end, if we sacrifice, brethren, God will bless us abundantly. He will give us an abundant life now, and He's going to give us an abundant life in the future. Another thing, brethren, and a very important thing, that keeping God's holy days, preparing for God's holy days, looking to the kingdom of God through the vision of God's holy days, and are actually carrying through and executing, brethren, prove we will fear Him always. Do you adore Almighty God, brethren? Do you have a real respect and honor for the Master of the universe? No, the angels, by the way, who are a great deal better than we are, you know, Paul says they were created a little lower than us, but boy, that small difference makes a big, big difference. But you know what they say to God, brethren? They say, you are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power. And so, the Father and Jesus Christ, brethren, are worthy of the angels' adoration, and they're worthy, brethren, of our loyal allegiance to them. The world we see around us has problems because it does not fear God.

Let's go to Romans chapter 3. Romans chapter 3. This is the situation of the world today, brethren, that we look around this world and we see the status of mankind. Such a true set of scriptures over here that also have prophetic implications, because the world is in a lot worse condition now than it ever has been.

But in verse 10, it says, as it is written, there's none righteous, no, not one.

That's what is going on in the world out there, brethren. There's none who understands. There's none who seeks after God. And yet they have the name of Christ and their lips, and they speak of God often. They've all turned aside. They have together become unprofitable.

There's none who does good, no, not one. Their throat is an open tomb. Anybody that listens to them, they're headed to Gehenna. They're headed to an end if they follow what they're saying. It's an open tomb. It's like inner here, into this tomb. It says, with their tongues they have practiced deceit. The poison of asp is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness, and their feet are swift to shed blood.

Their structure and misery are in their ways. Hence, we see what's going on in the world today.

Everywhere you look, there's violence of one sort or another.

And the way of peace they have not known. They don't know the way of peace. But let's focus in on the real cause, brethren, right here, verse 18. There is no fear of God before their eyes. No fear of God.

Brethren, do you fear God? And that word, of course, doesn't mean that you have this cowering, craven fear of God. The Bible mentions that all those that have sort of a cowering, craven fear are going to be in the lake of fire. But what that word means is respect. Do you so deeply respect God that you do what he says?

That you obey what he says. And, brethren, if you can get the bigger picture of it, not only will you do what he says, but you want to be like him.

You want to be God like God is God. Although we know we'll never have the power that God has, but we want to be his children. We want to be a part of his family.

And God wants us to be there as well. It's a good pleasure to give us the kingdom, as the Bible says.

But, you know, the world has its problems because it does not fear God. And, unfortunately, some of God's own people experience unnecessary problems because they don't fear God. That's the bottom line. They don't fear God because sometimes people wouldn't do the things that they do if they feared God. They wouldn't say the things that they say if they feared God.

Let's go to Deuteronomy 14. Deuteronomy 14, over here, showing again the purpose of actually preparing for the feast by saving a festival tithe over here in Deuteronomy 14, verse 23.

Here it says, speaking again about that festival tithe that we save, and you shall eat before the Lord your God in the place where he chooses, there again, showing God chooses the place to make his name abide the tithe of your grain and of your new wine, of your oil, and of the firstborn of your herds and your flocks. Now, notice the last part here. This is what God is building up to, that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always. And, brethren, if we can get to the point where we can fear God always, a greatly reverence God always, brethren, maybe when that point comes, you and I will be like God, be like him.

Brethren, will we honor God? Will we prepare and plan for God's feast properly? Well, to the degree, brethren, we're preparing for those holy days. Each of us is also looking toward and preparing for the coming kingdom of God. So then, brethren, let us put an earnest effort into preparing for God's feasts that are going to be upon us very shortly. Let us make sure we're doing our part, and if we do our part, God will do his part, and he will give us a much more abundant life than we can ever dream, not only now, but in the future, in the world tomorrow.