Spiritual Gold to Prepare for the Holy Days

Like I said, it's the last time that I get to talk with you before I leave for the feast, and so I wanted to talk about preparing for the Holy Days with the Feast of Trumpets coming up here in a week and a half. It's hard to imagine. It's just right upon us. And I want to introduce this subject by talking about gold. Gold is something that's very important to the Indians. Some of the largest importers of gold in the world. Gold has captured our imagination as human beings from the beginning. There's gold fever. We say something's the gold standard. We say silence is golden. We have the golden rule. We have lots of these expressions that we talk about with gold.

For those who are into investing in gold, last year, the gold hit an all-time high of just over $2,000 an ounce. And in fact, gold is at such a high price vis-a-vis in prior decades that old mines are being reopened. There's a mine north of Sacramento called the Idaho-Maryland mine. It closed back in 1956 because it just wasn't economically viable to keep it open. But they're actually seeking permits to reopen this mine now because at $1,800 even $1,700 an ounce, it is economically viable to mine for gold.

Some new gold extraction techniques have also come out. One of those allows people to go actually 2,000 feet underground to extract the gold. And another one can move more than 2,000 pounds of rock to get just a just a few grams. And that is still economically viable. And if you've studied gold mining, you know that it's actually very destructive on an environment. If you go over to Sonora, where they mined gold for decades here in California, you see all these hills. And that's a lot of that is because they just moved literally mountains to find gold in that area.

But even moving 2,000 pounds of rock to find just a couple grams, think of it this way, that's 10 tons of rock to get one ounce of gold. So that's what people will do. They'll move 10 tons of rock to get just one ounce of gold. So today I'd like to talk about gold fever, but a different kind of gold fever, what I'll call spiritual gold fever, and how that ties into the kingdom of God. If you turn with me to Revelation 3, verse 18.

Revelation 3, verse 18, this is the message to the church of Laodicea, one of the seven messages, seven letters to the churches. And in Revelation 3, verse 18, Jesus Christ is revealing to the apostle John to write down something important. And this is the counsel of Jesus Christ to the church of Laodicea. And we can think about the church eras. We can think about the church areas chronologically.

That has historically been a teaching of the World Wide Church of God. But we can also think about the church areas as having the church areas as having characteristics of different attitudes, different spiritual attitudes. And Mr.

Gary Page has done an excellent seven-part series describing this. But look at verse 18, it says, I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire. We're going to read more of this verse and more of this context. But let me just say, with the Feast of Trumpets really being here in just a week and a half, and the fall Holy Day season following quickly after that, as we've seen, I think we understand that these fall Holy Days represent these pivotal future events of the return of Jesus Christ, the binding of Satan, the devil, so that he cannot influence the world anymore through all of the things that he does, and the establishment, what we might call the unpeaceful transfer of power, since we're seeing those things play out on the stage right now in Afghanistan, the unpeaceful transfer of power between this world's leaders and Jesus Christ and the establishment of the kingdom of God.

And as we think about those things, the question we have to ask is, are we going to be there? I have to ask myself, am I going to be there? We celebrate these days. We're making plans for these days. Am I going to be there physically in a week and a half, two weeks, three weeks?

Am I going to physically be at this feast that commemorates or recognizes these future events? And am I going to be there at the time when this really happens, when Jesus Christ returns? Am I going to be physically celebrating those days? And so, in that sense, if God counsels us to buy gold refined in the fire, are you willing to buy that gold?

Are you willing to move 10 tons of rock for an ounce of gold, an ounce of spiritual gold? So today, I want to cover just two points in this regard. First, I want to examine the context of this passage about buying gold.

And secondly, I want to talk about how the Apostle Paul uses this analogy of gold when it comes to building our spiritual house and how there is a very powerful theological discussion of how Jesus Christ saves us, and there's nothing that we can do for that, but how we have to build on that foundation, and that is how we are going to receive our reward.

