Tempted, Tested, and Ready

Happy feast, everyone! Special thanks to Luis and Emil for their words today. They have expressed very well the essence of the meaning of the Day of Atonement. And certainly we'll continue on with that in the sermon. This is a wonderful time for us to humbly come before God and to seek to do God's will, unlike everything that's going on in the world and has been going on in the world outside of those that God is working with.

The seven annual Festivals of God, described for us as we observed them, God's plan of salvation for humanity. In a sense, that plan of salvation is the opportunity for fleshly created humans to ultimately be at one with the God family.

Part of the God family. In the divine kingdom of God. We've already observed the first number of Festivals in the annual season. And each of those Festivals have involved those who will be first groups with Christ. We have now come to the Autumn Festivals and we continue actually on with that theme of allowing opportunities for humans to increase greater numbers in having one relationship with God and with the kingdom of God. One thing that we do not depart from anytime during the Holy Day plan of God, this Holy Day season, is a lack of involvement or an involvement of the saints or the first group.

Beginning from the very Passover, Jesus tells us that in Ephesians chapter 5 that he gave himself for this wife of his, for his bribe. And then coming through the days of Unleavened Bread, we have this growth opportunity to develop and eat this bread of life, Jesus Christ, and ultimately come to a harvest of our own. And yet, before that harvest takes place, we as humans die.

And the saints down through time have died, all of them except those of us which are alive and remain until the coming of Christ. And then we have a timing of that. We just observed that the Feast of Trumpets, at the seventh trumpet sounding, Jesus Christ takes the reigns of the rule of all the world.

And we rise to meet him. And then continuing on, we come to this day, the Day of Atonement, which again, cycles back to his death. But it provides another future group with an opportunity now to tap into that forgiveness, to tap into that reconciliation, to have an opportunity to have oneness with God and not be affected by Satan and his demons. So while the meaning of this Day of Atonement is unique in the sense that it speaks to an opportunity of future humans or groups of humans to have that oneness with God, it carries us along with it. It carries us along with Jesus Christ, along with being potential candidates for the first fruits, a variety of hiss, and to help him, assist him in those future opportunities for humanity.

When we think of the age of Satan's rule, and we'd all love to get rid of him any time, we have to realize that the age of Satan's rule, and the Bible is called this present evil age, is your and my time of opportunity. This is the age in which we have our only opportunity. It's our time for calling, our time for perfection, our time to be counted worthy to rise with Christ and reign with him as the brighter Christ.

This is our time for training. This is time for those who are eager and resilient and bold and powerful with the power of God and his might living in us to rise and to confront Satan and to confront sin and to conquer it. The term overcome in the scripture simply means to conquer. You've heard of, I believe it's the first verse, the white verse, it comes writing, conquering and to conquer. The exact same word that's translated every time, overcoming and the Bible. So we are to conquer. We are to overcome or conquer. It's a military thing, actually. Overcoming, if you look it up in the Old Testament and you'll find that it's about evil conquering, armies conquering, us conquering our human nature, our satanic mindset, if we have it, and rooting that out.

This time that you and I live in, that we very poignantly recognize on a day like today is evil and wrong and has an author and God's small gee that is horrible. This is part of our training. Part of our qualifying. And as we'll see today, it's a necessary part. In order to participate in what the Bible calls the better resurrection, it's the only one for people to rise as the bride of Christ, to be married to Him in a marriage, to reign with Him and to always be with Him where He is.

And that's what it says. There are more difficult conditions that we must meet, as He did during His life, being buffeted by Satan and tempted. If we go to Revelation 2, verse 26, we see Him speak to us as His church about this very matter. And in chapter 2, verse 26 says, And He who overcomes, again, you can look this up, the Greek word means to conquer. He who conquers, you think of Jesus' life, He says, I have overcome the world. I have conquered this sinful society. I conquered Satan.

