Preparing for a BFE FOT

Good morning to everyone, happy Sabbath to all, and again, to those viewing on the webcast, greetings to you as well. And thank you for Sabrina, that was a very lovely song. A lot of meaning, and it sounded very nice. Thank you.

15 days from today, actually, it's going to be the evening service, the opening service, of the Feast of Tabernacles. Are you ready? Are you ready? It's going to come very, very quickly. And in talking about the Feast of Tabernacles, I certainly don't want to overlook the Day of Atonement, don't want to overlook the Feast of Trumpets, which is two days away, don't want to overlook either one of those days. However, the Feast of Tabernacles takes more preparations, takes more thought, more planning, because usually we travel to some place, and even if we don't travel to some place, takes more planning and more preparations. It's just around the corner. And I would imagine for most of us, our plans are pretty well set, they're pretty well in place, they're complete by now. Aren't they? Or are they? Or if they're not complete, I imagine there's a to-do list, and we're working our way through this to-do list. We should be on a glide path in order to promptly prepare to keep God's Feast, to go to the place where we're going to worship Him this year. We're going to have places to stay, certainly our accommodations at the Feast, that would be secured by now. Our transportation, how we're going to get there, again, whether by plane or car or how ever we're going to go. Again, a list of things to do. And as I say, if we're not fully prepared, I imagine we are working our way down a list to prepare, to prepare well. Years ago, there was a saying, and I think it's still around, the saying was a best feast ever, a best feast ever. Or, in today's way of saying it in modern lingo and texting language, a B-F-E-F-O-T. Best feast ever, Feast of Tabernacles. And by saying that, we're saying that our current, or most recent feast, is our best one. We're not living in the past, as it were. Our best feast is not ten years ago or fifteen years ago. Our best feast ever was this feast, or last year's feast, or the last feast. There was a recent Beyond Today television program talking about chasing the good old days. Chasing the good old days, and for those that saw it, you realize that the good old days weren't really all that good. I have my own way of saying that, and I'm sure it's probably not original with me, it's the good old days that never work. Those days had their problems and their difficulties, this is once we have solutions to them, we move on, and then we tend to remember the good times and not the bad times, the good old days that never were. So I submit to you that if our BFE, our best feast ever, was five or ten or fifteen years ago, I suggest to you that there's a problem with that. There's a problem. Our best feast ever should be our current or most recent feast. A best feast ever is a feast that lasts longer than eight days. And what do I mean by that? Well, obviously the feast is, well, the feast of tabernacles is seven days long, and then the eighth day after that is one day. So it's only eight days, but the effect, the influence, the impact on our lives should last longer than the time that we're at the festival, that we are keeping the feast. It's more than a vacation. It's much more than a vacation. It's more than an interesting place to go or an exciting place to see or an exciting activity to do. It's much more than a vacation.

Well how do we have a best feast ever? Actually, the sermonette and the sermon are going to overlap quite a lot. Thank you, Mr. Kenebec. It takes planning. It takes preparation. That's how we have a best feast ever. We plan and we prepare, and then we do. In addition to the various physical preparations, we need to prepare spiritually as well. And we're already reminded of that a little bit this morning.

We need to prepare spiritually. Now, obviously there are physical things that we need to do, but there are spiritual things that we need to do. So today I'm going to talk about preparing for a best feast ever Feast of Tabernacles, or again, a BFE, F-O-T. A Feast of Tabernacles is going to have an impact on our lives. It does last longer than eight days. I'm going to talk about preparing for the feast spiritually. And in doing that, I'll also talk about some physical preparations as well. Now, the Feast of Tabernacles, as we heard, opens up many opportunities for us, opportunities to travel here and there to Europe, to Africa, to Asia, to Australia, many places around this country, around Canada, around Latin America.

We have the opportunity to travel to all types of places, and those are wonderful opportunities. But that's not the reason that we go. The Feast of Tabernacles is not a place. It's an event. It's not a place, an event. Now, obviously we do go to a place. It's a physical location, but that's not the main reason that we're going there. Certainly, it's not the main reason we're going there at this particular time of year.

We're going for the feast. We're not going to a specific location. Now, that's an enhancement. It can be an added benefit, but that's not the reason that we're going. Many years ago, I asked a man, this was following the Feast of Tabernacles, and this was in another church area.

I asked him, you know, the typical question after the Feast, well, how was the Feast? And he said, oh, Myrtle Beach was Myrtle Beach. And did you catch that? I didn't ask how Myrtle Beach was. I asked him how the Feast was, and the answer I got was, Myrtle Beach was Myrtle Beach. Unfortunately, looking back, I think this particular gentleman went to a place and not an event.

He missed it. He missed the point. There was no lasting impact or effect on his life. But the Feast of Tabernacles is not about a place. It's not about a location. It's not about friends. It's not about relationships. It's not about family reunions. It's about worshiping God and keeping his feasts. So today, brethren, I'm going to talk about how to have a best feast ever type of Feast of Tabernacles. Some may think, well, it's going to stifle our rejoicing. No, it's hopefully not at all.

Hopefully it's going to enhance your rejoicing and to have a best feast ever at the Feast of Tabernacles. Well, let's start out by looking first at the instructions for the Feast. Turn to Leviticus the 23rd chapter. Leviticus 23rd chapter will do a little reviewing of instructions of what the feasts are about, why we should be going, what we should be doing. So let's look at the instructions for the Feast, why we go there year by year. As one person has said in the past, well, why go to the Feast every year?

