Painting the Vision

Well, good evening to all of you. Oh, that sounds so good. Wow! We almost have a full house here. We normally would have 1,200 chairs that we anticipated putting up, but we weren't able to do that exactly. We've got a little over... I think we have about 1,080, close to 1,100. So we've got a pretty full complement tonight. We really appreciate all you folks coming and all the miles you've driven and all the things that you've had to put up with, because we're all human, right? So we appreciate very much seeing you. It's a privilege to be here, to be your festival coordinator. And I want to say at the outset, if there's anything that you have need of, please see me. We'll do everything we can to help you to have the best feasts that you've ever had. That is our responsibility. And we don't take it lightly. Now, if you want me to shine your shoes, that may be a little tougher. I could do it. I was in the Navy, so I could spit-shine them, but I'm not going to do that right away, unless, you know, big bucks come my way.

I'm kidding. But we'll do whatever we can to make your feasts the very best you've ever had. And it should be, in my estimation, at least to be the very best feast that you have ever enjoyed. We'll do everything we can to see to it that you do have that great feast. Do not hesitate to come to us.

My festival coordinator's office is back here with a business office. And we have typist on your left as you come in. It's Sago Palm Room number three. It's three as the first one you come to, and then number two and number one. And then we have anointing and counseling back here on the right to give you sort of a little preview of what we have available for you.

We're grateful to have Mr. and Mrs. Kubik here. Thank you, folks, for coming here to be at this feast. It means a lot to us. He's the president of United Church of God. So if you have any special requests and you don't want to put up with me, go see him. It's been around a long time. They've gotten around the earth a few times, serve in many different ways.

We do appreciate very much that you're here. Thank you so much for including us. We're going to have that special webcast on Sabbath, this weekly Sabbath, here during the feast. I think you're going to enjoy that. We've got some really good video people and audio-visual people here from home office, no less. We're really grateful for Mr. Steve Myers, who came up here. He's a Beyond Today presenter, as you well know.

So if you want to bug him a little bit, you can during the feast. If there's something you especially like, let's go for the positive. I'm always watching all three of the presenters, but you might want to thank him for what he's done. His wife, as well, really appreciate very much their being here. It's a big boost to all of us. It won't take a lot of time because we do have a sermon today, but there are some basic announcements. I'm going to go through.

Not a lot. We will have more tomorrow because we'll probably have a few more here, although we're nearly full tonight. We do appreciate your being here. If we need to, we can still get another hundred chairs here on my right, your left. So we're not totally out of it yet. It might be a little uncomfortable if you're shoulder to shoulder, but we hope that it's not too much of a problem. We hope you enjoy your feast. We really appreciate the opportunity to be able to serve you here. I want to welcome you to God's Feast of Tabernacles here in beautiful Panama City Beach.

Are there any of you who have never been here before? We have a showing of hands. Well, welcome. Oh, the president, Ms. White. I didn't know that. I wasn't doing that. You know, there was nothing hidden there. So thank God. What did you hear? I hadn't counted on that. That threw me a little bit. So I went, all else fails punt, right? Fourth and ninety-nine run for it. Anyway, we appreciate very much for Vic and Beth, Mr. and Mrs. Kubik, to be here with us.

They'll be here with us until Sunday morning, and then we lose them. And we lose out in that sense because they're going to go to Bend, Oregon. He can tell you all about that. He's going to speak twice. He'll be speaking tomorrow. So you'll have opportunity to hear Mr. Kubik tomorrow, and then you'll have the opportunity to hear from Mr. Kubik on Sabbath, the weekly Sabbath. And most, if not all, of the feast sites will be able to pick up the transmission, as I understand it.

And even some in Canada, I don't know how far in different parts of the earth that this will extend to, but we hope as many as possible. So this is a great feast for us, a great year for us. God has given us, and we hope that you really enjoy it. We'll do everything we can to make it good for you. You heard me say that publicly. We have nearly 1,100 regular attendees.

We tried to put 1,200 chairs in. We didn't quite make it, but we can put another 100 up if we need them tomorrow. We're glad that we could have the beautiful film and the music that extols our great God. And of course, we're looking forward to the coming Kingdom of God. I hate reading from notes, but I'm doing it here. We have a feast brochure for you.

This is it if you did not get it yet. This is what it looks like. Careful here. And I'm grateful to my daughter, who put this out in publisher, and then we had it printed. It's on pretty good stock, so you can tear it, but I don't recommend it.