He overcame the devil. He conquered the devil. And He says here to us, He who conquers and keeps my works until the end, the very end of your life or my life, we keep His works. We conquer the devil. We obey God. We stick with Jesus Christ and keeps His works until our end. To Him I will give power over the nation. He shall rule them with a rod of iron. They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter's vessel, as I also have received from my Father. What He's saying there is, listen, you've sampled Satan's evil world.

You've wanted to change it. You've run in your mind all the scenarios of trying to fix it. You would love to solve this world's problems. You would like to change the legislation, the laws. You'd like to get in the minds of society. You'd like to change the way they think or the deeds that they do.

You'd like to kick out the God of this world. Okay? Well, here's your chance. If you conquer Satan and keep his works to the end, then I will give you power over the nation. And you will rule them with a rod of iron.

And they shall be dashed to pieces like the potter's vessel, just as I also have received from my Father. You'll be a wife assisting her ruling king of this world husband. You'll get to change everything. You'll get to assist in the actual rulership.

So here we are. Rather than just want to sort of sleep it away, we actually want to be part of the solution. And being part of the solution means we have to be part of Jesus Christ and God the Father, part of that family. We can never speak to what we are not. We have to be the sons and daughters of God. For 6,000 years, the rule and the laws of God have been available to humanity. They've been there right from Adam and Eve in the garden, and pain and able, for the hundreds of years that followed leading up to the flood, and afterward all the way down through time, the prophets, Christ, the apostles, even our message today. It's available. God's rule has been available. But Satan has been more popular. Satan's way, his mindset, has been more popular. And even there in the heavenly realm, in the kingdom of heaven right now, even a third of the angels found it more popular. God cannot risk resurrecting and creating God beings, and His power, and His enemies, and His God family state that would run the risk of turning and going the way that Satan did.

Humanity, including you and me, have rejected God's rule in our life at times. In fact, we find ourselves still a little weak. Today we're fasting. We're asking God to help to cleanse us out, aren't we? We're not perfect at that. And yet we need to be. We need to be able to prove to God that we can be trusted, being a powerful God-level being. In 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 3, we see some of the elements from God's standpoint of view that we need to be successful in to qualify for this awesome opportunity. 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 3. This Gospel, which has been preached, everybody submit to the rule of Jesus Christ. He is the Lord. He's the supreme authority, is what that Greek word means. He is our Master. He's the Head of the Church. He is our Husband. Submit to Him. That's the Gospel. But if it's veiled, He says, it's veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the God of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.

You and I have had that light shine on us. What are we doing with this opportunity? Are we really showing our allegiance to God and Jesus Christ every day? And really, eating of that as our bread and that as our food, their mindset, why are we still playing around with the opposition? Do we just go easy and have a balanced life, dabbling in right and dabbling in wrong, and hoping that we'll be okay?

You see here in verse 5, where we do not preach ourselves. This isn't about any of us. Don't look to my example. But we preach Christ Jesus the Lord. Lord, again, our supreme authority. In verse 6, For it is God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts, to give light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

But we have this treasure in earth and vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We depend on God. Now, in this life, this calling that you and I have, he goes on, we are hard pressed on every side. That's what it's like to be called to be a first fruit. But we're not crushed. We are perplexed, but not in despair.

We are persecuted, but not forsaken. We are struck down, but not destroyed. That right there, brethren, is your and my calling, as we'll see. That's what we're supposed to be involved in. That's what we're supposed to be doing. Because Satan, one day, will be removed, and future generations will not have to go through this testament trial that the first fruits, Jesus Christ is the first of the first fruits, you and I as the first fruits, they will never have to go through this.

Today, in part, we celebrate their easier oneness with God than what you and I will ever have. There's simplistic oneness in that, hey, there's blessings and there's no cursings. Here's right, and there's no deception. Here's truth, and there's no wrong. You and I have the more difficult navigation. The purpose of this sermon is to encourage us as the bride to be ready for what the day of atonement represents. The first fruits serving with Jesus Christ, bringing opportunities for oneness with God to the rest of humanity in the future. The title of the sermon today is, Tempted, Tested, and Ready.