And so, the title of today's message is, Spiritual Gold to Prepare for the Holy Days. As I said through this message, I hope that we all can be more motivated and excited about the feast days that are coming up and the return of Jesus Christ. So let's begin with the first point here, which is the context of this reference. Let's read the context beginning in verse 15. So if you're there with me already in Revelation 3, go back to verse 15.

It says, I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. And there's been a lot of articles written about how the water in Laodicea was neither refreshingly cold nor usefully hot. It was sort of this tepid, lukewarm. And I think that's certainly something that we can relate to, because we go through those ups and downs. We go through the time where we're very zealous, and we go through other times where we begin to doubt how God is working in our lives. God is always there. It's just us, emotionally. We go through these emotional roller coasters. We go through these intellectual ups and downs, and we look around, and how could God allow this, and how could God allow that, and where was God here, and where was God there.

And then other times we realize, well, that's not why I was thinking that way. I know God is there. I know he's guiding me. And so we go through these ups and downs, and sometimes we can have sort of this lukewarm. We're either kind of on fire. It's not like we're ready to throw God out of our lives, but we're just not sort of involving Him the way we should.

And so if we continue in verse 16, then it says, so then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth. And as I said, the issue here was that really just one of self-deception, because it says here in verse 17, because you say, I am rich, you have become wealthy and have need of nothing, and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. You see, the Landesians figured it out. They said, I need to do x to get y, or x plus y equals z. They had a formula. It just wasn't the right formula.

They weren't really doing what they were supposed to do. They were doing what they thought they should do, but they were, they were blind to it. You probably heard this very famous expression from Benjamin Franklin. He did actually write it. John Clark wrote it about 100 years before, but Benjamin Franklin is often attributed with the phrase, early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise. I heard that, right? I mean, who doesn't want to be healthy, wealthy, and wise? And I'd argue, in our California sense, beautiful. Beautiful is kind of important, too, you know? Healthy, wealthy, wise, and beautiful. So everybody wants that, and the formula says, well, you know, go to bed early, be diligent, and you know, you'll get those things.

And I don't think we're much different. I think we have sort of this mental model of like, I do this, and I'll get this. And I think God just wants to break our formulas. He just, He says, He wants to say to us what He says here in verse 17. I counsel you to buy from me, capital M, buy from me gold refined in the fire. Don't do your own thing. Do what I'm going to tell you to do. And if you do that, you will achieve these things. You know, I had the opportunity when I was younger to go to the Peter Drucker School of Business. Peter Drucker is famous business writer of the 20th century, probably one of the most sought after consultants of the 20th century. And he famously said this, efficiency is doing things right.

Efficiency is doing things right.

Effectiveness is doing the right things.

And then he added on to that, there is nothing so useless as efficiently doing that which should not be done at all. In other words, we can be incredibly efficient and pretty much just efficiently do something that leads to our own destruction.

Because we're doing it right. Oh yeah, I know how to destroy myself. Yeah, I do things right.

That doesn't mean I'm doing the right things. And this is what was going on here. The Laodiceans were very efficient at what they were doing. They just were doing the wrong things.

And God comes along and says, do the right things. Buy from me gold. And now he continues, that you may be rich, the right kind of spiritual riches, and white garments that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed. And anoint your eyes with eye salve that you may see. Three things. Gold refined in the fire, gold from him, white garments, and eye salve. Salve so they could truly see their condition because they were blind.

Clean garments so that they could be clothed with righteousness and stand before God.

And godly gold that they would be rich, spiritual. So the question then, is how do you buy spiritual gold when you're spiritually broke? Because that's what these things are. These people were spiritually broke. They were physically rich in their minds, but they were spiritually broke, and they needed to buy the spiritual gold. How do we do this?

Let's look at verse 19. As many as I love, I rebuke, and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. So after delivering this scathing rebuke to the church, Jesus says, I'm on your side. I'm on your side. I want you to succeed. Be zealous. Be eager. That's another that's a footnote of my Bible when it says zealous. Be eager and repent.

Repent of your prior way of doing things. And I think we should consider this message to repent, because this is how we buy spiritual gold when we're spiritually broke. We repent.

