Pillars in God’s Temple

Afternoon, everyone! So good to see everyone. I want to say hello as well to everybody online.

Brother over in Hawaii, we're hoping to be over there sometime in February to see them. So I certainly hope everybody is well. Otherwise, those up in Sholo as well.

You know, I don't know if you were the type of person that likes to look at houses and to see the different architect texture that's used. There's a home that we pass. About every Sabbath coming to services is a very it's a palatial place where it has a lake and it has you know even a lakeside house next to the big mansion. And you know, if you look at some of these beautiful homes like that and the architecture, it sort of talks to you. I don't know if you're that perceptive to that kind of thing, but I tend to be. Today, we drove past it and I looked over at it and you know what it said to me? Move along. You can't afford me. I remember, you know, when we traveled to France, we went to some of the cathedrals there, Notre Dame, if any of you've been to Paris, you know, and has the flying buttresses. And of course, it was actually, the fire took place. I don't know how far along they are refurbishing it, but other places that we've been in different countries in the Czech Republic as well and other places, you know, you go into these cathedrals and they're just massive. You know, you've got these tremendous columns that are so large, so so high and so large in terms of circumference. It takes like five or six people holding hand to hand to actually to encircle these columns. And you know, these cathedrals really speak to you when you look at them because the architects of those cathedrals, what they had in mind, and it says it very loudly, is we're building the kingdom of God on earth. They built these cathedrals to last forever. And quite interestingly, some of these cathedrals, you know, which are built, of course, falsely so, in the name of Christ, they've been working on them for centuries, and the columns that are there within these cathedrals have been holding up this structure for centuries. Today they built it to last a thousand years. And of course, God did not intend that man build his kingdom upon the earth. But I want to use the example of these massive columns that are in those cathedrals, those false churches that are dotted throughout not only Europe, and we have them even in the United States and around the world. I want to use those columns as an example. These 30 and 50 foot columns as an example, because these pillars, these columns, have held the structure up for centuries. Let's go to Revelation chapter 3. Revelation chapter 3. Revelation chapter 2 and 3 talk about, and we're going to get into this in the course of this message, talks about the different churches that were on a mail route. There were seven churches on a mail route in Asia Minor, and each one of them had their good things about them, and of course bad things about them that God wants us to understand.

And here in Revelation chapter 3 in verse 11, let's notice this down in verse 11, it says, "'Behold, I am coming quickly.'" He's talking here to the Philadelphia church that was on that mail route in Asia Minor. And it says, "'I'm coming quickly.'" And of course, remember, you know, this was 2,000 years ago that John wrote these words down, or nearly 2,000 years ago. And he said, "'Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown.'" You know, we have a crown, if we've been called, that is assigned to us. That God has called us for that great and special purpose. And he says, "'You better be careful that no one takes your crown from you.'" You know, God can take it away, and he can give it to someone else.

So, he's not locked into necessarily giving it to us if we're not going to see how important it is. But going on here, let's notice, and it says, "'He that overcomes,'" and this is said to every era, every church that is on that mail route, "'I will make him,'" I'm going to make him. Now, note that word, "'make.'" I'm going to make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out.

And I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God, and I will write on him my new name." And it says, "'He who has ears, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'" So, what does that mean?

You know, we see that God, Jesus Christ, has a future role for those that are being called now to be supports in the temple, to be pillars in the temple.

Now, he's talking about here, figuratively, spiritually speaking.

There will be supports within the temple, and there will be a literal temple in Jerusalem during the millennium. And what it says, when it says, he will go no more out, it means that these people who have a certain quality about them, the Philadelphians, which means, brotherly love, in other words, they have come to understand what God means by family. They come to see how important it is, again, not to have pride, and not to have, you know, lack of humility, realizing that God is giving us such an awesome calling, like giving us the opportunity to be in the church, that we could be supports, not only in the millennium, but for all eternity. It is, again, far beyond what any of us can really imagine. So, God is giving us the opportunity for a future role in the future. So, brethren, are you—I'm going to ask you, this is the SPS, the, you know, statement I want to make here as to why I'm giving this message. Are you working to be a pillar in the temple of God now in your life? Are you really, earnestly working to be a pillar? Do you have that kind of vision of your calling, of what God did when He opened your mind, that He began to show you His truths that you would understand? You know, so are you working to be a pillar in the temple of God?