Tempted, tested, and ready. We don't tend to think of ourselves in that term or our calling in those terms, but that's why we're here. We are here to be tempted. We are here to be tested. And as Jesus Christ has told us several times, we are here to get ready and to be ready. He's depending on you for that. He needs a bride. He needs a helper. His father has determined that, and he will have one.

We know that because there is so much of the bride that has already been tempted, tried, is ready and dead. You know, in 1 Corinthians 15, around verse 50, it says, And the dead in Christ shall rise first. They're dead. But we, which remain, will rise to meet them in the air. We are still in this process. We can't just sort of float along and say, oh, everything's fine. We're good. No, no, no. We're still working. We're still busy. When we look at the elements of this Feast of Atonement, they include a, the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

That's mainly what Atonement is about. It's named after that. The atoning sacrifice of Christ. You and I have the Passover of Christ. And following that Passover, we have baptism, we have conversion, we have growth, we develop holy righteous character, and we'll be harvesting. This is the same sacrifice, but now it's being applied to a humanity that will be without Satan. And this humanity is also has, has Atonement, but in a little different way. Remember how a Passover, they took their own lambs. We, we, we, we sacrificed or kill that lamb and put the blood.

Every family had a lamb. A little different. Let's go to Leviticus chapter 16 and verse 10 with Atonement. Leviticus chapter 16 and verse 8. Here we find that the mass of humanity and the future has sacrifices done for them. Aaron shall cast lots for two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for, it says a scapegoat, but Hebrew there is a zozel, and it means the goat of departure, as well as we can understand.

It's the goat that's to depart. Depart means to go away, to get out of there. He's not welcome. He is a goat of departure.

So we have one for the Lord and the other for a goat of departure. And Aaron shall bring the goat on which the Lord's lot fell and offer it as a sin often. Offer it as a sin often.

So the goat on which the lot fell to be the zozel shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement on it and to let it go as a goat of departure into the wilderness. We have here Christ's atoning sacrifice that will allow a release from sin, covering of their sin, so that they can begin to learn about God and have a relationship with God. There can be reconciliation. There can be a knowledge of the Lord that can cover the earth then, as the waters cover the sea. There can be blessings for people who obey God's laws for a thousand years and who can assist with that. That's a wonderful time. There's also a replacing of Satan's hateful sinful mindset. And that rule that he had will be replaced with loving, righteous governance. Loving, righteous governance of Jesus Christ, loving, righteous governance of his bride who assists him and co-rules with him in whatever way that he permits her to participate. So we really need to be working on them. So, Christ, with this first goat, dies so that rebellious humanity, all the rebels can repent. They can be like you and me. They can humble themselves. After the great tribulation and the day of the Lord and all they go through, the remnant can be very humble. And they can then look to God and look to Christ and the teachers of the bride and say, teachers, show us. They will come. They want to learn.

And then the second goat we find represents how this mindset of Satan and the rule of Satan will be completely removed. Just gone. Gone. Goat number one, if we pause to think about it, represents a humble leader, one who has given himself into his father's service to perform something for others by giving his own life. Goat number one, Jesus Christ dies so that people can repent, so that there can be reconciliation with the family. That's a wonderful, wonderful thing. He is a humble leader. He is an obedient leader. He is a different leader than humanity has ever seen. There's been no leader like Jesus Christ will be for the humanity. He is to you and me now, but no one else has seen him. They've not known him. To know him, you have to go back to 1 John chapter 3 or 4. Those who say they know him but don't keep his commandments. They're liars. They don't know him. So, in order to know God, to understand him, you have to obey.

