The Only Fair Solution

Thank you, Mr. Bensinger. I taught him in college, and I taught his son on ABC. Plug for ABC for a lot of young people here. We'd love to have you come. If you don't know how to, you all know what we do. Can you prove it? Come to ABC, you'll be able to prove it. Know what it is. Before I start my sermon, I want to thank a bunch of people.

And I feel like just dismissing them. That was so moving up here. It kind of brought me to tears. I appreciate that, Mr. Hoover. When I'd done the assignments, he asked if he could do the sermonette in front and do that. And I said, of course, remember last year hearing it. And he didn't understand it as much, but now understanding what it really means. And for the Italian people, and for us especially, certainly we're all captives right now seeking that freedom. I want to express gratitude to all those who helped you here, Mr.

Alfieri, who's our feast coordinator, his wife, who put the Italian flag across the stage here. She's set up there. If you didn't recognize the red, white, and green, the Italian flag, Margherita, set up all that for us. The tours, thank the La Mila and Emmanuel Faro, they did all the tours and also counted the offerings and the financial things that happened.

And also, Mrs. Breve, Breve Preveson, who helped with that as well. We had a lot of conscripted volunteers, which we usually have. Joe Vanetrasi came early to the feast to help. Emmanuel, with all the pre-feast details, there's a lot that goes into this, as you're aware. And Mrs. Faro, if Angel's mom, helped to get the packets you all received with your name there. Of course, our gratitude to all the speakers, wonderful messages and the work that it takes the hours to put into that.

Mike and Carol Pallotta, the deacon of Deaconess from Canada, who organized the dance on the family day, appreciate what they did. Mr. Hoover did the feast choir as well, with so many performances, so many good people, and appreciating McClennan's, all they did. And we get dunking all the time in Cincinnati. He plays the piano like a drum, the concert piano, and so many hymnals and people that did things. Wonderful musicians. We have more musicians here, wonderful musicians, and I certainly appreciated all that and grateful for them.

Especially the translators. Incredible. I recognized a few Italian things when he did that and this and that. But it's a language, but Love Miller and her daughter Rebecca and Jessa Farione, who did so much on the translations, that's a job. I'm always amazed at how they do that.

Our monitors for the buses, again, conscripted volunteers, Orchard, Engelhardt, Powell's, Nelson, Thomas, whoever. All of them who scheduled and tried to herd you back onto the bus so you get back. Marcella Cassot for his help with translation equipment, and Mr.

Giovanni Farione, who looked after the artistic side of the feast. So all the Italians had to do something. There's not enough of them. So it makes a difference. All the related graphic things, the feast booklet he did as well. And Glacinto Farione from Crete supervised the drivers who offered their services for all of you to that, to Sabadea, etc. So we appreciate all that they did. And again, David Bensinger coordinated all the people doing the announcements and so on. And along with that, he gave several sermons at two or three in the morning to the brethren in Myanmar.

So special thanks to him and his family for what they did. And then Mr. Trozley for all the service coordination that he did for the Italian. He did the same thing for the Italian people that David Bensinger did for that. Certainly appreciate all of them. It's moving to watch how God does all the things that he does with the people. We're all conscripted. I mean, he chose you. So we're all conscripted. So it's not anything unusual to be asked to perform and do the things that we're asked to do.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word is with God. And the Word was God.

They decided they were alone. They didn't want. They wanted more people, more God beings. So they made a plan, a plan that they decided that one of us will come down and be a son, and the other one will be the father. And our plan will give mankind a chance to learn about us.

And so the Word made a universe with stars and galaxies and a special planet Earth. It made angels to help. Well, one of those angels got filled with pride, decided he should be in charge, and managed to lie and talk a third of the angels who could see God into rebelling against what God was doing.

And God will make the humans so they can die. We'll work with each of them individually. We'll test each one. Will they choose life or will they choose death? Even if it seems unfair what they have to go through, will they trust us? What will they choose?

He looked down, I'm sure. I don't know how many of us, probably most of us, he may have decided, like Jeremiah and Isaiah, he both said, I knew you before you were born. I don't know when they called each of you. God and Christ do. God would call. Christ would die because children make mistakes. We love our children when they make mistakes. We correct them. He loves us when he makes mistakes and he has to correct us.

When it's time, I'll pick some and give them the Holy Spirit. And the rest, I'll give the Holy Spirit to them at a time that they'll make it.

I'll begin my story with a lady. Little Ida Jean Hott was born in the 1920s.

In the hills of West Virginia, she was the last of five children her mother, Stella Dell, would have. It wasn't fair that Ida Jean would never see her father, but life would even get more difficult for her and her mother. You see, her mother was born in the mid-1890s. She fell in love with a man prior to World War I. He went off to war. She was pregnant. He died, leaving this poor woman to raise her son alone. She fell in love again and married Tuskegott, a good man willing to take on this woman and her son. And together, they had another child, a daughter and a son and two more daughters. Five children. A little Ida father caught one of the diseases that went around in the 1920s, and he died two months before she was born, leaving Stella Dell with five children and no money, poverty. It certainly didn't seem fair. Why did two men that she loved die? It was the Great Depression, and life was tough, and often deals have to be made.