We wanted to be something for memories for the future. We've been doing this for four years here. I had opportunity in the 70s up until 80 to serve as Festival Coordinator, and in some places we had 12 to 13,000. Some of you may remember those days when we did have that many, but we're grateful for the opportunity that we have here. I would recommend that you get a copy of this. Is there anyone here that didn't get one yet? A few of you. Okay, we have them at the information table. I think some of our ushers may even hand them out tomorrow if you haven't stopped by the information table. And you'll be able to pick one up there. I hope we have enough. I think we do. So we're looking forward to your looking through this. It pretty well says everything that is important for you and me to have a really great feast. We have festival announcements at the beginning, important phone numbers, anointing, counseling, and so on. In the middle, we have the schedule of the feast as to the activities, the time of services, and then at the back you'll see a speaking schedule. So we hope that you enjoy it, and if you have any questions or comments, please direct them to me. We'll do whatever we can to make it even better for all of the feastgoers next year. You've seen the lighting, I'm sure you have, in the camera setup for our webcasting on Sabbath. They're not practicing. They know what they're doing. You need to know what's going on. You see these really bright lights here. And so these are things that need to be done. And we've got tripods and cameras running as far as I know. We've got camera men or people? Women? Men. Am I right on that? Jonathan, do you know? Are you running that one here?

Oh, okay. I'm sorry. We're just talking this back and forth. I'm sorry I said that, Jonathan.

You can get me later.

So you've seen all the lighting in the camera setup for our webcasting on Sabbath. And we will be filming all of this, and it will be put up almost immediately. Not quite.

We have reviewers as well set up throughout the feast for the messages in the sense that we're not having something go through that should not. And we try our very best to make sure that it's, as we said in the Navy, copacetic. We do have lighting and cameras. You'll know that. Please be careful that you don't trip over the wires. We've tried everything we could do to make it stumble-proof. And so we hope that we've done that. But be careful and watchful over that, if you would, please. We're really grateful for all the people coming down from home office and all that they've done already and will be doing. We're really blessed to have them here.

So this year we're webcasting our service to those around the world who can't make it to the feast on the Sabbath. We're going to webcast our services to all the feast sites. I've already indicated that.

This will be an exciting, unifying experience to share services together across this nation and those who cannot connect around the world. Or those who, I should have put, those who can connect around the world. So if you see something here that might be a little bit different to you filming and so on, I hope it'll be comfortable for you. The lights will be on throughout the service through the services for the entirety of the feast. Please make sure you don't trip on the legs of the lights and the legs of the cameras or the lights. Very sensitive, especially when turned on. I wanted to get this out initially because I see we have a number of people in the congregation here, quite a few. We were concerned about having Wi-Fi enabled devices. However, I asked the gentleman here who runs the conference center and he said that shouldn't be any problem, but if you don't need your Wi-Fi enabled device, then you might not want to turn it on. On the other hand, he said it wasn't going to make any difference because we have it hardwired to transmit. So we're hoping it's going to work out pretty well for everybody.

Again, there are a lot of extra equipment around the hall. Don't hurt yourself on that equipment. Be careful when moving around the hall. Lights will be on through services for the entirety of the feast. The third point that has been brought to our attention by our video gentleman will be filming crowd shots for the national webcast throughout the week. If you are on camera, please just act natural and ignore the cameras. Fat chance, huh? Oh, I shouldn't say fat. I'm sorry. I've got to lose some weight here. Giving shots of our brethren during services helps our members around the world feel more connected to us here in Panama City Beach. If you would rather not be on camera, some might not want to be for one reason or another. That's up to you. We have designated a couple of no-film zones in the... I know this sounds funny, but this is true. In the back of the room, this is no put-down. This is if people do not want to. And there are legitimate reasons in some instances where they might not want to be on camera. That's fine. That's not implying anything.

You'll see signs on the rows where we won't be filming crowd shots, so to speak. And that will be on the... Let's see, we have parents with children here, so it would be over here to my left, your right, in the back section, if you don't want to be on camera. Okay, I think... Whoops! We have Festival Youth Instruction. I better take care of that quickly. Tomorrow, I think that's going to be helpful for us. We opted to do that here. We've had them for the last couple of years. This year, it's the model on Deuteronomy 6, built on Deuteronomy 6, verses 6 and 7, entitled, Parents First Model, in which the Church supports and supplements the parents' teaching.

All of our lessons from kindergarten through grade 12 revolve around envisioning what the millennium will be like. Time of classes tomorrow, Thursday, October 9th, at 1.30. We know that services begin at 2, but they need to be in the rooms at 1.30. They last for about 50 minutes. Students may arrive between 1.15 and 1.30 tomorrow for their first lesson. We do have instructors who will be in those rooms. Sego Palm Room No. 2, right in the middle of those three major rooms in the back, is Sego Palm Room No. 2. That's where, parents, you will bring kindergarten through third grade students, and then the fourth grade through, did I say, K through 3? In the middle. And over here in the palm room on the east side will be the sixth and, no, fourth through sixth grade students. And then on the east side of that same palm room, which is fairly large, and it will be divided in two, we will have the teens.