Let's go to Isaiah chapter 9 and verse 6, if you'll turn there. Isaiah chapter 9 and verse 6. This is a prophecy about this reign of Jesus Christ that, again, is so unique. You and I can't even understand it fully. We've never seen a leader anywhere. Not in society, not in the church. We're all humans. Look at this leader. Isaiah chapter 9 and verse 6. For unto us a child is born. Whoa! What's lofty about that? Jesus Christ came from God the Father, a dynamic being, and he became a fertilized egg. He didn't show up like Superman. He became a fertilized egg. Unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given. You know what that means? A son. It means he's not it. He is submissive to a father. He represents someone else faithfully. And the government, the government, which then is unified, the Father, through the Son, it's the kingdom of God, through the laws, this unified oneness of government will be upon his shoulder. And his name will be called Wonderful Counselor Mighty God Everlasting Father Prince of Peace. Now those words sound good, especially Prince of Peace, but if you get the Prince of Peace, the word peace from the New Testament, it's the Greek word a-reining. E-I-R-E-N-E, I believe it is. A-reining. And it really means harmony. It doesn't just mean peace. It means different individuals in harmony with each other. Harmony is different than sort of, I don't know, teamwork. Harmony is like music set at a score with lots of different instruments playing different notes, but it all comes together in this oneness that works beautifully. That's harmony. So he's going to be the Prince of Harmony. Let's go here to Hebrews 7. And we're reading this because this is our example of one who also qualified from birth, just like you, before birth, through birth, through life, adult life, during the age of Satan. And he was tested and he was tried and he was ready. At the end of his life, he was ready for the resurrection. Hebrews 7, verse 1, For this Melchizedek, King of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham, returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, to whom also Abraham gave the tenth part of all, first being translated King of Righteousness, and then also King of Salem. Paul gives us the meaning of King of Salem, meaning King of Peace. And he uses the Greek word, Erene, the King of Harmony. This is quite a challenge that we have with Jesus Christ to bring humans, the whole human race, into harmony, harmony with God. Notice verse 3, He was without father, without mother, without genealogy, this Melchizedek, King of Peace, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, and the remains of priests continually. He is our High Priest. And Jesus Christ is our High Priest, has gone through the things that we have gone through. And He lives in us. He dwells in us. He guides us. He works to train, to test, to ready us to be His bride. This harmony in His mind was demonstrated in John 17, verse 21, that they all may be one, as you, Father, are in Me, and I in you, that they all may be one in us. Atonement, if you break the word down, is at-one-ment. So when we think about what this day means, it means a whole lot of just flicking Satan out of here, because we'd all love to do, wouldn't we? And we'll enjoy participating in that Atonement one day, but you and I are learning how to be at-one with God and with each other in any circumstance, any situation. And thereby able to teach it to preach the generations and exemplify it.

To date, in God's plan of salvation, we remain candidates for the first group's harvest. None of us have completed our training yet. Paul got pretty close at the end of his life and said, nah, I'm not perfect, but I can see a crown laid up for me. You know, I'm running this race, and you and I should have that very same feeling inside because of what we're doing and how we're doing it. What's this harvest about that you and I are to be harvested into? Let's go to 1 John chapter 3 and verse 2. 1 John 3 and verse 2 is a powerful statement about your and my purpose in God's eyes. 1 John 3 and verse 2 is beloved.

Now, right now, we are children of God. You and I are sons and daughters of God if we're baptized. If you're younger than that, you're heading for that. You're certainly in a relationship with God. But we are now children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. We've not seen ourselves in the glorified state. But we know that when Christ is revealed, we shall be like Him. And therein lies the problem for God. We're going to raise somebody to be like Jesus Christ with the glory and the power and the magnitude of a God being. There's risk involved. Much more risk than some angel that turned into a Satan or a demon. We're talking about a God-level being. We're going to be like Him. If you want to see a glimpse of what He's like, let's go to Ezekiel chapter 1. Ezekiel chapter 1 talks about a vision into the heavenly realm. And if we want to see what He is like, and we're going to be like Him, let's drop down to verse 26. We'll break into the middle of verse 26. And on the likeness of this portable throne, the wheel within the wheeled throne that's zipping around, was the likeness with the appearance of a man high above it. So we're going to look like we look. We're already created in God's image. We're going to look human in that way. Verse 27, also from the appearance of His waist. There's something we can identify with. God has a waist. We have a waist. From His waist upward, I saw it was the color of amber with the appearance of fire all around within it. So some kind of a, I don't know, powerful neutron atomic light powerful body around the waist and inside this power raging probably with lots of heat. Don't know what He eats. Burns a lot of calories. And from the appearance of His waist and downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire with brightness all around. Verse 28, this was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And so when I saw it, I fell on my face and I heard a voice of one speaking. God speaks. He has a mouth. He has vocal cords. He has a powerful voice to you can see elsewhere. Little tiny glimpses. Like John said, we don't know what we'll be like, but we know we're going to be like Him. I like to say, if you want to really know, show up. Then you'll know. God's not going to tell you everything in advance. Jesus said in Matthew chapter 13 and verse 43, Matthew 13, 43, The righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of the Father. You know what the sun is like? We just saw a description of parts of God around the waist and the legs. A bright. The righteous also will shine like the sun in the kingdom of the Father. And so the point here is potential God level sun beings, bride beings, really need to be vetted carefully before God creates them into that kind of power.

That's the focus I want to give to the remaining part of this message. A combination of the humility, the oneness that we're to have with God, but also the completion of that, the depth of that, so that we can be raised to a God being level and assist with bringing at one meant oneness between humanity and future generations and eras and the kingdom of God. Extreme caution. Extreme caution has to be exerted as to who God will bring. Can't just be, well, let's just create them like a slat them up against the wall and see if they stick. Now that would not be good. That would not be good. And so we go to James chapter 1 and verse 12. James chapter 1 and verse 12. Let's see part of our responsibility, part of our calling. Blessed, and that word in the Greek means supremely blessed, is the man who endures temptation. Oh, we don't tend to think of our calling like that. But we'll be supremely blessed as we just heard. The person who the Greek word endures means stands in temptation, continues to stand. You know, we go up against Satan the devil, it says in Ephesians chapter 6, put on the whole army of God and duke it out with Satan, as it were. And having done all to stand, you're going to put on this armor and the power of God's might. You're intended to stand. And so he says here, blessed is the one who stands in temptation. He will continue to stand for God, and continue to stand in doing right. For when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who loved him.

That's our goal, Brethren. Stand. Jesus talked about enduring to the end. Those with the mentality of God are going to inherit the kingdom. It says in Revelation 21.7, He who overcomes. There's that word again. He who conquers. Jesus says these words. He who conquers shall inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. You've got to conquer. You've got to stand. But conversely, anything with the mind of Satan that we have come to see, to understand, to pay, and try to work at overcoming, conquering, will be done away with. In verse 8, Revelation 21.8, which is the second death. That is just not going to be in the kingdom of God for righteousness to us.

So again, the first fruits of the bride, the saints now, are the only ones who will ever qualify for the kingdom of God during Satan's evil aid. We're the only ones. We're a unique group. We should be the tough ones, the tough mutters, the ones who, you know, get tested and tried and endure the end, and with God's help, come out strong and following Jesus Christ in reign with him. In Acts 14, verse 22, God shows us that we need encouragement, not fear. He doesn't say, oh, I don't really like this. I'd rather come up in the millennium. I'd rather sit under a vine and a fig tree than hear about it. Nope. This is ours. Acts 14, verse 22, strengthening the souls of the disciples, strengthening the lives, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, we, that's us now, this early group, this small first fruits harvest, we must, through many tribulations, enter the kingdom of God.