It wasn't a new deal. Deals have always been part of human life in some ways. First King 17, we have the story of Elijah and the widow. I'll read a few verses of that. First King 17, the whole story's there. Sir Elijah arose and went to Zarephath, first town, and came into the entrance of the city, and behold, a widow was gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, Please bring me a little water and a vessel that I may drink. And she was going to bring it. He called to her and said, Please bring me a piece of bread in your hand. And she said, As God lives, I do not have a cake, but only a handful of meal in a pitcher and a little oil in a jar. Behold, I am gathering two sticks that I may go in, dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it and die. And Elijah told her, Don't fear.

That meal and oil is going to last. And she did, like he said, verse 17, and they ate for many days throughout the famine. The pitcher and meal was not consumed. The jar of oil did not fail, according to the word of Elijah.

Keep your place here for a second. I'm going to come back. A prophet didn't show up at Celadel's house, but she did make a deal. It was a deal, it wasn't with God, but it was a deal for her family and for her children. She met a man who had three children of his own. He was a surveyor and lawyer, and he was fairly well off. He needed help with his children because his wife had died.

Now, he was better than Stella and her children, but she agreed to marry him. But he said, your kids have to go be raised by the grandparents about a mile down the road in the hills of West Virginia. He would provide some clothes and various essentials, mostly hand-me-downs from his kids, but they would be raised by the grandparents. Accrasionaly, his children and his stepchildren would be together at picnics and things. But everybody knew their place. The picnics, the light of Jean and her siblings would get the rhines off the watermelon while his kids got the heart of the watermelon. And they got new clothes. The step kids, the light of Jean, their sisters didn't ever get new clothes. It certainly didn't seem fair, but it created a strong desire for fairness in the light of Jean. She would never do to others what was being done to her. But, I had a Jean who was cute. And after high school, she married the prize athlete of the school, Chuck. Chuck was a star in baseball, football, basketball. He had scholarships to the university. He was asked to play for the Los Angeles Lakers, at that time the Minneapolis Lakers. He chose not to because they didn't pay much in the 1950s.

But, the light of Jean was so good. He asked her to marry him, and they married, and she had things she'd never had in her life before. They had a car, the house, they had food, she had a washing machine, things that were special to her. He took a well-paying job at the Linkbuck Construction Company and didn't play ball. She heard a man on the radio talking about the Bible. She hadn't owned a Bible most of her life. She got one for the wedding present. She had never heard such things before. She'd gone to church, but without a Bible, she didn't know what was in that book. As she listened to the radio, she began to read her Bible, convinced this man was telling the truth. It thrilled her, but not Chuck. He didn't want anything to do with religion. One day at work, Chuck had a major stroke, and the doctors say he's going to die.

And I had a jeans wondering why, but she remembered that God says He takes care of things. And she began praying for him.

She wanted him to be healed. His family, who was unhappy that Chuck had married this little poor girl, basically disowned her, made fun of her as she would pray and hope for him to be healed. He was in a coma for a long time, and all of a sudden, he came out of it. He was healed. He went back to work. Ida Jean was thrilled. She had her husband back. He gave her an incredible faith, this healing. My husband's back.

It was difficult, and now it was over. She couldn't be happier. Life was finally fair. She had a simple faith in God. Two years after his recovery, Chuck was at work. He got killed in a construction accident. They had a murder truck, and they thought he was murdered. He was smashed between a runaway crane, which goes about three miles an hour under full power, and a wall. They had a trial, but they couldn't prove anything. So it was labeled an accident, and they don't know why or what. But little Ida Jean wondered, why did you heal him? Just to let him die two years later.

What was God doing? It was a shock to Ida Jean. Why did he do this? She now had a three-year-old and a five-year-old son, and now their sons would never know their father, just like she had known hers. Again she read of the widow with Elijah, 1 Kings 17, verse 18. Verse 17 says, it came to pass that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, the one who's the miracle applied, came sick and died. And she said to Elijah, what have I to do with you, man of God? You came to my house, call my sinner remembrance, and slay my son? That doesn't seem fair. Of course, he gave her. She said, give me her son. He took her up and he prayed over her, and he was resurrected. Ida Jean prayed for God to resurrect her husband. She'd already brought him back once. Give him back to her as he had before, but it didn't happen. Her faith wasn't rewarded this time. Why? And again, his family mocked her for her faith. It really didn't seem fair.

A young minister came and performed the funeral for check at her request, and they talked to the resurrection from the dead, how all would have a chance to know about God. It was comforting, but it didn't explain why God had taken him. He told her she should move to Big Sandy, where a bunch of widows were, where the church could help take care of her. They'd start a church school there where they could learn about God and be taught. She had a simple faith, and in 1956, she moved to Texas to be where she could be helped. You may have guessed by now that Ida Jean was my mother.

The man she heard was Herbert Armstrong. And the minister at the funeral came from the radio church of God. Her sons would attend imperial schools.

