Teaching the People in the Kingdom the Proper Worship of God

And then after the special music, we will be hearing the sermon from our festival coordinator, Mr. Vince Simkowiak. Thank you very much for that awesome special music. That was just beautiful. We really have been blessed, all feasts, with tremendous talent and tremendous special music all during the feast. So we thank Mr. Komodris and his wife and family and choir and all the special music people. You've been doing a fantastic job and really glorifying God and helping us all to just really enjoy this festival. Well, we are celebrating in advance the coming Kingdom of God, and so let's review some scriptures about this coming Kingdom. Let's turn first of all to Revelation 11 and verse 15. Revelation 11 verse 15. This is a time in the near future. This is a time when many people who are sitting in this audience are going to hear and see these incredible events. Then the seventh angel sounded, and we know from studying the book of Revelation that that means the seventh trumpet angel, the seven trumpets. This is the last one. And there were loud voices in heaven saying, the kingdoms of this world, the kingdoms of this earth, the kingdoms of this present age have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. How amazing this scripture really is that the kingdoms of this world, the United States of America, England, France, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Canada, all around the world, they will become the kingdoms of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is going to reign forever and ever. Let's turn to Daniel chapter 7 and look at verse 13. Daniel was seeing these incredible visions, these incredible prophetic visions of the future. I was watching in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven, he came to the ancient of days, and they brought him near before him, and then to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples, nations and languages, should serve him.

How many people today really believe that Jesus Christ is going to be ruling them very shortly, and that all peoples, nations and languages shall serve him? His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and his kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed. Every time man has come up with a kingdom, give it a couple hundred years, and it gets destroyed by another upcoming kingdom, but not so the kingdom of God, not so the kingdom of God in which Christ will rule upon this earth. But, brethren, even an additionally amazing thought, humbling, amazing, fantastic, and wonderful is verse 18.

But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever. Brethren, we're God's saints, not because we're so you know good-looking or smart or so whatever you might want to call it. God says he has called not many mighty, not many wise men, now have been called. But it does say right here that us, the saints of the Most High, will also receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever and ever. Same thing here we see in verse 27.

Then the kingdom and dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people, the saints of the Most High, Daniel 7, 27.

His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominion shall serve and obey him.

Okay, so we've got God the Father ruling over the entire universe.

And under him, the one who sits at his right hand, Jesus Christ. The Bible says he will rule from Jerusalem. And then under Jesus Christ, the saints, the people, the saints of the Most High, we too will be ruling. We'll be ruling under Jesus Christ. God gives us a name.

We find this name in Revelation 5 and verse 10. Let's go to Revelation 5 and verse 10. We'll read this particular scripture here. And have made us kings and priests to our God, and we shall reign on the earth. Christ Jesus will be reigning on the earth. We will be under Christ. We will be reigning with Jesus Christ on this earth as kings and as priests.

Now, the church has taught for so many years. It's taught for decades. And Mr. Armstrong is the one that taught us this initially. He said this, as kings we will rule, and as priests we will teach.

And this is the specific purpose statement of my sermon today. As priests, we will teach.

We are preparing now to be in the royal priesthood, not just the family of God, but the royal priesthood of God. And as priests, we will teach. Let's learn some scriptures, or at least review some scriptures. We've all heard these so many times, but Feaster Tabernacle is a wonderful time to review these particular areas. Here in Revelation 1, Revelation 1 and verse 4, John to the seven churches which are in Asia, Grace to you in peace from him who is and was and is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, Revelation 1 and verse 5. Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings, or over the kings of the earth. Kings of the earth don't realize this now, but those that survive through the great tribulation and on into the kingdom, their ruler is going to be Jesus Christ.