Now, don't look at that in the negative, because the reward is so much greater than anyone in any future generation will ever have. We will be part of, or even referred to as, the capital city and the divine kingdom of God and the new heavens and many earths. We are that Jerusalem you read of in Revelation 21 and 22. We are the bride of Christ. We are the one that Christ is with Christ with him forever, wherever he goes. That is a wonderful thing, but the stakes are higher for us. The road is more difficult. And we must, through many tribulations, enter the kingdom of God. The word tribulations in the Greek means pressures, afflictions, anguish, burdens, persecution, tribulations, trouble.

That's our second name. That's our middle name. You come up to the feast, pre-passover trials. You come up to the feast of tabernacle season. We pass three feast trials. You go through life with your work, trials, school, trials, neighbors, trials, your religion trials, your political views, trials. The people just don't like us. And you get into the end time. This is what Satan just directs and focuses his wrath on the church. And Jesus said, you'll be hated of all nations for my name's sake. Guess what? Welcome to the church. Welcome to the bride of Christ. Welcome to the first fruit. He rejected, he offended, he persecuted. That's us. That's us. That's our calling.

It is through these troubles that we can show God to whom our leads and slides. Is it to myself? Do I scamper and run away like Peter did? Is it to the world and Satan? Do I want to go out and be popular and do whatever it takes? Or is it to God? Am I a Daniel in a lion's den or a Shadrach, Ushach, and Abednego thrown in a fiery furnace or John the Baptist where your head cut off? Or any number of things that our fellow brethren have done through that we read our Hebrew chapter 11. That sucks. This is who we are. And that's who we are destined to be. Showing God to whom our real allegiance lies means to ask the question, do I submit to the reign of Jesus Christ each day in my life? Like a Proverbs 31 wife to her husband. Is that my daily submission to Jesus Christ or what he tells me to do, wants me to do?

Do I remove his competitor, the other suitor, the devil, Satan completely from my life? Do I just cut off? Do I bar any communication or any thought when it comes? Do I just knock it away like Jesus did? If I really shown in my life that I am a legion, I have allegiance to God only. We're physical. We tend to focus on physical things like having food. Here we are today and food could be on your mind. Not sure. But let's go to Exodus 16, Exodus 16, and verse 4. In Exodus 16, in verse 4, food tends to be important, but God says to Moses here something really profound. Exodus 16, verse 4, then the Lord said to Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day. Now, what focus is on food. God is telling them what food they'll eat, where to get it, and when to get it. He says that I may test them whether they will walk in my law or not. It had nothing to do with food in one sense, did it? Whether they will walk in my law or not is the test. Their life's purpose here is to demonstrate which God they'll choose. Would they be like all of those before them and up with Satan? Which they did. They all had to die in the wilderness. They had to start over again. But likewise, we are saints. We are called. We are the Israel of God, it says in Galatians. We are offered a daily quota of bread from heaven, and God wants us to go out and get that every day.

Are we interested in that? He wants us to do that to see whether we will walk in his law or not. In John 6 and verse 57, Jesus says this, John 6 and verse 57, As the living Father sent me, I live because... Let's just stop right there. Can you say these same words? As the living Father called or sent you, I live because...

That's what Jesus is saying here as an example to us. Read it again. As the living Father sent me, I live because of the Father.

So he who feeds on me will live because of me. God wants us to have that daily bread in the model prayer outline to pray for God's kingdom, which translates into his rulership daily. We have to pray for it daily, for his will to be done daily, and desire that bread of life daily. And God tests us to see if we will walk in his law or not.

This is the bread which came down from heaven, not as your fathers ate the manna and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever. So how hungry am I? For God, for God's way. How hungry am I daily for that bread of life, the mind of God, the mindset of Jesus Christ? Or do I prefer to get my own food? You see, we show God, don't we? As he's looking, as he's letting temptations come to us from Satan, the world around us, and from our own selfish nature, we can leave whatever we want.

We want to eat Jesus Christ and live forever. Or do we want to just go get our own food?