How many things happen to you that don't seem fair? I've titled the sermon, The Fair Solution, the only fair solution, because the plan of God is the only fair solution. God does things. We all face them. He doesn't do things randomly. He doesn't for a purpose.

His purpose is greater than ours, and we don't understand it most of the time.

Turn to Isaiah 9-6, because it really is about fairness and justice, but from a different perspective. Verse 6, for unto us a child is born. To us the Son is given. The government shall be on his shoulder. His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, as we heard in the sermon earlier. Of the increase of his government and peace, there shall be no end. Upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom, to order it, to establish it with judgment and with justice forevermore. Forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform this. Justice forever. Righteousness. Total fairness to all people.

But that is then. This is now. What is fair? We don't always see God's complete purpose. Each of us is a piece of a puzzle. A puzzle that's got trillions of pieces. We often want to put our piece where we want it, and we don't fit. You've done puzzles before where it seems to fit, but it really doesn't. You have to take it out. We don't see God's complete purpose. I was always puzzled by some of the stories in the Bible. I read the Bible virtually every day of my life since I was five or six years old. I remember in Genesis 20 the story of Abimelech, where Abraham was afraid his wife's beautiful, and he's going to take her and kill me. So he lies to Abimelech. The story is in Genesis 20. If you want to read it, I'm not going to read the story, but talk about it. And Abimelech has a dream that night because he takes her. And God says, Abimelech, you're about to die. What did I do, God? Because the woman you took is another man's wife. Abimelech. But God, didn't he say he's my sister? Didn't she also say he's my brother? In the integrity of my heart, I did this. I didn't know. And God says, in this dream, I know you did this in the sincerity of your heart. But I also withheld you from sinning against me. Therefore, I didn't allow you to touch her.

But restore his wife to the man. He's a prophet, and he shall pray for you, that you shall live. And if you do not restore her, you will surely die, you and all yours. He lied to me, and I'm asking him to pray for me so I don't die. It doesn't always make sense. It doesn't always seem fair. But it is, because God has a different point of view than we do. As we know, Isaiah 55h says that your thoughts are my thoughts, and your ways are not my ways. And your ways are not my ways. Heavens are higher than the earth. God knows what he's doing. God's ways are higher than our ways, and his thoughts are much higher than our thoughts. Fair is God's domain. We should try to be as fair as we can, as much as we can, but true fairness is God's domain. And we don't see his timing. We don't see what he's doing. Remember the man that Peter and John went to and healed at the gate after Christ was gone? Again, Acts 3 tells the story. You've probably read it. I'll paraphrase it. It says, he was lame from his mother's womb. If you read later in the chapter, it's been there 40 years. It said, he stood at that gate. He looks on John and Peter and handouts Peter, silver and gold. I don't have any. But what I have, I'll give you rise up and walk. The man does. Lame for 40 years and he walks in Jesus Christ's name.

And he stood leaping, entered them with the temple, walking and praising God. And everybody saw it and everybody knew who he was.

Because they recognized he was the one that sat for 40 years at the temple gate.

And Peter and John were able to tell him, you killed the Messiah. You killed God. That same God now has healed this man.

People saw those miracles in his name. I bring up that example because Christ went by the temple every time he went in there and saw that man, never healed him. There are things in his timing. I think Christ knew that man was going to help start the church. But is it fair that this man had to be lame for 40 years so everybody would know it? And they had to wait another three and a half years before Peter would use Christ's name to heal him?

I'd rather not be lame for 40 years. I'd rather be well and up and enjoying life. But God's timing is different than ours. He has a purpose for each of us, which is sometimes different than we expect. And again, God wanted this man to be an example for the New Testament church as it started out. And he was. Of course, Peter and John were challenged. They were beaten for it. Like they said in verse 16 of chapter 4, everybody in town knows this man was sick. They know we can't deny this miracle. We can't just kind of say, you made it up. It wasn't a magician's trick. The Bible is full of things that don't seem fair, don't seem normal. But God is fair. By definition, God is fair. We should all be ready to give an answer for the things that God has given to us and revealed in us. When Christ called the disciples, he saw in them something that they could not see in themselves or each other. They bantered with each other. They argued with each other. There were qualities he knew that God could use. We only know the occupations of five or six. We know that Peter and Andrew, James and John were all fishermen. We know Matthew was a tax collector and Simon was known as the zealot. Fishing takes a lot of patience, long days and nights.

Christ knew they'd have to have patience to follow him. Matthew was a tax collector and I'm sure he was ridiculed. He's probably fair and honest, but they didn't like tax collectors. I don't like tax collectors either. Probably not you either. But we pay our taxes. Paul was a Pharisee, had a hard line for the law to the point of killing Christians. And God showed him the truth, and he had a hard line for Jesus Christ as we should be. God called you because he saw something in you that he could use. I don't know what it is. I don't know what he saw in me, but he did. Whatever it is that he put you through, he's molding you. And it's fair, whether it's a blessing or trial, it's fair. The world constantly asks, why did little Johnny die? Why does God allow this suffering? Why is there a war in Israel with Palestine, Palestinians, and the Jews, and all the other wars, and the people who have died? Why does he allow this suffering?