And certain people want to label different Sabbath-keeping groups as Laodicean, as if this kind of behavior is somehow confined to some group here or some group there.

But the message here is for those who will listen. That's what it says in verse 22.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. This is a message for those who will be willing to hear the message. If you are willing to hear the message, then well, it's just going to go right over their heads. You've probably heard this from Mark Twain.

Mark Twain famously said, it's easier to fool people than to convince people they've been fooled.

And this is where we stand, and this is where the Laodiceans were. They were fooled.

They thought they knew how to do things, and they didn't. And they wouldn't listen, and they wouldn't pay attention. Now, that leads to another question. How do we repent of something that we don't know what we're supposed to repent of? Again, how do you buy spiritual gold when you're spiritually broke? How do you repent? And you're like, what am I supposed to repent of? How do I know? God, show me. How do I know what I'm supposed to repent of? Because that's what verse 19 says. Repent and be zealous. This is how we get the Sabbath. This is how we get the garment. This is how we get the gold. Well, I'd like to share three things for us to think about in this question of how do we repent if we don't know what to repent of.

The first thing I'd like to share is what makes us upset? We ask the question, what am I supposed to repent of? I think we can ask ourselves, what bothers me? What makes me upset? Because if something makes me upset, there's probably something in there to examine.

So some people might say, well, what makes me really upset is sin.

I'm really upset by sin, especially in the church or my sin. Okay, well, you know, that should make us upset. But of course, if we go down that path, then we have to think about Matthew 7, 5, which we won't turn there, but you can put in your notes. Matthew 7, 5 says, you hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. So if somebody's doing you wrong, somebody, you know, you've got the somebody-done-somebody-wrong song, you know, you've heard that kind of thing. If somebody's doing you wrong, well, then maybe there's something to examine there with Matthew 7, verse 5 in terms of repentance, because chances are whatever is being done to us, we're probably dishing it out, too. We can say, well, what makes me upset is when people think they know better about what's good for me.

And you can think about that from the standpoint of, you know, little brother to big brother.

You know, my big brother's always on my case. You can think about that husband-wife. You can think about that employer-employee. My boss, you know, empty suit, doesn't know anything.

You know, he should get down here with me, you know, do the real work. Or you can think about that from government to citizen or citizen to government. You know, what do you think, you know, what do you think you're doing telling me what to do? Now, we wouldn't say that out loud, but we may think that. That may bother us. Well, maybe there's something there.

Again, you don't have to turn there, but Philippians 2 verse 3 says, Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than himself. Hmm, maybe my boss has got something.

Kind of hard to see right now. Maybe I need to give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe, maybe we should talk about this a little bit more. Yeah, maybe he's got a problem here, but you know, he's smart over there. So, when we start to examine what bothers us, that's kind of a lens into maybe where there's some pride about what we need to change.

The second thing I'd share with you about what to repent of when it says be zealous and repent is what do we fear? What do we fear?

1 John 4 verse 18 tells us that there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear because fear has torment. What are we supposed to fear? I think we know the answer to that question.

We're supposed to fear God, and if we fear something else, that fear might be in our minds greater than our fear of God. We might fear losing someone's love, and I think I've talked about this before. Sometimes with women, that can drive women to basically be with an abuser. That can cause women to do things that really are against their own best interest because they don't want to lose the love of that man. We might be afraid of losing our jobs, and we don't really behave normally because we're operating in a fearful state. We might be afraid of not having enough money, and because we're afraid of not having enough money, we do things then that are very destructive for relationships around us because we put a lot of emphasis on money and not on relationships.

Whatever we are afraid of, I think, is an invitation to spiritual examination.

And then finally, which is probably the obvious, what do we omit? What are we not doing?

What are we not doing? We can think about the frequency of our prayers, the duration of our prayers, the consistency of our prayers, the number of times we might pray in a day, the consistency of our Bible study, the consistency of fasting, how often we might reach out to our neighbor and see how they're doing. Mainstream Christian thinking focuses on redemption, and it gives us this focus on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and that is absolutely true.

Jesus Christ died for us that we might be reconciled to the Father. That is true, and that is a big focus of mainstream Christianity, and there's truth in that. But if we stop there, we ignore warnings like these in Scripture, because this message here is to the church.

This message is to people who decided to sacrifice and dedicate their lives to follow God's way, and yet they were blind. So now if we continue after this question of zealous and repent, because this is how we buy the gold, we repent, we're zealous, we're eager, then there's something else in verse 20. He says, Behold, I stand at the door and knock.

If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and dine with him, and he with me. For those who can hear what Jesus is saying to the church, he says, Open the door to me.

Let me come into your home, into your deepest emotional place. I'd like you to turn to Luke 12 verse 13. Luke 12 verse 13. And let's see how this deep emotional place played out here, because our deep emotional place that we invite God into, it's interesting because we have to invite God into that deep emotional place, and then we have to receive God's invitation to be at the place he wants us to be, like the Feast of Tabernacles, like his holy convocations, every Sabbath or on the Holy Days. Luke 12 verse 13. It says here, Then one from the crowd said to him, Teacher, tell my brother to divide inheritance with me. This is a deep emotional place.

When you start talking about inheritances with families, you're talking about one of the most fraught, emotionally challenging circumstances that any family is going to go through.

Why didn't so-and-so leave me more? Why didn't so-and-so got in with so-and-so, and now I'm left out?

This is a place of hurt. This is a place that is, I don't have enough money. This is a place I should have gotten something. There's all sorts of this confluence of fear and bother and all sorts of things sitting here. And so this person, this man, goes to Jesus and says, Help me. Help me.

And then in verse 14, Jesus reads this man's heart and decides that he's going to share something with that. He says, But he said to him, Man, who made me a judge or an arbitrator over you.

In other words, he put it back on this person and said, Basically, you need to examine yourself.

And then he said to them, Take heed and beware of covetousness, for the one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses. And then he spoke a parable about the ground of a rich man that yielded plentifully. Similar to the Laodiceans. In this case, this man was thinking he had great riches. And he thought within himself, verse 17, saying, What shall I do, since I have no room to store all my crops? And he said, I will do this. I will pull down my barns and build greater. And there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said to him, You fool. This night your soul will be required of you. Then whose will those things be which you have provided? And in verse 21 is the punch line. It's the bottom line. So is he who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich towards God. Treasure. This is what we're talking about. We're talking about gold. We're talking about treasure. We're talking about wealth.

Spiritual wealth, not physical wealth. And he used this as this inner place.

Instead of that man inviting Jesus into his inner emotional place to dine with him, he had that place filled with concerns over money.

And then as a springboard in verse 22, he goes on to provide some practical things to help us see how to do this. He said to his disciples, Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life. See, that's fear. That's one of the principles I just shared. Don't worry about your life, what you will eat, or about the body, what you will put on. Life is more than food and body more than clothing. And he gives some examples as he goes through here. And then he says in verse 34, For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. This is where we treasure things in our heart. And essentially, Jesus is saying, Let me into that place, that place into your heart, and treasure me. Treasure what I say. The gold we seek is gold from above in the form of a relationship with Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ is going to return on the feast of trumpets, which we celebrate in a week and a half. He wants to see us there. Have you ever been away from a loved one for a long period of time, and they're arriving at the airport, or they're arriving by car, you can't wait to see them. And if they're going to arrive there at San Francisco International Airport, or they're going to arrive in Oakland, you know, airport, you're going to go to the airport, you're going to greet them, you're going to be there, and they're going to expect you to be there. And if there's a group of people that you're going to be there, and that person arrives, and he's like, well, well, yeah, you know, Joe is there, and Sally's there, well, where's Tim? I thought Tim was going to come. What happened? Oh, well, he was busy. He couldn't make it. Yeah, he said he'd hope to see you later. Jesus wants us to be there on the feast of trumpets. He's looking forward to seeing us, and he wants that relationship now with us.