And if you told them that today, they wouldn't be very happy, probably, most of them, but whether they're happy or not makes no difference. This is going to happen. Christ is going to be the ruler over the kings of the earth to him who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. And we understand that through the Passover sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And now verse 6, "'And has made us kings and priests to his God and Father.'" Again, that term, kings and priests, "'to him be glory and dominion forever and ever.'" Again, specific purpose statement of my sermon, as priests we will teach. Now, we're going to review now a few areas of instruction, a few areas of instruction that we will be teaching in the coming kingdom. The first area is going to be God's law. Let's turn to Isaiah chapter 2. Again, this scripture has been covered sometimes already. And as Mr. DeMaurice said, that's okay. We need to repeat these things and have them cemented into our minds year by year. Isaiah 2 and verse 1. Well, let's just go to verse 2 here. Now, it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain or the government of the Lord's house shall be established on the top of the mountains. Mountains means governments. So God's government, the government of Jesus Christ, will be on top of all the other governments of the world. It shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow to it. Many people shall come and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths. For out of Zion, out of Jerusalem, shall go forth the law. Not Washington, D.C., not Rome, Italy, out of Zion. Out of Jerusalem, shall go forth the law. And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, He shall judge between the nations. He shall rebuke many people. They shall beat their swords into plowshares, their spears into pruning hooks. Nations shall not lift up sword against nation. Neither shall they learn war anymore. Nations have been very good at learning war, haven't they? They learn how to build bombs and then bigger bombs, and they learn how to develop airplanes, tanks, guns, bullets, more and more. Nations are good at learning war, but the time will come when they will not learn war anymore. Let's turn to Isaiah 30, verse 20. And this is a scripture. There are so many scriptures in the prophecies that will talk about maybe the tribulation and then the kingdom. The tribulation and then the kingdom. Maybe in one or two verses it covers that span of time, going from the tribulation, from the time of affliction, right into the millennium, right into the kingdom. And here is one of them right here, verse 20.

And though the Lord gave you the bread of adversity in the water of affliction, that's going to be the depths of the great tribulation, yet there's hope. There will be hope in the future because He says, yet your teachers will not be moved into a corner anymore, but your eyes shall see your teachers. And as priests, we're going to be those teachers. Your ears shall hear a word behind you saying, this is the way. Walk in it whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left. Amazingly, we'll cover this a little bit further, but even as the millennium gets started, even as the millennium begins, people will be tending to want to revert back to their old ways, you know, their old ways of sin and bad habits. And yet the priest-teachers of the kingdom of God working under Jesus Christ will teach them the right way, will teach them God's ways, will teach them God's laws. And everybody at that particular time will be able to learn the Ten Commandments and learn God's way of life. And there will be no interruption. God's priests slash teachers will be doing that and serving Jesus Christ in that way. You know, the biggest obstacle in teaching of God's way right now is, of course, the devil. You know, he blocks the understanding, the teaching of God's law. He's going to be removed. Revelation 20, verse 1, I won't turn to that, but it's very plain. The devil is going to be removed soon. He's aware of that. He's not very happy about it. In fact, the Bible says that he has great wrath. The Bible says he has great wrath at Revelation 12, 9 because he knows he has but a short time. But once he is removed, the blinders, so to speak, will begin to be removed from the physical inhabitants of the earth, and they will be able for the very first time to understand God's law. And as priest-teachers, we will be teaching them. Isaiah 25, a few chapters back. Isaiah 25, and let's look at verse starting here in verse 6. And in this mountain, the Lord of hosts will make for all people a feast of choice pieces, a feast of wines on the leaves. In other words, the feast of tabernacles itself is like the coming kingdom of God. It's just a small little foretaste of what is yet to come. And now here in verse 7, He will destroy on this mountain the surface of the covering cast over all the people and the veil that is spread over all the nations. The blindness that people have, what is it? Seven billion people. 1.6 billion Muslims, for example. The veil that is spread over all the nations. He will swallow up death forever. He's coming to conquer death by and through the resurrection. And the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, the rebuke of His people, and He will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken. And now verse 9, and it will be said in that day, Behold, this is our God. We have waited for Him. You know, as the tribulation unfolds, three and a half year tribulation, you know, and people will have been warned, that's what we're doing now, we're preaching the gospel of the kingdom as a witness, Christ said, as a witness unto all nations. And they're going to be remembering these things. And they're going to be saying, you know, we have waited for Him. You know, let's hang on just a little bit longer because He will save us. This is the Lord. We have waited for Him. We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.

So they're going to know many of them will, because we will have been able to preach that to them.