The world sees no greater purpose in life than what's to hear now. We heard that this morning. Appreciated the sermon this morning. Good part of the plan. The world doesn't know God's plan. It doesn't mean he doesn't have one, because he does. He revealed it to you, and he called you. And to me, through these holy days, I learned it beginning when I was three and four years old. My wife learned it when she came to college at 18 without knowing anything and planning to go home for Christmas. But God knew.

It was that plan and the promises, like Psalm 146.9, where it says, the Lord preserves the stranger, relieves the fatherless, and the widow.

That kept my mother going after my father died. She wasn't alone. There was a resurrection. She would see her husband again. She didn't have to worry about heaven and hell and the things she had been taught herself. And it was God's plan that I was taught from my earliest memories. I was told my father re-resurrected. And I said, when, Mommy, when? I kind of figured I'd see him and pretty soon. Didn't realize I'd have to wait. I was disappointed. A thousand years. I'm going to be more like his great-great-great-great-grandfather.

Different time. Time is important to little children. I read them bones in Ezekiel, which you heard this morning, and I thought, that was great. I knew he was one of those bones that was going to come together and become who he was before. So I learned early that death was not permanent.

Fresh humanly. And the death of a saint, a true Christian, was only to sleep and wake up to see Christ at his return. It was a little childish. Maybe wonder why people were sad at funerals, because wow, everybody at funeral I went to was people in the church, and they're going to come up with Christ. There's sadness. Good morning. I face questions most children don't face with answers that most parents can't give. We stayed in Big Sandy for four years. She did the best she could. She took us fishing. I had a willow stick and a kite string and a safety pin. You can catch fish with that. Not too many big ones. But she knew they probably needed a father.

This widow with two children decided I need to move somewhere, because being in a little town with a bunch of widows with no men isn't a good place to find a husband. So she moved to Pasadena, California.

The place didn't seem like her because it wasn't. She was a country girl. This big city wasn't where she expected, but that was the headquarters of the church, and there were more men there. There was also another sister in Imperial schools where I could go and keep learning the Bible. Teachers were the aides of the faculty, so I had Ambassador College for 12 years, basically, of school. She married my stepfather, who taught me a lot. He was unique. At age 9, I didn't really understand the responsibility he was taking on. I knew he didn't know as anything, but it was not like my son or daughter who never knew a life without a mother and father. I tried to earn my father's respect. He treated us as his own, did things for us, taught me to hunt and fish, and he held 6 a.m. Bible studies every morning, which I didn't necessarily enjoy.

He was annoyed with me because I would sit at the table and sleep.

But that wasn't what was annoying me sleeping. What was annoying was he did a test at the end of the week on what we'd studied that week, and I always got all the answers right, and my mother and brother couldn't do that. That was good. That's when I realized I could listen to my sleep, which helped out later with Mr. Armstrong. In those long days when I worked for him, I needed some of that. Those 12 years of Bible classes in school and Ambassador College helped me, gave me a foundation. And the biblical story is what got me through when things went south, because a lot of things went south. I never knew why. I thought, God would must not like me. I was kind of like Naomi. Call me bitter, not sweet. God hasn't been good to me. There are things that happen that shouldn't have happened. Most people are shocked when I tell them I went to church my whole life and never went to camp. I got promised every year from seventh grade on I could go, and every year some minister's kids would come in on sabbatical, and the principal was very political. They'd get to go. Next year you go, Aaron. Next year the same thing. Next year you get to go. Next year you get to go. I stayed and worked, learned a lot of things there. But my stepfather bought a boat. I could ski on anything you put in the water. The people I'd skied actually went up on the ski crew. But at summer camp, for those older that went there, ski crew was the clique. I look back now and I think God wanted me out of the clique. He didn't want me to be in that group. By the same token, when I was in college, for an Imperial, the coach didn't put me on the basketball team because I was so short. I didn't grow to my senior year of high school. My stepfather was 5'3". He didn't know my real father was an athlete. He apologized to me later when I played on the faculty team and said, I should've had you on the team. But that didn't mean it. But in college, the basketball was the clique. And he didn't want me in a clique. He wanted me to be fair, to understand things differently. The stories in the Bible gave me strength and encouragement when things would go wrong, when it didn't seem fair.

Mr. Armstrong asked me where Scripture was. All those years helped me to look things up for him. What bothered me was when he quoted things that he read in the Revised Standard Version, and there's no concordance. And I had to figure out, okay, what does that say in King James so I can find it for him? The challenge. Before we understood God's plan, I doubt that any of us ever expected anything bad from God. After all, God is good. That's why a lot of people are atheists, because God is good. How can there be a God if he's all this stuff? All these wrong killings.