It's the same. Well, in one sense, it's the same, but in one sense, you're missing an awful lot if you think it's just the same every year. Leviticus 23, and I'm going to start reading in verse 1. I'm going to spend some time here because this is going to lay the groundwork for the things I'm going to say following. Leviticus 23, starting in verse 1, it said, And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, The feasts of the Lord. And again, we've gone over this before, but it's always good to review whose feasts are these.

They're the feasts of the Lord. They're not the feasts of Moses. They're not the feasts of Israel. They're not the feasts of the Jews. And they're not the feasts of the church either, for that matter. These are the feasts of the Lord. These are God's feasts. So it says, The feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are my feasts. In this latter statement, these are my feasts, is not really a restating of what He's already said.

It's saying it a little differently. It says, you want a list of what my feasts are, what my holy days are? This is it. There's no more, and there are no less. These are my feasts. It doesn't say anything about new moons at this particular point, although Israel apparently did have an observance on new moons. They also had other national holidays, such as we have Thanksgiving, you know, July 4th, Memorial Day. We have national days. They're good days. There's nothing wrong with the days, just like there's nothing wrong with the days that Israel kept.

But they're not required for us. What God says is, this list here in Leviticus 23, these are my feasts. Continuing on in verse 3, it says, Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. And all of these, with the exception of Passover, are holy convocations. First off, the word holy. This is a day that is set apart as special by God and set apart for a purpose by God.

It's holy. It's something that we need to honor, that we need to observe, and it talks about as well a convocation. A convocation is not just a meeting. It's not just a meeting that we're invited to. It's a meeting that we are summoned to. It's not an option in that sense. A convocation is a required or commanded assembly, a day or time that we need to be there, a holy convocation.

And it goes on to say, You shall do no work on it. It is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings. This in all your dwellings is rather interesting. You know, what does that mean? That means wherever you are, when sundown comes, it's the Sabbath. You know, here we're in Cincinnati. Sundown last night was approximately, well, approximately 747. If you look at one place and look at another place, you're going to have a slightly different time. But in any case, about a quarter to eight last night.

If we were in California, it's a different time. If we're in Paris, France, it's a different time. But wherever we are, wherever we go to the feast, whether Latin America, you know, whether Australia, wherever we go to the feast, the Sabbath is going to come to us in all our dwellings. Wherever we are dwelling, the Sabbath will come to us, and we need to observe it. And then verse 4, it said, These are the feasts of the Lord.

Again, this is the list. Holy convocations, which you shall proclaim in their appointed times. And again, these days are proclaimed. We didn't have to figure out when these days are. In fact, I'm not sure how many of us could figure out when these days are. The calendar that Israel had, it's a very accurate calendar. It's a very precise calendar.

It's also a very technical calendar. I've looked at it a little bit, and I don't know how many here have looked at the calendar. And it's really well laid out. But it can be complex, and it can be technical. So frankly, for one, I'm glad that somebody proclaims. They've gone through all the technicalities, and they proclaim these are the days that are to be kept. They shall be proclaimed at their appointed times. And then dropping down, rather than in verse 33, we'll look at the Feast of Tabernacles.

Between here and there, it talks about the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Feast of Pentecost, and the Feast of Trumpets and Day of Atonement. But dropping down to verse 33, where it says, Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of the seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles, for seven days unto the Lord. So again, I ask the question, you know, how long is the Feast of Tabernacles? It's not a tough question. It's seven days. Sometimes the question comes up, well, can I just go the first day and the last day? And then since the other days aren't holy days, I can go around and do whatever I want.

The Feast of Tabernacles is seven days. That's how long it is. Not just the first day or the last day. It says, On the first day there shall be a holy convocation. And yes, it's a holy day. You shall do no customary work on it. For seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. And then it says, On the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation. You shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord.

It is a sacred assembly. You shall do no customary work on it. Dropping down into verse 39, again, talking about the Feast of Tabernacles, on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruit of the land, you shall keep the feast of the Lord for seven days. On the first day you shall have a Sabbath rest.

On the eighth day a Sabbath rest. That's a repeat of what was just said previously. And then verse 40, You shall take yourselves on the first day the fruit or the boughs, the branches of beautiful trees, branches of palm trees, the boughs of leafy trees, the willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord, your God, for seven days.

You shall keep it a feast of the Lord for seven days. Seven days seems to be pretty well emphasized through here. It shall be a statute forever in all your generations. You shall celebrate it in the seventh month. You shall dwell in boots or temporary dwellings for seven days. All who are native Israelites shall dwell in boots, that your generations may know. So there's a reason that we dwell in boots. It's not just because we're traveling someplace. There's a reason that we dwell in boots. So all your generations may know that I made the children of Israel dwell in boots when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord, your God.

Here the word where it says, dwell in boots, these are temporary dwellings. The King James version of the Old Testament Hebrew lexicon says, these are temporary dwellings. This could be called the Feast of Booths as well as the Feast of Tabernacles. My Bible has an interesting note here. It said, because feast time was also the time of the harvest, that in order for the men and women and children to be out in the fields, you know, closer to where the work is, they built temporary dwellings out there.

This, by the way, comes from my Nelson's personal study Bible. So they built these temporary booths out in the fields so they could be closer to the work and save transportation and time going back and forth. That's not the reason that Israel built booths, not at all. In fact, as we read in other places, the harvest was already over when the Feast of Tabernacles began. That is not the point. The point is temporary dwellings.

As it said, the harvest was over by the time the feast occurred. Turn to Hebrews 11, Hebrews 11, and we'll see something about these temporary dwellings. Hebrews 11, God has a reason that He tells us to dwell in booths. Hebrews 11, starting in verse 13. Hebrews 11 and 13, where it said, you know, just breaking the context, these all died in faith. And of course, this is the chapter that talks about the heroes of faith. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, they were assured of them and embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

They were strangers and pilgrims. They had temporary dwellings. Likewise, we also are strangers and pilgrims on the earth. There's lessons in those booths that says, for those who say such things declare plainly that they, that's we, that's us, we seek a homeland.