Let's go now to Isaiah chapter 11, and look again at another wonderful scripture, Isaiah 11 verse 6. The wolf shall also dwell with the lamb, the wolf living with the lamb. The leopard will lie down with the young goat. You don't see that too much today, except sometimes in photographs. I think one time the church years ago, I think the way they did it is they brought in a lamb, as I was told, and they shot a picture of the lamb. And then they were going, no, the other way around, they brought in that lion. You know, that lion is on MGM. He's finally dead, and they've got probably a new lion now, whatever. But anyway, and he was pretty toothless by that time, but he still was a lion. So they shot a picture of the lion, and they brought him out, and then they put a goat, or a little lamb, and a little lamb smelled that lion. He didn't want to stay around. He did not want to stay around. So the leopard will lie down with the young goat, you know, the calf and the young lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. What a beautiful picture of the coming kingdom. The cow and the bear shall graze, you know, graze together. Their young one shall lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. Amazing. The lion will eat straw like the ox. Now, before I go on with the scriptures, we're here. This is the beach. This is the ocean, the Gulf. Again, I'm from Missouri. I never get to see this in Missouri, so I've been quite captivated by all of this, and I've been thinking about sea life and marine animals. So it's made me wonder—I'll be right back. It made me wonder, what will sharks eat? In other words, if it says right here, the lion will eat straw like the ox—supposed to be a puppet. I'm supposed to get my hand in here anyway. So what will the lion's going to eat straw like the ox? I think this is a Thresher shark. What will the shark eat? He's toothless, I'm not sure what he's going to eat in God's coming kingdom. His name is Sinacarib, by the way, and not sure what he'll eat. Sharks don't eat kelp. I went online, Googled, they don't eat kelp. Maybe they will in the kingdom. I don't know, but I'll be right back again.

You can tell I went shopping at Schlitterbahn the other day. Anyway, so here we have—that was Sinacarib, this is Octavia. So what will Octopi eat in God's coming kingdom? What will they eat? I'm sure there's Octopi out there somewhere. And these guys, you don't want to get too close to these guys in the water. They look harmless and friendly, but they're really not. But in God's kingdom, I wonder what they will eat. So let's go on here. The nursing child will play by the cobra's hole, and the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper's den. Don't do that now. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Again, we're looking—at least I'm looking at the sea, I'm looking at just a part of the sea. It's huge, isn't it? And the knowledge of the Lord will be as much as the ocean beds are full of water, as the waters cover the sea. So the knowledge of the Lord in the Kingdom of God, it won't be just about building perfect highways. We'll build highways in God's kingdom. Bridges, yes. It'll be a lot more than that. It'll be a lot more than that. The main thing about the Kingdom of God is the knowledge of the Lord, not the foolishness of man. No more knowledge of witches, wizards. We have a generation of young people—it's pretty serious stuff. Young people who are growing up being told, because they see it on the big screen, that there are good wizards.

There aren't any good wizards, but they're being told that. That's foolish knowledge. That's wrong knowledge. In God's kingdom, the true worship of God is going to be restored, because the blindness of false religion, false ideas, that's going to be removed. Let's turn to the book of Malachi. The book of Malachi. We'll look at this. This is a prophecy of—or, I should say, a description of what priests were doing. The Old Testament priesthood, by and large—I'm not going to say every one of them was like this, but by and large, the Old Testament priesthood finally failed. I mean, they simply failed. Finally, a watered-down or corrupted version of the priesthood put Christ to death. That's how bad it got. When we read Malachi 2, we want to read it in two ways here. Read it for what it is, but read it for what it's going to be turned around by you as the coming priesthood under Jesus Christ. Now, O priests, this commandment is for you, if you will not hear, if you will not take it to heart, to give glory to my name. As priests, we are to give glory to God's name. He says, I will send a curse upon you. I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have cursed them already because you do not take it to heart. The failure of the Old Testament priesthood is they didn't take God's laws to heart. They did not take God's laws to heart. We are to take God's laws to heart, and we're going to be teaching God's laws in the kingdom. Behold, I will rebuke your descendants and spread refuse on your faces, the refuse of your solemn feasts, and one will take you away with it. Then you shall know that I have sent this commandment to you, that my covenant with Levi may continue, says the Lord. My covenant was with him, one of life and peace, and I gave them to him that he might fear me. And so he feared me. The true Levites, the priests in the kingdom of God, fear God and was reverent before my name. The law of truth was in his mouth.

The law of truth must be in our mouth, but we must live the law of truth, and we will be teaching. And already now, by our example, we're exemplifying that. An injustice was not found in his lips. He walked with me in peace and equity, and turned many away from iniquity. For the lips of a priest should keep knowledge, and people should seek the law from his mouth. As priests in the coming kingdom, that's what we're going to be doing, teaching God's laws. For he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts, but you have departed from the way you have caused many to stumble at the law.