Now, what is the purpose of the church anyway? You know, why are we here together? Every Sabbath, you know, we come together and we listen to sermons, but what is the purpose of the church?

You know what the purpose of the church is, brethren? This is like a laboratory right here.

That we're a part of right now, and God is testing us. He tests us all the time, and you know, sometimes people, you know, will have major things that happen in the world, like 9-11 many years ago.

And you know, we had, you know, so many people show up from the world because they were afraid, because they were concerned about their salvation. Let me tell you, brethren, our salvation is always a question. It doesn't matter what happens out there. Our salvation is always a question.

Again, do we see our calling? Do we really realize, again, that the church is a laboratory, and it's testing us and trying us for a future role in the kingdom of God? Let's go to Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2. It's certainly clear that the early church understood that, that they saw that, they realized what they needed to do. I hope to say some things that will help us understand better what we ought to be doing within the laboratory of the church. But here in Ephesians chapter 2 and in verse 19, notice it says, now therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners. God began to call Gentiles into the church. He called, of course, Jews who were called into the church. Israelites of the other tribes are called into the church. And he says, you're no longer strangers or foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. So God brought us right in to His household. We get to live here. We have to, we're a part of God's family that God has called us into. Having been built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, the church, of course, was raised up. Jesus raised it up as Matthew 16 verse 18 talks about. He raised up the church, and it's built again on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, and Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone. And so He is involved in this building, in whom the whole building. So this is like a construction project that we're a part of.

You know, this laboratory, this construction project, in whom the whole building being fitted together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. So we're being built up.

It's like when you raise up a building, you have to have a solid foundation. You've got to have the, you know, the supports, the pillars that hold it up. Perhaps, you know, if you build it, you build it. Two befores on the side. You've got to have beams. You've got all kinds of things that go in to building a building. But this is not just any building. It's fitly framed, as it says, together, perfectly. God knows what He's doing in building this building.

And it says, in whom you also are being built up, or built together, for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. So we're being built up, you know, so that God's Spirit can dwell among us, be in us, and a part of us. And we're different than the world that is out there that that we come from. You know, there cannot be a building without walls, without pillars, without supports that hold up the ceiling, that hold up the roof. So we have to exist. That's why God has called us at this time. So that is what God's Church is, brother. Ask the question of, you know, what is God's Church? What is the purpose of it? Let's go to Revelation now 17.

Revelation 17. Because here it describes another church.

Very often within the Bible there's duality. So you have a physical and you have a spiritual.

Well, here let's go to the physical. The physical here in this case, though, is what is a part of this world. But in Revelation 17 it says, and we'll begin in verse 1 here, but it says, Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and then talked with me, saying, Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters. Of course, many waters here is a symbolic of the peoples of the earth. And all of us know that, like the Catholic Church, has hundreds of millions of people. It is the largest religion in the entire world.

I don't know what the numbers are, but I think the Muslims are coming up in terms of also the hundreds of millions. I didn't bring the statistics on that, but they represent a major part of all the religions of the world. But in verse 2, it says, The church is betrothed to Jesus Christ. Here, this woman is depicted as being a fornicator, which means having illicit relationships with those other than her husband.

And, you know, of course, the church has, again, manipulated kingdoms. There's only one church on the face of the earth that is crowned kings, and that is the Catholic Church, the universal church, as some people call it. And it says, So he carried me away in the spirit into the I was in the wilderness and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. Again, this is a depiction of the great harlot riding the beast. The beast being the political side of what is coming in the future. It would be the false prophet and the beast. But the woman is depicting the false prophet part of what is going to happen in the future. And it says, the woman who was arrayed in purple and scarlet and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. And on her forehead a name was written, Mystery Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots, and of the abominations of the earth. So she's not only a great harlot, she's the mother of harlots. She brought forth other churches. And of course, this happened during the Protestant Reformation when Martin Luther tacked his protest on the cathedral door. Interestingly, though, many of the churches that were raised up during that time, they didn't really change their teachings. They just didn't accept the pope. They still had the same teachings, in fact, to this very day.

You know, Methodists just went through a major split. They had 25% of their congregation walk out over LGBT ideas. And interestingly, they considered themselves conservatives, which is nothing to be further from the truth, but that's what they consider themselves to be.

And many of these churches, frankly, have joined into a worldwide association, even though they probably will split as they do.