That's why the world doesn't understand why it wants to save people now, why it rejects the fact that there is a God for many. In Acts 9, we have a story of how God works in our lives. It may not seem as dramatic as the Apostle Paul, and you don't know what God has in store for you, and Paul didn't know what God had in store for him. Acts 9 is the story of Paul's conversion. He's going to Damascus to kill Christians, because I'm a zealot for God, and they're not getting circumcised, and they're not doing this, and they're not not knowing what they should do. We're going to stamp out this Jesus movement.

Acts 9 verse 10, a certain disciple named Ananias. God said to him in a vision, "...arise, go to the street which is called straight, and inquire of the house of Judas, for one called Saul of Tarsus. Behold, he is praying." Of course, we all know he was struck down blind. And he's seen a vision of you coming and giving him a sight. First, there's Ananias, like, I've heard of this man. You know what you're doing? He wants to kill us. Evil things! He has papers to take us in bound. And God said, no, no. Yeah, he's done that. But he's someone I can use. He's a chosen vessel to me to bear my name before nations and kings and sons of Israel. I will show him what great things... how life will be wonderful for him. No, I will show great things that he must suffer for my name's sake. God is fair. Suffer. We are all chosen vessels of God. We're not the Apostle Paul or even Peter or James John, but we are chosen vessels, nonetheless. Vessels to shine the light on God's way of life to a group of people here in Sabadia for this week, back home wherever you're at, wherever else God may put his name. Why? To be examples of love and kindness to our neighbors. To be teaching through your example.

To be teaching through your God-given knowledge by giving answers when you're asked. Not condemning, but loving. What things are ahead for you?

Now this feast and when it comes will be wonderful on the final day when all people are called.

But there's a time of trouble coming soon, and it's difficult.

I don't know the details for you or for me. I can look back on my life and see things God did. Paul didn't know what he was going to go through. God did.

Verse 20 of Acts 20 verse 22. Let's read a couple verses there. Paul knows he's going to be taken to Rome. He's going to do what God wants her to do. Verse 22, I behold, I am bound by the Spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there. Except the Holy Spirit will witness in every city, saying that the bonds of affliction await me.

But these things do not move me. Neither do I count my life dear to myself, that I might finish my course with joy. Wow, you're going to beat up and stone it. It's joy. The ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus Christ to testify fully the gospel of grace of God. We don't know what will happen to us. Paul had an idea that it wasn't going to be easy. We don't know the details of what we required, but we must live a life that reflects Jesus Christ. And that is difficult. But that's what Christ-like service is all about. That's what fairness is, because what God is offering you is worth more than money, more than fame, more than power. There have been people throughout the centuries, even in the church. I hope they were not converted, because so many have left. I have a book I brought with me. Some of you have seen it, because it's one I wrote for our children. So our children, our grandchildren, know what we did since our life before them was very different. And then there I have a picture of the Council of Elders, 1981-1986.

Many were evangelists. Some of the church for a long time. Shall and I are the youngest two in the picture. We're still alive. And the rest of them are alive. Half of them turned away from the truth. Being here and enjoying the shadow they did for years.

And they bought into a lie. I don't want you to just be the shadow. I want you to be here when it's real.

We all want to hear nice, pleasant things. But we have to have the courage, like I said in the first message, to go through the unpleasant things before it gets really pleasant. That's what it's about.

You do this because you put your trust and your confidence in God. To do His will and His purpose. You do it because you know His plan and you know He's fair. I heard Mr. Armstrong tell world leaders that peace would come preaching the Gospel. Online you can hear some of the messages he gave. And the things he said sometimes it was very strong. Sometimes it was not so strong. A couple times it was so strong I thought I wasn't going to get out of the place. He talked about the beast and the false prophet and the Pope to the Knights of Columbus. I thought, okay, maybe we'll get a leave or not.

In Greece, he talked to the billionaire Rotary Club. And he told them a lot of things. Before the meeting, it was already set up and half an hour before we left, the president of the Rotary called me. So, by the way, we do not talk religion in our meetings because it's caused a lot of problems. What is Mr. Armstrong going to talk about? I gave the pageant answer. World peace.

He gave one of the strongest messages I've heard. It's a telecast they made out of it. I thought I was dead meat. The president comes running over to me. He looks at me and he says, wow, that was incredible. We need to change our rules.

I'm alive. I never knew what he was going to say, what was going to happen. But he was filled with God's Spirit in different ways. He said different things. He would tell them God would stop the fighting and the misery and the pain, that God would bring peace, that justice would be administered. Not by us. We should do everything we can, but it won't happen until Jesus returns. In the whole world, every individual ever lived will have a chance to know that. But they, like you and I, would have to repent and believe.

Sometimes you have to give up things you don't think you're going to have to do. He puts you in a position where you don't know. Armstrong asked me to fly with him on graduation day. Friday, Monday at eight o'clock, I left. I'm planning to get married in a few weeks, but I started flying with him. Served King Leopold four days into the flight, served Crown Princess Anne. Had to cook meals and things that God had put me through in my life that prepared me for some of the things I would have to do with him.

If we wanted to have children, he'd always say children was the greatest thing that ever happened to him. And when is your wife going to have children? I'd say, when are you going to quit flying?

I would not be an absentee parent. So we figured we'd never have children.