That's what the Old Testament priesthood by and large did, and yet the opposite of this is going to happen in God's coming kingdom, because as priests in the kingdom of God, we are going to be pointing people to God's law. Now, I find this so amazing, but the challenge is going to be, as the millennium begins, that God's, you know, the priesthood of God is going to meet resistance. As we've said before, people will be wondering, can I go this way or that way? And then those teachers will say, this is the way, you know, walk you in it. But there really is going to be resistance in the kingdom of God, even after the devil is put away.

Even after Satan is put away, his poison that has seeped into human beings' minds is going to stay there. And again, how long? A few generations? I don't know. But let's go to Zachariah. Zachariah 14th chapter. This insidious poison of the devil will stay with people. Behold, the day of the Lord is coming. That's Zachariah 14, verse 1. You know, the day of the Lord is soon to come. Verse 3, then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations as he fights in the day of battle.

And in that day, his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east. His feet, you know, he is coming, he is returning, and it says, the Word of God says, his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is right there, faces Jerusalem on the east. And then in verse 9, the Lord will be king over all the earth. And that day it shall be, the Lord is one, and his name one.

Now, let's go to verse 16. Conquering the nations by Christ will be easy. You know, how long do you think the battle of Armageddon is going to last? I don't think it's going to last very long. There's not going to be much resistance. I mean, the nations of the world are going to put their best fighting forces together, all their arms implements, you know, what do they call them now? RPGs, rocket propelled, you know, whatever, you know, those grenade launchers, all those things. And they're going to fall harmlessly at the feet of Jesus Christ. So it's not going to be a war, you know, the battle of Armageddon.

You know, that's not going to be a war, it's going to be a battle. It's going to be over very quickly. And it shall come to pass, verse 16 of Zechariah 14, that of everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem. Now there will be multitudes of nations coming against Christ, and they will meet their defeat again very quickly.

But the time is coming when they will they will they will go up from year to year to worship the King of the Lord of Hosts and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. And it shall be that whatever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, upon them there will be no rain. Now again, isn't this kind of hard to imagine that even after the devil is put away, and all the evil demons are put away, that that residual poison will still be in the minds of people, and people will say they don't want to keep the Feast.

You know, they don't want to go to Jerusalem, they don't want to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. If the family of Egypt, well, you know Egypt today is a Muslim country. If the family of Egypt will not come up and enter in, they shall have no rain. They shall receive the plague with which the Lord strikes the nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. 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.

It is what what an incredible story, and this is God's Word, so it's true.

People will still have Satan's poison in their minds, and they will resist keeping this beautiful Feast of Tabernacles. They'll want to come up with another idea, another way, and they're going to resist, again, how long I don't know. I just can't wait to find out, but how long that will be, I don't know. We see again in another example, Zachariah 13. Again, conquering the nations will be easy. Conquering human nature, that's going to take some time. Human nature is going to stick around for a while, even after the devil is removed. He's going to be locked up. His poison, though, will remain in the minds of people for some time.

Zachariah 13, verse 1, In that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David, and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness. So we have this picture of a fountain of pure water, maybe likened to God's Holy Spirit, and it will be flowing freely, and it will be cleansing the inhabitants of Jerusalem from their uncleanness, from their sin.

It shall be in that day, says the Lord of Hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they will no longer be remembered. So people will be saying now, what was that pagan idol's name? They won't be able to remember it. And I will also cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to depart from the land. The unclean spirit will depart. That's the same as what we know about in Revelation 20, verse 1. Satan being cast, it says, into the bottomless pit. He can no longer broadcast his poison, but unfortunately, his poison will remain for a while in people's minds. It shall come to pass that if. Okay, here it is, if anyone still prophesies, then his father and mother who begot him will say to him, you shall not live because you have spoken lies in the name of the Lord, and his father and mother who begot him shall thrust him through when he prophesies. I hope that will be limited. I hope maybe we can get to them first and talk to them. But I think it's very, very clear that we see that the residual poison of the devil will last a long time. Again, there are 1.6 billion Muslims in this world, for example. I'm just using this example. You know, they pray to Mecca five times a day. They get their prayer rug out, and they kneel down on it. And many times you watch TV, you'll see interviewing a Muslim, and he or she has a callous right here on her forehead. You know where they get that callous from? From praying five times a day on that prayer rug.