And truly, if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they could have had the opportunity to return. But nowadays, they desire a better, and that is a heavenly country. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.

So again, there's lessons that are in those temporary dwellings, in those booths. God says things and does things for a reason. Again, we've heard the saying before, He means what He says and He says what He means. That's kind of interesting that the people in Israel today, they build booths. When I say they, not everybody. In fact, maybe only some, they build booths, and these booths aren't meant to be inhabited. You don't live in these booths. Basically, the ones that I was able to see, there's a frame, and there's something like a sheet or a white plastic cloth, you know, draped over the frame.

And then for decorations, they put palm leaves, branches of palms on top or decorate the sides. And they build these booths if they live in an apartment building, they're on the balconies of the house. They live in a house that's in the backyard. And occasionally, during the feast, they have meals out in this booth. I don't know if they have all their meals there, I really doubt it, but they have meals out there, and that's their way of keeping the feast.

It's not really following the instructions, but it kind of is to a point. And say, they have some of their meals there. And then specifically, for those of you at satellite fee sites, some of you right here are going to be staying in Cincinnati. Some, looking on the webcast, may be going to a satellite fee site. Actually, I'm going to start out with saying, I've got bad news for you.

I've got bad news. You're going to have to work a little harder to have a best feast ever, Feast of Tabernacles. I'll repeat that. You're going to have to work a little bit harder. I have a friend that's in another fellowship, in fact, I have other friends in other fellowships, too, but specifically a friend in another fellowship. And they have feasts that are similar to ours. They keep the Sabbath, they keep the Holy Days, and they keep the Feast of Tabernacles. In the past, they've gone to places like the Poconos, they've gone to Hawaii, they've gone to Atlantic City, they've gone to various places for the feast.

And one year, they decided, you know, their group decided to stay home. They were just going to stay home and keep the feast. And he said, you know, he said, staying home, there's something missing. There's just something missing by staying home and keeping the feast. So as I said above, or as I said, those satellite feecights are going to have to work a little bit harder.

God has a reason for temporary dwellings. Otherwise, you know, you're going to be missing something. Some suggestions for those of you who are staying here in Cincinnati or at a satellite feecight. Obviously, to me, the ideal place would be down at the Holiday Inn. You know, you stay in a motel. It's a temporary dwelling. You get up in the morning, you walk downstairs, you can have breakfast, and then you can go to services. You don't ever have to get in your car. You don't have to, you know, drive. You don't have to find a place to eat.

You don't have to find a place to park. You know, it's just there. It's very convenient. Other suggestions are you can camp, you know, for those of you who like to camp. Or maybe for those who are staying behind, swap houses. You know, go from one temporary location to another. And there's probably other things that can be done as well. But having a temporary dwelling is certainly part of the feast experience. Now, it may not be possible for everyone.

In fact, I'm sure it won't be possible for everyone. But we all know what we can do in our particular circumstances and situations. Turn back to Deuteronomy 14, Deuteronomy 14, and we'll see some more instructions about the feast. Deuteronomy 14, and I'll start reading in verse 22. I was in Leviticus, and I need to get to Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy 14, starting in verse 22, it says, "...you shall truly tithe the increase of your grain that the field produces year by year." And I think we all understand this is talking about what we call a second tithe. There is a first tithe that we give to God. It goes to the ministry, and it's for the work.

The work at that time, the work at this time, the work at any time. That tithe goes to God and it's for the work. This is a tithe, which is also 10 percent, that we save, and God gives it back to us to use to keep His feasts. So I was talking about a second tithe here. So you shall truly tithe the increase of your grain that the field produces year by year. And you shall eat before the Lord your God in the place where He chooses to make His name abide.

The tithe of your grain, of your new wine, of your oil, of the firstborn, of your herds, and of your flocks. And this is that. When you have that little word, that, this is, you know, whatever follows is because of what previously went before.

We save this money or our flocks or our herds or our grain. That we may learn to fear the Lord your God always. To fear the Lord your God always. This is primarily why we go to the feast. We go to the place where He chooses. And again, I said, as I said before, wherever the Feast of Tabernacles is, it is an event. And it's an event that is there for a purpose, that we may learn to fear the Lord our God always. It's kind of interesting. God blesses the feast sites for the period of time that we're there, for the eight days.

He blesses those feast sites. And they are special. You know, whether you're staying here in Cincinnati, or whether you're traveling halfway around the world, God blesses those days. They are special. He is there. We learn about Him. We have a relationship with Him because God is at His feasts. I can remember, you know, just specifically, we went to the feast in Dayton. And hopefully we don't have any visitors from Dayton. I know we have some people that are here, but in any case, we went to Dayton for the feast.

At that time, and this goes back twenty-five years, give or take, we used to go to Dayton quite often. You know, with the YOU, it was very active in this area. We used to have jamborees. We'd have district weekends. We'd have other occasions track. And various occasions to go up to Dayton. So we went up there quite often. And, you know, Dayton was Dayton.

It's all right. It's, you know, how can I say, it's not exciting as far as good or excitingly bad. You know, it's a city. There are nice things to do there. There are nice people there. There are church people up there. But in any case, Dayton was Dayton. You know, we went up there quite often. And it was pretty routine. And then we went up for the feast. And something happened. Something happened. I used the analogy that, you know, God flips a switch.