The teens may, let's see, at the time of the middle hymn, this is important, you as a parent or parents will need to leave the auditorium to pick up your children and sign them out. The teens may sign themselves in and stay in the building, please, teens. The teens will be escorted to the auditorium to find their parents at 220. That's a significant time, 220 to 230, and we'd like to have you seated at that time because that'll be the announcement period. If everyone's standing and singing, the children are not going to be able to find the parents. So it's after that middle song when the children will be entering into the auditorium, and hopefully you parents will help out with that. And I've already told you about the location. Someone wrote here, restrooms, all children need to use a restroom before arriving at class. I need not say more.

What to bring to class? The fourth through sixth graders need to bring bibles. To class, the teens should bring their bibles and mobile devices, laptops, or tablets, as well as their youth festival guides. So that's going to happen tomorrow. We're starting when we have two of these. And I think two more short ones. We want to have a welcome to the young adults.

We're going to have a hospitality room open for you on Thursday before services from 12 to 1 p.m.

12 noon to 1 p.m. in the royal palm room, which is upstairs. When you enter the main doors over here, to my left, as you come in, it'll be your right, you'll just go forward and go up the stairs. This is for young adults. And you'll go up the stairs, and then you'll take a left. And there's the royal palm room. And we will be there with refreshments for you from 12 to 1 p.m. You can take a look at this on page six in your brochure, if you would. The other one is, tomorrow night we're going to have the teen dance in the palm room. What we used to call the overflow room, when we had, already did, just a second. All right, they're all in place here. Thank you very much. You guys don't let me get away with anything, do you? Somebody pay you to do that before you came in here.

I guess you don't need to be paid. Anyway, over here at the palm room, we're going to have a teen dance tomorrow evening. Yes, I do know it's a high day tonight, high night and high day, and we're going to have then on Thursday evening from 7.30 to 10.30 the teen dance in the palm room. You can see that on page seven in your feast brochure. Okay, I've taken plenty of your time, too much of it, but we are going to have special music at this time. Special music tonight is a vocal ensemble singing, titled, As I Believe in God, and it's written by Brian Free and Assurance. It's going to be presented by the Demers family, Kelly, Amy, Garrett, and David Demers, and also Carla and Jessica Bonner. So we're looking forward to that. We thank you for providing that. And then, following special music, we have the opportunity and privilege to hear from somebody that I used to work with in the early 70s in Longview, Texas. He helped me serve there when I was pastoring Longview in Luffkin. This gentleman's been out for a number of years. He is now pastoring Paducah, Kentucky. He's got to be here somewhere. Oh, there he is. Paducah, Kentucky, and Cape Gerardo, Missouri. And I'm missing one more. Two more. Oh, my. Do you mind telling us when you get up? Thank you. My bad. So we'll have the opportunity to hear from Mr. Rick V.

in the wisdom of another. Some search for light in the dark.

But like a child, I have come with simple faith. And the only one who can change my heart.

I believe God. I believe it's what is true. For I've seen what He can do. When I call upon His name, I believe God. So let the world say what they will. I will choose to serve and serve.

Knowing He will never change. I believe God.

Some say this life is the only thing that matters. Some say we live, then we die.

But I'm convinced that God seems under the weight. So with every breath, I will testify. I believe God. I believe it's what is true. For I've seen what He can do. When I call upon His name, I believe God. So let the world say what they will. I will choose to serve and serve.

Knowing He will never change.

I believe God. So love this world. We name it. Oh, we've got to die. And that's why I believe God. I believe His word is true. For I've seen what He can do.

When I call upon His name, I believe God. I believe His word is true. For I've seen what He can do.

When I call upon His name, I believe God. So let the world say what they will.

I will choose to serve and serve. Knowing He will never change. I believe God.

I believe God.

I believe God.

Thank you for that beautiful music.

And good evening, everybody. Welcome again to the 2014 Feast of Tower Knackles. Believe it or not, another year has gone by very rapidly.

Mr. Ross, I knew him when he had dark hair.

He was a little younger, and that was back in the mid-70s.

You know, when you're a ministerial trainee and later an assistant pastor and an associate pastor, and then someday you're a pastor yourself. I don't mean pastoring yourself, although you also need to kind of pastor yourself. But you kind of wonder where all will you go over your career, your lifetime. And I've traveled, been in quite a few states in the South and the West and worked. And he mentioned two of the churches I'm currently working in, Paducah, Kentucky, and Cape Girardeau, Missouri. And the other Kentucky churches, Henderson, where Pianist and her husband are from. Good to have them here. Great to have them here.