And all that, the trouble is, they're not praying to God the Father in the name of Jesus Christ. They're praying to their pagan Allah. That's all going to have to be removed. That's all going to have to be taken from them. As time goes on, though, into the millennium, into the kingdom, the hearts of people will change. Let's turn to Psalm 68. The hearts of people will change. People will begin to get rid of or have that poison of the devil washed out of their minds. And so we see here in Psalm 68, I don't know if I said Isaiah or not. I always want to say the wrong chapter just to keep everybody confused, I guess. Anyway, Psalm 68, not really.

And we'll take a look at verse 29.

Psalm 68 verse 29. This is what's going to be taking place in the millennium.

Because of your temple, that Jerusalem kings will bring presence to you.

Rebuke the beasts of the reeds, the herd of the bulls with calves of the people, until everyone submits himself with pieces of silver. People from around the world will begin to bring their tithes and their offerings, or at least representatives will be bringing their tithes and offerings to Jerusalem. Verse 31. Envoy will come out of Egypt, so Egypt will get converted. Ethiopia will quickly stretch out her hands to God in a way that's never been done before. The whole nation of Ethiopia will be worshipping God. And again, brethren, as priests, we will be helping Jesus Christ or assisting him, not that in one sense – you know, Christ doesn't need our help, but he's only too happy to share his efforts and his power with us.

And we're going to have that opportunity to serve under him as priests in the kingdom of God.

And as we heard in the sermon that Christ has that – he was both God and man, so he knows what it's like to be a human being, okay? He knows what it's like to be a human being. As we work with people in the kingdom, they will know that we know what it was like to be tempted by Satan. They will know that we know that we knew at one time what it was like to be in the grips of the devil and in false religion, false ideas, you know, sinfulness. And that if we can come out of it by the grace of God, so can they. And we will be their compassionate teachers and their helpers and their guides as they learn more of God's way, really, for the first time. So we will be that human, priestly, children of God element, helping the world to understand God's ways and God's laws.

So we will be teaching them the laws of God. We will be teaching them the two great commandments, not just the ten commandments, of course. We'll be teaching them the ten commandments, but we will also be teaching them the two great commandments. Let's turn to Matthew 22. I was discussing with one of the ministers a couple days ago what we've been learning, you know, so far, and it seemed like one of the themes that has been coming through is that right now we are modeling what we will be teaching in the kingdom of God. We are living what we will be doing in the kingdom of God. This is, as we well know, this is our training time. You know, we're in training here. Matthew 22 and verse 35.

Then one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, testing him and saying, teacher, what is the greatest commandment or the great commandment in the law? And Jesus said to him, you shall love. And this is going to be law number one that we will teach in the kingdom of God. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law.

That word hang means to, it's all fastened. On these two commandments are fastened all the law and the prophets. Now, let's focus on the second commandment at this particular point. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Now, is this commandment being broken today? Did Osama bin Laden, did he love America when he ordered those airplanes, not only into the Pentagon, but also into the Twin Towers? Did he love the American people when he did that? How about Adolf Hitler? Did he love the Jews when he sent millions of them into the gas chambers?

What about our beloved America? You know, I love this country. I'm so grateful to be here. But our own American history does contain some dark and dreary and disgusting chapters in our treatment of our fellow man. You know, when we really read American history, it's not always pleasant. In fact, it's pretty dark, dreary, and disgusting in many ways. I won't go into all of that right now, of course, but America has not always shown love of its neighbor.

Now, when Dr. Ward spoke, he emphasized 1 Corinthians 13. And so let's turn to this, because again, this is right on the hinge here of talking about these two great commandments. So 1 Corinthians 13, verse 1, as Dr. Ward mentioned, both the opening night and then on the first holy day, although I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love. And we know what this word love means.

This is godly love. If I have not godly love, I am become a sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, I understand all mysteries and knowledge. Maybe I'm a great Bible scholar, which I'm not, of course, but have all faith so that I can remove mountains.

But if I had not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. This is really emphasized early on in the feast. And brethren, we need to be doing this. For us to teach as priests under Jesus Christ in the world tomorrow, we must, as God's people now, be living God's laws of love. Above all people, we must be living God's laws of love. And again, this is, I think, the theme of the feast, that we must be living the way of life right now that we will be teaching in the kingdom.