And all of a sudden said, it's feast time. Dayton, to me, was no longer Dayton. Dayton was a special place. It was the feast. And maybe to illustrate this another way, for those of you who have gone to various places, you know, the Florida, Hawaii, you know, wherever you go, and you say, hey, we're having a wonderful time here.

Let's stay an extra day or two and really, you know, enjoy ourselves some more. After those eight days, the place is not the same. For those of you who have had that experience, it's real.

I've experienced that as well. The place is different. Now, obviously, the beach is still there. The mountains are still there. The lakes are still there. You know, whatever geography, whatever attractions are still there. But the place is different. God blesses the place for the time of the feast. He is there. We're to learn to fear Him while He is there, while we are there.

There's a purpose in our feasting, and that feasting is to learn to fear. I haven't heard a good definition, at least I think it's a good definition of the fear of God. I heard this definition from a minister in Canada, and I believe he actually heard it from someone else. That definition is, take God seriously. Take God seriously. As I mentioned before, he says what he means. He means what he says. Well, isn't God, you know, all love and kindness and generous and gracious and merciful?

And yes, He is. He's all of those, and more, probably much more than we can ever imagine. But He's also a God of justice and judgment. He means what He says, and He says what He means. There is judgment and justice with God. So continuing on reading here, it says that we may learn to fear the Lord, your God always says, but if the journey is too long for you, so you're not able to carry the tithe, and you know, if you've got herds or if you've got a lot of grain, you know, consider 10% of your harvest.

That's a lot to carry around. The place is too, but if the journey is too long so that you're not able to carry the tithe, or if the place where the Lord your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, when the Lord your God has blessed you, then you shall exchange it for money. That's your goods. Take the money in your hand and go to the place which the Lord your God chooses. And you shall spend your money for whatever your heart desires.

God wants us to have a very fine time. He wants us to rejoice, to have a really big time. It says, for whatever your heart desires, for oxen or sheep, you know, steak or chops. For wine, or my Bible says, similar drink. I think in other Bibles, in fact I know in other Bibles, it says, strong drink.

For whatever your heart desires, you shall eat there before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice. So here God commands us to rejoice. Have a good time. And He gives us the means and the wherewithal to be able to do that. And it says, you and your household, as was already mentioned, this is a family feast. It's not where some go.

It's we all go together, we all rejoice together. And then, as was mentioned as well, you shall offer safety to Levite, the minister who is within your gates, for he has no part or inheritance with you. So we're told to rejoice. We'll look at one more scripture here. Turn to John the 7th chapter. John the 7th chapter. We're still getting instructions as far as the feast.

And we'll see the importance of the Feast of Tabernacles to Jesus Christ. John the 7th chapter. Now start reading in verse 1. John 7. And then starting in verse 1, we'll read the first 11 verses. It says, after these things, as the previous events, Jesus walked in Galilee, for he did not want to walk in Judea because the Jews sought to kill him.

These are like two different regions or states, like you stayed in Pennsylvania because the people in Ohio were after him. Two different regions. It says, now the Jews' Feast of Tabernacles was his hand. And again, the Jews' Feast of Tabernacles. These are God's feasts, as we've already said, or we've already heard, we've read in our Bibles. By the time John was writing, and to the audience he was writing to, he's writing close to the end of the first century, who were the people who were keeping the feasts?

Well, you had the Jews, and then you had Christians. Those were the ones keeping the feasts. And that's what John used, the marker here, if you will, the Jews' Feast of Tabernacles was his hand. And says, his brothers, this is Christ's brothers, said to him, Depart from here and go to Judea, for your disciples also may see the works that you are doing, and go on up to the feast.

For no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world, for even his brothers did not believe him. And then Jesus said to him, My time has not yet come. In other words, we have the scene here where Christ's life was in danger to go down into Judea. He was in physical danger.

But then Jesus said to them, My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me, because I testify of it that its works are evil. You go up to this feast, I am not yet going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come. And when he said these things to them, he made it in Galilee. So they went up to Jerusalem for the feast, and he stayed in Galilee. Verse 10, But when his brothers had gone up, he also went up to the feast, not openly. In other words, he went up afterwards, but not openly, as it were in secret.

Then the Jews who were at the feast sought him at the feast, and said, Where is he? They didn't say, I wonder if he is here this year. I wonder if he is going to come up to the feast. No, they knew the feast was very important to any servant of God. It is important to Jesus Christ. It is important to us. They knew that he would be at the feast. It was very, very important. On fear of death, Christ went up to the feast of tabernacles.

So with this background, brethren, let's talk about some things to do to plan and prepare, and both spiritually and there will be physical ramifications or physical applications with spiritual ramifications as we prepare for the feast. If we go up to the feast of tabernacles, thinking, you know, rejoicing, and we've got money, we've got all this time, and it's going to have a great time, and we think of what we're going to get out of the feast, we're going to be disappointed.

I believe that you will be disappointed. Feast is not what's in it for us or about us. I'm going to read a quote from the festival brochure. In fact, this is one good way to prepare for the feast of tabernacles. We all received one of these brochures. There's good information in there. There is even a letter from our pastor in there, which I'll refer to later. But reading first page here, there's a message, a letter from the President, Mr. Luecker. It says, regarding our personal involvement, the feast of tabernacles does not just happen. It functions because of the volunteer efforts of hundreds of brethren working together.

Help is needed in numerous areas, music, parking, ushering, mother's room, and other activities if we are physically able. Excuse me, I skipped the line. Mother's room, activity planning, just to name a few. They said, please volunteer to serve at the feast. This is the point that I was getting to plan to serve at the feast of tabernacles.