And the other one in Missouri is Poplar Bluff. So, one Sabbath I go to the Missouri churches, where they're trying to... well, they're showing me things, but they want me to show them things.

Show me state. Kentucky now... I have to say something. Sometimes the handwriting's on the wall and you don't know it. My last name is Beam. It goes very well with Kentucky.

And I should have known I would be there someday. And my Uncle Jim Beam turned 91 last month. So, I've got a lot of rights to be in Kentucky. And I thoroughly enjoyed there. And Missouri and southern Illinois, southern Indiana, and a couple of slices of a couple of other states. Great place to be. And I do want to say, too, a warm welcome to all of those who are joining us on the webcast. Technology is wonderful. You know, with the keeping of this feast, as I mentioned just a moment ago, we are one year closer to the reality that it pictures. And you know, that's a reality that we can see in our mind's eye, can't we? A reality that doesn't exist yet, but it is coming. A reality of peace and plenty, health and happiness, safety and success, physically and spiritually. And to stand in the shade... people talk about the feast days or shadows, which is true. To stand in the shade, and it takes substance to throw that shade, it's made by substance. To stand in that shade of the holy days, and especially the shade of the holy days of the Feast of Tabernacles and the eighth day, later. But standing in the shade of the holy days, picturing that in the midst of the heat of these times, is most refreshing.

You know, we live on a plundered planet that has been taken hostage. We live in the midst of an enslaved and troubled world. A troubled world is only going to plunge deeper into its problems.

And the picture of things that we see around us, increasingly so, is anything but reassuring.

And without a focus on that wonderful future that's coming... I love that film, that video piece, with the Heralinal. That was wonderful. Is anything reassuring of the world itself, but without a focus on what is coming, it would be easy to become discouraged and to despair and be disheartened. But there is that future, and it's out there, and it's closer this feast than it was last feast. A beautiful, wonderful time coming, and it is our Father's good pleasure. You know, Christ let us in on a number of things that are very meaningful to us. In Luke 12, and verse 32 is this statement you don't have to turn there. We'll turn to some Scripture. But Luke 12, verse 32 says in the words of Christ, fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. And that means a world of wonder, a world of opportunity, what we say, a wonderful world tomorrow. Years ago, we published a book titled just then. I brought a copy because I've got a couple of copies, but many of you have this in your libraries at home. Many of you are very familiar with it. The wonderful world tomorrow, what it will be like. And you know, we talk about word pictures, how words create pictures, how they can create images in the mind.

And a reality of that future that we have can be created in our minds through the words we hear and read. A vision can be painted in our minds, upon our minds. And that vision has the power to spur us on. That vision has the power to propel us, to cause us to plow through thick and thin.

We've all had some thick and thin this last year. I know, of course, there will be more in the future. But it spurs us on. Vision has power to move us and keep us going forward through whatever. We've also heard that a picture itself is worth a thousand words. And obviously, there's a lot of truth to that statement, too. What we see with our eyes has the power to print itself, unforgettable, on our minds. Jesus Christ walked with His disciples, if you know the condition of those days, an extremely troubled time. A troubled time is only going to grow worse in His day. He constantly preached of and pointed them toward the Kingdom of God. That was heart and cord. And then one day, then one day, something was done that totally surpassed anything that Hollywood could ever do on the silver screen, as we say. Technicolor, three-dimensional, panoramic, none of that could touch it. Notice with me in Matthew 16. In Matthew 16, when you read the last verse there in Matthew 16, there's not really a logical break between that chapter and chapter 17.

Man put the break in there when he organized the Bible into chapters and verses. And I'm glad that organization is there because it's a whole lot easier to find things. But in Matthew 16, verse 28, Jesus Christ said, truly, it barely means truly, truly I say to you, there be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.

And after six days, going right on into chapter 17, He took Peter, James, and John, his brother, and brought them up into a high mountain apart. And there before them He was transfigured before them, and His face did shine as the sun. You can just imagine the brightness and the brilliance.

And His raiment was white as the light, and behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elijah talking with Him. Here are these disciples watching this, seeing the transfigured Christ as He would be in His kingdom, and seeing a resurrected Moses and Elijah standing there conversing and talking and dealing with Him. In verse 4, then answered Peter and said to Jesus, Lord, it's good for us to be here. I mean, what an understatement, you know?

If you will, let us make here three tabernacles, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. And while He spoke, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. You hear Him.

And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face and were so afraid.