So anyway, this great false church is certainly existing today, but the foundation of this false church is false doctrine. And this church will be the glue, as it were, that will hold together the coming beast power that will rise up in this world. And, oh, your Bible says that this beast power, along with the great harlot, is going to fight Jesus Christ when He returns. He's going to fight Him. Not going to accept Jesus when He returns, but they're going to fight Him. Let's throw this down in verse 14.

And it says, Notice this.

Those three things right there are very, very important.

The question is, are you going to be with Jesus Christ? Am I going to be with Jesus Christ? Well, if we're going to be with Jesus Christ, we're going to have to be called. We're going to have to be chosen, and we're going to have to be faithful in order to be there.

And this verse, by the way, here, and the last part of it, is going to provide the framework of how we become pillars. How we become pillars. If we can understand this verse, if we can apply it in our life, then we'll be there with Christ when He begins to intervene in the world affairs, and He sets up His government here upon this earth.

So let's talk about called, that word called.

Do we see our calling? The Bible asks that question in another place in Corinthians. Do we see our calling? Do we understand it, the greatness of the calling, being called in this age, in this day that we're living in?

Let's return to the purpose of the church, that question about the purpose of the church. Let's go to Romans 8. Romans 8.

Romans 8 and verse 9 says that if we do not have the Holy Spirit, that we are none of Christ. We don't belong to Christ. We have to have God's Spirit to belong to Christ.

You can write it down and read it later on, but I'm not going to read it here today, but it does say again, if we don't have God's Spirit, then we don't belong to Christ. But here in Romans 8 and verse 16, notice here it says, The Spirit, and it should be itself, bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.

There is a spirited man, and there is a spirit of God that God gives to us when we are baptized, and we have the laying out of hands of God's ministers. And our human spirit and the spirit in us makes us aware whether or not we have God's Spirit, whether it's working in us and active in us.

So we know whether or not God is actually working in us. And going on here, verse 17, And if we're children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ. If indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. So we've got to be willing to suffer a bit if we're going to be glorified with Jesus Christ. We're heirs, but we haven't inherited yet. You know, you and I are like people that have a dad that is a multi-multi-billionaire, but we don't have any money because we haven't inherited yet.

It hasn't been given to us yet. And of course, we're not talking about money. We're talking about more than that. We're talking about also eternal life. And so God is willing to, again, give that to us, and we will become heirs, inheritors, and the King of God if we are willing to suffer. In this day and age, we're living Him. And if we are, God's going to glorify us. Now, what does that mean? It means that we're going to be changed from physical to spirit, and we're going to be like Christ.

We're going to be like our elder brother, Jesus Christ. You know, the Apostle John says in 1 John 3 verse 2, it says, it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that we shall be like Him. And the reason, John says, is because we will see Him as He is. We're going to be like Him. You know, we don't know, again, what it will be like to have the awesome power that Jesus Christ has.

You know, of course, we will never be equal with our elder brother. You know, we'll never be equal with the Father, but we'll be in the God family, and we will be like Jesus Christ, as the Bible clearly says. And Paul goes on here, verse 18, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory, which shall be revealed in us.

We can't comprehend how wonderful it is going to be, brethren, in the Kingdom of God when God does glorify us. But notice in verse 19, for the earnest expectation of the creation, that all we see when we look up into the sky, you know, and look at this universe and this galaxy that we're in, and how many galaxies are there? 400, 500 galaxies that are out there in this vast universe? But it says the creation, and that's what the creation is, eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.

You know what a son is? You looked this up yesterday in the Hebrew, and you know what the word son means? It means someone who promotes the family. That's what it means. I had never seen that. I've been studying the Bible for over 50 years, and I'd never seen that.

So there can be children, as you know, that don't promote the family. Actually, it means to promote the family name. Are you doing that, brethren? Promoting? Are we doing that? Promoting the family name? Because that's what the sons do. They believe, and they believe in their family. Very much so. Again, over here in 1 John 3, verse 2, as I already said, that we're going to be like Jesus Christ because we're going to see Him as He is.

And in verse 3, by the way, of 1 John 3, let's do turn to that. In 1 John 3, in verse 3, because it says, "...and everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself just as he is pure." See, if we have that hope, if we have that vision of our calling, what it's all about, we're purifying ourselves.