I'd like to turn to Matthew 24. And I hope that at the feast here that we've been modeling this way of life, God's way of life, which is a way of love. And I'm sure we have been modeling it to the community so that hopefully when we leave, they will say, you know what, the people of God were among us. Wouldn't it be great if they'd say that about it?

You know, the people of God were among us for a week. Wouldn't that be wonderful if we would leave that kind of a memory? In Matthew 24, we see, frankly, it's a rather chilling prophecy of Jesus Christ that he mentioned. It's in the Word of God, therefore it's going to happen. God says it, it will happen. He tells us in, first of all, Matthew 24, 7, you know, nations will rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines. Are there famines in the world today? Yes, there are. Pestilences, more and more strange diseases, you know, and earthquakes in various places. And then he says, these are the beginning of sorrows.

Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you'll be hated. You'll be persecuted and hated by all nations for my name's sake. That day is coming, too. And we better be preparing for that. But then, verse 10, then many will be offended. Now, this is God's people. Many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.

I find this a very chilling and sobering prophecy, and I prayerfully have to ask myself, is this going to be me? Am I going to get offended? Am I going to betray somebody else in the church? Am I going to hate a church member?

Am I going to end up hating one of God's ministers? I pray not. But Christ said it will happen, it's going to happen to many. To many. Betraying, hating fellow members, ministers. And so, we better be prepared so that this does not happen to us. We don't have to be the fulfillers of this prophecy. We can live such a life of godly love that it won't be me, and it won't be you. So, we must be practicing the love of our neighbor right now. Now, the final and most important concept that we will be teaching in the world tomorrow is the proper worship of God. Not just God's law, certainly the law of love, but also the proper worship of God Almighty. Now, there was a time in our country that our country did try to do this, to a certain extent. The proper worship of God. I'd like to read from a little book entitled America's Godly Heritage and how people back in those days tried to point their young children toward the proper understanding and the proper worship of God. Now, some of you may have seen this book. It was called The New England Primer. The New England Primer was the first textbook ever printed in America. It was introduced in Boston in 1690, so around 1700. And for two centuries, many in America learned to read from this book, which today we would call a first grade textbook or a first grade reader. But they didn't have grade levels then, so they simply called it a primer. So it began with the alphabet. You're going to teach your little ones the alphabet, and it showed students how to make one, two, three letters, little words and so on, and syllables.

And so here's the alphabet of America's schools for nearly 200 years. It starts with the letter A. A, why son makes a glad father, but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother. In other words, for every letter of the alphabet, they not only learned that letter, but they learned a Bible scripture, a Bible verse, or a Bible concept. That was the primer in this country for two centuries.

B, better is a little with the fear of the Lord than with great treasure and trouble therewith. C, come unto Christ, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and he will give you rest. D, do not do the abominable thing which I hate, says the Lord.

E, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. So for 200 years, our forefathers tried to teach the right worship. They tried to point them to the Bible, to the Word of God, so that our young people in those days would be able to hear these things. This was the alphabet of many American schools for 200 years. In the back of the book were several questions. Now remember, this is a first grade reader, and these are first grade questions. So here in the back of the book were the questions that they were asked. What is the fifth commandment? What is forbidden in the fifth commandment? What is required in the sixth commandment? What is forbidden in the sixth commandment? And many similar questions. This was the foundation of many American schools for 200 years. We can't get that now at public schools, can we?

Well, in God's kingdom, we're going to be able to turn back to this and even do better, because again, the devil is going to be removed. The devil is going to be taken away. And we will be able to be teaching in the world tomorrow in the coming kingdom of God the proper worship of God Almighty. Let's turn to John 4. John 4 and take a look at verse 24.

God is Spirit. This is Jesus Christ talking to the Samaritan woman. He said, God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth.

The day is coming, and God's speed that day. When our Heavenly Father will be worshipped in spirit, God's Holy Spirit, the right spirit, God's Holy Spirit, and also in truth. And we know that God's word is truth. John 17 and 17. Thy word is truth. Thy word is truth. So they'll have God's Holy Spirit, and at the end they will also have the Bible. They'll also have truth. Now, how long has it been since God has really been worshipped in Jerusalem?

How long was Jerusalem in the hands, again, of the Muslims? Now, it is true that some people have come over and kept the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem, but not that many.

The day is coming when they will worship Him in spirit and in truth. Let's turn to Leviticus 10 and take a look at verse 9. Leviticus 10 and verse 9.

