Major Reasons Why We Believe and Practice What We Do

Last Sabbath, after services, by the time Mary and I got home, it was dark. And being it was Halloween, we saw all sorts of little fellas and little gals out with their parents trick-or-treating. I'm sure that all of the folks who were out there doing that perhaps thought that there's no harm in this. This is just fine. This is all well and good. But we know different than that, don't we? We know a great deal different than that. You know, brethren, there have been times in our lives where you and I have, because our belief structure is so different from the people we associate with, either at work or in a neighborhood or even some of our relatives, our belief structure is so different. There are times we've had our share of disapproving looks. We've received our share of condemning commentary. We understand this. We understand why. We understand that people who've done this simply don't understand where we're coming from. God's not called them. We understand that. We appreciate that. But I think sometimes, brethren, too many times, you and I have taken a defensive posture when it comes to proclaiming the things to others that we hold dear. I believe that you and I should take a more proactive approach to defending the faith. This world is in an awful situation. It's getting worse by the day. When you see what's happening in our country, it's getting worse by the day. You and I know that God the Father and Jesus Christ is only so much they're going to take, and then Christ is going to return.

I can also tell you that people want truth. They may not know it, but they hunger and thirst for the truth. You've got it. God has given us the responsibility of giving it to those who want it needed. But we don't do it in the proper way if you and I take a defensive approach to defending the faith. We want to take a proactive, positive, vigorous approach to defending the faith.

We want to be bold in the faith. Now, over the years, I've heard people say, I'm being bold in the faith. When in reality, they were rude. In reality, they were confrontational. They were in somebody's face. In reality, they named, called, they argued, they condemned. That's not what we're talking about here. We want to be positive.

We want to be courteous. We want to be respectful. But we want to stand for what is true and what is right and what is good. So, as I said, this must be done without arguing, name-calling. It must be done in love. It must be done with a real desire to have a conversation that is fruitful. Our approach should be, come, let us reason together. Now, I prepared this sermon weeks ago.

It's awful hard when you're home and the doctors tell you, don't do anything. Day after day, week after week, month after month. You know, doing nothing. Now, I can do nothing with the best of them. You know, I can sit on a couch as a couch potato. I can take root. I'm good at that. But there comes a point where even that becomes really boring. And so, even though they may, nurses may not have liked it, I went upstairs to my office and turned on the computer and I pounded out six different sermons in the last couple of months.

This one I pounded out many weeks ago. So, unless anybody think I just put this together yesterday, I didn't. But it's interesting because as I was thinking about this topic, various things were coming to me as I was thinking about it and doing some research. I found an article by a pastor of a leading Protestant denomination.

I'm not going to give the pastor's name. I'm not going to tell you which denomination. But it's one of the largest in this country, Protestant denomination. This pastor is featured on television, radio, print, social media. He is a church pastor. He's established himself, he says, as a leader and commentator in the areas of faith, Christianity, ministry, and social media. He wrote an article, Seven Reasons Why Christians Should Celebrate Halloween. Seven reasons. Now, I'm not going to go through all those seven reasons.

But as I was reading through his article, it just struck me that this is the kind of thinking that you and I, as we want to have an answer for those who come to us with questions, we need to appreciate where they're coming from. Let me just go through a few of these things fairly quickly to get a mindset. Number one, and I'm not going to give all seven, but number one, he said, the establishment of Christmas and Easter in Europe had pagan connections, but we do not abandon these holidays.

Neither should we abandon all holidays Eve. So notice this pastor, he will freely admit, and most of Christendom, people call Christendom, does admit that Christmas and Easter have pagan origins, pagan connections. But he says we don't have to let that in any way hinder us, because, hey, we all do it. But he views these things as a package. So we're looking at Christmas, we're looking at Easter, we're looking at Halloween, we're looking at Valentine's Day, we're looking at the whole package.

Secondly, the second point he makes, understanding that the early Christians contextualized early pagan holidays and the Christian holidays, helps us to see that we don't have to compromise our beliefs with the pagan ones. He says, early Christians contextualize. In other words, they merged what they believed and what the pagans were believing. Had a nice little merging session there. And so we don't have to, therefore, forsake what we believe.

We'll go through this in the balance of the sermon, but do we as Christians have any right to decide how and what the way God should be properly worshipped? Now, we're all free moral agents. We can say we're atheists, we can say we're this or that or the other. But only God tells us how we're to worship Him. We can't do that and say, well, because these people did it, it's okay if we do it. I mean, as parents, as parents or aunts or uncles, you know, little Johnny says, well, sissy did this.

And so I did it. So it's okay. And as a parent, what do we say? Well, just because little sissy did it doesn't mean you can do it. But when it comes to religion, that's exactly what people are doing. Well, this group doesn't in that group. Well, does God want us to do it? A third one of his points was the evil themes in our current secular Halloween observances were not always present. Thus, we can recapture the spiritual with the innocent. And I'm saying, what? Evil themes in our current secular Halloween observances were not always present. Thus, we can recapture the spiritual with the innocent.

What spiritual was ever there to begin with? Good spiritual. I want to quote from the History Channel. You can go there, history.com. Here's what the History Channel has to say about the origins of Halloween. It says, Halloween is a time of celebration and superstition. It is thought to have originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Snowin. Now, if you want to do a little research on that, Snowin is not spelled the way it's pronounced.

Snowin is spelled as S-A-M-H-A-I-M. Now, it would be really interesting for you to go and do some research on that. So, an S-A-M-H-A-I-M. On this festival of Snowin, people with light bonfires wear costumes to ward off roaming ghosts.

So, this is how Halloween originated. I would ask, where is the spiritual content there for a Christian? In the 8th century, Pope Gregory III designated November 1st as a time to honor all the saints. In other words, saints who didn't have their own day. Enmartyrs, all saints, they incorporated some of the traditions of Snowin. Lastly, and I found this to be interesting, a pastor who is apparently a large church in that particular denomination, which was one of the biggest in this country, Protestant denomination.

Here's one of his other points. If you think Halloween is an evil day, then maybe you should see all Hallows' Eve as a time when Christians can laugh and even mock evil. Now, somewhere I'm not getting that. I'm not getting where Christians ever should be laughing and mocking evil. Going back to the History Channel, they say this. For many modern pagans, Snowin considered a Sabbath to honor the ancestors who come before us marked the dark time of the year.

It's a good time to contact the spirit world with a séance, because it's the time when the veil between this world and the next is at its thinnest. Snowin is the beginning of the witch's new year. That's right. Snowin is the beginning of the witch's new year.

So, brethren, obviously, people, even though in some ways they may know, well, Christmas is non-Christian beginnings, Easter, all the tie-ins there, Halloween, Valentine's Day. But that's not how we do it. Well, does God really care about how we do it? Does God care about what the truth is? Here's the goal, as I was putting my thoughts together. Here's our goal, brethren.

What we should want to accomplish is to let those who question us realize that we have solid biblical backing and reasoning for what we do. We want to help them to see that in major doctrinal areas, not in every area, but in major doctrinal areas, they simply don't have solid, biblical backing and reasoning for what they do. So, my point today, if you're taking notes, you want to write something across the top of your paper. I'm going to go through some of the major reasons why we, as Christians, believe and practice what we do.

I've got four different areas I want to cover with you, and there could be many, many more, but four different areas I want to cover with you, as to what we do and why. And we want to be bold. We want to be dynamic. We want to be vibrant. We want to let people know what we believe. We don't want to be rocked back out of your heels.

When we understand what they...you know, we're celebrating the witch's new year, and you're calling us weird? Now, I wouldn't say that to somebody's face, but I mean, when we have that background knowledge, we can be pretty land-hard. Again, we don't want to be rude. We don't want to be in their face. We don't want to be argumentative. But we want to stand there and be able to discuss with people what we believe with courage and conviction, with color and vibrancy.

We want to be able to paint the picture so well, people will want to ask questions, and they'll want to come to services. They'll want more answers. So I divided the sermon into four areas here. Number one, God's Church is taught by God from the Bible.

God's Church is taught by God from the Bible. Sounds pretty basic, doesn't it? It is basic. Let's go to John 6. You've got this in your scriptural vocabulary. Some of you memorized a long, long time ago. John 6, verses 44 and 45. In my Bible, it's all red lettering, all the words of Jesus Christ. John 6, verses 44. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. It shows the primacy of the Father, of God, in our lives.

Christ says, and I'll raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, and they all shall be taught by who? They all shall be taught by God. Therefore, everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. The Bible, the Word of God, is primary. It is not any man, I don't care what man in the world that we want to talk about.

It is the Word of God. That is what counts. Our words only count as they coincide, as they match what God has to say, as they support what God has to say. In your notes, you might want to jot down Leviticus 23. Leviticus 23. But I want to have you turn to, if you would, over to 2 Timothy 3, 2 Timothy 3, verses 15-17.

There are those people out there that think that the Bible is at war with itself. I've commented about that. I've written you midweek Bible studies about them. We just don't need the Old Testament. How many times when you see Bibles that are freely given out, you'll see, typically, it's the New Testament with Psalms and Proverbs. Don't need anything else in the Old Testament. Well, is that what God says? What he says is the absolute authoritative word on the matter.

2 Timothy 3, verse 15. Paul talking to a young man, Timothy. Verse 15, and that from childhood, you have known the holy Scriptures. Now, the only Scriptures Timothy could have known from childhood were the Old Testament Scriptures. The New Testament hadn't been written yet. And that from childhood, you've known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for what?

Able to make you wise for salvation. Brethren, if all we had was the Old Testament, we would have all the knowledge we need to have a saving understanding of who God is, who Christ is, and so forth. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, David, and Moses, they're all Old Testament people, but they'll be in God's kingdom because they accept that Jesus Christ by faith. You and I look back to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We weren't alive 2,000 years ago, but in faith we look back.

These people, in faith, look forward into history. They were not going to live when Christ walked the earth, but in faith they looked forward and they accepted Christ as their Savior. They had the knowledge of the Old Testament Scriptures. They saw the prophecies. They accepted those. And so if somebody comes to you and says, well, you know, I'm a New Covenant Christian, I'm only going to really accept the Scriptures that deal with Christianity after the death of Jesus Christ. And there are people who will make that argument.

So here we have inspired Scripture says, and that from childhood you've known the Holy Scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation. Through faith, yes, those Old Testament Scriptures with faith makes you wise. Verse 16, Old Testament and New. All Scripture is inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in what? In righteousness, Old Testament and New. That the man or the woman of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. So if people wanted to say, well, we don't really study much into the Old Testament, then they really can't be complete. How can you be looking at the things of God and say, well, I'm just going to mark off a whole section of Scripture. Now, if all you had was the Old Testament, well, that's fine. But you and I, we've got both Old and New. But we can't say to ourselves, well, I'm just going to throw the Old Testament out. Can't do that. Now, that's where we're coming from. We're taught by God from the Bible is the world. The world's religions, in so many cases, they've got their own traditions. They don't necessarily match what the Scriptures have to say. Christ spoke about that. Let's take a look at Mark 7. Mark 7. Mark 7. And in vain they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. Yes, people can worship. Good people! I think about many of my family members. You wouldn't get any better people walking the face of this earth than a lot of my family members. They're another major denomination in this country. Just wonderful, wonderful people. But they worship different doctrines of men, traditions of men.

Verse 8, For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the traditions of men, the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things as you do. All too well you reject the commandment of God that you may keep your tradition. You know, brethren, all of us, well, I should say, well, most all of us in this room, have come to a place where it was painful to follow God. I remember as a young person having to, because I was a young person, I was still under my parents' authority, we had to go over to Grandma's house for Christmas.

And you've never lived until you've been one of these big Italian family gatherings where my one aunt, lover, wonderful person, but she would always want to go to church and come back, and she normally would come back from church like two o'clock in the morning. And all the kids had to wait for auntie so-and-so to come before we can open the presents. So we're on each other's nerves, we're on everybody's nerves, but there's probably a gathering of maybe thirty or forty people there. And everybody's exchanging gifts. Then it becomes Randy's turn. Randy's fifteen years old. Randy stands up and says, Folks, I love you all, but I'm not keeping Christmas anymore.

Wasn't easy! Wasn't easy for a fifteen-year-old kid in front of people who were schoolteachers and lawyers and white-collar types. And many of you, all of you, have the same kind of story. There were times in your life where you simply had to say, you know, I can't do this anymore because God says it's not right. It's going to hurt, and my family members aren't going to understand it. But you know what? I've got to do what God says. I've got to do what God says.

So that's number one. Number two, we're taught by God from the Bible. The rest of the world is many times taught by their own set of beliefs that they get from any number of sources, not from God. Number two, we are led in the church by God's Holy Spirit. We're led by God's Holy Spirit. Let's turn to Romans 8, verse 14. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. You've got to be led by His Spirit. If you're not led by that Spirit, then you're not a son of God.

Now, what must you do to have God's Holy Spirit? I'm not going to turn there, but in Acts 5, verse 32, it says, God gives His Spirit to those who obey Him. So if we don't obey God, we don't have a Spirit.

If we don't have a Spirit, we're not Christians. Romans 8. Let's take a look over here at 1 Corinthians 2. Well, before you turn, if you're still there in chapter 8, I made comment. I didn't read the Scripture. Let's look at Romans 8, verse 9. Romans 8, verse 9. But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now, if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.

Brethren, this is not a time for political correctness. This is a time for us to look squarely into the Word of God and understand what it says. And what it says is that God does have requirements for us.

We'll get into that a little bit later in the sermon. God does have requirements for us. Obedience is one of those requirements. 1 Corinthians, now let's go to 1 Corinthians, chapter 2. 1 Corinthians, chapter 2 and verse 9. But as it is written, I has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.

But God has revealed unto us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. If we don't have that Spirit because we're not obeying God, we can't understand the deep things of God. Verse 11. What man knows the things of a man except the Spirit of man which is in him? Even so, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now, we've not received the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.

So we are led by God's Holy Spirit. I'm not saying that people in the world aren't loving, aren't good, aren't kind, haven't done many wonderful things because they have. You and I have been called God for whatever the reason has not called them. But, brethren, that gives us...we have a tremendous responsibility to them. As we heard in the sermon at today, we are to be a light to the world.

And as you and I are a light to the world, we're not a light to glorify ourselves. We are a light to give God the glory. We are the salt of the earth. We are to add flavor. God's flavor, not our own. Now, in this introduction to the message today, I went through some of the points that the one pastor had as to why he felt we should keep Halloween. Let's take a look at Colossians 2, because I think Colossians 2 discusses where that gentleman was coming from. And one day he'll understand. When God opens up his heart and mind to see things, he'll understand. Right now, that's not the case. But note that God says, Colossians 2, verse 8, it says, Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. So we have got to be very careful that we only look into the Word of God, not our own philosophy, not what we think is right and good. What does the Bible say about our hearts? Our hearts are desperately wicked, what does it say about our righteousness, like filthy rags? We can't rely upon what we think. We must look upon what God says. Now, in preparing for the message today, I went back to something that many of us in this room can relate to. I probably have... I think I've got all but one of my old Bibles in my house.

I think the very first Bible I had, and I was going to Ambassador Call, somewhere along the way in some of the moves, it got lost. But I've got, I think, all the other ones. And I've always liked to get those nice, big, thick, wide margin Bibles where I could take notes. And in the areas where it talked about God's true church, I would put in the margin WCG.

WCG. Worldwide Church of God. Now, I was doing that back in the 70s, the 80s. Stop doing that in the 90s. Our former association, which I put many decades into, and many of you did as well, turned the corner and embraced beliefs that we would call heresy.

They changed their name, and they became Grace Communion International. Here or two ago, I gave a series of sermons. I gave six sermons going through because we had a new person coming to church. The person said, well, my friends don't want me to come back to church. I've been gone 15 years. They don't want me coming back to church. Mr. Dale Sander, how do I answer their questions about Sabbath-keeping? That's why I said, let me see what they've got. And it was from our old association, but now it's called Grace Communion. They had all these things about why we don't need to keep the Sabbath. I took six or seven sermons all back to back, and I went through line by line what they said and what the Scriptures say regarding the Sabbath. Now, I want to do the same thing, but not, obviously, not seven sermons, six or seven sermons. But I want to read just a paragraph. This paragraph is what Grace Communion International believes when it comes to Christmas. Now, just last year, at Christmas time, I gave a sermon, you know, It's Christmas Sin. And I showed how Christmas breaks all ten of the Ten Commandments. But here's a paragraph that Grace Communion wrote, and I want to just discuss this with you. When Israel added Hanukkah and Purim to its religious calendar, events that celebrated God's saving acts in Jewish history, these were acceptable to God. Examples such as these have led many Christians to conclude that the Church also has the freedom to add to its calendar festivals to celebrate God's intervention in human affairs, such as the birth of Christ, Christmas, and the resurrection of Jesus, Easter. Now, how do you understand that particular paragraph? Let's go through that. When Israel added Hanukkah and Purim to its religious calendar, did Israel add anything to the sacred calendar in Leviticus, Chapter 20? No. Do they have the authority? Did Israel have the authority to add anything to its sacred calendar? No. Now, turn in your Bibles to Deuteronomy, Chapter 5, and verse 32. Here in Deuteronomy, Chapter 5, you've got a retelling of the Ten Commandments before the children of Israel are to go into the Promised Land.

But in Israel had no authority to add anything to God's Word. Today's Christians have no authority to say, well, that's how the pagans did Christmas and Easter back in the day, but that's not how we view it. Well, we don't have that authority to make those kinds of decisions.

Deuteronomy, Chapter 5, and verse 32. Therefore you shall be careful to do as the Lord your God has commanded you. You shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. We do what God says. We don't turn to the right hand or to the left. Now, in Leviticus, Chapter 23, Hanukkah and Purim are not listed. They couldn't have been listed back in those days from a historical point of view. But turn over to Leviticus, Chapter 23, and look at verse 2. Leviticus, Chapter 23, and verse 2.

Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, The feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are my feasts.

Notice, God is speaking, God is directing, God says, these are my feasts. He doesn't say these are Jewish feasts. He says, these are my feasts. And furthermore, he says, these are holy convocations. A holy convocation is a commanded assembly. We don't just pick and choose. God commands, God is a, you know, if you've got a summons, and this is what this word means as well, a summons. If you get a summons from a judge to be in court on a certain day, you're going to be there. Because you know there's consequences for not being there. When God gives us a summons, a holy convocation, a holy summons, to be at a certain place at a certain time because it's a holy day, we better be there.

Now, Hanukkah and Purim are national historic days, much like our 4th of July or Thanksgiving. The Jews instituted Purim to commemorate their deliverance during the time of Esther. Hanukkah is to celebrate the rededication of the Jerusalem Temple, after it's the following by the Assyrian invader and Tychus Epiphanies. Now, I want you to listen to the next sentence very carefully. I lifted it from our literature because I think it's a very important and germane idea to the discussion we're having right now. And I quote, An important distinction, we're going to take a look down between the world's holidays and God's holy days. Various states say, well, we'll just add Christmas and Easter because, well, that's what we can do then.

Well, can we do that? According to what God says. Notice here. It says, an important distinction between acceptable holidays and those rooted in paganism is that they do not alter, replace, or distort the meaning of the eight festival of God or other biblical truths. So, if you want to add something to a social calendar, we can't add anything to God's sacred calendar. But who want to add something to a social calendar, let's say, 4th of July or Thanksgiving?

We have to ask ourselves, well, is 4th, either the 4th of July or Thanksgiving or anything else that we might want to add? Do they in some ways alter, replace, or distort the meaning of God's truth? The answer to that is 4th of July? No. We are God's birthright, blessing nation of Israel. We should celebrate the 4th of July more so than the people who are beyond these doors, who may not have an understanding as we do. Thanksgiving certainly does not in any way alter, replace, or distort the meaning of any of God's truth.

So, yes, 4th of July, Thanksgiving are wonderful. We should celebrate those. But we don't celebrate those like we celebrate the items we see in Leviticus 23. Those are special. Those are very special, and God said they're holy. Thanksgiving and 4th of July are not holy. They're secular. I've been away from my pastoral duties for almost three full months. One of the things that I do is answer questions that come in from the Internet.

And since I'm feeling a little more myself these days, I've said, Go ahead, put me on, send me some questions. And they said, Fine. So I got a couple this last week or so. And the one man said, You know, you guys need to shut up. Christmas and Easter has done so much for so many people. Why don't you leave it alone?