Again, this is somewhat redundant from the opening of the sermonette today, the first message. But it's worth mentioning again, plan to serve at the feast of tabernacles. Continuing on with Mr. Luecker's message, his letter here, please volunteer to serve at the feast if you are physically able. Your help will be greatly appreciated. More importantly, you will find your feast experienced incredibly enhanced by serving.

So our feast experience is enhanced by serving. It's not thinking about us specifically of what we're going to get or what we're going to do. We need to plan to serve and to help others. It will help us, and of course, it will help others as well. There are many needs, as I've just read a few from the letter from Mr. Luecker. There are many needs, and of course, several hands lighten the load. We heard a message a couple weeks ago about being a servant leader.

A servant leader serves. Doesn't need a position, doesn't need his name on the organization chart at any level. But a servant leader is one that serves. Although there are plenty of positions that need to be filled on those charts, and again we hear announcements week after week after week for volunteers. Some serving is done on a one-to-one basis, whether we're on a chart or not.

A good passage to read at this time is Matthew 25. Matthew 25, and we'll read verses 31 to 40.

Matthew 25 and starting in verse 31. These are the words of Jesus Christ, and it says, When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, he will sit on the throne of his glory. All nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them one from another, as the shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. He will set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right hand, Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

For I was hungry, you gave me food. I was thirsty, you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you took me in. I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came on to me. These are all actions. These are verbs. They are things that people did, acts of service. And then in verse 37, it said, Then the righteous will answer him, saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?

When did we see you a stranger and take you in, or naked and clothe you? Or when did we see you sick, or in prison and come on to you? And the king will answer and say to them, Assuredly I say unto you, and as much as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it unto me.

A lot of serving is done on a one-to-one basis, individual to individual. It's a good passage to think about before we go to the Feast of Tabernacles as we plan and prepare to serve.

I'm not going to read the remaining verses in this chapter, verses 41 to 46.

Well, that has to do with the other group that didn't serve. And just paraphrasing, Christ was not well pleased with them at all. Turn ahead a few pages to Luke 17. Luke 17. Now start reading in verse 5. Luke 17 will read verses 5 to 10.

Luke 17 and verse 5, and I think this also will be a familiar passage to many of us, and the apostle said to the Lord, Increase our faith. And I think that's something that we all say, you know, increase our faith. So the Lord said, If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, Be pulled up by the roots and planted in the sea, and it would obey you. And then he says, And which of you, having a servant plowing, or tending sheep, will say to him, When he has come in from the field, Come at once and sit down and eat? But will he not rather say to him, Prepare something for my supper, Gird yourself, and serve me, Till I have eaten and drunk, and afterwards you will eat and drink?

Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him?

I think not. So likewise you, when you have done all the things which are commanded of you, say, We are unprofitable servants. We have done only what our duty was to do.

This is the parable, obviously, of the unjust steward. There are many things that need to be done, many acts of service. And after we said, Well, you know, I've done this, you know, now I've got the time for myself. There's always something more that we could do.

And I'm not saying I want to encourage all to, you know, just overly serve at the expense of your families, because our families need to be served as well. Everybody needs to be served. We have to have our minds on an attitude of serving. As I said, we all can do more, and we probably all will have the opportunity to do more. But we need to keep everything in balance and perspective. We can go and serve and serve and serve and serve and serve and serve, and neglect something else. We don't want to neglect something or someone else. And I'm really talking to everybody here. Actually, this is a little different group, as we are mostly adults here. But I'm talking to everybody, everybody and anybody, regardless of your age, or I'll say condition, other than, as Mr. Lucas said, physically able, we all can serve. We all can do something men can serve. Women can serve.

Children, teens can serve and help in all sorts of ways. Pre-teens can serve. I'm talking to everybody. We had an interesting occasion. This goes back many, many years. It was in Alaska we were up there for the Feast of Tabernacles. And they had a family activity, a social, where they barbecued some sort of a large animal. I won't get into all the details, but it was a rig that one of the men in church had built. He welded it. And they put this, there was a side of beef, and a little whole beef, or a moose, or elk, or whatever it was on there, and it rotated around and cooked. It was really nice. The meal was really nice. The adults did the cooking, basically the men barbecuing the women preparing the food. But the food was served by children, aged like a teen, down to perhaps six years old. The children did the serving. Again, I marveled at this. We weren't living in Cincinnati at the time, so I can say this. But I was really amazed. I thought, boy, if I were back home, no way would this happen. No way. Our children don't do things like this. But they did there. They served, and they served admirably.

Now, one other story about children serving. And this one, we have to apply the way that we can apply it. But at the General Conference of Elders this year, there was a presentation given where a man was talking about, when he was talking about small things, he was talking about serving. And he talked about he was over at his brother-in-law's for an occasion, and there were lots of children there, aged 14 down to two. And all of the children were serving at this occasion, all but the two-year-old. And so finally the two-year-old comes up and says, you know, what can I do?

Now, I don't know if there was just two, or whether she was almost three, or two and a half, or however, but a two-year-old. Now, we have to apply this how we can, but the point is, children can do a lot more than we think they can, more than we would expect them to be able to do.

It was a different situation. Now, obviously with children, we have to help them. In fact, in some cases, it may be more trouble than the help is really worth in order to help them, but they're participating, and they're learning. You're serving them by teaching.

And in one occasion, a little child was given something, you know, something as a tray of brownies to carry. This is a totally different occasion. And was walking along, and the little guy was only, I don't know, two, three years old, something like that. So he's walking along holiness, and he can't really see where he's going. And I'm getting away from the microphone.

