As the Lord Commands

Well, brethren, it's that time of the year again, isn't it? We go out to the store, we turn on the radio, we turn on the television, and we can't hardly miss it. This world's in the midst of the Christmas season. And so, here we go again. This is the season of Christmas trees, of Christmas decorations, of bows, ribbons, wrapping paper, gifts, lights, music, movies, and television commercials. We've probably seen a few of those. It's the season of long lines, door-buster sales, Black Friday that starts on Thanksgiving, Thursday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, Bounce Paycheck Tuesday, followed by payroll alone Wednesday. I made a couple of those up myself. And before the Thanksgiving, Turkey's even fully digested. The society around us has launched whole-bore into the Christmas season. It's the season where you can't go to the store without the clerk wishing you Merry Christmas. We get the same thing from our friends, from our neighbors, our co-workers, our bosses, our employees, everyone wanting to say Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays. Here we go again. Well, the purpose of my message today is not specifically directed at Christmas, but it is a good launching point to what I would like to talk about today. Now, when someone were to come up to us and wish us Merry Christmas, how do we respond? Well, for me, I would say that just depends on who's saying it. If it's the clerk at the checkout line at the store, I'm just trying not to get run over by the car behind me. So I'll probably just, you know, nod my head drunk and say have a nice day or something like that. But, you know, just trying to move on. If it's a friend, if it's a neighbor, if it's somebody that, you know, knows us fairly well, it often takes, I think, a deeper response than that. About a week ago, I called a customer to check on some work and see what they needed done at their place. And when I was getting off the phone, she said, you know what, I know you and your family. You're very religious people. So I just wanted to wish you a very Merry Christmas. She said, after all, it's all about the baby Jesus. And I thought, well, you know, I can't exactly let that slide. I probably should respond. So I'll share with you in a few minutes what I did answer with. Probably one of my favorite reactions to greeting this week was I took Tabitha to the dentist. And it's one of these children's dentistry places where they have it all decked out to be exciting for the kids. You know, as exciting as the dentist can be. They've got the video game stations in the lobby. They've got fish aquariums, tanks all over the place. When they take the kids back and tilt them back in the chair, they can watch the video on the ceiling. And they put on the little face mask with happy air. Or laughing gas, I think we would call it. But it's a typical kind of dentist that I would like to go to if I could. So, you know, they're making the kids comfortable. They're greeting everybody happy holidays and hello. And I take Tabitha back and the dental assistant says, Well, hi Tabitha. How are you today? And she said, I'm fine. She says, Are you looking forward to the holidays? And Tabitha said, Well, actually we don't celebrate Christmas. And she said, You don't celebrate Christmas? That's cool.

Anything to keep the kid happy, right? But, brethren, as Christians, why don't we celebrate Christmas? Well, there's a couple of reasons that I think we could name right off the top of our head. And, you know, if somebody says to you, Merry Christmas, and we respond with, Well, I don't celebrate Christmas. You know, on the surface, they may be generally shocked. After all, that's what Christians do. They celebrate Christmas, that's what people would think. Well, we don't celebrate Christmas primarily for two reasons. Number one, its customs are based in paganism and not Christianity. That's probably one of the first things that comes to our mind.

Its customs are based in paganism and not Christianity. Virtually all the customs associated with the Christmas observance are rooted in pagan festivals and various traditions that surround it honoring the pagan gods. For example, if we pull the date December 25th and ask why is December 25th associated with Christ's birth?

Well, if we look at the Scripture, it's obvious that there's no date given in Scripture to the birth of Jesus Christ. But we can look at the circumstances surrounding Christ's birth and the conditions on the ground. And we can be fairly confident that Christ was not born anywhere near December 25th. In fact, we are pretty sure that looks like Jesus Christ was born sometime around the fall of the feast. So, how did December 25th become linked to the celebration and the birth of Jesus Christ? Well, basically in a nutshell, if you go back in history, the Roman Empire, which was the dominant religion or the dominant empire at the time of Jesus Christ, you know, as they conquered areas and extended their reach and their territory, they would incorporate, you know, people under the umbrella of the Roman Empire.