I was never enamored with the position or the travel. I'd miss people. People make a place. I was in some very romantic places by myself, which is miserable when you're there alone. The chance to share the hope of the resurrection. These are the things I treasure. The creativity of finding a soft spot in another human being, whether they're Protestant, Catholic, Buddhist, Hindu, whatever. Knowing what they believe. Being like the Apostle Paul on Mars Hill. Telling what's going to happen. Dogmatically. I know the truth and I want to share it.

So Michelle and I were willing to give up children for his sake. But we didn't have to. We have a son and a daughter. We're both married. We have five grandchildren we thought we'd never had. God is good. But if we hadn't had children, I would have been content. Because God is fair. As Paul wrote in Philippians 4.11, not that I speak in respect of want, I've learned in whatever state I am to be content.

And sometimes that state's not so much fun. Paul, I know how to be a base, I know how to bound. Michelle and I have stayed in palaces and we've stayed in mud huts. In Africa we had a beautiful hot mud and straw. Michelle looked up at the ceiling, we're laying there and her eyesight isn't as good as mine. She said, oh what a beautiful mosaic. And I said, Michelle, that's moving. Those are insects.

Which she didn't appreciate me telling her that. She preferred the mosaic.

I know each of you may be going through trials. Health trials, financial trials, family trials. Trials only you and God may know, but you have to know and believe there's a greatest purpose for what you're going through than just that trial. He's building your faith, your trust in Him. May be tough, and you may slip and fall at times. I have, we all do. Trials only you and God know, but you repent.

And we use the book and the knowledge and the stories to go on. Every trial I've been through in my life, there's a story in the Bible that matches it. You just got to find it and see what they did right or what they did wrong. And it may not be fun, but it'll build your faith.

If this were the millennium and not Satan's world, it probably wouldn't be fair. Christ wouldn't allow it. But we're in Satan's world. He's the God of this world. If there were no hope of the resurrection, it wouldn't be fair.

But we have been called while Satan's in charge of this world. We only win through Jesus Christ. It's everyone who ever lived. It's the only way they can make it as well. And everyone will have a chance, which makes it fair. Before John 16 records before Christ was taken, you may feel alone. But you're never alone. John 16, 32 makes that clear.

Jesus telling his disciples, the hour comes, yes, and has come, that you will be scattered, each of you his own thing, and you will leave me alone. I'm not alone because the Father is with me. I have spoken of these things so you might have peace in me. In the world you'll have tribulation. Ooh, that's what we're going to have. But be of good cheer because I have overcome the world. Through me, you can too. That's what he's telling them. Hebrews 13.5 says, Be content with such things as you have. Because he said, I'll never leave you or forsake you. You do have Superman on your side. But unlike Superman, you're not always saved. Sometimes Chuck can die.

Matthew 20, 18. He tells them, All power is given to me in heaven and earth. Teach all nations, baptizing them. You've heard that. The commission. Who were to do, to preserve all things.

Many of the leaders, Mr. Avershon, talked to, wished it were true what he said.

Sounded great, but the high and mighty didn't believe it. It didn't matter, till truth is truth, God is fair, everyone has a chance. The light of Jean chose life many years ago, as many of you did. She died about 15 years ago, knowing her nest's breath would be to meet Jesus Christ and the resurrection. She never blamed God for any of the trauma, but thanked him for the truth. She wanted to be alive when Christ returned, like many.

Just as Mr. Armstrong thought he would. But what we want, and what we think, is not always what God knows is best for us. Philippians 3.7.

Paul learned, I could never have done my job without the years in Big Sandy, without the 12 Years of Imperial, knowing the men that I would later have to work with. When he had asked for something in any country, I knew who was there. I knew the man was in charge, I could work out things for him. My birth father had lived, none of this would have happened. I loved sports. I was good at sports. I'd have been playing sports. I wouldn't have kept a Sabbath.

God knows what he's doing.

My loss was gained for God. Like Paul said in Philippians 3.7, whatever things were gained to me, I counted loss for Christ. I also count all things to be lost for the Excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whose sake I've suffered the loss of all things, and count them to be nothing, so that I may win Christ. Anything you or I may have suffered, anything my mom may have gone to, helped her and me win Christ. Young people here need to realize, God wants you. You have to choose it, though. You can be a Daniel. Most of the men in the Bible were young. One thing I didn't tell you in my story, the gherk is the Queen Ashwarya, after our students had been there for a year, came to me and said, your kids are so honest, so ethical.

Would you let them run our 92 million dollars of foreign aid that we're given?

There are Daniels today. You can be one if you're young.