And anyway, as things would happen, you know, he tripped. His face went right into the plate of brownies. He felt bad. His mother felt worse. And, but anyway, because he was carrying the tray of brownies, he couldn't really see where he was going, you know, walking along like this. So we have to, you know, be careful of what they can or can't do. But the point is, I think children can do more than we really think they can. It's just our mindset of what we think they can do.

Turn back to Nehemiah the eighth chapter. Nehemiah the eighth chapter. Still on serving. This was somewhat mentioned about sharing. Now, in Nehemiah 8, this is an occasion that actually took place on the Feast of Trumpets, but the principle applies to the Feast of Tabernacles. Nehemiah 8, and I'm going to start reading in verse 9. Nehemiah 8 starting in verse 9 says, Nehemiah, who is the governor, Ezra the priest and the scribe, and the Levites taught the people and said to the people, again, this is on the Feast of Trumpets, this day is holy to the Lord your God, do not mourn nor weep. For all the people wept when they heard the words of the law. And again, I think we remember the context they were rediscovering the words of the law.

And this was special to them. And then he said to them, go your way, eat the fat that's, have the best. They're not talking about the actual fat that's on meat. Have the best, drink the sweet, send portions to those whom nothing is prepared. For this day is holy to our Lord. So in the point here, I want to go back and reread that. I don't want to read this too quickly. Send portions for whom nothing is prepared. Share. And says, for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. And then in verse 11 and 12, they did that. So the Levites quieted all the people saying, be still, for the day is holy, do not be grieved. And all the people went their way to eat and drink and send portions and rejoice greatly because they understood the words that were declared to them. They weren't rejoicing because of the food. They weren't rejoicing because of the place. They were rejoicing because of the words that were declared to them. So here, as we already heard, you know, one of the things we can do is to take people out to eat. You know, that's a great way to share if we're at the feast.

For those of you who are at satellite feasts, and I'll say especially here in Cincinnati again, one of the things you can do, in addition to taking people out to eat at attend services, is what about the shut-ins? What about them? In Nehemiah, they took food to those whom nothing was prepared. I'll say we, but in this case not me, those of you staying here in Cincinnati can visit those who are shut-ins. You can also take food to them. Now obviously you need to call in advance that people know you're coming, that you know, make preparation, and can take food to them. It can be food that you know, you've cooked yourself, or it can be takeout food. It doesn't have to be fancy, you know, depending on the people. You know, maybe they like pizza. You know, get a pizza. Take it over. Pizza's not everybody's thing, but I think you get the idea. There could be takeout food. As with in the days of Nehemiah, the food is nice, and I'm sure, you know, shut-ins would appreciate that. But the fellowship is nicer. The fact that you're caring is nicer. The fact that you're sharing is nicer. Other things that we can do is to send cards. Again, we scatter literally all over the world, essentially all over the world. Send postcards. And no, they're not cheap. The United States, and you know, with our postal system, and yet postage keeps rising, and we keep hearing the troubles with the U.S. Postal Service. As far as I can tell, it's the best in the world. We went to, you know, to our neighbor to the north, Canada one year. I paid more for the stamps than I did for the cards. Maybe like three times more for the stamps than for the cards. But in any case, sending cards, letting people know that you're thinking about them is a nice thing to do. In addition to that, many of you here remember Mrs. Rubenacker. She was in a nursing home in Milford. We visited her following the feast one year, and of course, she had this stack of cards, this huge stack of cards that, you know, people had sent her.

She not only was happy, but we talked to one of the nurses, you know, in the hallway and said, do you realize she received postcards from all over the world?

This made an impact. You know, talk about a light shining, an example. It made an impact.

Something else we can do is to meet new people. Obviously, if we're transferring, chances are we're not going to know a lot of people there, although as we transfer more and more, we see people from feast to feast. Get to know people. Get to know new people. Not just the ones that, you know, we normally, you know, travel around with, or not the ones that, you know, in our case, from Cincinnati or from your home area. Get to know people. This is especially important for teens.

Now, realize with our summer camp program, it's changed a bit. But it used to be difficult for teens. If you transfer to another site, all the teens that are local to their site have their group. And I think you all know what I'm talking about. It can be difficult for a transfer in teen to become part of the group. It's not easy. It's not easy at all. So, again, teens in this case, or adults, get to know new people. You know, plan, as we heard in the sermon, and as I'm saying now, plan to meet new people. You might want to set a goal for yourself, you know, a new person a day, maybe five a day, you know, whatever you'd like, but plan to meet new people.

And also, as it's been referred to, we are called ambassadors. We need to watch our conduct. Watch our conduct very well. We represent Jesus Christ and God the Father. We represent a way of life.

People know what we stand for and what we represent, and they know how we should conduct ourselves. The choice is, or the question is, you know, do we conduct ourselves that way?

And actually, for the most part, as I understand, we do. But we want to do more than those parts. We'd like to do more for everybody's part. I have a quotation here of sometimes when you wrath the Feast of Tabernacles, things don't go just the way that we'd like them to go. You know, we're generally in a different location. We're living in a different place, usually a much smaller place, maybe the whole family's in one or two rooms with one bathroom. You know, I just think things are different. I have a quote here. This is a quote by John Steinbeck. I found it on matadornetwork.com. It says, a journey is like a marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think that you control it. There's going to be a lot of things at the Feast that are not under our control.

It's just going to happen. Our response is the part that we control. And things will go wrong. Maybe we're driving down there and we run into construction. Oh, no. Or, as I mentioned, we're in different quarters, different locations. There's congestion. There's waiting in lines. You know, at the larger Feast sites, and I'm not even sure what a larger Feast site is nowadays, maybe 500 people, maybe a thousand. But in any case, there's going to be lines. You just can't get up and go where you want, when you want, or park where you need to be. There's going to be lines. There's going to be other things that are going to bother the things that we would want to do.