But just as long as the people were peaceful and would support the Empire, they would allow them to keep many of their religious practices and customs. It was the same with the Jews at the time of Jesus Christ. And it's like Christianity for many years was able to kind of fly under the radar of the Romans because they didn't consider it a new religion. But just another sect of Judaism. Well, one of the religious customs that was assimilated into the Empire was the worship of Mithras.

Mithras was the Persian God of Light. Mithras was said to be born on December 25th, right around the time of the winter solstice. And by the time the Roman Empire, if you jump forward a few hundred years to the time of Constantine, what you find is that there are two competing religions that are competing for dominance in the Roman Empire. You have Christianity on one hand, which looks quite different from the Christianity of the Apostles' Day. And then you have the worship of Mithras.

What you have was Constantine, alongside that, looking to sure up his power base, seeing to solidify his role as the Roman Empire there. And so he wanted to bring those people together in support of him. So basically, the solution was to announce Christianity as the universal religion of the Roman Empire. But you weren't going to exclude the other half as well. You had to bring them in. And so basically, the worship of Mithras was converted to the worship of Jesus Christ. And it's December 25th. Now, that's just one example of the blending of customs of pagan observances that were blended into so-called Christianity.

Another example that a person could look at would be the origin of the Christmas tree. It's roots go...no pun intended... It's roots go all the way back to Nimrod and Cimaramis, and the foundation of Babylonian mystery religion. So one reason we don't celebrate Christmas, again, is because its customs are based in paganism. Not Christianity. Now, I'll try going out and telling that to a devout Christian today. Well, probably half of them will respond to you with, okay, you know, I know that. That's fine.

But it really doesn't affect what I do. I worship Christ on Christmas. To me, it's all about the baby Jesus, as my customer said. We have neighbors that every year put out the signs along the street that say, Keep Christ in Christmas. And so, you know, they're fed up with the commercialism and the materialism of Christmas, and they just want it to be about Jesus Christ. Well, if you tell the other half of Christianity that Christmas is based in paganism, probably all you really do is offend them. That shouldn't stop us from explaining the truth.

It shouldn't stop us from giving an answer. And I'll often explain those things if someone wants to know what the basis of those customs are. But there's another approach that we can take as well. And it's contained in the answer that I gave to my customer. And it's another primary reason why we don't observe Christmas. And that is, we don't celebrate Christmas because we worship before God and Christ as the Lord commands. As the Lord commands. Now, that's the title of my message today, and it's the specific topic I want to focus on going forward. As the Lord commands, it's how we live and worship before God and Christ.

Now, God expects our worship of Him and our obedience to Him to be according to His instructions, according to the words that He's laid out in Scripture. And what we need to understand is obedience is not legalism. Obedience is really an expression of worship before God. It's showing before God our desire to truly do what He desires for us to implement in our life. So, as we look at Scriptures and as it relates to Jesus Christ, do we have specific instructions as to how we're to pay remembrance to Christ? Now, the world's immersed in Christmas. How do we remember Jesus Christ? Well, if you follow me to 1 Corinthians, the 11th chapter, take a look at a passage that we oftentimes read during the Passover service.

1 Corinthians 11, beginning in verse 23, the Apostle Paul writing, 1 Corinthians 11, 23, Paul says, For I received from the Lord, that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which you would betray took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, Take, eat, this is my body which is broken for you, do this in remembrance of me. In the same manner, he also took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood, this do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.

For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till he cometh.

So we do have very specific instructions from Jesus Christ Himself, how it is that he wished to be worshipped and remembered and honored, how it is he expected his life to be recognized in our eyes. When we go through the Passover service, it's an annual reminder of the covenant we made with Jesus Christ at baptism. And so we do this, as the Scripture said, in remembrance of him.

That's why we observe the Passover today.

Now, the answer I gave to my customer that wished me a Merry Christmas was essentially, Well, thank you, but I don't celebrate Christmas. I actually remember Jesus Christ as the observance of the Passover. And I say all that because I don't want the person to think that I'm an atheist. You know, if you just said, Sorry, I don't celebrate Christmas, you know, that might not be as clear in their mind. You don't necessarily want to get lumped in with the atheists. But usually, once they're clear that I'm not an atheist, the next question that comes is, Well, are you Jewish? The Passover seems like a Jewish festival. But the answer is no, I observe Passover because Jesus Christ said to do this, the remembrance of me. As the Lord commands, brethren, it's how we live, how we respond, how we order our life before God and Jesus Christ. He doesn't want us picking up the customs of this world and blending them into our worship with Him. Deuteronomy chapter 12 contains a specific instruction for Israel. God gave it to them before they were entering the Promised Land. Deuteronomy 12 and verse 28.

Deuteronomy 12 and 28 says, God doesn't want His people incorporating the customs of the society. He says, God is very specific in how we're to remember Him, how we're to worship Him, and how we're to live our life before Him. Verse 32, God actually goes on beyond just saying, don't pick up their habits. He says, So God says, don't change anything. Don't make up your own rules. Don't shave a little off the edges just to accommodate what it is that you really want to do. Be careful to do exactly as I've laid out before you. As the Lord commands, that's how we worship before Him. God takes that principle very seriously. Unfortunately, when we look at the biblical record, what we see is that Israel didn't always take God's commands as seriously as the intended. Sometimes they outright rebelled against God. Sometimes they disobeyed God even in their ignorance. And yet, that wasn't an excuse. God put them to task for it. Either way, failure to follow through was not without consequences. Let's go to 1 Chronicles 13. I've seen an example we're all familiar with. 1 Chronicles 13 verse 1.

We have not inquired at it since the days of Saul. So what you recall is, years earlier, the Ark of the Covenant had been taken out in the battle. It had been captured by the Philistine. And then it kind of got passed around, place to place, because wherever they took the Ark, the plague followed. And eventually, the Philistine couldn't get rid of the Ark quick enough. Well, since the time of its return, it had been sitting at Kirach-Jerim about 10 miles from Jerusalem. Now David's saying, let's bring the Ark up. Verse 4 says, In all the congregations said that they would do so, for things were right in the eyes of all the people. So David gathered all Israel together from Shaior in Egypt to as far as the entrance of Hamath to bring the Ark of God from Kirach-Jerim.

And David and all Israel went to Bala, to Kirach-Jerim, which belonged to Judah, to bring up from there the Ark of God, the Lord, who dwells between the carobim, where his name is proclaimed. Verse 7, So they carried the Ark of God on a new cart from the house of Abinadab, and Uzzah and Ahai'o drove the cart.

What's the problem here? You know, David just wants to move the Ark up to Jerusalem. Is there a problem here? Probably most of us know what's coming. We know what the problem is. Keep your finger here for a moment. Let's go back to Numbers 4. We'll be returning the first chronicle in a minute. Let's go to Numbers 4. Look at verse 4.

Numbers 4, verse 4, it says, This is the service of the sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of meeting relating to the most holy things. The Ark of the Covenant was the most holy thing. It's where God's presence dwelled upon in the holy of holies. Verse 5, it says, When the camp prepares to journey, Aaron and his son shall come, and they shall take down the covering veil, and cover the Ark of the testimony with it.

Now we're talking about when the Ark is going to be moved from place to place. They took the tapestry down that hung between the holy place and the most holy place. They put that over the Ark of the Covenant. Verse 6, then they shall put on a covering of badger skins, and spread over that a cloth entirely of blue, and they shall insert its poles. The Ark of the Covenant, as it was constructed, it had gold rings, one on each of the four corners of the Ark. It had the two poles that were covered with gold that were inserted into the Ark. So when it was to be moved, it was to be carried on the shoulders of the Coethites.

God said, don't touch it. That's the way the Ark is to be transported. Now, when we go to Chronicles, we see it's put on a cart with oxen. What's the issue with cart and oxen? Is there a problem there? Well, if we jump forward just a little bit in Numbers, to chapter 7. Just look at verse 9 real quickly. Numbers 7 and verse 9, here, Moses is preparing to disperse carts and oxen among the Levites. And he says in verse 9, but to the sons of Kohath he gave none, because theirs was the service of the holy things which they carried on their shoulders.

So the manner and the instruction in which God said the Ark of the Covenant was to be moved. Now, if we go back to 1 Chronicles chapter 13 and pick up the story, then in verse 7, it says, So they carried the Ark of God on a new cart, from the house of the benedab, and Azzah and Ahai'o drove the cart. So here we have the wrong technique, don't we? We have people that are not doing according to what God's instructions were.

Verse 8, And David and all Israel played music before God with all their might, with singing on harps, on string instruments, on tambourines, on cymbals, and with trumpets. You know, they're just having this great festivity as they're bringing the Ark up. And when they came to the side of the crushing floor, Azzah put out his hand to hold the Ark, so the oxen stumbled, and the anger of the Lord was aroused against Azzah, and he struck him, because he put his hand to the Ark, and he died there before God.

That's pretty dramatic, isn't it? It's pretty dramatic. You know, here the oxen, they should not have been using, stumbled. And the cart, which they should not have been using, you know, is probably begin to tip. And Azzah doesn't want the Ark to get damaged, so he reaches out to stabilize the Ark, and God kills him. God kills him.

How serious do you think it is, and how serious do you think God takes his commands, when he tells us to observe all that he gives us to do? How serious is God about his commandments being observed as he's commanded them? Well, I say he's very serious. Verse 11, it says, As the Lord commands, it's how he expects his people to worship before him, how he expects them to live before him. It says, don't add to it, don't take away from it.

The Bible's full of examples that illustrate the point. Last week, Mr. Mickelson covered Saul, and his failure to completely destroy Agag and the Malachites. You recall the story, the Malachites attacked Israel when they came up out of Egypt. They actually came around and attacked him in the rear, where the women and children would be. And God said, Saul, it's time to take care of them. And so the instruction was, you go, you wipe them out completely, because of what they did to Israel when they came up out of Egypt.

And we remember the story, which was Saul went out, and he spared Agag, king of the Malachites. They spared the best of the sheep and the oxen, and the excuse was, it was to be for an offering to the Lord. If you recall the story, and in 1 Samuel 15.23, Samuel informed Saul that because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king.

So Saul, king of Israel, experienced the severe consequences of not doing as the Lord commanded. We can look at these examples, and maybe we could say, okay, well, you know, Uzzah, who is he really? I mean, he's just a guy who reached out and touched the ark, and God killed him. And we look at Saul, and yes, Saul was king of Israel, but he really wasn't that great of a king, so was it really all that big of a deal?

Well, how does God look at it when a faithful servant is an obedient? Does God have a double standard? Is it really different? Well, you remember Moses. Moses was a faithful servant of God, and he was denied access to the Promised Land, because in a moment of frustration, he struck the rock to bring out water, did he not? As opposed to speaking to it? As opposed to hallowing God in the eyes of the people, as God had commanded? Moses was a faithful servant of God.

He led the people of Israel out of Egypt. He was with them in the wilderness, and God said, you're not going to enter the Promised Land. It was a price to be paid. Rather, when God gives us instructions, we must be careful to observe them as the Lord commands, because those things are commanded for our good and for our benefit. You know Noah did that.

All the kids know the story of Noah. Let's turn back to Genesis 6. God gave Noah some very specific instructions to follow, if you recall. Genesis 6, verse 12. Genesis 6, verse 12 says, God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt. For all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. God said to Noah, the end of all flesh has come before me. For the earth is filled with violence through them, and behold I will destroy them with the earth. God gave Moses instructions. He says, make for yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms inside the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch.

This is how you shall make it. He says the length of the ark shall be 300 cubits. It's with 50 cubits and 30 cubits. You shall make a window for the ark. It's interesting, and it appears there was one window, a window. You shall finish it to a cubit from above, and set the door of the ark in its side. You shall make it with lower, second, and third decks. If you hold I myself in bringing a flood of waters on the earth to destroy them from under heaven, all flesh in which is the breath of life, and everything that is on the earth shall die. Verse 18, but I will establish my covenant with you. You shall go into the ark. You and your sons, your wife, your sons, your wife's sons. Your sons' wives. Verse 19, in every living thing of all flesh you shall bring, two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female. Of the birds after their kind, of animals after their kind, and of every creeping thing of the earth after its kind, two of every kind will come to you and keep them alive. You shall take for yourself all food that is to be eaten. You shall gather it to yourself, and it shall be food for you and for them. Verse 22 says, Thus Noah did, according to all that God commanded him, so he did.

So here we have very specific instructions from God. And I would say, you know, your life depends on following these instructions, Noah. He says, Noah did what God expected. What if he hadn't? What if Noah had taken some shortcuts, or cut some corners along the way, try to shave a decade or two off the construction of the ark? What if the lumberyard was having a sale on pine instead of gopherwood? What if Noah's wife wanted more than one window because she suffered from seasonal affective disorder? You know, I've heard it's a problem in the rainy season. What if, you know, he only made one level instead of three, and he changed the dimensions, and he didn't divide it into rooms, and so you had all the animals just kind of floating around the ark. Well, you'd probably end up with all the elephants and rhinoceros and giraffes on one side of the ark, and when the floodwaters came, it could end up like the Poseidon Adventure.

Moses did, as the Lord commanded. No one serious question I'd have for Moses, or Noah, when I see Noah. You know, my question to him is, how did you manage to keep the fly population down to two? And how did you know it was male and female? Minor details. He probably had a big fly for water. But Noah did what God commanded, as God commanded. And Noah and his family, and all that were with him, were saved through that destruction of the flood.

Brother, what's the difference between a person that God can use in his service, and one that he can't? Well, the difference is, a person who is useful to God is one who will do what is right in God's eyes, as opposed to what is right in their own eyes. And oftentimes, there is a difference. Noah had an employee one time that worked for me for one day.

One day only. I fired them after one day. And the problem was, he wouldn't follow a specific instruction he was given. You see, we were hired to do a job of cutting brush out from around a house that was built in the middle of the woods. This man wanted a fire break, and so he took us out, and he said, I want all this brush cut out of here. We need to rake up the pine needles, clean everything up under all these trees out here.

He was afraid of fire, and rightly so. And one specific request that he made was, he said, I don't want anybody smoking out here. And for me, that was a simple request. I don't smoke, but my health did. I said, okay, that's fine. And I told my helper, I said, you know what, I don't mind if you need to smoke. Take a smoke break whenever you want, but do it out at the truck. He doesn't want a fire here, and we need to respect that.

And he said, okay, no problem. While we're working for a while, I'm working around the front of the house. I come around about an hour later, and he's standing out there in the middle of the woods, taking a drag off a cigarette. So I said, okay, what are you doing? I confronted him. I asked him, you know, don't you remember? Instruction. You're going to smoke. I don't mind if you do it, but go do it out at the truck. And we said, well, you know, I didn't think it was that big of a deal.

And he said, well, it is. Do it at the truck. Later on in the day, again, I'm working around the front of the house, come around the back, and I look around, and I don't see him. I'm like, where is this guy? And I'm looking around, and he's nowhere in sight, but I smell the smoke. And what he's done, he dust behind a tree.

He was standing there smoking a cigarette. So I fired him. I fired him because if he wasn't going to follow a small instruction, how can I trust him to follow a big instruction? You know, to him, it wasn't that big of a deal in his eyes. And if I recall his response was something like, whoa, dude. But, you know, it wasn't that big of a deal in his eyes, but it was a big deal in the homeowner's eyes.

And it was a big deal in my eyes, because again, if I couldn't trust him in the little things, how could I trust him in the big things? Well, doesn't God look at us in much the same way? Doesn't he look at us to see if we're going to be faithful and diligent to do what he's commanded? Doesn't God want to see that we're actually diligent with the little things? For faithful with the little things, he knows we can be trusted someday with the big things.

So God's looking to see, are we going to follow as the Lord commands? You know, at times there's a difference between what's right to God and what seems right and proper to us. Hopefully those differences are becoming fewer and fewer because we have God's spirit and we're learning and we're growing. Sometimes there's a difference. Sometimes we figuratively grab ahold of the Ark of the Covenant, you know, because that seems like the right thing to do. You know, other, he was just, I suppose, doing what he was told. I don't know. But the fact is, he's walking along and the Ark's tipping and he doesn't want it to get damaged.

So the right thing to do seems to be to grab the Ark. But God said, don't do that. Don't touch that. In fact, the Ark should have never been in that situation to begin with. Proverbs 14, verse 12 says, there's a way that seems right to a man, but it's end is the way of death. It's not according to God's will. It's not according to what God would instruct. But, brother, sometimes we think we know what's best. And sometimes we think that there are reasonable exceptions to God's laws and instructions.

And sometimes we can even justify ourselves for not following as the Lord commands. A couple of examples of that. One would be Sabbath's attendance. It's a pretty simple instruction. God's Word said the Sabbath as a command of the assembly, the holy convocation, which means it's a meeting that God convokes. God says, I'll be there with my presence. You come and honor me with yours. Leviticus chapter 23, 23 tells us that, which means it's an assembly that God expects us to attend.

What can sometimes happen is we can look at the same verse and we can say, well, you know, I'm tired. It's been a busy week. It's a cold day out there. I don't know if I really want to venture out. So I'll sit at home. I'll watch the cybercast. And that way I'm resting and I'm getting a service, too. Well, that's not fulfilling the Sabbath day as the Lord commands. The fact is there are legitimate reasons for not being a Sabbath service. So I'm not addressing that. But if we fail to assemble because it's been a busy week or retired, then we're not putting the high priority that we should on the Sabbath day. The Sabbath should be the focus of the week. The other six days build toward the Sabbath. If we're not putting the right time and the right intention into preparing for the Sabbath, then we need to reevaluate what we're doing the other six days of the week. Because if we're not careful what can happen, we can tend to just justify ourselves right out of the assembly. God said, you assemble before me. The fact is there are people sitting right here in this room that if all they were was very tired, they'd be doing pretty good. And they're here as often as they can be here on the Sabbath. As the Lord commands is how we serve before Him. Another example would be God's word says, don't be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. Second Corinthians 6.14. And that's a point I try to point out to the teens on occasion as we have Bible studies. But marriage is a form of yoking together with another. Marriage should be avoided between a believer and an unbeliever. I'm not referring now to people who are married outside the church and God calls them in or calls one spouse in. But I'm referring to single people converted within the church of God. A believer should not go out and marry an unbeliever. Why? Well, because your foundational value system will be different. Your outlook on life will be different. The fact is you are the temple of the living God and they are not. And so your priorities will be quite different. Deuteronomy 22.10 says you shall not plow with an ox and donkey together. It's an unequal yoke. It's a clean animal and an unclean animal. In addition to that, you know it's two different types of animals, so they pull differently. A donkey and an ox, they can't work the same. They don't have the same synergy together as would two animals of the same kind. You know, it seems like at times people can look around and we can justify opposition to the principles that God gives us. You know, someone could look around and say, you know what? I know people who went out and married someone outside the church and they have a wonderful relationship. In fact, God called that person into the church and they're here today. And that's true. And that is indeed a blessing and God works things out in that way. Those same people would also say, you know what? I know people who have married inside the church and things haven't worked out so well. You know what? That's true, too. It simply means that even in the church we have struggles and we have challenges. That's reality. We have things that we need to work through. But the fact that those circumstances don't negate the truth of God's Word, they don't change the validity of what God has to say and how we're to live before Him.

As the Lord commands, how we're to live. Don't add to it and don't take away from it.

But then when we do what's right in our eyes, as opposed to what God says to do, it generally doesn't work out so well for us in the end.

Oftentimes it doesn't. So we have to be doing what's right before God. Not what might seem right and good to us.

How dedicated are we to obeying God? How far would we actually go to serve before God as He commands? You know, it's pretty easy when life is good and the streets are plowed and the car is full of gas. It's pretty easy to drive to church and be here. But how diligent would we be with a little bit of opposition?

Arla and I were down in Kennelwick a couple weeks ago and Lionel Marquez mentioned something to Arla that occurred at the feast a couple years ago and kind of caught my attention. So I emailed Lionel this week and asked if he'd write up something for me. And I'd like to share a little bit with you what he sent to me.

Again, the question is, how far would we go to serve before God as He commands?

Lionel says, in 2011 we kept the feast in Guatemala. Hurricane Hova hit the west coast of Guatemala in Mexico with strong winds and heavy rain. I remember sitting at the feast in Bend and there was a prayer request that went out. Pray for the brethren.

It says, there were maybe eight of us at the resort opening night. People could not get to the feast site because of heavy rain, landslides, flooding, road wash outs, bridges that were gone. Well, probably for me, that would be enough to turn around and go home, wouldn't it?

Well, he says, Mr. and Mrs. Cumey... I'm sorry if I can't pronounce the names quite right, but Mr. and Mrs. Cumey, Mayan Indians from northern Guatemala and their two sons rode the bus until it could go no further because of the land fly.

It says, they trampled through ankle deep mud to get past the land slide, carrying their belongings, then connect with the band from the resort. They told us they were determined to get to the feast. They kept saying, we need to get there.

I can't imagine carrying my belongings for the feast on my back, climbing through a mud slide. You know, our car is loaded down and there's things strapped on the roof and strapped on the back in every which direction when we go to the feast.

Lionel says, also on the first holy day, there were about 25 people who had arrived. Mr. Beller, an elder from Florida, Mr. Cumey and I helped to have services at the resort. Mr. Rob Leto, the minister, held services with another group in Guatemala City. Mr. Solarenzo had another small group in another location. Later that day, people started trickling into the feast site through mud and muck.

The following night, Mr. Rob Leto arrived with, I believe, 67 other people with the help of the fire department and police rescue battalion.

So, these people had to walk across a wood and rope footbridge carrying their belongings and children because the road and bridges were washed out. And the resort where the feast is held is rather isolated and limited to access by road.

This is a family from El Salvador tried to cross into Guatemala in the south, but because of the conditions, they had to drive north, far out of their way, to be able to get across into Guatemala. I believe they said it was a 14-hour drive to cross into Guatemala, a 14-hour detour on the way to the feast.

The Border Patrol gave them trouble because of the children, but they were determined to get to the feast however long the delay.

A group from Panama flew into Guatemala City but were turned away because of the hurricane, winds, and rain. They were stranded in Costa Rica for two days before they could return to Guatemala City and drove to the feast site, which was three or four hours away. They said everyone was determined to be at God's feast. Everyone wanted to serve in one way or another. Though very poor and they had little to offer, they wanted to be able to serve God at the feast.

I think it's an incredible example of people that are willing to do whatever was physically possible, whatever they could physically do to assemble before God. Because God says, these are my feasts, I will be there, you come where I place my name.

People went through landslides, mud, foot bridges, rope bridges. How far would we have gone?

Interesting question to consider. Something else that Lionel had mentioned, the Darla was the fact that many that came to the feast only had the funds to eat every other day. So the accessible coordinator put together a meal two or three times during the feast so that could be supplemented. These people came in on faith. Would you go to the feast knowing you could only feed your family every other day?

These people did.

God's word is true. His instructions are true and they're in result of obedience that it leads us to truth. Now the problem we sometimes face in the church is sometimes we get distracted from the truth. We live in a very post-modern age which looks at life and looks at truth as not absolute.

Many people in the world don't regard truth as black and white, as right and wrong. Rather, the concept of truth has become relative to circumstance. Which means what is true to you and your situation may not be true to me. That's a post-modern philosophy. In a February 2002 report titled Americans are most likely to base truth on feelings. The Barna group published these findings. They say, quote, In two national surveys conducted by Barna Research, one among adults and one among teenagers, people were asked if they believed that there are moral absolutes that are unchanging or if moral truth is relative to circumstance. By a margin of three to one, adults said truth is always relative to the person in their situation. The perspective was even more lopsided among teenagers, 83% of whom said moral truth depends on the circumstances. Only 6% of teenagers who said moral truth is absolute. That's the world we're living in. God's word is absolute. God's word is truth. But this world can't seem to hold truth as something that is solid and unchanging and absolute.

Postmodern perspective of truth basically leads to the position that truth is in the eye of the beholder. Whatever works for me and is right in my circumstances, that's what all judges truth. Postmodernism has given us an age of acceptance, of tolerance towards sin. I think the homosexual lifestyle is a prime example. People say, well, you know what? If it works for them, who am I to judge?

Postmodernism has led to political correctness. It's led to multiculturalism, which is to say, well, you know, no culture is any better in the way that they raise their children or treat their wife, or in the way they worship God, or what God they worship. Acceptance of everyone's religious beliefs as valid is a result of postmodernism and the belief that all roads lead to God. Well, as Christians, how should we view these things? As Christians, we need to understand that moral truth is absolute. Absolutely. Biblical truth is absolute. And the fact is, Biblical truth is the basis of moral truth. God is the author of truth. He's the author of morality. And living before God as the Lord commands, not adding to it, not taking away from it, is the antidote to postmodernism. Because God's word is what grounds us in truth. That word is that compass that keeps us pointing north, so we know what is the right and proper direction to go. We don't just make it up along the way. God's word is true, and it leads us to truth. Let's go to Psalm 33. Psalm 33, verse 4, says, Proverbs 30, verse 5 Verse 5 says, And God's word is just fine as it is. We don't need to change it. We don't need to improve on it. We don't need to try to adjust it for our needs in some way. We simply need to live as He commands.

Jesus Christ did find opportunity to rebuke the Pharisees over their traditions. Traditions that they held very tightly to. In fact, they were customs and traditions that even at times circumvented the law of God. Let's go to John chapter 4. John 4, verse 23. I'm sorry, I jumped the head once I hear my notes. Mark 7.

Mark chapter 7, verse 1 says, And the Pharisees came, and some of the scribes came together to Him, having come from Jerusalem. Now when they saw some of His disciples eat bread with defile, that is with unwashed hands, they found faults. For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands in a special way, holding to the tradition of the elders. When they came from the marketplace, did they not eat unless they wash hands? And there are many other things which they have received and hold, like the washing of cups, pitchers, copper vessels, and couches. So they were the traditions and the ceremonial washings and things that they did. To them, represented a level of righteousness. It really wasn't righteousness at all. Verse 5, it says, The Christ of those traditions and those customs were nothing more than vanity. They're worthless. They account for nothing in the worship of God. And in fact, many times they would bring you and bring the Pharisees outside the laws and the standards of God at times. Verse 8, it says, And he said to them, So what they were doing was they were actually, in some cases, elevating their own traditions and customs over God's commandments. They found ways to justify their actions and oppositions to God. Verse 10 says, So whatever profit you might have received from me is Corbin that is dedicated to the temple, and you no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother, making the word of God of no effect to your tradition, which you have handed down. Corbin was essentially an offering that was given to God through the temple, and it was used for special temple use. And once they gave it, it couldn't be recalled back. And the fact is the Pharisees were encouraging people to give to Corbin. When you gave this special offering, you were, in a way, off the hook of actually taking care of your parents financially as you should have. The Christ is rebuking them here. He says, What are you doing? You're making this tradition of yours elevated up over the commandment of Moses that you would honor your father or mother. Verse 11 says, God and Christ don't take it lightly when men trump or try to circumvent the commandments of God through their tradition. That's why we actually go to this verse oftentimes during the Christmas season, during the Easter season. The fact is, Christ said, in vain, they worship me teaching as doctrines of commandments of man. We can put these customs and these traditions into what we call the worship of Christ. And they're not what God commanded. In fact, vain. The fact is, we can't package physical customs and symbols and make them accepted to God. We simply need to do what He says. John chapter 4, close to the end here, John chapter 4 verse 23. To the instruction we receive in the Word of God is that we need to worship God and Christ in spirit and in truth. John 4, 23 says that the hour is coming. Now is, When the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth. Which means we must worship God in the manner that suitable to Him. He's based in spirit and truth. Christmas is in no way, shape, or form grounded in spirit and truth. It's a fact grounded in physical customs and traditions that are wrapped up into a package of lies. It has a bow slapped on it. God says, don't worship Me in that way. So, as we evaluate these things, what is our responsibility in the matter? How do we worship before God? Let's conclude in Deuteronomy chapter 10.

Deuteronomy 10 and verse 12.

Deuteronomy 10 and 12 says, And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? We could say, and now, spiritual Israel. Or now, the Church of God, what does the Lord your God require of you? But to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord in His statutes, which I commanded you today, for your good. You see, when we follow God's way, as He's commanded, it's for our good. It's for our benefit. But then, let's not be swayed from the truth of God. Let's not be pulled aside by the customs and traditions of this world. But let's rededicate ourselves to living before God in a manner that's pleasing to Him. God's Word is holy. God's Word is truth. So, let's put these things to practice in our lives, as the Lord commands.