We're trying to be like Christ, our elder brother, because we're going to be like Him again when we see Him the next time. Hope comes through the Holy Spirit as we live righteously. And the more we live God's way of life, the more we will grasp our great calling, the more we see it, the more we understand it, year by year. I understand my calling a whole lot more than I did when I was called back in 1968 or whenever God aroused my interest. I see it more clearly, more than ever. And each of us will do that. Let's go to chapter 2 of 1 John here.

Chapter 2 in verses 9 and 10, just two verses, we'll read. He who says he is in the light and hates his brothers is in the darkness until now. He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there's no cause for stumbling in him. So if we hate, if hate is in our heart of our brother, we don't have the light of the Holy Spirit in us.

And maybe there are times we might have to fight feelings of hatred or negative feelings. As long as we have that attitude of fighting hatred in our hearts because God does not hate. God's way is not that way. We function in the churches of family. And our relationship is not just with God, it's not between just us and God. I thought that way at one time. I thought, it's me and you, Lord. And then I realized, no, there's a church.

There's a reason why that God is called the church. That's why you've been called into the church. We've got to relate to one another as family. Our relationship must be also with one another. That we, you know, humbly submit to one another. In fact, the Bible teaches we're submissive to each other. We're cooperative with one another, working to accomplish the building project that we're part of. To build the family name. Revelation 18. Let's go to Revelation 18. You know, when the beast power is established in the time ahead of us, and you can believe it's already coming together even now.

And, you know, leaders of the world see a time where the United States is going to be isolated from Europe. And Europe very probably will be responsible for the destruction of the United States. It's my speculation that the weapons that we installed in Europe, the billions of dollars that we sent over there, those weapon re- those war materials will be used against us. The Bible indicates in Ezekiel 5 that a third of this country will be destroyed by war. And there are other things. I'm not going to go into that.

That's a whole other sermon. But here in Revelation 18, let's notice in verse 1 through 4, After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having a great authority. And the earth was illuminated with his glory, and he cried mightily with a loud voice, And in Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, has become the dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit and a cage for every unclean and hated bird. You know, the Babylonian system, this system that frankly began anciently and in the end of the age will be alive and well, it's going to come crashing down.

And it will be a part, it will be a part of the beast system. And it says, For all the nations have drunk of the wine, the wrath of for fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her. Now, who's he talking about here? He's talking about the woman of Revelation 17 we read about. The great harlot that is the mother of harlots. And it says, And it says, And I heard another voice from heaven saying, Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, unless you receive of her plagues.

So we have to come out of the world. And we've got to do it now in advance of this world coming to an end. We're going to wait around. We're going to eventually perish with the world. You know, Ezekiel 5 verse 3 tells us that God is going to save only a small remnant out of this wicked world.

You can go over there and read about what God told Ezekiel about the remnant that was in his apron. A small remnant that will be left over. Now let's go to Philippians chapter 2. You know, we live, brethren, in a world that, frankly, is increasingly crooked, upside down and backwards. I'm amazed that world leaders, when they make decisions, it's like they make decisions that would be the exact opposite of what I would consider to be wise.

I don't know about you, but even in this country, I see that happening. Decisions are made almost, it looks like you'd almost have to have the desire to destroy the country, you know, to do some of the things that the leaders of the people of the United States have done. And of course, it's not just here. It's happening all over the world, particularly with Israelite, descended nations, like, you know, Britain, like Australia, like some of the Canada, even.

You know, some of these areas have gone bonkers. That's the only word I can choose. Some of the decisions that they make are not to help the people, but to hurt the people. Of course, we're not a part of this world. We're not a part of the society. We're not a part of the politics of this world.

Jesus said, my kingdom is not of this world, or else my servants then would fight. He wouldn't have been delivered over to be beaten and to be crucified, but He chose to do that to offer salvation to human beings, all human beings. And He did it lovingly and willingly. Let's go to chapter 2 now in verse 12.

Notice here, Therefore, my beloved, as you have not always obeyed not in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Again, our salvation. You know, we need to realize that we've got to be careful about our salvation.

Make sure nobody steals your crown. We've got to be on top of ourselves spiritually speaking. And it says, For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Do all things without complaining and disputing. Again, we're a family. We don't complain and bicker, you know, but we cooperate and we have a giving and loving attitude that you may become blameless and harmless children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you shine as lights in the world. God wants us to shine as lights to this world. He doesn't want us to be like the world, like the society out here that, again, has gone crazy. They do crazy things. And, you know, if we don't think people are crazy, watch what happens New Year's Eve and how people are. You know, they talk about how Christmas is so wonderful. You know, how about the murdered people? How about the violence that takes place at Christmas time?