Are they really a bother? Or is it just an obstacle, you know, something that we need to deal with? And we do need to deal with. I'm not going to turn there, but 1 Corinthians 10, verses 23 and 24 says, Be mindful of the needs of others. Seek well-being of others. And again, there's many ways to serve. It's been mentioned about singing, singing in a crown, or bringing special music.

I've mentioned it, so I have to say this. Last page of the Festival brochure, there's an article by Mr. Meyers. It talks about volunteering for special music. And while I smile while I say that, special music is an important part of services. We can look in the Bible and see the role of music.

We can look at, you know, the way David organized, not only the Levites, but the musicians, the Psalms that he wrote. Music is very important. Special music is important.

We need to be courteous to others. I've already alluded to that. You know, say we're out of our routines. We're in different circumstances. We need to be especially on our best behavior in order to make everything go smoothly. We need to cooperate where we can, as was mentioned about being a light in the community. Certainly, cooperate at church. There's going to be ushers. There's going to be rules that may or may not affect you. There's going to be rules in the community.

Again, they may or may not affect us. We need to help out where we can, and we need to serve. Another idea or another item to prepare for is controlling our money. Now, say plan to spend wisely. Have a budget. Have a budget. One good way to have a best feast ever, feast of Tabernacles, is to spend wisely and to use our money wisely. God wants us to rejoice. He wants us to have a great time, as we've already read and heard. But, money is a power. It can be used, or it can be abused, and it can have an impact on our enjoyment, our rejoicing at the feast. I'm going to encourage everybody to have, I almost hesitate to say the word, but to have a budget. A budget. It doesn't have to be an elaborate accounting system, but has to be some way of controlling our expenditures.

As was mentioned in the sermonette, they had X amount to spend per day. And that's not really hard to figure out. You know how much you have to work with. You know, you look at your bank account, or wherever you keep your second tie. You know what that amount is. You know the amount of transportation, whether you're a plane fare or a car rental. You know your motel room. I'd also suggest that you put aside a small amount for an emergency, and I'll call those fixed costs.

You subtract the fixed costs from what you have to work with. The rest is variable costs. What you can spend on food, on recreation, on entertainment, on miscellaneous items, on other things. Let's say that, you know, you have, after you subtract your fixed costs, you have a thousand dollars just to pick a number that's easy to work with. The fees are going to be gone 10 days. It takes a thousand dollars, divided by 10, and gives you a hundred dollars a day to spend. Now that's on an average.

Some days, and I'm not saying that, you know, you count out a hundred dollars and you don't go a penny over or under. Some days you may spend 125 dollars. That means the next day you're going to spend 75 for a less average. A hundred dollars a day. It's not hard to do, but it's something that should be done. One of the worst things to do is to run out of money while you're at the fees. And of course, today we don't run out of money. We've got these plastic cards that, quote unquote, bail us out. No, they don't bail us out. They don't bail us out at all. Proverbs 22.7, and I don't think I'm going to take time to turn there right now, but Proverbs 22.7 says, the borrower is the servant of the lender. If you have to borrow money, it's going to start weighing on your mind at the feast, and it's going to affect some of your rejoicing.

I have another quotation. This one is by Henrik Ibsen, and I found this at Notablequotes.com.

It says, home life ceases to be free and beautiful as soon as is founded on borrowing and debt.

You tend to lose the beauty of home life when you're in debt. You tend, I'll say, tend to lose some of the bloom of the Feast of Tabernacles if you're in debt.

Now, it may become unavoidable. Like, let's say you're on your way home and your car breaks down, and that's not in your budget, and it's more than whatever you set aside for an emergency reserve.

It may become necessary, but as a rule, as a rule, you don't want to go in debt. You've got a certain amount of side that set aside that God has blessed you with. Enjoy the blessings that you have. Maybe you'll have more next year, but control your spending. That's an important part of planning and preparing for a best Feast ever.

Then finally, brethren, I say finally, we've only got seven or eight points to go, but they're sub-points.

Finally, plan to stay healthy. Plan to stay healthy at the Feast. Well, what do you mean, plan to stay healthy at the Feast? Well, this is one way to have a best Feast ever. And when I say health, I'm talking about physical health, I'm talking about spiritual health, I'm talking about both. I think we all seem to need to pray and study all during the year.

Well, that need to pray and study does not go away at the Feast of Tabernacles.

It's still there. As we heard in the sermonette, we need to be sharing time in prayer with our Father. It's an important part of the Feast of Tabernacles, staying spiritually awake and aware, as it were. We're going to the Feast to learn to fear God. Part of that is prayer and Bible study, as an important part of what I'm going to say is our diet.

Then talking about a diet physically, being physically healthy. It's hard to rejoice if you're feeling lousy. You know, it just is. Hard to really go out and have fun if you just don't feel like it. If you're sick four or five days during the Feast, it likely is not going to be a best Feast ever for you. So when I say diet, I'm talking about the quality of food we eat and the quantity. It used to be, you know, we've got all this money, you know, and going to a restaurant, you know, and just eat and eat and eat and eat and eat. And to a certain point, that's good. However, as with money, it needs to be controlled. We need to eat properly and in a healthy way. Not only in the quantity, but the quality. I can remember in years past, you know, people going down, you know, they go to the place where they're where we're going to meet for the Feast. They go to the stores and all the junk food would be gone. No potato chips, no pretzels, you know, no soda, no candy, no donuts, no pies, no cakes, and on and on and on. People would load up and then they'd wonder, you know, why do we get sick? Well, children tend to like those things, and of course, adults tend to like those things too. That's why they sell. But eating too much of the less nutritious food will catch up with us. Another item that's important in addition to diet is sleep and rest. Sleep and rest. And at the Feast of Tabernacles, we see friends that we may not have seen for a long time, perhaps relatives that we're not able to get together with much during the year. Or maybe we meet new friends. We tend to stay up late with them, you know, and talk and, you know, just as was mentioned, you know, you get together and you talk and you have a really good time. And it is a really good time. I'm not going to knock that.