John Piper, describing Revelation 3 verse 20 about dining, he uses this term. He says, Jesus wants to dine romantically over candlelight with us, a candlelit dinner with God. The goal that we seek is the precious treasure that Christ offers to his disciples, a relationship with him. Buy from me gold refined in the fire. It's not an investment in this world, but in the world to come. An activity to acquire not the physical, but the spiritual, and to put our hearts and our minds on things not here below, but on things above. And the Laodiceans thought they were rich, but they were blind and poor. And this brings me to the second point that I want to share today, which is about how Paul, even though he wrote many years before, understood this concept.

Turn with me to 1 Corinthians 3 verse 9. First Corinthians 3, verse 9, I think God inspired Paul to understand this concept of gold and what gold means.

What he described here in 1 Corinthians, an issue that the church was facing.

Context of 1 Corinthians 3 is that there's division in the congregation.

People are saying, well, you know, Paul, yeah, he's the good one. Listen to Paul. Well, no, Paul is the good one. Peter was with Jesus in the beginning. I'm going to listen to Peter.

And so Paul is saying, well, no, that's not what matters here. And he's going to set them right in terms of what matters. And actually, let's start the context in verse 5. He says, Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos but ministers through whom you believed as the Lord gave to each?

I planted Apollos water, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything nor he who waters, but God gives the increase. And then in verse 9, he says, For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field. You are God's building. Now, the you here in verse 9, in Greek, is the second person plural form of speech. Now, I know most of us don't like grammar, but you can think of it this way. So in English, the you singular and the you plural is the same word, you. So if I'm going to look over here at Mr. Guardado, and I say, well, you know, you have a very nice tie on today. He's going to know that I'm speaking to him as an individual. But if I say to you as a congregation, you know, you all look lovely today, you're going to know that I'm speaking to you plural. In French, there's two different words for the you singular. In Spanish, there's two different words for the you singular and the you plural. In English, well, you know, we're just pretty simple that way. This is the second person plural. So what that means is that he's speaking to the church in general, a plurality of people.

He's speaking to the church in Corinth, and he says to the church in Corinth, you, the church in Corinth, are God's building, second person plural, a bunch of people. And in Greek, this word is the word and in Greek, this word is the word est, which is that second person plural. However, there is a collective sense that each member takes to his heart to be part of that body. So he's going to go from you, the church, or we, the church collectively as a plural group. And he's going to pivot now to the individual in verse 10. According to the grace of God, which was given to me as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation and another builds on it, but let each one take heed how he builds on it. So we are God's building, collective as the church, but individually we have to make decisions about our own lives, about how we build our own spiritual house with God.

And then in verse 11, he says, no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. So Jesus Christ lays the foundation for our relationship that we're going to have with him. He lays that foundation. And then from that foundation, it says in verse 12, now if anyone builds on this foundation, speaking to us, we want to build on the foundation. Jesus Christ has called us, and now we are going to have a relationship with Jesus Christ, and we're going to build our spiritual house collectively and individually. If anyone builds on this foundation with gold, and now what he's going to do is he's going to go through different materials that we can use to build our spiritual house. And the point here is that we want to build with the most valuable, precious material we can. The more precious and valuable, the more our house is going to stand.

So he says, anyone who builds on this foundation with gold, the most valuable. Silver, the next most precious stones. Wood, hay, straw. So he goes from gold to straw. And I think this is a powerful way of describing this interaction that we have. That we can, we've been called, we have been chosen, we've been set aside, and we have this opportunity to be in God's kingdom. Now the question is, what is our going to be our reward? What is going to be our walk between now and then? And if we build, if we build with precious metals like gold and silver, that house is going to stand. Look at verse 13. Each one's work will become manifest, that is made known, for the day, capital D, think feast of trumpets coming up. Think day of atonement. Think feast of tabernacles. Think these following days. For the day, we'll declare it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test each one's work of what sort it is. If anyone's work, which he has built on, endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. Like I said, I think this is a very interesting discussion of being saved, that is, being in God's kingdom and receiving a reward.

This is not a question of trying to do some work to somehow be saved. No, God is, if God has called us and we accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we have an opportunity to be in God's kingdom. But if we're not building with that gold, like the Laodiceans were told to buy, we're not building with gold, then that house is not going to stand up to those end-time trials that we're going to face. And it says here at the end, that we'll be saved, yet so as through fire. And I don't want to go through that. I hope you don't want to go through that. So let's build with gold. I had an opportunity to spend a summer in the Middle East, in Syria, in what's called Mesopotamia. And most of the homes that are built in that area, where I was, we were on an archaeological site and there was a village right next at the bottom of the hill. And all the homes were built with mud and straw, because that's, those are most of the materials. There's very, there's very little wood in that area. And every 20 years or so, the house just caves in. The roof just caves in. And so what they do is, when it's getting to be about that time, they just evacuate all their stuff out. They let the roof cave in, they push the walls over, and they build another house out of wood, sorry, out of, out of straw and mud. And what happens is, over thousands of years, you end up getting a hill. And so all across Mesopotamia, you'll see these hills, and they're called teles. And that's the result of thousands of years of people building homes with straw, which is the least valuable material here. Straw is not going to withstand difficulties. You get a lot of rains, that roof's going to fall in. You get an earthquake, that thing's going to jiggle and fall over and kill you. And indeed, we came across on that excavation two men who had died in a fire. They, and it was, it was stunning to literally unearth two skeletons who had died, these men had died 5,000 years before, when there was a fire in that area, and we found all the charred materials, and the walls had just collapsed. Fire had come through, walls collapsed, they were buried, and they had been buried and dead since that time. That's not the kind of house that Paul is telling us to build. A house built with gold, when the fire comes, that gold's fine. That gold is refined. It's able to be there. D.H. Lawrence, famous writer, once wrote, tragedy is like strong acid. It dissolves away all but the very gold of truth.

So gold is this object of refinement for God's truth. Turn with me to 1 Peter 1 verse 7.

1 Peter 1. We'll see what the apostle Peter talks about our faith.

He has a slightly different take, but it's still the same notion of having to go through these these trials at the end time. 1 Peter 1 verse 7.

Shortly, verse 6, actually, in this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials. That the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ. The revelation of Jesus Christ is the feast of trumpets that we celebrate in a week and a half. We're going to build to stand the test of that day.

We need the precious metals. We need the gold, the silver, the precious stones.

Now, if we don't seek these things, we're just going to gather the stubble, and we're going to build a little house on that foundation, and it's going to crumble when the difficulties come.

Physically, I hope you've saved a tenth of your income. The second tithe is described in Deuteronomy 14. I've given sermons on that. Hopefully, you've saved a tenth of your income to prepare for these fall holy days. I hope you've prepared for the three seasons in a year. We're going to go into the third season, and we're going to take up an offering on the feast of trumpets on that first morning. I hope that you're thinking about that. And if this year hasn't been good that way, I really encourage you to think about as you go into the post-fall feast time, because that's the time often when we need to say, well, what kind of offerings can I give this year? And then think about that, and then divide by the seven holy days or the three seasons, and think about that. Hopefully, you've prepared physically for the feast. Hopefully, you have plans in mind.

Physically, we should have made plans to make sure that we can celebrate the feast as per the example of Nehemiah 8 verse 18. I want to turn over there as well. Let's go to Nehemiah 8 verse 18.

This is our example. Of course, I could turn to Leviticus 23. We often go there. But Nehemiah gives us an example of how the Feast of Tabernacles was kept by the nation of Israel after the captivity. And we follow this example. It says here in Nehemiah 8 verse 18, it says, also, day by day, from the first day until the last day, he read from the book of the law of God, and they kept the feast seven days, and on the eighth day there was a sacred assembly according to prescribed manner. The prescribed manner is what was described in Leviticus 23 verse 23 to 44.

