A Privileged People

I'm going to begin this morning with just a few slides that I want to use to illustrate something that I want to make the centerpiece of my sermon that I share with you here today. I think all of you will recognize this first picture. This is a picture that was taken on Christmas Eve, 1968, by the Apollo astronauts as they were orbiting the moon for the first time in the NASA program. It's an iconic picture. Many of us have seen that many, many times.

It was really an awe-inspiring picture to show Earth set in the blackness of space, kind of as a part of a moonrise as they came up over the surface of the moon and took that picture and broadcast that back. And you will recall that at the time, the astronauts read from a portion of Genesis, chapter 1. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth, and the Earth was without form and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And that was read and heard by multiple millions around the world at that particular time and continues to really kind of send goosebumps up and down your spine when you think about that and what it brings to mind regarding God and His creation and His plan. Now, contrast that with another picture taken at another time, a few years later, in 1990 by the Voyager spacecraft as it was just about to leave the solar system on its journey out into the universe. And the camera of Voyager 1 was turned back and pointed toward Earth. And Earth is in that band of white that you see, which is the Milky Way galaxy, and is seen as a pale blue dot. You can almost make it out of think I don't know that I have a pointer here, but it is just a very pale dot right in the center of that band of white there. And it gave rise to a thought that was written by an astronomer named Carl Sagan that essentially this is all that there is to our existence in this universe, nothing more than a pale blue dot as they panned back and took that particular picture. And it represents, obviously, an evolutionary point of view that there's no design, no purpose to our planet, to our system at this time. Now, let me show you a picture of the latest technology that has been deployed in space. This is a picture of the James Webb telescope. This is a computer rendition of it that earlier this year was deployed by NASA finally and began transmitting pictures back from its position out in space as they have turned that camera to look into the farthest reaches of the universe and to begin sending back pictures. The James Webb telescope is replacing what has been in operation for a number of years called the Hubble telescope. You've probably heard of that. This one is the latest and it's a much bigger telescope and it has the ability to see further into the universe. And these are some of the pictures that they are beginning to send back and the clarity with which they are being shown and seen. These are actual pictures, quite startling, quite stunning as they peer further out into the universe. And as this is done to just kind of basically state what they are looking at, the further out these telescopes enable man to look into the universe, the more that they are actually looking back to the beginning of the universe when it all began. As the universe expands and the light that is coming back to us from the furthest reaches represents the earliest points of light from the beginning of the universe.

And so, in other words, as they look further out, they're looking further back in time. This is another nebula that has been photographed by the Webb telescope and with a much greater detail than ever before. And here is another one that is actually stunning. This particular sequence of pictures here shows, if you look from left to right, the picture on the left, they're all three of the same location, the picture on the left was taken by the Hubble telescope. And the pictures to the right were taken by the Webb telescope, showing you again how much more clarity and focus and therefore information they will be able to obtain from these particular pictures.

And so, it just shows the ability to see better, clearer, and further out into the universe using the Webb telescope. And so, as this happens, it's going to be a very interesting matter to follow. As pictures are shared, information is gained and published ultimately of the structure of the universe, the origins of the universe, and the knowledge of the universe. I suspect, and I, in my opinion, I think that we will see, we will learn more about the universe. And in the process of learning more about the universe, we will see, confirm what Psalm 19 verse 1 says, that the heavens declare the glory of God and the skies proclaim the work of His hands.

And that scientists will probably have to revise some of their ideas about what the universe is all about and what they thought has been known about the universe. I think that they will continue to learn more information that will help us understand the universe is more than just a pale blue dot. But indeed, that the universe is something that has been termed by scientists who wrote a book a few years ago called The Privileged Planet.

Some of you may have read this book. Some of you may have seen the video series that has been produced along the title of The Privileged Planet. The book was written by a couple of scientists and astronomers, Guillermo Gonzalez and Dr. Jay Richards, both PhDs. They wrote this book a few years ago, and I've been reading it in preparation for this message. It's quite an interesting book. About three or four years ago, some of us went from the office down to Dallas, Texas to a seminar where we heard these two authors, Dr.

Gonzalez and Richards, lecture on intelligent design. It was a fascinating thing to see. But the book is very interesting because what it essentially shows and what they show is that Earth is positioned within not only the Milky Way galaxy, but that galaxy within the universe as we know it in just a precise manner to sustain life as we know it. Your life and my life, the plant life, the animal life, and the conditions of this Earth are exactly positioned in space.

The tilt of the Earth's axis, the rotation of the Earth around its one star, the Sun, and its position with the Moon, and how all three interact with each other in producing day and night, the tidal actions on the Earth, the tectonic action of the Earth, and all of the conditions that we have on planet Earth are so finely tuned that Earth can sustain life as we know it.

And of course, for many, many years, science has turned radio telescopes out into space, hoping to make contact with extraterrestrial life, and to find somehow whether or not there is other sentient beings out in the universe with whom they can communicate. And of course, at this point, nothing has been found. I don't think, in my opinion, that they will ever find other intelligent life in the universe. As I read the scripture and as science continues to show, that likelihood of other life existing beyond planet Earth gets slimmer all the time.

And I think that the Webb Telescope and what it will produce in terms of additional knowledge will also show that very same thing, and that is that Earth is a very privileged planet. This one quote from the book makes its case. It says, we, in speaking of the authors, we don't think this, and meaning the position of the Earth, is merely coincidental.

It cries out for another explanation, an explanation that suggests there's more to the cosmos than we have been willing to entertain or even imagine. And there are many quotes throughout the book that sustain or basically say the same thing, backed up with data, information regarding so much of the positioning, the makeup, and the fine tuning of this planet. We are, we have, we indeed occupy a privileged position. So the book makes a very strong case that Earth is not by chance, that it's finely tuned in every feature that one can observe, measure, and is suitable for the complex technology that we have here known as life. And I think that the more that as that grows, the more we will see that to be confirmed. And so I open with this sequence of pictures, and this what I think is a fascinating study, because it is infinitely more inspiring and meaningful to understand what we have within this privileged planet on which all life exists.

But, brethren, as we are here on the Feast of Tabernacles during this festival season, we are here as a people that I like to look at, and I'm going to call us a privileged people.

We are a privileged people on a privileged planet. As we come here to keep the Feast of Tabernacles, we are a part of a group of people called in the Bible the first fruits of God's plan of salvation.

And we are here keeping the Feast of Tabernacles in many ways, rehearsing, going through this sequence of Holy Days as we do the entire body of the Holy Days throughout the year, coming to understand all the details of the purpose of God, rehearsing it, remembering it, reiterating every aspect of it in our life, year by year, year by year. As I said, this is my 60th time to do this. I know for some of you this is more than 60. I've heard someone told me this morning that this was their 69th feast. Anybody here more than 69 years keeping the Feast of Tabernacles 70 or above? That's a long time. That's all of my adult life and all of my teens years and a portion of my pre-teen years. I have been coming to the Feast of Tabernacles. I first came to Texas and started keeping the Feast in a tent somewhat like this. I don't recall it being white, the tent that we had then. It was kind of one of those old canvas tents, multiple, many times bigger than this. And I don't know, Mr. Hemsley was talking about the water on the floor and the rain and the wind. Yep, remember all of that. Been there, done all of that.

And I've kept the Feast in all kinds of different locations since then. But we come here to get a foretaste of that great purpose that God has called us to understand and the response that we have made through obedience in our lives to do that. And indeed, brethren, we are a privileged people on this privileged planet. Let me speak to what it means to be privileged.

Lest any think that I'm talking about a superiority, an idea that we are better than anybody else, that's not what I'm talking about when I use the term privilege. When you really, again, you know, words have meaning and words get recast in our modern usage in so many different ways.

That's why it's always good to go back to a good dictionary. And what does a word mean and understand it? And in this case, you look up the word privilege, and here's what it says.

It says that the word privilege speaks to a special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group. An advantage, right, and immunity granted to a particular person or a particular group. It comes from a Latin word, meaning a law for just one person, a law for just one person. But here's another part of the definition. It refers to a benefit enjoyed by an individual or group beyond what is available to others. You are granted a privilege. You are granted privileges, depending upon the usage of that. And it's very interesting. Now that is an exclusivity, isn't it? It's granted to a particular group or people, or sometimes one is privileged in their position by what they may inherit, what they have been bestowed upon them. But when I use that term for us in the Church of God, keeping the Feast of Tabernacles with a body of knowledge that makes us a privileged people on a privileged planet, here's what I mean. Let me beat this a little finer so that we understand what it means to us and how we should understand it. How many of you, through the recent years, as we watch television, have watched the series on PBS called Downton Abbey? Gotta see a show of hands. All right, several of us know what I'm talking about. Downton Abbey ran for a number of years on PBS produced by a company out of Great Britain. And Downton Abbey, and the three movies that have been made by it, has been something my wife and I watched every year. Couldn't wait for the next season to come out. We've seen all three of the movies that have been made. In fact, full disclosure, we've watched the series of Downton Abbey more than once. More than twice. More than three times, even. We have watched it several times, and certain ones probably even more than that. It's a favorite in the McNeely household, and as I said, we have seen all the movies. It's essentially a story set in the early part of the 20th century, and the feature is this castle in England called...

the fictional name is Downton Abbey, and the actual castle is their Carnarvon Castle.

They used as the set, and around which they told the story of the family who lives there, and the lord of the abbey, Lord Grantham, the fictional name, is Lord Grantham.

And he inherited Downton Abbey from his father as part of the law of primogeniture, as it exists to this day in Great Britain in terms of land inheritances and titles and everything else. And Lord Grantham, the fictional Lord Grantham of the movie, was the heir. And the whole story of the family revolves around the life of the people who serve that abbey, and the people who essentially own the abbey, the aristocracy, and that is the story. But as you understand really what has been framed in all of that, you get to the real essence of it. And I think there was one line in one episode that I want to share with you that I think helps us to understand this idea of privilege. We can talk about privileged people, in this case in England, a privileged class of people, the royal, the monarchy, and all the lords and earls and dukes and everything that are part of the Great Britain. One day in one of the episodes, Lord Grantham was walking around Downton Abbey with his heir and introducing him and telling him about all that has to be done and what it means to be the lord of the abbey. And with the background of the castle in this one scene, Lord Grantham turns to his heir and he says, when you look at this, all you see is a pile of stone and brick. When I look at this abbey, I see my life's work.

My life's work. He inherited it. He was now going to pass it on to his heir and his life eventually would come to an end. But he said, it is my life's work. And yes, he's representing in the story a privileged class of people. But think about that, brethren. We are a privileged people.

We have been given knowledge and understanding from the word of God. And as we come to keep the feasts, as we keep the word of God, as we keep His Sabbath, as we understand what the feasts of God picture, the greater purpose of God's plan for all mankind in time, we indeed are a privileged people, but it is our life's work. This is our life. This has been my life for 60 years, and for some of you longer. My mother was called into the church. She brought me along. She taught me what she did. I accept, made a decision when I became a young man that this would be my life.

And it has been what Debbie and I both have lived. We passed it to our children, and we are now to our grandchildren. And some of you are in the same situation. But for us who are here, regardless of all the other circumstances in your life and in ours, this is our life. This is why we do this every year in a location where, as the Scripture says, God has placed His name. And it's by God's grace that we are here, not because we're so intelligent that we rose to some level to understand this. We're here by the grace of God. We have this privilege to understand God's great plan, and with that comes a duty and a responsibility and a lifetime of work just as Lord Grantham in the series said to his heir, you see stones and bricks and just a pile.

I see my life's work. This is our life's work that we are here by God's grace to know.

We understand it as part of God's care and concern for all of creation and for all people.

We understand it as a plan that began when He called one man named Abraham, and the promise that He made to Abraham, that in him all the peoples of the earth would be blessed, and all that that then began to develop throughout Scripture, not through Abraham's family and descendants, and then spiritually into all peoples through Christ, a descendant of Abraham, and ultimately in God's plan, as we understand from this feast and that of the eighth day, which we will observe when this festival is over, that this will all be made available to all of God's—to all of creation, to all who have ever lived, who will come to understand and have an opportunity to embrace the knowledge, the understanding, the purpose of life as the privilege that we have. And I'm sure that the Scripture has been written—or I am sure it has been written—that it has been read to you, but I'm going to read it again just in case.

Deuteronomy 16, just a portion of it as to why we are here. Deuteronomy 16.

The Holy Days are mentioned here. The festivals are mentioned beginning at verse 11.

God says, You shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite within your gates, the stranger and the fatherless, the widow who are among you at the place where your Lord your God chooses to make His name abide. This is in the context of the Feast of Weeks, or what we call Pentecost, but it leads into the Feast of Tabernacles. Verse 12 says, You will remember that you were a slave in Egypt and that you shall be careful to observe these statutes.

Verse 13, You shall observe the Feast of Tabernacles seven days. That's what we're doing.

When you have gathered from your threshing floor and from your winepress, and you shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite, the stranger. And that word stranger means a resident alien living within the borders of Israel as it was at the time. But really right in that word, the stranger, brethren, is the all-encompassing nature of God's grace, that all nations would be keeping this, and that the knowledge of these days were for all people, not just the descendants of Abraham. It is one of the greatest fictions in scholarship that I often read, and you have read and likely heard, that ancient Israel adapted these festivals from the pagan neighbors and tribes and peoples of the land around which they came. That is a fiction. That is one of the great lies that scholarship perpetuates. And every once in a while, I will read it in a book about, that's trying to talk about the festivals and trying to understand them. There are a lot of books written today. A lot of people have an interest in the festivals of the Bible.

It's amazing what's happened in the last few decades. Certainly since I started keeping this, you know, in the early 1960s, there's been an explosion of interest. But it gets muddied by a lot of the scholarship that in these books, and I just bought a book this year and was reading about a big, thick book about the festivals. And they bring out this idea that Israel borrowed these and adapted these harvest festivals from the pagan nations. No, they did not. That is a lie.

The pagans kept their harvest festivals, yes. But they were worshiping gods and goddesses who didn't like them. When you study all of this and you see all the sacrifices and or altars and read the myths of all these pagan gods and goddesses, whether they were Greece and Rome or the Canaanite tribes, people were trying to appease deities that did not like people. They just didn't. And that's what they spent their whole lives trying to do, was to gain the favor of their gods and goddesses. That is not the God of Abraham.

God gave these festivals. God gave them with a purpose. And He gave them not just for Israel, but He gave them for all people. And that is what we learn.

We won't read Deuteronomy 12. One of the first verses I remember hearing 60 years ago, the first feast that I kept, that you will take your tithe and you will turn it. If the way be too far, turn that tithe into money and take it to the place where God's name is, and there you shall use it to buy whatever your heart desires. Deuteronomy 12. When I first heard that, you know what my heart's desire was for?

A bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Little 12-year-old Darris McNeely, his one great desire was a bucket of fried chicken from Colonel Sanders. One feast a few years later, I managed to fulfill that desire.

Along with a six-pack of cold, frosty root beer to wash that bucket of chicken down.

And when I was finished, my heart's desire had turned into heartburn.

Now through the years, my heart's desire has matured. And I think I understand more the spiritual meaning of that feast. I still enjoy a good meal and fine dining at the Feast of Tabernacles, but I've matured and it's more than just Kentucky Fried Chicken today.

But it's a delight. It is just a joy to be able to keep these feasts. And what we have done through the years is to adapt them. We have adapted what we read in Deuteronomy, what was an agrarian culture of the ancient Israelites in the ancient world. And we read them and we said, well, we need to go out and away from the world and to keep these festivals. And so the church did that in the 1930s and the 1940s. And then we eventually developed our properties, put up the tents, and but we went to a separate location, as we still do today. We rehearsed the meanings of each of the festival, but when it especially comes to the Feast of Tabernacles, we've adapted to a modern world, obviously. We don't carry our grains of corn and wheat to the feast unless you go to Africa. You know, if you ever get smitten by the desire that you want to keep this is really good here in Timbercrest. This is what John Miller is doing with you folks here, is interesting. Trailers, a sukoth, campfire, kettle-ready onions and carrots. And so you're you've you're melding elements of camping tent. And I've done it all too. All right, I've done I started out in a in a canvas tent in the woods and graduated to a slab on the floor, concrete slab with some metal walls as a domicile. And I've had the fancy condos at the fancy Feast too. But every once in a while people want to go back to the original. And some of you may, you know, think that that's good. That's fine. I always tell people, if you want to do it the way they did in Deuteronomy, that's fine. Here's what you do today in 2022. You go to Africa.

You go to Kenya, as Debbie and I did 10 years ago, and you will get as about as close in this life and in this portion of this time of the Church of God to what the Israelites did when they may have gone to Shiloh as you can ever do. You will drive into, like you do here, you'll drive into a secluded site with tents. No, no, no, these campers, no, they don't have those in Kenya.

They have little pup tents, two-person pup tents, and they've got a common cooking area and wood fire going and everything else. But as you're driving in the road, you see chickens running around. You might see a goat tied up under a tree. And then when you sit down to your meal that night and you've got a chicken leg in your hand, you're eating that chicken that you saw running around that morning. That's the way they do it. And they take their 50-pound bags of flour and cornmeal, and the women, or actually they bring some cooks, they hire some cooks to come and do it so the women don't have to do all the work, so they modernize even there. But the vegetables are in a storage room off the kitchen. That's the way they do it, and they love it. And for many, it's meat that they don't get every day. And we just sit down and eat what they eat.

So I've done that, and you could do that too. And that's… the rest of it we've adapted, and that's okay. That's how we are in a different world. We understand the meaning in a far… with the New Covenant understanding of Christ in these festivals as we observe these.

But each year we continue to develop and to understand more and see the beauty of God's purpose and plan and understand that this is for all people, not just Israelites, not just the descendants of Abraham. This is for all people. And when you boil it all down, whether it's in Kenya today, Timbercrest pipe… campground today, or Panama City Beach, or Jekyll Island, or some other location where God's people are gathered to keep this feast, when you read the book of Deuteronomy and you come to keep the feast, I always… I see three elements that are there, regardless of where and how you do it. You've got three things from Scripture that must be there to get to the spiritual meaning. It's food, it's people, and it's God.

We do bring our tithes, and whether it's a goat, or a kettle of stone soup, or, you know, the groaning board over here at Derr Dutchman… groaning because there's so much food out there that's holding it up… it's a meal. And it's people, the stranger, the father, this, the Levite. That's there too, and you come to learn to fear God.

Food, people, God. You have those three elements. At the appointed time, you've got the elements to keep the feast of tabernacles, the festivals, as God intended, in whatever setting you will adapt according to your needs and what you have. And that's what's being done here or in other locations. It's food, people, and God. And as we learn and grow and develop, we understand that, indeed, this is producing a community, a community of people who are obeying God and His teaching.

And you see that the family of God, as it is today, is interested in all of creation. The father and son, the family of God, are interested in all people. And that's what this is all about.

In Micah chapter 4, parallel to Isaiah chapter 2, we learn how this will be what all nations will ultimately do. Micah chapter 4, beginning in verse 1, it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established on the top of the mountains, symbolism of nations, the nation of God's house, the nation of God's kingdom will be established on the top of the mountains above all the other nations, and shall be exalted above the hills, and people shall flow to it. And in the meaning here, many nations shall come and say, it's all the nations, all those beyond the nation of Israel, they will come and say, come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His way. And we shall walk in His paths, for out of Zion the law shall go forth, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

And that's what will happen. One day, all nations, all peoples will go up to keep and to learn of the law of God as the Scripture is teaching from Jerusalem to learn of the God of Jacob, the God of Israel. Very specific, because Israel was a privileged people in their day, and with that covenant relationship with God, they were given something to hold and trust, we know their story. And at times, it's a wonderful story, and then at times, it's not so good. God ultimately had to punish them and end their story. And now today, the privileged people are the firstfruits, those who are what are called the elect.

The church. Verse 3 tells us, He shall judge between many peoples and rebuke strong nations from afar off. They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.

Nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. And in recent months, we have been brought face to face once again with what war can do to begin a disruption of culture and society. We've seen a mild case of it with the invasion by Russia and Ukraine.

And we don't know where that will go. It's a dangerous moment with even the talk of a tactical nuclear weapon possibly being ignited there. We hope and pray that does not happen.

But we're reminded of just how fragile things are when war erupts and nations practice the art of war. This year, even at four dollars a gallon, we can still buy gas at four dollars a gallon. And we hope that next year it's different, but it might be different in an even more drastic way. And if we can't even buy it, then again, the church would have to adapt how to keep the feast. But for now, we're here, and we can do that.

Verse 4 tells us, Everyone shall set under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid, for the mouth of the Lord of the host has spoken. For all people walk each in the name of his God, but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever.

And in Zechariah 14, we see in more specific language, regarding the Feast of Tabernacles and what it means to all nations, beginning at verse 16.

Zechariah 14, verse 16, It shall come to pass, that everyone who has left of all the nations which come against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the king, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. And so, we're getting a head start, many decades head start for some of us, on what will ultimately be what the nations will do. They will go to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the king, the Lord of hosts, on them there will be no rain.

That's what God will use to teach. And He will withdraw certain blessings in order to teach people that this is important. We've already come to understand the importance of this, and we have embedded that into our life, into our calendar. You have the little cards that tell us what the dates will be next year, and if we haven't already, we'll mark the next year's dates for the Feast of Tabernacles and begin to think about that once this is over. And we've embedded that into our life. Our life is geared to the weekly Sabbath and to the festivals of God. And this becomes a highlight for us as it shows what is going to be done. In verse 19, this shall be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. And so they will be denied certain blessings, and in time they will learn, we need to go there. We better do what the God of Jacob, go up there and learn of this God of Jacob. And the enmity and the animosity that governs this age between those peoples will dissipate and disappear over a period of time. I've never expected that the millennium, the Kingdom of God will be something that will be created by fiat just like that with a snap of the fingers. I don't think that's what will happen. Scriptures like this and others indicate that it will be built one day, one year at a time, over a period of time, into that thousand-year period. And that the saints who are a part of that are going to be working along with Christ to do that. And it will take time for the nations who endure or transition physically in the peoples, make that physical transition into that period of the thousand years for them to learn and to come around.

And there will be a lot of teaching and there will be some resistance. And that's what these scriptures are telling us. But God's going to use those who have already committed to that now in this life. That's where we are as the elect and as a part of those who are the first fruits and understand that. And so, brethren, it comes back to you and I today, making sure that we do fully understand the calling that we have been given.

In 1 Corinthians chapter 1, where the Apostle Paul said to the church, and God says to us, do you see your calling? 1 Corinthians chapter 1, beginning at verse 26, For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise, according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. And God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise. And God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty.

Again, when I say that we are a privileged people, I'm not trying at all to invoke that we are superior in any way to anyone else. We're not. Israel never was, and the elect and the people of God today are not, in the sense of intellect, wealth, prestige, title, patronage, or heritage in that sense. We like to find our genealogies out and where we came from. Sometimes you can dig too deep into your genealogy and find out things you may not want to find out about.

I've got moonshiners in Alabama on one branch of my tree, and they might have been pretty good people and pretty interesting at times to know, but their names aren't on the Declaration of Independence. They were declaring their independence in other ways. So I can't claim nobility. I don't claim any title in my background. I'm glad to be from where I am and parents that I had and family there. But when I read this, I recognize I'm not among the wise, but I can speak the wisdom of God, as can you. And I can make the decision to yield to the wisdom of God, as can you. And if we do that, then we are the elect of God. And we are demonstrating the actual glory of God by what we have, and we become a group of people called the First Fruits who are a once-an-eternity group envisioned by God from eternity.

The First Fruits are a once-an-eternity group envisioned by God from eternity.

That's what we're told in Scripture. In 1 Corinthians 1, predestined is the term that is used, but the fact that there would be a group of First Fruits was thought out by God before there was a beginning, before Genesis 1.

And we are a part of that. We inhabit that particular group.

Turn over to 2 Thessalonians 2.

2 Thessalonians 2, verse 13. Paul says, We are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. God chose us from the beginning. The English Standard Version, the ESV, correctly puts in there that God chose you as First Fruits and uses that term, which we know and understand from the Feast of Pentecost how important that calling is. But this is where we are, called by God from the beginning by sanctification of the Spirit and a belief in the truth. We talk about the truth being called to the truth in our life whenever God opened our minds to understand that, and that is a very important teaching and understanding.

These holy days are part of that truth, but they embody an even deeper truth of God's purpose, to bring many sons to glory, and how He is doing that, and how much and how deep is the love of God for His creation, for all humanity, for all peoples, nations, races, ethnicities, male and female.

God is so inclusive, He's always been that way. God is the God of justice, equality, equity. No matter how you want to phrase it, turn it, and use it, God's already been there. God had it all thought out. And no political ideology today can reinvent it or make it so or make it any better through any political action or movement on earth today. God's already been there. God had it all planned out. God is the God of equity, of justice. And that's what these days are all about. We come to worship that God. And He has brought us all together, and He indeed is creating a community.

A community of people who have that shared calling and shared belief. And that's what these holy days are all about. There's a scripture in Daniel chapter 2 that I think should always be read during this period of time to help us understand something. Daniel the second chapter is, as you know, Daniel's interpretation of the dream Nebuchadnezzar had.

And Daniel is called in, and he gives the interpretation to the king about the head of gold, the breastplate of silver, belly and thighs of bronze, legs of iron, toes of clay, iron mixed with miry clay. And he gives the interpretation of it.

And as part of this in Daniel 2 is the feature that begins in verse 35, where as Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream that there was a stone that struck the image and became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. At verse 35.

Daniel's interpretation of that is at verse 44, where he says that in the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed.

That stone cut without hands is the kingdom of God. And it strikes this image at the right particular place on the feet, which is in the timeline of the prophecy where the stone will appear and those ten toes representing a political religious system that will arise yet in the future.

But verse 44 says, the kingdom shall not be left to other people. It shall break in pieces and consume all those kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. That kingdom will not be succeeded by any other kingdom as the previous, as the four kingdoms of Nebuchadnezzar's image are.

They rise and fall, rise and fall. That kingdom, the kingdom of God, will not be destroyed.

But what has always fascinated me is it will not be left to other people.

It won't be left to the mighty and the noble and the wise of the world. It will not be left to those who have ruled through the ages and all of those previous kingdoms of the world and have not been able to create a system based on truth and justice and equality. It will be left to people who have been able to build a community that represents that. That's who it will be left to.

It will be people that are called the elect, of whom Jesus spoke in Matthew 24, that the days at the end of the age will be shortened for the sake of the elect lest all flesh be destroyed.

And a group of people called the firstfruits.

Brethren, that's what we're a part of. You are a part of the firstfruits of God's plan of creation.

That's why we're here. We are here to learn about that community that is going to be established that will not be changed. And if we can do that in the most important aspects of community, or of a family, or of a kingdom, then we will be accomplishing what God wants us to do through all that we do. The years take their toll, don't they?

It gets a little harder year by year for some of us to get to the Feast of Tabernacles.

Age, health, creaking and groaning, and other circumstances conspire and combine to make it a little more difficult.

And we know that. And yet we're here.

What will you learn? What will you take from this year's experience at the Feast?

You know, I finally see the clock up here, right here, hanging on a pole. I got it.

But I can't read it. So, I got to tell a story on myself. John Miller can tell his stories.

I had my Medicare Wellness Test last Friday.

And I'm sure one or two of you have had a Medicare Wellness Test every year.

And Apple Penny Watch. Anybody know what that means? Apple Penny Watch.

You got to remember that when you go into the doctor's office for that, because if you can't read the book, you can't read the book.

If you can't repeat that back in two minutes, then they put a little mark on your record that you might be losing it.

But the second thing that I had to do was I had to...

They gave me a blank sheet of paper and a pen, and she said, draw the face of a clock and put the hands to 1110.

1110.

I had to think about that for a moment.

But I did draw. I got it to 1110.

I did. So I'm looking at this one. I can't read it, so we're just going to keep talking for a while.

And I'll have to redo my test here.

It will not be left to another people, but it will be left to people who have built a community based on God's Spirit. And that's who it will be left to.

Malachi 3 gives us a little bit of one point of instruction on those people.

Malachi 3.

Beginning in verse 16.

Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another.

Community. Fellowship. Care.

Those who feared the Lord. What do we come here to do? To learn to fear God.

Food. People. God.

Those who feared God spoke to one another. And the Lord listened and heard them.

God is concerned. God is aware of our gathering here and the gathering of His people, wherever that may be on the face of the earth during this period of time.

God's attention is turned to them. One of the ways that I envision holy time, whether it's the weekly Sabbath or the festivals, and how different and unique that should be, is that that is when we cease from our labor, we cease from our activity, and we turn our heart to God. And we focus on God. And in a sense, we go out wherever we need to in our mind, or to an assembly, to a service. We go out and we go to meet God, where His people are, where God is working, where we can have the opportunity to assemble together, and we go out to meet God, to meet with God and His people.

Brethren, that's why we keep holy time. And that should be in our thoughts, and guiding, and shaping, and molding our time and activity on the Sabbath, the annual Sabbaths. We speak one to another, and God listens. God hears. And then it says that a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the Lord, and who meditate on His name.

In that book of life that God has, that way of keeping track of everyone, whatever it is, and in God's infinite omniscient power, God remembers and He hears. And our names are written in a book of life, a book of remembrance before Him, for those who fear the Lord and who meditate on His name. Those who are a part, that's what a community of God's people do. And then in verse 17 He says, they shall be mine. Says the Lord of hosts, on the day that I make them my jewels.

They shall be mine. Those who do this are like jewels before God. I will spare them, as a man spares his own son who serves him. Then you will discern between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him. This is just one of many descriptions we could turn to in Scripture to help us understand those to whom the Kingdom will be given. When it says in Daniel 2 that the Kingdom will not be left to other people, the Kingdom will be given to other people. It is people who have been granted a privilege by a king, by eternal royalty, the King of kings, a life's work made privileged, a blessing and a gift not given to everybody right now, but ultimately will be. This is our heritage. This is what's been given to us in trust. We are a privileged people living on a privileged planet and on this planet that God has uniquely positioned for life and even brethren at this time for life to even grow and develop to the level of technology that we have. There's a reason that we have the energy to use to create the world that we have. It is of God and it was put here and a people have been put here. It all works together in a marvelously wonderfully designed way by an intelligent designer, by God who created all things. God has put us here as firstfruits and He's positioned us at this time by grace to see the infinite beauty of His purpose for all mankind and the Holy Days picture that. It is the vehicle to see the past, the present and the future of the plan of God. The Webb Telescope can turn its lens to wherever they want it to go and look and see the past, present and future of the present universe. These Holy Days give us the ability to see the past, present and future of the whole plan of God within that vast universe. This is how great we have been given. This is our worldview. This is the one that is truth and it has been given to us as a people, as a sacred privilege, as a life's work, people who are deeply committed each year.

Your coming here this year deepens that commitment. We should be able to take away something through what we learn from one another, from the messages that deepens that commitment, that firms up the resolve that is in each one of us to be here next year, to continue in the faith, and importantly, brethren, to mature and to grow in love for God and for one another, to indeed create that community.

That's why we're here.

It's a pleasure to be with you this morning. I look forward to being with you again this evening and sharing more of the Word of God with you.