I heard yesterday that there was a teenage boy that killed his older sister over an argument about presents. But that's the world we live in. Well, God doesn't want us to have that kind of mentality at all, brethren. We're living in a crooked world and we must remain straight as arrows. A pillar has to have this mentality to be solid, to not be swayed by the world, to be a support. And, frankly, brethren, if we can't be a support here, how are we going to be a support in the kingdom? We ought to be supporting one another here, buoying each other up spiritually speaking. Let's go back to Romans 8 over here. In Romans chapter 8, Romans 8 and verse 22 and 3, but it says, We can't wait until we're changed in the kingdom of God. The world has certain anticipation of the arrival of saviors, as it were, little saviors, which will be God's people.

And, brethren, we have that expectation as well. We want it. We desire it with all of our hearts and minds. We want to be a part, again, of that coming world. And, you know, the anticipation we have right now won't exceed the tremendous feeling of accomplishment, which we will have when we are brought up in that second resurrection, or that first resurrection. When we're changed at the return of Jesus Christ. And it's going to be a split second. If we're alive, we'll be changed instantly. There might be a sting of death, but we'll be changed just in a split second.

And those that died, it will be as though they were never dead. They will just simply be changed immediately. Because death is like a time machine. You don't know how, whether it's ten thousand years or two seconds, you know, it will be that fast. But that anticipation we have now, brethren, won't exceed the feeling we'll have when we're resurrected. Godly character was put on the shelf for all of mankind because of Adam's sin. When Adam rejected God, everybody was, it was appointed for man once to die, and then the judgment.

So that they are not building character, and this world, of course, is quite the evidence of that. We must be trained, though, each of us within the Church of God. God is about the business of reproducing Himself. And He's putting His character in us. You know, there are fine people in the world. I don't think we ought to get into an attitude of thinking that there are no decent people in the world. Frankly, if there weren't any decent people in the world, we'd be far worse than we are now. It is those that are trying to live decent lives that have kept it all from cascading down and collapsing already.

But realize this, brethren. The character the world has is carnal. It is from a carnal point of view. The character we're building is spiritual, based on the laws of God. And God wants us to be like His Son, Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ is the exact, express image of the Father. And so we should strive to be like the Father, like it says in Matthew 5 and verse 48. We need to become perfect like our Father in heaven.

What does it mean in the Bible when it says, you're chosen? What's that mean? The word chosen, if you look it up, it means the elect. You're elected. Or, in other words, you could use is you're selected. In other words, you live a certain way of life and you are the elect of God. The word also means you're God's favorite.

God favors you. And you see that throughout the Bible, in fact, God favored Abraham. God considered him a friend. God wants to be a friend of ours as well. So that word chosen means that we're the elect of God. We're the favorite of God. God sees in us a sincere heart. We've proven it to God. Let's notice over in John, John chapter 1, here John is talking about, you know, Jesus, He became flesh and dwelt among us, but before that He was the Word.

He was the Logos. But John 1, and we'll begin reading in verse 3, and it says, All things were made through Him. So through the Logos, which is what the word is in Hebrew, or in the Greek I should say, it says, All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. So Jesus Christ, the one who became flesh and dwelt among us, created all things. You know, He was there where the universe was created, and He did it.

God said it, and He did it. You know, and other places actually tell us this in the Bible. And so He did all these things. But it says, In Him was life, and the life was the light of men, and the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

You know, the Jews did not accept Jesus Christ, His own people. But Jesus was a light to the entire world, and the world did not accept Him. God wants us to again realize, again, we're going to be like Christ. He came living the way of love and giving, and not the way of get, and the way of hatred. God and the Word also perfectly agreed with each other. They had the plan to create other beings who could shine as lights in a dark world. And so Jesus Christ created, again, all things, and the first creation that He made was the angels.

Before the universe was created, angels were created. And so the angels have been around for aeons of time. I'm not going to go to Job in verse 38, but you might want to write down Job 38.1 and verse 3-7. But it says, God created the universe and the earth, and angels were there to shout for joy.

On earth, God placed Lucifer afterwards when the universe was brought into existence. And He placed a third of the angels here upon the earth to prepare the earth for the arrival of human beings. Perhaps one of the reasons why that Lucifer rebelled is he didn't want to do that.

Of course, we would be as Adam was. Adam was just a physical, mortal human being. He didn't have much power. Angels were tremendously intelligent, much more powerful. And so something began to build up in Lucifer. And Lucifer, by the way, in the Hebrew, the name Lucifer comes from Halal, which means he was a light-breaker. He brought light from the throne of God back to this earth to those that were here upon the earth, those third of the angels that were under his charge. Let's go to Isaiah now, Isaiah 14.

Isaiah 14.

And down in verse 12. Notice here in verse 12, and we're going to just go down to verse 14, it says, So Satan was, you know, thrown down out of heaven. Jesus said, And of course, at that time, it was known as Satan. He says, And again, he was known as a light-bringer. He brought truth from the throne of God to those who were upon the earth. How you cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations. For you have said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of heaven. Stars of heaven were the angels of God, all of the angels of God. And I will sit on the mount of the congregation on the farther sides of the north, and I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, and I will be like the Most High. You know, he didn't want to be the Most High because God is righteous. God is righteous. He wanted to be like the Most High. He's anything, you know, the farthest from being like God the Father and the Word.

And so here, again, we see that this, you know, being was called the Son of the Morning. And as I said earlier, the word Son from the Hebrew means builder of the family name, which he ceased to do, so his name was changed to Satan. He wanted to become like the Most High, the highest, but again, not be like him in terms of character, the way that God is. The Bible in Ezekiel 28 says that he learned at the feet of God, walked up and down the midst of the stones of fire, and then he was given responsibility over the earth.

And vanity was found in him. And vanity is something he invented, by the way.

And vanity is self-glory, and it engenders the sin of rebellion, which he eventually did.

Now, Genesis tells us about beginnings. We find that Adam and Eve were created in Genesis. We find that man was created in God's image and in his likeness.

But man was not created, you know, completed. He lacked the spiritual element. He lacked godly character.

You know, Adam and Eve had a choice, but God told them to choose the tree of life, and they chose the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They chose badly.

We see that Satan, from the very beginning of man, came and he was competing with God. He had an attitude of self-glory, of vanity.

And it says, and Adam and Eve, again, chose as a result of the wrong teaching of Satan.

As a result, God cut the tree of life off from mankind, and he put angels with a flaming sword to keep them from the tree of life. The tree of life was symbolic of the Holy Spirit that was withheld from man until Jesus Christ came and he raised up the church.

You know, God only called a few from Abel to the time of Jesus Christ. You could almost count the number of people that God called on your hands and your feet, the toes of your feet.

There were very few that were called, and then the church was raised up.

And when God calls, sometimes those that are being called, those seeds don't produce. And Jesus gave the parable of the solar to show us that. Some seed falls among the stony ground, and it doesn't have any way of building growing.

And, of course, the Bible talks about also in the parable of the solar that when people are called, sometimes trials and persecution comes and they give up.

In some cases, the seed is choked out by the world and the society.

But we must separate from the world, and we need to fulfill the law in love as God's people, if we expect to be a part of his family.

God gives us his love through the Holy Spirit if we obey.

And again, as I mentioned earlier, some have integrity in the world, and they are honorable. They're in the world. But it's a carnality and not a spiritual thing for them, not godly.

When God raised up the church, he first called the disciples, the twelve disciples, to train them to be apostles.

Then later we see on Pentecost there were 120 people after Jesus Christ preached for three and a half years. There were 120 people. Sometimes we get discouraged today, don't we, if we don't see very many people coming along.

But not many people can endure the truth.

You know, later we find that 5,000 are converted, and other people are coming to the church, and the church multiplied very rapidly when the church was raised up. The first seven chapters of the book of Acts covers the first few days of the church. You read it through.

God, at this time, in this day and age, is building his church up as well. He built his church up in the early days when Jesus Christ first started raising up the church.

In Acts 8, verse 1, it talks about how persecution set in. And what happened to the church? The church was scattered. It began to be scattered to all different places, and people, as a result of the scattering caused by the persecution, actually began to affect people, and they were called into the church in those scattered areas.

In Galatians 1, verse 6, I'm not going to turn to it, but here, just 20 years after the beginning of the church, people are turned to another gospel.

And not only that, another Christ. You know, 2 Corinthians 11, verse 4, and 13-50 talks about that.

They were putting up with those, in fact, that were trying to do away with the law. Paul had to chase in the Corinthian church because they had that mentality. They were listening to these people.

Even though they had received the truth, they had come to understand about the law of God, they were listening to people that were trying to do away with everything they had been taught.

You know, the Roman armies were about to invade Israel back in that time, back in the 60s AD.

And in AD 69, the Roman armies of Vespasian under his son Titus attacked.

And the Jerusalem church is there.

And history says that Jerusalem fell in 70 AD.

But Hurlbut, who is a church historian, says that few Christians perish because they receive a warning and they escaped.

Actually, Josephus tells a little bit about it.

He says there was an earthquake and the voice of a multitude said, Let us remove hence.

And the church then fled to Pella.

And from 70 AD, for over 100 years, the church disappears from history.

Actually, it was erased from history. It didn't disappear. It still existed. Jesus Christ said that the gates of Grey would not prevail against the church.

Jesse Lyman Hurlbut, I mentioned earlier, in his book, The Story of the Christian Church, from chapter 5. This is what he says.

The title of the chapter is Age of Shadows.

He says, We named the last generation of the first century, from 68 to 180, the Age of Shadows, partly because the gloom of persecution was over the church. But more especially because of all the periods in the history, it is the one about which we know the least.

For 50 years after St. Paul's life, a curtain hangs over the church through which we strive vainly to look.

And when it at last rises about 120 AD, and the writings of the earliest church fathers, we find a church in many aspects very different from that in the days of St. Peter and St. Paul.

And the reason is because it is not the church of God that rises in history.

In the book The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon, he says the church gradually rejected the law of God and the other truths of God's Word. And after the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, Catholicism becomes the state religion of the Roman Empire, and all who would keep the Sabbath were banished from the Empire. And so the church flees to the edges of the Roman Empire.

That's why you don't hear anything about the church.

You know, this world is blarey-eyed and intoxicated so much that they cannot see the truth.

The church, brethren, eventually went into hiding. I won't go to the verse and read it, but you can read it in Revelation 12, in verse 5-6.

The true church of God goes into hiding for 1,260 prophetic days, which is 1,260 years.

Revelation actually is a revealer. If you want to have that reveal to you what happened, read Revelation 2 and 3.

It tells us what happened to the church. When we look at the churches on the Melraut and the Asia Minor, and these prophecies tell us the nature of the eras of the church, all the way through history, from the time of the Apostolic Era all the way to our time.

We don't assign, by the way, exact years to the eras of the church because the transitions to the next epoch or era are so gradual in history.

Now, we talked about being called and about being chosen. The next is we ought to be faithful. Faithful through history.

You know, the Apostolic Era of the church—let's go to Revelation 2— is mentioned over here in chapter 2.

This era was when, in fact, the apostles were alive, and of course they were subsequently martyred.

But in Revelation 2, verses 1-4, In the angel of the church of Ephesus, these things says he that holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks or lampstands. I know your works, your labor, your influence, or your patience, that you cannot bear those that are evil. And you have tested those that say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars. And you have persevered and have patience and have labored for my name's sake and have not become weary.

Now, unless I have this against you, that you've left your first love. They left their first zeal that they had. So we learned, again, from this verse here, we have to be faithful and be zealous for God's way of life.

You can read through these things with each of the eras that are mentioned here, each of those churches on that mail route.

History records in this apostolic epic that people like poliquities and polycarp that remain faithful. They refuse to budge one iota on the keep of the Passover, and when it should be. Of course, at that time, the Roman Church wanted to accept Easter and teach Easter. I think it was polycarp that said that his family for seven generations had observed the Passover of the 14th. And basically, his answer to those in Rome is, we're not about to change.

And polycarp, in fact, there were miracles associated with his faithfulness.

But again, are we faithful to our calling as God's people? Over in the second chapter over here, in verse 8, under the angel of the Church of Smyrna, these things says the first and the last, who was dead and came to life.

I know your works. Tribulation and poverty. Here, these people, in spite of the tribulation, in spite of the persecution, and the poverty that they had, remain faithful through it all.

And it says, indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you in prison, that you may be tested, and you have tribulation ten days, being faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. The ten days here are probably referring to the persecution by the Diocletian of the Roman Empire. And between, I think it was 303 to 313 AD, in that period, there was heavy, heavy persecution of the Church. But the point is, they remain faithful through it all, and they will have a crown of life in the future. You know, Mr. Armstrong was called in a time that was like the church Sardis in Asia Minor. I'm not going to read what it says about that, but you might want to read that later on. But one of the problems with Sardis is they had truth, but they didn't have that dynamism to go preach the gospel. And they had lost an understanding of certain truths. They didn't understand the Holy Days, for instance. They weren't keeping the Passover, they were keeping the Lord's Supper. They were doing things like that when Mr. Armstrong came among them.

You know, Mr. Armstrong came to understand the Sabbath in 1927, after his wife Loma learned about the Sabbath from the Church of God's seven-day woman. Mr. Armstrong resisted, you know, the history of the story, but eventually he accepted the Sabbath. He and his wife also, by the way, actually learned about the Holy Days, and for seven years they kept the Holy Days alone. And they kept the Holy Days another seven years before they understood them. But they were faithful. They held fast, and they realized they needed to do it. You go back there and read about the Holy Days, and they are forever. It doesn't say temporary, it's like the Sabbath is every week.

You know, not just when we decide, you know, we want to keep the Sabbath, it's every week.

But Mr. Armstrong said, by the way, of the Church of God's seven-day people, he says they were humble, and they had more understanding of the Bible than anyone he knew.

He didn't denigrate them. There came a time, though, where he began to realize that he needed to go on with the work. And remember, he was doing the broadcast over KORE, in a core radio, I think, out of Eugene, when the Gospel began to go out.

It started very small. Plain truth, it started very small, and it grew large. I think it got up to about seven or eight million subscriptions.

And not only that, we were the number one television for a long time. World of Maro was heard all over the world. I don't know if we'll ever come to that or not in the future. You know, maybe that will depend upon us, how faithful we are, and willingness to continue to do the work, to keep that love alive in ourselves, that first love, that we must move forward.

In Revelation 3, verse 10, it warns us about the latest in attitude. And let's be perfectly clear, we are in the latest in age right now.

It doesn't mean you have to be a latest in.

But I'll tell you, what I see in the world, the world is impacting so many people that people are, again, losing it in terms of values.

And it will be easy for us to be like the world if we don't catch ourselves.

We want to be Philadelphians, and we want to have that future role that the Bible talks about. What does God expect of us now, brethren? What does He expect of us now, each of us, in His church? Let's go back to Revelation 3, in verse 11 and 12.

He says, Behold, I am coming quickly. Hold fast what you have. You better hold on to what you know to be truth.

There will be a lot of confusion that's going to come in the future, a lot of persecution.

You know, during the Middle Ages, when the imperial inquisition was going on through what we would consider to be the Thyatira time, during that time, people were compelled to baptize their babies into the Catholic Church.

You can read the story of that period, that epic of time, in Fox's book of martyrs.

I'll tell you what happened to people. Many people were martyred if they didn't go along with it.

Because, you know, at that time, the church had absolute power. They could pronounce an Athabon, then the state would carry out your execution.

What they would want people to do is confess and say that the Catholic Church is the true church.

Then they would put you to death.

They don't want you to revert back to what you were before. They'd put you to death.

I've done a little bit of research on the imperial inquisition. It was something around 40 million people were killed during that time because they were accused.

So does God expect of us?

Behold, I'm coming quickly. Hold fast that you have, that no one take your crown.

He that overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out.

So the challenge, brethren, that we have as God's people is we have to have the character to not budge one iota on the law of God.

No matter what anybody does to you, you hold fast to what you know, what you understand, what you've been taught.

Hold fast to the truth tenaciously.

You know, why do we have all the trials that we are having right now in the church? We have many people that are sick.

Well, you know, I believe that God is again testing us and trying us.

We have to maintain faith in God through it all. Oftentimes, God does bring us to a cliffhanger, doesn't he, in life? I've been there.

Many of you have been there, too. You know what I'm talking about.

But he always is going to deliver, always going to do that if we trust him and we believe him.

God's building character in us, brethren, in this laboratory of the church.

Solomon's temple had massive columns which supported the structure he built.

Like these columns, these pillars, God's people, who remain firm, brethren, who are called, chosen, and faithful, are going to be supports in the temple of God in the world tomorrow.

We'll rule with Jesus Christ and resolve the corruption and the distortions in this world today.

This is the reason the church was raised up, brethren.

These things the world simply cannot understand or consider.

God isn't calling many today, but those he is calling are being trained to be pillars in the kingdom of God forever. So hold fast, brethren, and endure to the end.