And that's what we are going to celebrate in Bend, and that's what we're going to celebrate in Utah, and that's what we're going to celebrate in near Lake Anise in France and in India and all around the world. Physically, we should be present at the commanded assembly unless there is a good reason.

This year we've got a very strange circumstance, and I know some of you believe that it's safer to not go to the feast. And again, I think that goes back to that spiritual house that we're building.

If we're desiring gold refined in the fire and we're inviting Jesus Christ into our lives, and through that deep reflective prayer, study, meditation, and fasting, we conclude that we're safer to not attend the feast, that is between us and God.

But that's the process that we should be following, because the feast is a commanded assembly, as we read here in the Mi818. According, it says, according to the prescribed manner, that's the minimum. But I'll say all of that physical stuff is just the minimum.

It's just the bare minimum. Spiritually, we must be prepared for the true day when it comes.

And that's why we have the reminders of keeping these feast dates. That's why we do these things, so that it brings it to mind. Am I ready for Jesus Christ's return? Am I ready for the events of this unpeaceful transfer of power that's going to take place at that time? Is my house going to withstand the trials that are going to come up? And honestly, I think this Delta variant, it's bad, but it is not as bad as it's going to be. When I talked to my in-laws who went through Nazi occupation in France, you know, they got stories. And I heard stories. When I got married, I thought World War II was something that I saw in the movies. And I suddenly found myself in France in the late 80s, early 90s talking to people who'd survived Nazi occupation.

We have to be ready to stand. In conclusion, I'd like you to turn with me to Luke 14, verse 15.

Let's read the parable that Jesus shared regarding this great coming feast.

This great coming feast, Luke 14.

In verse 15, in my Bible, it's called the parable of the great supper.

I think it's interesting how these things all fit together here, as we talked about the Laodiceans being told to buy gold, refine in the fire, and then being told to come and have Jesus dying with them because he's knocking at the door. Let's start in verse 15. Now when one of those who sat at the table with him heard these things, he said to him, blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. This is what we're all about. We are about the kingdom of God. Jesus came preaching, repent for the kingdom of God is at hand. This is who we are as God's people. Then he said to him, a certain man gave a great supper, invited many, and sent his servants at supper time to say to those who were invited, come for all things are now ready. And they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first one said to him, I've bought a piece of ground and I must go and see.

I ask you, have me excused. Yeah, he couldn't make it. Sorry. Yeah, yeah, he couldn't make it.

And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen and I am going to test them. I ask to have me excused. Oh yeah, he couldn't make it other. Sorry, he was busy. He'll see you later.

So another said, I have married a wife and therefore I cannot come. Oh, he's on his honeymoon.

Yeah, well, you know priorities. So that servant came and reported these things to his master.

Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.

Now there's definitely a message for the nation of Israel here because the Jews had an opportunity to be called. They had an opportunity that other nations didn't have. And there's definitely a very strong message that Jesus is giving to the nation of Israel to say, guys, you blew it. You didn't see what was here. You rejected God. But there's also a message, I think, for the church that we can think, oh yeah, we got it. I've been in the church all these years. I know what I'm doing, just like the Laodiceans thought they knew what they were doing. Verse 22, and the servant said, master, it is done as you command it, and still there's room. Then the master said to the servant, go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.

For I say to you that none of these men who were invited shall taste my supper. Let's taste this meal. Let's taste this meal. Let's be there physically and let's be prepared spiritually for these days. We live in a world of incredible wealth. We have supercomputers in our pockets in the form of these cell phones. We have access to information and misinformation, as we know.

When we get sick, we expect doctors and nurses and hospitals to be available. We have all these things. We have the greatest military in this nation the world has ever seen. We're not worried about pirates or bandits. Many other nations have these concerns. But let's not confuse the security, the power, and the wealth that we have in this country with the spiritual wealth, with the righteous garments, and with the salve that we need to have on our eyes.

We take our character with us into trials. What is our character and will we withstand?

Let's buy from Jesus Christ that precious gold refined in fire.