And we'll see again that this was the teaching of what the priests were supposed to be doing. And we understand and we heard about the profane fire that punished it. Nadab and Abihu, we understand that. They died before the Lord. Now, they had come out of Egypt and they had been sloppy, careless, and they did not realize how great God is.

And they took it carelessly. We have to be careful that we don't take God and His wonderful position and power carelessly. The Lord spoke to Aaron in verse 9.

Leviticus 10 and verse 8. Then verse 9. Do not drink wine or intoxicating drink, you nor your sons with you when you go into the tabernacle of meeting, lest you die. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations that you, you priests, you priests, us as future priests, may distinguish between holy and unholy, between unclean and clean. That's what the royal priesthood of Jesus Christ, serving under Jesus Christ in the millennium and in the kingdom of God, this is what we must do.

That we will be teaching the world and distinguishing between the world what is holy and what is not holy and what is clean and what is not clean. We're going to be teaching people that all through the millennium we are going to replace the physical priesthood that we read about here. We're going to be kings and priests under Jesus Christ in the millennium. This is what we're going to be teaching. We're going to be distinguishing between holy and unholy, between the unclean and the clean. Now, a more precise role of the priesthood is found right here in Leviticus 10 and verse 3. And if there's just one verse that to me describes our job as priests in God's coming kingdom, this is it! Leviticus 10.3, Then Moses said to Aaron, this is what the Lord spoke saying, By those who come near me, I must be regarded as holy, and before all the people I must be glorified.

This, as priests in the world tomorrow, we are going to be teaching the proper worship of God. And as the proper worship of God, this is what we're going to be telling people, that God is holy, and that God must be glorified, and that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that He is holy, and that He must be glorified. And we're not going to have the nonsense that we have in the world today. Today, the name of God is blasphemed, it's besmirched, it's cursed, even on radio. When bad words were spoken on the radio, I thought they used to get fined for it. Do they still do that? Do they still find the radio personalities when they take God's name in vain? I don't know. When God's name is taken in vain, all over, television, radio, all over. It's blasphemed, it's besmirched, it's cursed, it's made fun of, laughed at, scoffed, ridiculed, jokes made out of the name of God.

We're replacing this world's leaders, brethren, as kings and priests in the soon-coming kingdom.

We're going to teach them who's holy. We're going to teach them who's holy. We're going to teach them how to glorify, how to worship God, how to glorify, how to worship Jesus Christ.

Ezekiel 36, verse 22. Ezekiel 36, verse 22. This is what God has to put up with today.

I don't know how God does it. I mean, how can He be so patient with humanity? Well, because He's God, and that's why. He's God, and that's why. Ezekiel 36, verse 22.

This is a prophecy of way on into the future.

Therefore, say to the house of Israel, Let's say to the Lord God, I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for my holy name's sake, which you have profaned among the nations, wherever you went. And I will sanctify my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. And the nations shall know that I am the Lord, says the Lord God, when I am hallowed in you before their eyes.

We're going to be pointing people to in the kingdom of God, to the one who sits on the throne in Jerusalem, and the one who rules the universe from the third heaven. We're going to be pointing people to Jesus Christ. We're going to be pointing people to God the Father. We are going to make sure that the name of God is hallowed before the eyes of this world. Isaiah 2, Isaiah 2, and verse 11, prophecy of the kingdom of God, prophecy of the millennium. Isaiah 2, verse 11, the lofty looks of man shall be humbled, the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.

The Lord alone will be exalted. Now, he repeats this in verse 17, the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, the haughtiness of men shall be brought low, the Lord alone will be exalted in that day, but the idols he shall utterly abolish. God's going to make sure that the idols will be destroyed and gotten rid of. Isaiah 27, verse 13, people are going to be allowed to, and given the opportunity, to begin the millennium by worshiping God. And as compassionate kings and priests, children of God, family of God, we're going to be able to teach these people and show them the way. We're in training for that right now. Isaiah 27, verse 13, so it shall be in that day that the great trumpet will be blown, and they will come who are about to perish in the land of Assyria. People will be just about on the verge of death, about to perish during the end of the tribulation. They who are the outcasts in the land of Egypt and shall worship the Lord in the holy Mount at Jerusalem. They're going to be rescued from the, you know, the death chambers where they're in, and they're going to be able to begin the millennium by worshiping the Lord in Jerusalem. Chapter 29, Isaiah 29, and starting now in verse 18, in that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book. People who are deaf, people who cannot hear, they will be healed. The Bible says that the deaf will be healed. Read that in Isaiah 35 as well. And the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness. The humble shall also increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

They won't be rejoicing so much in their favorite football team, baseball team, and whatever. They can be rejoicing in the Holy One of Israel. Continuing down here to verse 23, But when he sees his children, the work of my hands in his midst, they will hallow my name, and they will hallow the Holy One of Jacob. We've been taught to pray the model prayer there in Matthew 6, Our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name. We teach our children, don't we, to hallow God's name, to honor, to glorify his holy name every day of their lives. Because that's what we're going to be doing in the kingdom of God.