However, if you stay up too late, you're robbing yourself of the rest that you really need.

Maybe, you know, you get to bed really late. The alarm goes off in the morning, and I'm not going to pray today. You know, I'm just going to skip this. And then, well, I really still don't feel quite well. I'm not going to, I'm going to skip services this morning. So you sleep in another couple hours, and then you get up, and you know, you're ready for the afternoon's activities.

That's not the way that it works. That's not the way that it works. There's something that's out of whack, if that's what's happening. The feast is primarily about a relationship to God. It's not about a relationship to friends or family or activities. It's about our relationship to God.

Need to have our priorities right. Another word that I will mention that's only slightly less desirable than a budget is exercise. Exercise. And by this, I'm not talking about, you know, going down to the gym and working out for an hour a day. That's probably not going to happen.

Maybe it will. Maybe you exercise all through the year that way, and you don't feel quite right if you don't. And so if you get up early in the morning and do that, that's fine. But think of our situation. We either get on a plane and travel, fly many hours, or we sit in a car and drive a long way. And then we eat and go to services, and then we eat some more. You know, we're going to tend to, you know, get sluggish. We need to have some activity. And this activity can be something as little as walking. You know, maybe you're sightseeing around in areas, walking around, but it's getting moving. It's getting exercise. It doesn't have to be rigorous. It doesn't have to be a lot. But I would say it would have to be some. And then another subject that I want to talk about, one of everybody's favorite subjects, and that's drinking. Drinking. I want to encourage all of you to drink a lot of water, of juice, of some, you know, sport, drink, you know, whatever particularly you like. I like water, good, clean, pure water. Other people like flavors, you know, and that's fine. But to have a lot, liquids will help us. Liquids will help keep us feeling better.

Water, it's important for us to drink. And when we're traveling like that, we tend to drink less. Or maybe we're going to a warmer climate where we actually need to drink more because of the warmer weather, warmer and less humid weather. So I'd encourage all of us to drink a lot of good fluids. But while I'm on the subject, I do want to talk about alcohol. Again, this goes back to years ago. We used to joke about this instead of being the Feast of Booths, it was the Feast of Boos.

And I can remember going into people's rooms, you know, in their motel, and on the dresser, just bottles, bottles, you know, maybe 20 bottles lined up. And it's not like they're having a party, you know, it's not like they're hosting somebody. They usually decide to buy one of everything that they'd like to have. That's a bit much. That's a bit much. Now, while strong drink is fine to have, and we read that, you know, it's fine to have strong drink, we can rejoice. And as a matter of fact, it even says in the Bible that God likes to drink. But as we're aware, too much alcohol is a problem.

Too much drinking alcohol is a problem. I mentioned loading up on rich foods, loading up on alcohol is also a problem. Mr. Luecker said a couple weeks ago that the number one drug problem in the church is alcohol. We need to really be careful of that for our own safety, for the safety of our families. And again, think of the example we're setting in the community.

We need to watch how we use alcohol. Again, drinking alcohol, moderation, there's nothing wrong with that. It's fine. It's meant to be enjoyed.

Drinking too much, and, well, there's the works of the flesh in Galatians 5, 19 to 21.

Drunkenness is included in there, and of course, we all want to avoid the works of the flesh.

So again, for our own safety, for the safety of our families, for the safety of others, the safety of our families, we need to watch our consumption of alcohol. And then finally, what do we do if we're sick at the feast? What do we do if we're sick? Well, there's a principle of quarantine. If you or a family member is sick, you might say family member, more likely a child, is sick. Stay away from the group. Stay away from where we're congregated together.

It's not that we don't want you there. It's, as we've heard, we don't want what you have.

And I've been to feast sites, and maybe some of you have too, where as much as, I'd say, a third to the half of the feast site has gotten sick, because somebody came to service, you know, I don't want to miss anything. You know, I'll come there, or I'll get anointed, or, you know, whatever. And I've seen feast sites, there's a lot of people in a small spot, and it just spreads, and it spreads rapidly. So especially if you've got a fever or something contagious, or even I'll say, you know, if you're sick, you know, get better, and then come. You can call to be anointed, and someone will gladly come out and anoint you. You don't have to go to services in order to get anointed. So if we're sick, remember the principle of quarantine. Don't attend services.

So, brethren, I've mentioned several ways that we can have a best feast ever, feast of tabernacles, or as I said, a BFE, FOT. We looked at the instructions, and we looked at certain ideas of how to plan and prepare, and it does take planning and preparation. It takes a mindset of what we're going to do. It doesn't just happen. Again, as Mr. Lucas said, these things don't just happen.

We need to plan, and we need to prepare, and we need to prepare well. So, brethren, remember our priorities. The Feast of Tabernacles is an event. It's not a location, although we do go to a location.

It's primarily not a location. We're there to serve God. It is His feast. We're there to learn to fear God. We're also there to serve God's people. And as we saw in Matthew, serving God's people is a way of serving God. We're also there to rejoice, to have a big time, to rejoice greatly, and to rejoice with a purpose. So, brethren, I hope each and every one of us here in this room, as well as on the internet, we have a best feast ever, Feast of Tabernacles, this year.