Jesus was tested like us in all ways. This is not some harsh thing that God is doing to us. It's the same thing in much less intensity than Jesus himself went through. Let's notice in Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 15.

Hebrews 4 and verse 15. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. That word, tempting, means tested and tried.

Here's our example in this evil age. You go through the life of Jesus Christ and you see the manifold and the deep temptations and tests that he went through all the time. In the 40 days in the wilderness, Satan the devil throwing everything he can at them, trying to get them to sin. And then his own countrymen, his own family, even sometimes his own disciples, he had to say to one of them, get behind me, Satan. And then Rome, the rulers of Rome, and his own crucifixion, and right to the last minute of his life, they are poking at him and trying to get him to say or do something that would not be according to the will of God the Father. And then he tells us, we who are endures, which means to bear trials, to the end, will be saved. We who endures, we who bears his trials and perseveres, will be saved. So you see how Christ the First fruits and we the First fruits are similar? Why, he was the wave-sheaf of the barley, a little different, very humble, and we at the end of the wheat harvest at Pentecost, or the harvest of the First fruits, we have the loaves of bread representing that. Wheat barley, it's that first early harvest. If you go and look at the origins of wheat and barley, you'll find that they go back to just after the Feast of Tabernacles. That's when the ground gets plow. The days are getting shorter. The seed goes in the ground. The weather turns cold. The sunlight and the warmth go away. The ice and the snow come throughout the winter, and that's when the barley and the leaves blow. They have a tough time, and they finally emerge in spring, and they finally are victorious, and they give food to a hungry humanity who has eaten up all the summer fruits, the pleasant fruits, and now all it has left is some hard inner wheat and some barley before they can get crops in the ground and start eating wheat. It's the more difficult, but it's very important. It's so nutritious. It's so valuable. It's life-saving.

You and I are here because God has shown that we can do it. We can go through temptation. If you look in the New Testament, the word temptation comes from the Greek 3925. In Strongs, it means putting to a proof and experiment a trial of proving. That's what it is. Temptation is merely putting somebody to the test. A trial, the Greek word 3984 means to test to make a trial of a thing or a person. And those are good things. Those are really good things. Humans are familiar with tryouts. You know, you wouldn't probably hire somebody before you got some sort of indication of their qualities. If you're going to buy something, you want to go at least read user reviews on it. People who have put it through its pieces. You're going to sell something. You want to run it through its maximum challenges to see if the thing will last. When you think of a land friar or something, when they have an automobile, they put it out on test tracks and they run it through all kinds of imaginable things, even crash tests, to see where the weaknesses are, see if there are any flaws. Once this thing is released for service, how it's going to do it even gets more critical for something that's going out to sea. Because, you know, once you set sail and you're out in the ocean, you want to make sure this thing stays afloat and there aren't some problems deep underwater with the propellers or the navigation system or some of the ports not sealing well, exactly. When you kick it up a notch again for aviation, you want to really test out aircraft before you release them on a trip with passengers and know what the parameters are that aircraft's air worthies, along with some of the challenges or problems that we're fixing along the way. And so the same for you and me. It's good for us to have our trials, our tests, to put us through the paces. And that's very important. Let's go to Psalm 139 and verse 23 and see that David, a man after God's own heart, fully understood this. Psalm 139 and verse 23.

Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me. Test me and know my anxieties. And see if there is any wicked way in me. And lead me in the way. Understand me. The way everlasting. So David desires that. You and I should desire that. Don't be one who is a wimp and afraid to go say, God, please correct me. Please show me where I'm wrong. God loves you. He wants to not beat you up and pummel you. He wants to show you something perfect. He doesn't want you to be caught unaware of what Peter was. Peter then got a test and then he got to work. And he was ready when the time came, the end of his life. So fasting can help the fix. A humble mind. To say, God, search me. Try my heart. Try my mind. Show me. Lead me. God needs all of his saints to be tempted and tested and ready during our lifetimes. We only have this brief lifetime. 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 3. Peter fully understands this as well. He went through a lot. His life evidently finished up with great challenges and testing. But he did very well. 1 Peter chapter 1 and we'll begin in verse 3 and we'll read through verse 9. Blessed, O supremely blessed be God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mercy has begotten us against reliving hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance, incorruptible and undefiled, that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. This, brethren, is... wow! It is humbling. It's awesome. It is just wonderful to be in that group. In this, you greatly rejoice. Close your eyes. See, we can take it that far and say, this is wonderful and we rejoice in this. But maybe we should continue. Though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials. See, that great finish, that wonderful, awesome, privilege and honor of being in heaven with God and Christ in the heavenly realm comes with being grieved by various trials now. Why? Verse 7, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes with art, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise and honor and glory at the resurrection of Jesus Christ, whom heavy not see you love. Though now you do not see him, yet believing you rejoice with joy, inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith and salvation of your lives.

That is what we're looking for. That's what we want. That's what God wants. Jesus Christ has given himself for and God has created everything for and called you for and left Satan around for, so that we can receive that wonderful blessing of being the bride of Christ and assisting with bringing all humanity that wants to into oneness with God. In the near future, the elements of all the festivals, the first five festivals in particular associated with first roots and bride and Christ and reign of Christ, are all going to result in a millennial reign of Christ and the bride. And we have a part in all of those first festivals. We also have a continuing part in all the rest of the festivals and in the continuing role forever in the kingdom of God. And that, for heaven's sake, is the most wonderful opportunity offered to humanity.

Let's go to Revelation chapter 19 and verse 6 as we wrap this up. Revelation chapter 19 and verse 6. I'll just read the last part of verse 6. Hallelujah! For the Lord God omnipotent reigns, at last Jesus Christ reigns. Verse 7. In conjunction with that, Let us be glad and rejoice and give him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his wife has made herself ready. She's tempted. She's tested. She's ready. And now the time comes for him to reign. The seventh trumpet will sound, and together they go forward, bringing humanity to oneness with the family of God. In conclusion, we'll look at a couple of other verses here in Revelation. For 6,000 years, Satan has presented God with the opportunity to test and tempt the potential first groups. If you stop and go through who some of those are, you might start with Abel, Enoch, and Seth, and Noah, and Abraham, and Sarah, and Job, and Deborah, and Joshua, and Ruth, and David, and Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Zechariah, John the Baptist, the disciples, the Marys, and then just count them all, the Josephs, Priscilla, Aquila, so many. The elders we knew, the tendipheum, Titus, and all, Barnabas, and on down through time. And even in the last hundred years, some of the names that we have known that have been tested, and some have persevered on through, and in temptation and testing, they have stood, and they are ready to be resurrected, as you and I are preparing to be ready for the same.

In Revelation chapter 20 and verse 4, it says, And I saw thrones, and they sat on them with Christ, and judgment was committed to them. And some of that judgment actually is going to be of Satan and the angels, the demon.

And then I saw the lives, the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus Christ and for the Word of God.

But they had not worshiped the beast, or his image had not received his mark on his forehead or on their hands, and they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. That's how it works. That's the group.

Verse 6, supremely blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection.

Over such the second death has no power, that they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him for a thousand years. Now, the Bible warns us that Satan is an adversary. He is a deadly enemy. He is a blight on all of God's creation. So there is one element of atonement that is eagerly anticipated as well. We just back up to verse 1, chapter 20. Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having a key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand, and he laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who was the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He cast him into a bottomless pit and shut him up and set a seal on him so that he should deceive the nations no more. We're not there yet. We're getting close. We're getting real close. God's excited. We should be excited. The brethren continue to conquer Satan's temptations, continue to succeed in your trials, your tests, in loyalty to God and Jesus Christ, and be ready to reign with Jesus Christ in the wonderful world tomorrow, which we now go to celebrate at the Feast of Taberna.