And, I mean, the man really just wanted us. I mean, he used that kind of language. Just shut up and leave it alone. That's so much good. Brethren, why do we make a point of talking about December 25th the way we do? Let's take a look at 3rd John, that little book in the back of the Bible. You know, John was the last of the original apostles to still be alive. He wrote these little three letters in the 90s A.D. from the late 90s A.D.

And if anybody knew the teachings and the heart of God the Father and Jesus Christ, there was a man who walked with Jesus on those dusty roads for those three and a half years and had a chance to grow into faith for 60 years after that. 3rd John, verse 4, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. God wants His people to walk in truth. We are to worship God in sincerity and in truth. Look at Joshua, chapter 24. Joshua, chapter 24, verse 14. Joshua 24, verse 14, Now therefore fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the river and in Egypt, serve the Lord.

So why do we make such a commotion about December 25th? Because it's simply a lie. And God tells His people to live in the truth, to walk in the truth as Christ walked in the truth. You know, brethren, we all are part of some family.

And if your family said to you, I want to honor you, and they did something in, quote-unquote, honor to you, that you absolutely detested. You simply were beside yourself with righteous anger because that's not who you are. And to say, we're going to celebrate something that has pre-Christian origins, where there was a Madonna and child 2,500 years before there was a Jesus Christ and a Mary, where people had evergreen shearies 2,500 years before Christ was born.

When you understand the basic roots and say, now I'm going to take that and I'm going to worship you this way. God detests that. Just as you would detest somebody saying they're going to worship you or love you the way that you just personally detest.

Let's go to area number three. Area number three of the four. Brethren, God does have a true church. Jesus Christ came to this world to establish His true church. He did it with His apostles. That true church exists today. The Bible says the gates of Hades, the gates of the grave, would not prevail against that church. So in some place on planet Earth, we have God's true church. And we've got signs. We've got indications as to how do we look for that true church.

Now, I can't give you all the signs and all the proofs today, just to give you a couple of things, two or three things, to what you're appetite here. If you're looking for the true church of God, there are several things you should look for. But one of the first things you want to look for is the biblical name for the church. The Bible spells out, and I've not gone through this with you in some time. Maybe never, I don't know. But this is very much a part of what we believe. If you go to the book that we have, the Fundamentals of Belief of the United Church of God, in that book that you've got a snapshot of our basic beliefs.

You've got a paragraph that goes through very succinctly what we believe, some of the scriptures. Then there's maybe a page or so that goes through and gives you a little more information. That particular book is not meant to be an all-in-all, but it's meant to give you a snapshot as to who we are and what we believe.

Now, under the subject of the church, let me read you a little paragraph that's there. We believe that the church is that body of believers who have received and are being led by the Holy Spirit. The true church of God is a spiritual organism. Its biblical name is the church of God. Its biblical name is the church of God. We believe that the mission of the church is to preach the gospel, the good news of the coming kingdom of God to all nations as a witness, and help reconcile to God such people as are now being called. We believe that it is also the mission of the church of God to strengthen, edify, and nurture the children of God and the love and admonition of our Lord Jesus Christ.

One of the telltale signs, one of the proofs of God's true church, is its name. Its name is the church of God. I'm going to add to this in a couple of moments, but bear with me. Let's go to John 17, verse 11. We read this section of Scripture every year at Passover time.

John 17, verse 11. I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, Jesus Christ speaking. I come to you, Holy Father, keep through your name, those whom you have given to me, that they may be one as we are. Keep through your name. Not just any name identifies God's true church. In the Scriptures, twelve times we see a specific name associated with God's true church. Twelve different places. I'm not going to get into numerology.

I think that can lead you down a very dark road. But there is something about the number twelve that exists in the Bible. Twelve children of Israel, twelve apostles, twelve foundations to the holy cities that come down, and so forth. Twelve is known as a number of organizational beginnings.

Twelve times the Bible refers by name to God's church. Let's take a look at Acts, chapter 20. I'm not going to go through all twelve of these. I'm going to go into a strong concordance, a young concordance, something you've got on your computer at home. Just look under the church of God. In Acts, chapter 20, verse 28, let's read. This is the last time Paul is going to see this particular group of ministers. He called them together. He realizes that shortly he's going to give up his life.

But he wanted to see them in one more time. Acts, chapter 20, verse 28, Therefore, take heed to yourselves, and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood. To shepherd the church of God. Brethren, there are seven other places in the New Testament where the church of God is referenced. So a total of eight places, eight of the twelve, talk about the church of God.

Two other places talk about the churches of God. Let's take a look at just one of those. 1 Thessalonians, chapter 2, verse 14. For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God, which are in Judea and Christ Jesus. So there we've got the plural. Same name, but in plural. There's two of those. So between the eight of the churches of God, the two of the churches of God, you've got 10 of the 12. Let's take a look at the last two. One is found here in 1 Timothy, chapter 3, verse 15. 1 Timothy, chapter 3, verse 15. But if I am delayed, I rightfully may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God.

The church of the living God. Still call it the church of God. A little more description there. Let's go now to the 12th. The 12th is different, but still a part of the true church of God. Romans, chapter 16. Last chapter there in Romans. Romans, chapter 16, and verse 16. Romans 16, 16. Greet one another with a holy kiss. The churches of Christ greet you. Now, these are the only places where God's church is named. The church of God, the churches of God, the church of the living God, and the church of Christ.

So this is one of the telltale signs that you want to look for. Now, are there churches of God, are there churches of Christ who don't have the truth? Brethren, there are thousands, there's hundreds of them, there are plenty of them. There are plenty of churches who have the name church of God or church of Christ who do not teach what the Bible teaches. So you can't just go by the name alone. There are other things you've got to look for. Let me give you a couple of other things you need to look for.

You need to look for the fact that they are teaching what Christ taught. They've got to have the name, but they also have to teach what Christ taught. Go back to a very familiar Scripture, Matthew 28, verses 19 and 20. Matthew 28, verses 19 and 20. Here in Matthew 28, Jesus Christ is dead. We are now in the New Covenant era. People say everything has changed now while we're in that period where things have supposedly changed. But notice what Christ says in my Bible, your Bible, if you've got a red letter, verses 19 and 20, the last two verses of chapter 28 of Matthew.

Notice what Christ says. Verse 19, Now, as we do this, what are we supposed to do as the church? 20, verse 20. Teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you. Only the things Christ has commanded us. Did Christ command Christmas and Easter and Halloween and Valentine's Day and all those things? No, he did not. Does the Bible say we can, as Christians, go ahead and just do whatever we want to do? No, the Bible says we can't do that.

We're not to turn to the right hand or to the left. So we are to teach them to observe all things I have commanded you and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. So there's no wiggle room here. From the time of Jesus Christ making his pronouncement always until the time of his second coming, we are to teach only what Christ taught. And brethren, just as one person asked me a few years ago when I first started coming back to church, Mr. De La Sandrope said, okay, if we use common sense.

And I said, yeah, let's use some common sense. Does it make any, is it common sense that they would have an Acts 15 conference about the subject of circumcision? Because that was a change where you had to be circumcised, now it's no longer the need. Now, if they were going to say, well, we're getting rid of the Holy Days and we're getting rid of Sabbath and we're getting rid of tithing. Wouldn't there be another kind of conference to discuss something of that magnitude? And yet there is not. There is not. Because those things weren't changed.

That's the reason why the book of Hebrews was written. The book of Hebrews was written to the Hebrew people. They're thinking, well, okay, I was raised a certain way. Christianity appeals to me, but what's different? What's changed? And so Paul wrote and discussed what was changed. And basically the changes are, well, we've got Christ as our sacrifice. We don't need any more of the bulls and the lambs and the goats. We don't need the Washing's and all those sorts of things because we've got Christ.

That's the only thing that's changed. There's been a change in how we tithe, but we still tithe. We just tithe through a different ministry. The third thing we're looking for, and we're looking for the true Church of God, is that that Church is actively passing down its teachings from one generation to the next. From one generation to the next.

We're not just people who are content to meet together in a closed little group. We want the Church to continue on. Titus chapter 1, let's go over to Titus. Here we see the qualifications for the ministry. Titus chapter 1 and verse 7. For a bishop or a minister must be blameless, a steward of God, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money.

Not hospitable, a lover of what is good, sober-minded, just, holy, self-controlled. Notice verse 9. Holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be evil by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict. In other words, we have a steady line from Jesus Christ and the apostles handing the truth of God down generation to generation to generation. Other churches believe that, but what are they handing down?

Are they handing down things Christ taught? Or are they handing down traditions that the world teaches? I've given you just three, and there are many more indications how we should look for the true Church of God. Let me give you five characteristics, though, of a false church. Five characteristics. I'm just going to go through this briefly, because I probably can give a sermon on this as well.

If your church, number one, is teaching the traditions of men, that's not God's church.

I should say traditions of men as opposed to the laws of God. Number two, if it's a false church, if it's teaching contrary to what Christ and the apostles taught.

Number three, it's a false church if they have a gospel of no law.

Number four, it's a false church if they teach a distorted view of God's grace.

And number five, it's a false church if the doctrines have been tinkered with and molded by the world's religions.

Okay, we went to the last portion of the sermon, area number four, and that is that God has a plan. I wasn't in the world's religions for very long. I started with my mother and my sister. We started going to churches. I think I was probably age 10, and we went through most of the major Protestant religions.

Now, I was young, but I was fairly mature for my age. I just don't remember a lot of Christian living type messages, that sort of thing. Some very good messages. But in terms of doctrine, especially in terms of, was there any plan that was ever discussed? I never heard of that. They would discuss Christmas or Easter, but that wasn't the plan of God.

So, let's briefly, I mean really briefly, time is moving here, as you take a look at the various festivals of God, starting with Passover. We see something that is so beautiful. It's rich, it's full, it's vibrant, it's living, it's educational, it's instructive. As you go through the plan of God, it answers life's questions.

I remember so clearly, I said in Ann Arbor, it was the day of 9-11. I think it was actually the day after. Some major news organization was interviewing a major cleric of a major religion in the world, Christian religion. And the reporter said, well, why does God allow this?

And that cleric says, I just don't know. I can't know the will of God. I can't know the plan of God. I don't know why this took place. And yet, brethren, you know the plan of God. You know it. You're a part of it. You're a part of it. And Passover is very much a part of the plan, for we receive new life in Christ. We receive forgiveness of our sins.

Now, in the world, they would say, hey, all you need to do is confess with your mouth and believe in your heart. That's all you need to do. That's a free gift. Is that true?

Well, salvation is definitely a free gift. There's nothing you and I can do to earn salvation.

But let me give you an example. When we go through some scriptures, they show there are requirements.

There are requirements for you to receive salvation.

Today is my first Sabbath back, where I'm speaking in both congregations. Two weeks ago, I only spoke in Ann Arbor. Last week, I only spoke in Detroit. This week, announcements and services, both ways.

And I know that when I walk away from this lecture, I'm going to be pretty pooped.

And so I'm going to reward myself.

On the way home, there is a place called On the Border.

Some people here probably have been there. But it's a great Mexican restaurant.

Now, at this stage, with my heart, I probably have no business being in a place I shouldn't even sniff the air in a place like that.

But I'm going to go. And I'm going to have their BORDERITO.

You've not lived until you've asked for a BORDERITO.

Now, I've changed my eating habits. I've lost 30 pounds. I need to lose a lot more.

But when you go to On the Border and you buy a BORDERITO, you get...

It's one burrito cut in half. Each half is this big.

And it's about this... I mean, it is huge. I can't eat the thing now. Before my operation, I just threw that whole thing down.

You know, from all that thing like a dog going in.

But now I can only eat half of that.

They send out coupons. They send me a coupon saying, Mr. Alessandro, we're going to give you a free meal.

Free!

But do I have to do something to get the free meal? Yeah!

I've got to get in my car and I've got to drive to the restaurant. I've got to sit down and have somebody wait on us and we get our free meal.

The same thing is true with salvation.

Christ died for us free of charge.

So far as working... it cost Him a tremendous amount.

But there are things you and I need to do.

Just like if I want that free meal on the border, I've got to drive there and get it.

Let's take a look at what you need to do. Let's turn over to Acts 2.

And you know this, brethren, this is nothing new here.

I'm giving you information that you can use as you're talking to others.

Acts 2.

Here you've got the Day of Pentecost, the Feast of Pentecost, the Holy Day of God, the church...

New Testament church is being founded at this particular juncture.

Peter is speaking. He gives a very inspired sermon. Verse 37, Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and they said to Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?

The Peter's saying, well, you don't need to do anything.

Just confess with your mouth and believe in your heart.

Now, brethren, we do need to confess with our mouth and believe in our heart.

I'm not making light of that.

But is there something we need to do in addition to that?

Verse 38, Peter said to them, yes, Repent, so repentance is required, and let every one of you be baptized.

Faith is required.

You can't be baptized, they have a vow of baptism.

If you don't have faith in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, your sins aren't going to be forgiven.

If you go into it just saying, well, okay, this is the ceremony, this is what I've got to do, just baptize me.

And you don't have faith for what Christ did.

So yes, faith is a requirement, obedience.

Christ said, I think it's Luke 13.3, If you don't repent, you will likewise perish.

So, Passover shows that we have new life in Christ.

It is a life given to us freely by Christ's sacrifice, but there are things we need to do. Now, churches in the world don't understand that, and they preach a false grace, which really is a license to sin.

We move on to Unleavened Bread.

Unleavened Bread shows that there's a certain walk that we must have.

We have new life in Christ to walk properly with God.

How do we do that? Well, we do it by the way God tells us to do it.

We love God, we love our neighbor, we honor the Ten Commandments, we honor the Golden Rule, we honor the Beatitudes.

From Genesis to Revelation, we live by God's Word.

And yet, so many churches in the world don't have a solid understanding of the walk of God.

They certainly wouldn't say, well, you don't need to worry about that Sabbath. Don't worry about that.

God wants us to keep the Sabbath. Two nations in Biblical history went into national slavery because they weren't keeping the Sabbath properly. It's a big deal.

Pentecost.

Pentecost, a new life in Christ to be a proper understanding of God's law and God's Spirit.

I may mention in Acts 5 and 32, God doesn't give the Spirit to those who don't obey Him. And if we don't have that Spirit, we're not His.

So obedience is a key. Repentance and obedience is a key. It is a requirement. 1 John 2, verse 6.

These things that we're doing, we're not buying our salvation. This is something that God says, this is what you need to do.

Christ did His thing, and now we need to do our thing.

1 John 2, verse 6. He who says He abides in Him, in Christ. If you say that you abide in Christ, He Himself ought to walk just as Christ walked.

We can't say that we're Christians and walk any old way.

There's a requirement for how we need to be walking.

Trumpets, the return of Jesus Christ. Many in the world just simply don't understand that. And you know, brethren, I've been chagrined when I found out that there are those among us who watch movies like Left Behind, or they read books like that about the rapture, and they come to me and they say, Well, Mr. Alessandro, do you think it really might happen that way?

I'm so tempted to say, Are you kidding me? But I don't.

I can say that here, because I'm not talking to you as an individual, but brethren, there's no such thing as a secret rapture. Let's take a look at Revelation 1. Revelation 1, verse 7.

Revelation 1, verse 7. Behold, he is coming with plows, and every eye will see him. Even they who pierced him, in other words, sinners will see him, not just the Christians. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of him. Nothing secret there.

We'll go over to Matthew, chapter 24. Matthew, chapter 24.

Verse 29. Matthew 24, 29. Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. I would dare say this is going to get people's attention.

Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, everybody. And they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And they'll send his angels to the great sound of a trumpet, the last trumpet, the seventh trumpet, and they will gather together his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other.

Now, the world simply, and especially the world religions, don't understand that.

Moving on, because time is, I'll probably take you a couple minutes over time. Atonement. I don't know that I've ever heard much from those in the world. What happens to Satan?

We've got Revelation, chapter 20, we've got Leviticus, chapter 16.

But the world doesn't have a very good view as to what Satan's disposition is going to be.

Feast of Tabernacles. Again, people say, you don't need that old feast. That's an Old Covenant. That's an Old Testament thing.

And, brethren, maybe after services you can help me out.

Because if people are keeping the Feast of Tabernacles, as God has told them to do in the Old Testament, there's no doubt that that's the case. Keeping the Feast of Tabernacles in the Old Testament. We can show you in the New Testament, Book of Acts, where the Christians are still keeping the Holy Days. And then you can look into the future and see prophecies about the Feast of Tabernacles being kept in the Millennium.

All that being the case. All that being the case.

How can people say, well, we don't need to do that anymore?

Let's take a look at Zechariah 14.

Zechariah 14, verse 16.

Zechariah 14, 16.

Now, it shall come to pass that everyone who's... And this is talking about the Millennium. Crisis, you know, Crisis returned. It's Millennium now. Verse 16, it shall come to pass that everyone who was left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem... Now, the world would call this battle Armageddon. Some people refer to it as the end of days. We call it the battle of the great day of God Almighty. Now, it shall come to pass that everyone who was left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem... shall go from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. Now, it shall be that whichever the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King... the Lord of Hosts, on them there will be no rain. If the family of Egypt will not come and enter in, they shall have no rain. They shall receive the plague which the Lord strikes the nations. Do not come to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. And you can read the rest of the chapter. So here you see the fact that the Feast is kept in the Millennium. If it's such a bad thing, why are we keeping it in the Millennium? Why are we keeping it after the return of Jesus Christ? And if the Millennium is a new covenant era, which it is, why don't we keep it when we're physically human beings in a new covenant, part of it?

And lastly, you've got the last great day. Last great day. I've never heard anybody give an explanation about our understanding. What happens to all those people? Let's turn to Acts 4 for a moment. Acts 4. Let's read 1 Scripture, Acts 4. And then verse 12. Acts 4, 12. Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men, by which we must be saved. Now, that's what God says. God's the author of salvation. And over the years, when a question has come up, I've heard various clerics say, well, God's good, and God's great, and God's just, and God's loving and kind. And if you're a good person, and yet you didn't know Christ, you were born and lived and died before Christ ever was on the planet, or you were someplace on earth where he simply didn't know that there was a Jesus Christ, and you lived and died. Well, God understands, and God's merciful, and all the good people will go to God's kingdom.

But what is a good person? The Bible talks about eating from the tree of good and evil. You can have somebody who's an atheist, who's a good husband, who's a good father, who's a good citizen, pays his taxes, upstanding citizen, wonderful guy, tells great jokes. Great guy! And believe in God? He's going to be in the kingdom. Only God's church that I'm aware of, there may be others I'm not aware of, but only God's church that I'm aware of has an understanding. You know, this idea that everybody's being called and judged today, brethren, if that's true, God is a failure. Because when you look at human history, Satan's winning! Satan's won! Most of the people on earth, they're not going to be in God's kingdom if you take their life as it is right now. The non-Christians, the atheists, and so forth. The people who call themselves Christians, but are hypocrites. So is that the way it goes? Does Satan win? No. The truth of the matter is, there is a resurrection, a second resurrection, for those who really never understood, never had a proper chance. This is not a second chance, it's a first proper chance at salvation. God's going to give them their first proper chance, and probably when you look at all of humanity that's ever lived, I'm thinking maybe 99.9% of all people who have lived will be in God's kingdom. I can't in my mind imagine somebody saying, I don't want to live forever. I don't want to enjoy a garden of Eden-like atmosphere forever, be a creature of love forever. I think very few people are going to respond that way.

I want to close with a scripture that Bob read earlier today. Let's go to Colossians 4, one last scripture. I think what I'm about to give you encapsulates all that I was trying to accomplish today in the message. Colossians 4 and verse 6, where it says, Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one. Brethren, we have a responsibility not to be flat, not to be tasteless. We have a responsibility before God, the truth that He has given us, to be people who can really talk to other people about the things of God. I'd like to read you a few paragraphs from the life application commentary in regards to Colossians 4 and verse 6.

And lastly, from the life application commentary, it says, According to the parallel passage in Ephesians 4 and verse 29, Believers should always be ready to answer questions about their faith and be ready to share words of personal testimony. And lastly, from the life application commentary, it says this, And I quote, Wow! I read that. I thought, I've been in this business for decades and I don't think I'm doing all that. I need to do all that. And so do you. Brethren, we need to master the basic truths of the Bible. This world is in a world of hurt. This world needs the truth we have. You have been commissioned. You are an ambassador for Jesus Christ. You are an emissary for a world to come. And God has called you. There may be people in your life. Maybe the reason God's called you is because there's others in your life. Mothers or fathers or uncles or aunts or grandparents or kids or whoever. People who you know, next door neighbors, relatives. And God wants to get the truth to them, but they may never see a Beyonce telecast. They may never get a piece of our literature, but they know you. They know me. Let's be about our Father's business.