But you can come to be like the Apostle Paul. Look at things, whatever you suffer. Anything that doesn't seem fair that you may go through is part of God making you what He wants you to be. I didn't need to go to camp. I didn't need to play basketball. I needed to have a fair sense for everyone with Mr. Armstrong. I never saw I went to Texas and Big Sandy and Brickell Wood. I never had a campus loyalty, which some people did. All the campuses I loved. James 1-2. James writes, my brothers, count on all joy when you fall into different kinds of temptations. Knowing that the trying your faith works patience. You can't have faith without patience. The last split we suffered some 15 years ago, I asked some of the men who was going, they thought they should be in charge. They thought they were block boning. They thought things were happening. I said, isn't your God big enough to put you back in if you're right? My God is. I never cared about my positions. It's not about positions or power now. It's about what God's doing through you. But let patience have its perfect work that you may be perfect and entire lacking nothing. Again, if you lack wisdom, ask what God says. James tells us there, ask doubting nothing. Don't doubt. And if this doesn't come, it doesn't mean God hasn't heard you and hasn't answered it. Maybe there's something better. It may not be pleasant. It may not seem fair, but God Himself makes it fair because He knows what you can withstand. You just need to trust Him. One of my favorite scriptures is, God doesn't tempt you beyond what you're able.

Then believe me, you're going to be tempted. You can go through things you don't know. But God prepares you for that ahead of time. I went through a lot of things and told the story to a few of you and said some of these things in sermons, but I actually had my life threatened. I had to jump motels for over a month once because people wanted to kill me. Mr. Armstrong called me after he got home from a trip and he said, Leave town immediately, your life's been threatened. I've lived the Book of Acts, but that's irrelevant. It's God's plan. It's His will. It's what He wants. It may not seem fair, but God makes it fair. Sometimes He can give you what you're willing to give up for Him. Again, we wanted children, and God gave them to us.

But He says, whoever gives up father and mother from I's name cycle, you're rewarded. We weren't concerned about that. Jesus, our King, is indeed with us, with you, with me.

And we are used in His way, in His time, for what He wants. And much of what God Himself shows in what we suffer doesn't seem fair.

Revelation 6.9 will read that about the fifth seal. It's only unfair if you're thinking physically, wanting revenge for yourself. I want justice. God, take care of them. God does avenge the unfairness, and He rewards it with more than we can ever imagine. More than the fun of being here in Italy in a beautiful hotel. Revelation 6.9, He opened the fifth seal I saw under the altar of the souls of those who had been slain for the Word of God and for the testimony they held, crying with a loud voice, Master, holy and true. Do you not judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?

Avenging someone's blood, they died. Isaiah was supposed to be sought in half. James was beheaded. Well, it just says Peter was crucified upside down because he wasn't worthy to be crucified like Christ was.

The world you and I live and will despise God's people at some point in time. But God is a special place for us. We do have the better resurrection. It's talked about this morning a little. Blessed as holy is he who takes part in the first resurrection. Revelation 26. Shosh locum read that. Second death has no authority over them. They will rise as priests and kings of God and Christ and reign for a thousand years. We finished that last night. Now we're coming to the final true thing. You see, the millennium is not the kingdom of God. Neither is this day the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is when this day is over. If all this wasn't true, it wouldn't be fair. That's why I'm willing to die for it. I hope you are too. We may have to at some point in time. Hopefully we're counted worthy to escape. Christ is praying. It has to be worthy to escape. I ask that. But you have to be willing to die if that's what he wants of you.

Because God had that plan that he and the Word put together. The Passover. Christ came and he died and it was fulfilled.

We do our part in putting out sin out of our lives, our love and bread.

Pentecost came and God gave his Spirit. I used that to prove to people the Holy Days weren't done away. Because Christ came down and talked to the apostles after he died and was resurrected. And he said, oh guys, I did away with those laws. You gotta just you need the Holy Spirit right now. No. He said wait till Pentecost, till the time. Why did he endorse the day of Pentecost if it was done away? They weren't done away. It was his plan and you don't change a winning plan. And then we have trumpets. When Jesus returns and we rise to meet him. And we have atonement with reconciliation to God and removal of Satan. Those law are going to happen.

And then we reign with Christ in a thousand years which we just celebrated. God tells us every new about of Christ. Eventually everyone will have to know who Christ was. No one gets away with anything. Malachi 4-1. All have a chance. All will be judged.

Malachi 4-1, for behold the day comes and shall burn us an oven and all the proud. All that do wickily shall stubble. And that day that comes shall burn them up, says the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But to you who fear my name shall the Son of righteousness arise with healing in his wings and you shall go forth and grow up as calves to the stall. Verse 3, and you shall tread down the wicked for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I do this, says the Lord of hosts, ashes under the feet of the righteous.

It's fair to us because of what God offers us.

It's fair to the rest of mankind because what is going to offer them, everyone who lived from Adam to now, he resurrected. And for Isaiah 45, says that God declared this, verse 21 of Isaiah 45, tell you and bring them near. Let them take counsel together. Who has declared this from ancient times? Who has told it from that time? Have not I the Lord? There is no one God else beside me, just God and salvation. There is none. He's our Savior.

He says in verse 22, look to me, be saved. I am God. I was formed by myself. The word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness and shall not return. But unto me every knee will bow, every tongue shall swear. Surely one shall say, in the Lord I am righteousness and strength. Even to him shall all men come. All that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. When is finished? Truly finished. Let's be clear. The Millennium, Christ rules, but it's not the kingdom of God. This day everybody's resurrected and gets a chance, but it's still not the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is a world full of spirit beings. The family of God. When this day closes, the last human has been judged. Eternal life or death, the kingdom of God is complete. Revelation 20, verse 11. This plan from the beginning was for everyone. Verse 11, I saw a great white throne. Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, there was found no place for them. Everything's going to be taken care of. Verse 12, I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God. The books were opened. Another book was opened. The book of life. The dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books.

The same books you and I are judged out of. The same book we study. They have to. The sea gave up her dead which were in it. Death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them. They were judged every man according to their works. Again, we know they're given a time period to know the way before they're judged. We often talk to that as a hundred-day period because one of the books said a child will die a hundred and the old man will be long in years. We don't know how long it is exactly, but we know it's going to happen. They'll have a chance to know before he's not going to resurrect them and say, yeah, you didn't do anything. Bye. They'll have time to teach. Verse 15, Whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast in the lake of fire. Permanent death is not everlasting punishment. The best thing you can do for someone who can't be happy, refuses to be happy, is just have them die. The only peace people that are angry get is when they're asleep. And what God offers? God wants you to want the happiness He offers. The religions of this world, I don't want to be up there playing a heart, but I sure don't want to be in hell. They fear because Satan has fear, and he wants you to fear. God wants you to enjoy what He's offering, to know how good it is. There will be that last great day of judgment, a resurrection for all to learn the truth and face judgment before our Maker. First Corinthians 15, universe 24, talks about what's going to happen. Then is the end when He delivers up the kingdom of God, even to the Father, when He makes to cease all rule and all authority and power. He's taken over every government, everything there. All those who would rebel, He's gotten rid of. Verse 25, for it's right for Him to reign until He has put all enemies under His feet. Verse 26, the last enemy is death.

But when all things the last enemy is death, verse 27, for He put all things under His feet. But when He says all things have been put under His feet, as Jesus is playing, that it accepts Him who has put all things under Him, God the Father. But when all things are subjected to Him, the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who has subjected all things to Him so that God may be all in all.

That's when the kingdom of God truly starts.

You know, John 7, 37, we had a paper on that talking about the eighth day. This is called the eighth day in Leviticus, but we called it the last great day because Christ said in John 7, 37, in that last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink. Some people thought that was the water festival, and there's some books out there and say those things. I've always felt it was the last great day. We have some papers. We're studying on that now. But why do I think that? When does everyone get to go to Christ and drink?

You get to now. The millennium, those who survive and live will then.

Only in the last great day will all people who are resurrected, everyone, will have a chance to drink. When Christ said, Come to me and drink, he was talking about this day when everyone else comes up.

Revelation 21. You see, as long as there are humans, there will be death.

Like we read a bit this morning, I saw a new heaven and new earth. For the first heaven, the first earth had passed away. The sea no longer is. I saw the holy city of the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven. Prepared us of pride adorned for our husband. I enjoyed the special music this morning. As long as it's always been moving to me. And I heard a voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people. And God himself will be with them and be their God. When this day is done, there will be no death. God will have been fair to every single person who's ever lived.

If they reject it, there will be ashes under the feet of the righteous. They won't be in misery forever. But those who accept it will be in joy forever.

We will be his children, or we will be ashes. God was more than fair little Ida Jean. He was fair to Chuck and her mother Stella Dell. To her father, Tusky Hot. They'll all come up a thousand years from now. It was fair to her fatherless children who gave my mom a church and love and the truth. No human being has ever been left without a chance, and no human being who rejects that chance will live forever suffering. Mercy for the miserable people who cannot allow the way of peace to be part of their lives. They'll simply be non-existent.

The only fair solution to everyone.

The first command Mr. Armstrong gave me when he asked me to fly was to treat everyone that gets on this plane like a king or a queen because they are future kings and queens. I have dinner for our students at our house six at a time. More formal than Kallama's Armstrong did. And I said, I've served kings, but you're more important than they are. All of you are more important than they are.

His final promise he made me make to him. He was very close to death, probably a day or two away. The last he was basically went unconscious about two o'clock in the afternoon, died the next morning without ever talking or saying anything to anyone. But he grabbed my hand and he pulled it to me. I saw the floor in front of me because he was hunched over the chair. He couldn't really even hold his head up. I'd sit on the floor so I could look up into his eyes. And he grabbed my hand and he held it. And he said, promise me you'll rise with me to see Christ.

I ask all of you to throw away any petty jealousies, any anger, any resentment, any condemnation with others. Forgive like Christ forgave. Live as Christ lived. Serve as Christ served. See your trials as Christ saw beyond his trials, where he obtained eternal life. And you can obtain eternal life. Make the same promise to yourself that he asked me, and I say, be there. Rise to meet Christ when he comes. God's plan indeed is the only fair solution.

Thank you for letting my wife and I enjoy the feast with you. It's always a pleasure to be with God's people. I enjoy that more than anything. People of God are wonderful. We're difficult at times. But let's treat each other the way Christ and God treat us.