And Jesus came and touched them and said, Arise, don't be afraid. And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no man except Jesus only. And as they came down, as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision. It was a vision. Tell the vision to no man until the Son of Man be risen again from the dead. But here were three of the disciples, the closest ones He operated most closely with, given a visual, not a word picture, a visual foretaste of the kingdom. They saw the king of that kingdom in the kingdom.

They saw Him in glorified power. And think about it, for the remainder of their physical lives, James has ended pretty early. Peter ended sometime in the 60s AD. John lived, evidently, into the 90s AD, maybe to close to 100 AD or so, and basically was about that age also when he died evidently a natural death. But that vision was painted on the canvas of their minds for the remainder of their life, never to fade away. And it would help to carry them through the thick and the thin that they were going to have to deal with in the times ahead. Now, go back to Peter's words.

It is good for us to be here. Yes, how good it was for Peter and James and John to be there. And, brethren, how good it is for us, for you and me, to be here tonight and tomorrow and this feast.

Yes, how good it is, picturing that coming kingdom and giving us a foretaste, a picture of what that kingdom will be like. We all know the Feast of Tabernacles picture is the coming kingdom of God on this earth. We know that picture is the millennial rule of Jesus Christ, and we call it millennium because Latin word meaning one thousand. It's a thousand year rule as far as the millennial part of it.

We understand that. Peter notated the connection between Tabernacles and Kingdom of God when he made the statement, if you will, let us make here three Tabernacles. One for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah. He got the connection. He made the connection.

You know, it's interesting that in that vision, they saw Moses and Elijah talking with Christ, and the obvious meaning was it's going to be a shared experience. It's going to be a shared rulership. Christ would be sharing the power and the glory. In Luke 22, verses 29 and 30, in Luke 22, verses 29 and 30, you know there are an awful lot of things in this world I would love to have a say in and changing. That has to wait. But the day will come when Christ will share with us the power to change things as we assist him. But in Luke 22, verses 29 and 30, he told them, he said, and I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father has appointed to me, that you may eat and drink at my table and my kingdom and sit on thrones judging or ruling the twelve tribes of Israel. And just as Moses and Elijah were shown in that vision, they were being told that they also had a place in that vision. You know, on the canvas of their minds, they could see themselves painted into that picture. And you know, brethren, so can you and I.

Just in a fairly quick sequence, let's look at three or four scriptures in Revelation. The first one is Revelation 2, verse 26, because we're painted into that vision also. Revelation 2, verse 26, and he that overcomes, and we're taking this from the messages to the church, verse 7, he that overcomes, she that overcomes, keeps my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations. And then you just move over to chapter 3, verse 21.

Chapter 3, verse 21, to him, or again, her, that overcomes will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame and I'm sat down with my father in his throne, a shared rulership. And, of course, the one that we're very familiar with, it's not a very tall scripture. It's only 5'10". It's Revelation 5'10". But, boy, there's a lot packed into it. Revelation 5'10, "...and has made us unto our guide kings and priests, and we shall reign or rule on the earth." In the very last...well, I shouldn't read the last sentence. I should read the whole thing. Revelation 20, verse 4. Because, again, it has to do with the shared experience with Christ in His kingdom of being a part of that power and the chains that's coming.

Revelation 20, verse 4, "...and I saw thrones, plural, and they sat upon them, and judgment or rulership was given to them. And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God, and which had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, nor in their hands, and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years." And again, that's where we get the term millennium. We, too, are painted into that vision.

We have a place in it. We have the opportunity to be a part of it. Now, as I'm sure you've noticed, as I have been going through this, I've been using the phrases, painting a vision on the canvas of the mind. So, if you put it together, I'm simply talking about painting a vision upon the canvas of your mind. Now, if you want a short title, painting a vision, that'll do it in short form. If you want a longer form, painting a vision upon the canvas of your mind. Because, see, what I'm talking about tonight is a vision, a personal vision of the world tomorrow, that you personally hold in your mind of that coming Kingdom. A vision that is enhanced.

Every feast you keep. A vision that grows, that expands, that increases in your mind's eye.

A vision that is real to you. You can look in the mirror and say to yourself, it is so real to me. It's a vision that is reality, just a reality that has not come to pass yet.

And the more that vision is real to you, the less likely you'll ever be painted out of the picture.

You know, the more that vision of that coming Kingdom is painted upon our minds, the more secured we are for it. The more we'll fight for it, the more we will go through in order to keep our part in it. Think about something. Moses and Elijah currently are dust and bones. And they have been such for thousands of years. One reason they could be pictured in vision, in that vision of God's Kingdom, one reason they could be is simply because they will be there.

That is the coming reality. Same as Christ returned as a coming reality, their resurrection into that Kingdom is a coming reality. They are signed, sealed, and ready to be delivered at the resurrection. Otherwise, otherwise, there would have been a falseness contained in the vision that Peter and James and John were given. And there's no falseness.

You know, Moses and Elijah fit the category of Psalm 1. I'm not going to turn there. You're familiar with it, I think. You certainly recognize it when I just read it here.

But Moses and Elijah fit the category of Psalm 116 verse 15. And they're not the only ones that fit that category. There have been many already who've come to fit that category. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints because they are signed. When a saint, when someone in Christ dies, they are signed and sealed, ready to be delivered, so to speak, at the resurrection. Moses and Elijah were able to be pictured in that vision because the vision had been in them. Now take Moses, for instance. Let's just take him. In Hebrews 11 verses 25 and 26 and 27. This is what he says about Moses. And I said that he was able to be pictured in that vision along with Elijah because the vision had been in them. It had been in him. Moses. Choosing rather, it says in verse 25, Hebrews 11, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming the reproach, verse 26, esteeming the reproach of or for Christ, greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward which was out there in the future for him. By faith, verse 27, he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. He was very visionary. He held a vision in his mind.

There was a vision painted upon the canvas of his mind that never faded away. It saw him through thick and thin. He practiced the admonition of Proverbs 23-23. Now, that is the proverb that we use, and rightly so, for talking about buying the truth and selling it. In other words, we use that as a core scripture, which is right. It's appropriate. It's right to use it about, you know, let's make the truth as free as we can for others. Let's publish and print freely, and that's the way that we should do. You know, we don't sell the truth, and that's a good meaning, and we say, okay, we will do our best to put the truth out there free. Let me take another meaning that doesn't contradict that at all, but also is a very deep meaning of that proverb.

What are you talking about also? It's Proverbs 23-23, easy to remember, 23-23, where it says, buy the truth and sell at night. You know what it's saying to you as a Christian and me? Also, pay the price and don't sell out. Pay the price, buy the truth, pay the price you have to to have the truth and keep it, and don't sell out. Never sell out. Moses paid the price. He never sold out. Neither did Elijah. They are as sure for that kingdom as that kingdom is sure, and that is how we can become if we have that vision painted upon the canvas of our minds in bold, rich, brilliant colors. You know, it can spur us on, it can take us through thick and thin, it plays such a powerful role in being willing to pay the price when we have to pay the price and not sell out. It sure helps to ensure that we're there. I got something hidden under here. I couldn't get a bigger one because it wouldn't fit under here.

Now, everybody knows what this is, right? You're going to say it's a canvas, and you would be right. This is a canvas. 16 by 20, I think. You're going to say it's a canvas, but that's only part of the story. This is a naked canvas.

It has nothing painted on it. There's no picture or anything. Now, you could take it, you could wrap it in a shirt, hair pants, put something around it. It's still a naked canvas because no painting means nakedness when you're talking about a canvas.

Proverbs 29, verse 18, and I know we're very familiar with it. That's the one that says, where there is no vision, the people perish. But do you know also what it says in my King James version in the margin, the way it also could be rendered? Where there is no vision, and it uses the word the people in the singular sense as a group, where there is no vision, the people is made naked. Interesting way of putting it. The canvas of the mind without a vision of the kingdom painted upon it is naked. But you know, none of us have come here with a naked canvas, have we? None of us have come here with a totally blank canvas with no color upon it. By the very token that we are here, some measure of vision has been painted there, hasn't it? Now, my wife is an artist. She loves to paint. I'm just surprised she hasn't asked me if she can have my props, you know, when I'm through with this. But she loves to paint, and she is quite good at it.

And I'm not just being biased or partial either. She'll set up an easel and put a canvas upon it, and she'll start adding strokes. And as time goes by, I'll go back and forth from time to time and pass it, and I'll glance in. And over a period of time, as I walk by and glance at that canvas, I see a picture taking shape, a painting taking shape. At first, it's just kind of blurs of color and this and that, but it begins to start taking definition and shape. And pretty soon, there's a lot of clarity and definition, and a painting emerges on it, a picture. So it is with us as we keep the feasts of God. He can paint a stronger and stronger vision, a brighter and brighter picture in our minds. Every speaker that gets up here during this feast will add another stroke of color to your canvas, or refresh and brighten up some of the color that's already there, but maybe getting a little bit dim. You know, I can't help but think of the little girl.

She's a little girl, a little bitty girl. She went up to her mother one day, and she was holding her stomach, and she said, Mommy, my stomach hurts. And her mother replied, well, that's because it's empty. You have to put something in it. And later that day, the preacher and his wife came over for dinner. You know what's coming. He began to feel bad and holding his head, and said, oh, I have such a terrible headache. And the little girl looked up at him just so sweetly and innocently and said, you know, that's because it's empty. You have to put something in it.

Well, your heads are not empty, and ours are not either. But as speakers, we will do our best to put something extra upon the canvas of your mind during these eight days, comprising actually two feasts. And as you serve and you share and you relate in this feast atmosphere, it will add to your vision. There's a question that is deeply embedded in my mind. I first heard it at the feast in Big Sandy, Texas in the early 60s. And I've heard it echoed many times since down through the years. It's a very familiar and important question. It's a quite simple question, but it's multifaceted, multidimensional as far as in the answers or the way you could word answers to it.

You know, there's more than one way to answer the question, although some of the answers have a greater priority than some of the others. And you know what that question is. Why are we here?

Why are we here? Why are we here? And that's been answered in so many ways. And sometimes it's been answered on the lighter side like, well, we're here because we're not all there.

Meaning both we have a lot of growing to do, and that's part of that at hand.

We're not yet there in the kingdom. The kingdom of God is not yet here. But this is a preview, a foretaste. I could also say to keep the vision alive, to keep it alive and to add to it. This is what I want to address at this point in relationship of a vision being painted on the canvas of our minds, because we're here because a light was turned on. A light was turned on that has the power for a greater brightness in these bright lights that are shining right now. We're here because a light was turned on, and we didn't turn it out. We responded to that light. You know, often think of the Scripture in Matthew 22.14. Simple Scripture says a light, says a world, world's worth, in a sense. Matthew 22.14, where the statement is made, and again, one of those that we recognize so readily, for many are called, but few are chosen. We are part of the few who chose, because see, we had a choice, and we have a choice, who chose to responsibly respond to the light. And because God turned a light on, and we chose to responsibly respond to that light, God supported and strengthened our response, and the light has grown brighter.

Light is for vision. The eye cannot see in total darkness. It's not possible. There's no image, there's no picture. An artist, no matter how good he or she may be, cannot paint in darkness. He or she must have light, good light, the brighter the better. The brightest lights of the year are God's holy days. Those are the brightest lights of the year, and that extra brightness in them comes from God's extra presence in them. I often think of what John, the Apostle John, said of Christ. You would find this in John 1. In John 1, verses 6 through 9, John made this statement, there was a man sent from God, whose name was John, John the Baptist there. The same came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all men through him might believe. He was not that light, John the Baptist wasn't, but was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light which lights every man that comes into the world. Jesus Christ is spoken of here as the light. He is light. Now, with that in mind, I want to couple that with Leviticus 23, verse 4. With Christ being the light, and He is in the exact image of the Father, let's couple that with Leviticus 23, verse 4.

Here we have this statement. These are the feasts of the Lord. These are God's feasts, even holy convocations, which you shall proclaim in their seasons. They are God's feasts. In Strong's exhaustive, the Hebrew word there, moed, m-o-w-e-d, I'm not a Hebrew scholar, may mispronounce it, but spelled like if you mowed the yard.

You can remember it that way, maybe, but m-o-w-e-d is number 4150, or 4150, 4150.

And what the word feast is taken from, the word here in the Hebrew, that word, it means an appointment, an appointment. That is a fixed time or season. We are here because we are keeping a date with God. We are here because we're keeping an appointment with God. Since Christ is light, we're keeping an appointment with light. We're walking in bright light, and there is a double emphasis to it because in that statement that these are the feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations, which you shall proclaim in their seasons. The word feasts and seasons are both translated from the 4150. So you could read it. These are the appointed or fixed times of the Lord, even holy convocations, which you shall proclaim in their appointed or fixed times.

So it's double emphasis on it in that sense.

In Numbers 29.39, and I'm just breaking into the context there, but I just add this as an interesting note too. In Numbers 29.39, these things, as I break into that Scripture, that these things shall you do, margin says, do or offer, unto the Lord in your... and here's the two words that's put together in that verse. Set, set feasts. And it's interesting that the words set and feasts are both 4150, almost like God stuttered, but He doesn't stutter.

It's for double emphasis. Again, double emphasis. A set feast is a fixed set time or an appointment. It's an established date, an appointment with God, a date or time with God. God is saying, I will be there. Meet me there. Webster's says for set, set, put in a certain place or position, fix, establish, assign, become fixed, place, prescribe, obstinate. I mean, you know, it's locked. You're locked in. Remember the account where Christ told Abraham... I'm not going to turn back there. You would find this statement in Genesis 17 verse 21 if you just want to notate it.

But He told Abraham in Genesis 17, 21, He told him this. He said, but my covenant will establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear to you at this set, this 4150, this Moed, this set fixed time in the next year. The date of the birth of Isaac was established and locked in. And I guess Abraham, if he kept a calendar, could mark it and expect to have a son on that date at that time. It's interesting.

There's reason to believe when we read Genesis 1 and some of the statements there were 4150s used and like Genesis 1.14, let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night. Let them be for signs for seasons, 4150, appointments, fixed times for days and years. We have every reason in the world to believe, don't we, that God, at the very beginning of recreation, set and planned these holy days. That's not a bit of a stretch at all because He knew what His plan of salvation was going to be. Now, if you ask a little boy, and we got some little boys in here, if you ask a little boy what a set feast is, he might say it's a feast where you set a light.

My first feast was a real set feast. It was 1961 in East Texas and hello to you, brother, in East Texas, listening in on this webcast. Real set feast. I was just shy of 11 years of age. I would be 11 before the year was out, but I was 10 at the time. You know, for a 10-year-old boy sitting through two long services every single day, and some of them are two and a half hours long or maybe three, and a Bible study or two sometimes at night, not two in a night, but a Bible study, you know, one or two sprinkled through. It was definitely a set feast for this little fella at the time, and it was in those years at that age that a certain Scripture took on additional meaning for me, and I can remember so well when I realized the end that shall endure the same shall be saved. I probably paraphrased Matthew 24.13 just a little bit, but for a 10-year-old kid, that carried definitely carried meaning for me. But you know what? I also came to realize a very important and significant reality when I was very young. When the mind is engaged, the end can endure. So it works that way, too. I believe that it was the very next feast after that that I asked my mom and dad for a big, thick notebook for the feast. My personal challenge to myself was, okay, if I got to sit there to see if I could fill up that notebook. It's a big, thick one. Fill it up completely with notes from all the speakers. And if I remember correctly, when the feast was over, there were only a few blank pages that didn't have notes. And I didn't write big. I mean, I tried to fill it up properly. I have no idea whatever happened to that notebook. But that challenge to myself began something in earnest that was very important and really started in earnest a process of a vision being painted on my mind, on the canvas of my mind.

A picture of vision began to take shape, and it's been taking shape more and more ever since.

And this feast would be no exception to that. It will follow suit.

In my earliest years, if someone had asked me when I was just a young person, a really young person, why are you here? I could have said, well, because of mom and dad, I have no option. In my earliest years, I had no option. But you know what? In reality, in 2014, in a very true sense, I still don't. I still don't. I still have no option because I want the painting of the vision to continue. I want the light to stay on. I want the light to stay bright. I want the light to keep growing brighter. Keep God's appointments, and the light stays on. Keep God's appointments, and the light stays bright. Keep God's appointments, and the light only grows brighter. Get a good night's rest. Come back tomorrow in the bright light of God's holy day to have more color added to your vision and to freshen up the color that's already there.

Thank you, Mr. Beam. Now it's our opportunity to sing praises to God as we close this service tonight. So if you'll take your hymnals and stand, or pay attention to the screen over here, we're going to close services tonight with a beautiful song in keeping with the theme of the feast, that we are God's people. And that is page 133, We Are God's People. And then we'll be led in the closing prayer by an elder and now assistant pastor who serves in Portsmouth, Ohio congregation, and Athens also, I believe. Mr. Kevin Call will close services with prayer. So page 133, We Are God's People.

Our cornerstone is Christ the Lord. We will be spent. Oh, let us live transparent and hard, far too hard and hand in hand. We are God's people, the pride of Christ the Lord.

For we have known Him, the love of God and for Him, now let us learn how to teach Him, the gift of God's gift. Oh, let us share His joy and care and live with the seals that Jesus has. We are the body of which the Lord is held. Now is the day, now is the end of the day. We will be a family, a person to be loved. Oh, let us live our gifts to God and shout, shout His words on every tongue. We are God's people, the Spirit is dwelling place. Oh, we will great be, but the finish of God's face, we die alone, on its own, Jesus shall lose his heart. Let us find Him, the flame of God, the Caroline to His birth. Our loving Heavenly Father, we come before You once again on this Sabbath evening and the first great holy day. We thank You for this day, just for all that You've given us, the encouragement so far in this first opening service. It's been very inspiring. And, Father, we know that is a gift from You. You have inspired Your people down through time, and You'll continue to do that. And we appreciate that very much. That gives us the hope, the hope of Your Kingdom that this day, this feast, pictures. Father, we thank You for that, and we love You for that. And, Father, now we ask that You be with us this evening. Help us to go to our temporary dwellings, to get the proper physical rest that we need, so we can come back tomorrow. Again, on the first high day. And we can enjoy that day and the feast that lies ahead. Father, we thank You, and we ask that everything we do, we do to glorify You. We love You, and Jesus Christ, all right, in His name we pray. Amen.