Hallow the Holy One of Jacob, and fear the God of Israel. Those who erred in spirit, verse 24, will come to understanding. And those who murmured and complained, maybe they complained about the Bible, they will learn doctrine. They're going to learn that the Bible is book number one, textbook number one. You know, recently, as many of the other ministers did, we conducted our kingdom of God seminars in the cities, and we didn't exactly break down the doors, you might say, in St. Louis. But eight guests came in St. Louis and in Troy 5, Troy, Illinois 5, as I mentioned on the first Holy Day, 52 came to San Antonio. Just wonderful. But we did find that a couple of longtime members who had not been to church in years, that actually came to Troy, Illinois. Maybe God is still rounding up his flock from the 1990s. Maybe he's, you know, because some people still are, some here and there, still coming back from the 1990s.

But it's interesting as these people come and to see what they're looking for. We had a world news and prophecy seminar some years back in the area, and it's just interesting what's on these people's minds. One man, one man, the only thing he wanted was one of our church hymnals. He wanted a church hymnal. So I gave him one, you know, whether I should have or shouldn't have, I gave him one.

Another one came for money. Started going around asking people for money. And then I got wind of it and I said, look, if you really need money, come to me and I'll see what the church can do for you. But please don't go to our members and hit them up for hours more tactful than that. But don't get money from our people. If you need some help, come to the church.

And we did help out this individual for a while.

Another time, this was the latest one, somebody came out passing tracks, passing out literature. And it was, here's what the literature was. A hundred reasons why you should keep the Sabbath. So I'm thinking, okay, now this person is passing out literature to people who are already keeping the Sabbath.

But you know, it says in Matthew 24 that we preach the gospel of the kingdom as a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come. So our job right now is to preach as a witness, to preach as a warning. We hope many will come, but if they don't come, at least we've done what Jesus told us to do. And these kingdom of God seminars are, you know, preaching the gospel is not optional. I think I mentioned that on the first holy day. It's not optional. We must preach the kingdom of God. Let's go to Isaiah 42. Isaiah 42 in verse 17. This is what, as the kingdom of God rolls out, people are going to finally start to get rid of that that poison of the devil will finally be washed out of their minds. And so Isaiah 42, 17, they shall be turned back. They shall be turned around and heading in the right direction. They shall be greatly ashamed who trust in carved images, who say to their molded images, you are our gods. That's all going to be turned around on them. They're no longer going to be doing that. They'll be throwing it, saying, you know, they're idols away.

Let's turn to 1 Peter chapter 2 because this is a scripture, 1 Peter 2 verse 4, about the present, but it certainly has futuristic overtones and prophetic overtones as well. 1 Peter chapter 2 and talking about God's people and certainly not only our job now, but our job in the future as well.

1 Peter 2 verse 5, But you as living stones are being built up a spiritual house.

Now, okay, so here's the analogy. God's building a house. God's building a temple. God's building a building, and we're part of it. And we are stones in that building only we are living stones, being built up as a spiritual house, the temple of God, a holy priesthood. That's our training now, a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

That's what we're doing now, and that's what we will be doing in the kingdom of God. In verse 9, But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood. We're in training. We're in preparation for what is yet ahead. A holy nation, his own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, who were once not a people. I think Mr. DeMoor said yesterday, we're not very impressive, are we? We're not a people, but you now are the people of God, who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. So, brethren, we are this royal priesthood in training. We're going to be kings and priests in the wonderful kingdom of God, the wonderful world tomorrow, and above all things what we're going to be doing, we're not going to be putting up with the nonsense and the blasphemy and the evil talk against God. We're going to put a stop to that as we serve under Jesus Christ. And in the coming kingdom of God, we're going to be pointing all peoples to the proper worship of God the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ.