Understand What God is Doing

Good afternoon, everyone. Good to see everyone here today. I have to tilt my iPad because it was upside down when I walked up here. Hope everyone's having a great Sabbath and looking forward to a beautiful weekend. I think it'll get a little warm. I guess it's always either a little bit too warm or too cold for us. But I think right now we'll all take the too warm for a little while, won't we? Especially if it's dry.

One of the most important attributes of success in any type of relationship is an accurate understanding of what the other person is all about. Now, we sort of intuitively realize that when we think about things like friendships, we have conflicts and friendships when we don't understand what the other person is doing or why they're doing it.

And we'll tend to come up with all kinds of reasons why things might happen and come up with disagreements as a result. Certainly in marriages, it's the same way as well. Understanding what the other spouse is thinking, understanding what the other person wants out of life, where they're going, what they want to accomplish, and how to work together towards that goal is a very important thing in order to have a successful marriage relationship.

It's so important, in fact, that in Peter, if you want to turn to 1 Peter 3, verse 7, when speaking to husbands, in the Bible, Peter writes that understanding is the key thing that we as husbands, those of us who are husbands, need to have towards our wives.

1 Peter 3 and verse 7, after talking to the women, Peter addresses the husbands and says, Husbands likewise, dwell with them, meaning our wives, with understanding, giving honor to the wife as to the weaker vessel, and being heirs together of the grace of life that your prayers might not be hindered.

So in that closest of relationships that we have as human beings, understanding is the area of focus that God gives for men in marriage.

That's why, of course, we always take time before marriage to get to know the person that we're marrying. We spend time together. We learn to understand what that person is about, understand how they make decisions, understand what it is that they want out of life in order to be able to work together at that common goal of taking our lives forward.

Another area where understanding gets really important is in the workplace, isn't it? I think many of the conversations we have about frustrations when we come to services is, how are things going at work every day?

Because that's where we spend a good part of our waking life, isn't it? And I know in conversations with some of you, we'll talk about frustrations that are happening at work, and often they center around these understandings. The boss wanted one thing, this employee understood it that way, that employee understood it that way. When he said, I want you to work hard and get this job done, that employee thought it meant take a break for 30 minutes first, and then when you get around to it, get started.

Well, I thought it meant get right to work and get it going, right? How we understand things, how we understand what our bosses want, makes a big difference.

One humorous example of this, had to look up a joke for today. On a Roman warship long ago, a galley boss stood at the helm one morning and shouted to the assembled rowers, today I have good news. All of you are getting extra food tonight. The rowers erupted into cheers almost immediately, all except for one very old man who was seated in the back, who began moaning in horror.

Oh, no, not again, he said.

Puzzled, a newer rower next to him asked, what are you upset about? We're getting extra food. Because the old man responded, this only happens when the captain's nephew wants to waterski.

All right, I'll look to a new source for jokes next time. Actually, before I forget, I guess I should put this on, shouldn't I?

If you will, turn with me to Matthew 25, and we'll go to the next section of Scripture that I'd like to look at.

I don't know that we always correlate with this with the idea of understanding, but understanding in this case what the master wants, in the case of the parable, or in the spiritual application, understanding God and what it is that he's about and what he wants from us is considered key.

I'm not going to read word for word through the whole account, but let's skim through it briefly in Matthew 25. The parable of the talents starts in verse 14.

Talents, as we might know, used in this case, or if you talk to somebody at that point in time about a talent, they would think about a talent as a measure of weight.

It was a measure of weight that was used to measure precious metals, among other things. In this case, when talents were given out, it was a measure of a precious metal. It could be gold coins, silver coins, silver bars or ingots of some sort, or gold for that matter, that were being given, that were measured by weight in talents.

It's that Greek word that was used at that point in time that came into our common language to be known as abilities, gifts, and so forth, as we use the word commonly today for talents. It comes out of this parable.

In verse 14, it likens the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God to a man who is going to travel to a far country, a master.

He calls all of his servants and gives each of the servants a different amount of talents, a different weight or sum of money or precious metal, to use while the master is gone.

And of course, the likeness that's being drawn out here is Jesus Christ, who had come to the earth, and he's measured out his Holy Spirit. He's given us his Holy Spirit, and he's given us his charge before he's left, in his case, to go back to heaven.

And he gave, in the case of this parable, to 110, to 105, and to one person, one talent.

And as he comes back then, he goes to each person individually. And it's important to recognize that he goes to each of these servants individually, not as a group to embarrass the one and to praise the other, but individually goes to each one of these servants to which he's given talents.

And to the one who has given ten talents, he comes back and says, look, I've multiplied this, and I've produced ten more, and he's given his reward.

And the second one, who received five, again, according to what that servant was able to do, the master knows his servants and knows what they're able and capable to do, and that person took the five talents, multiplied another five, and was also called a good and a faithful servant.

Let's focus then in verse 24.

The one who had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you've not sown and gathering where you've not scattered seed.

And I was afraid, and so I went and hid your talent in the ground, and look, I'm giving you back what's yours.

But as Lord answered to him and said, you wicked and lazy servant, you know that I reap where I've not sown and gather where I've not scattered seed, so you should have at least deposited my money with the bankers, so that at my coming I would receive back my own.

Therefore, take the talent from him and give it to him who has ten talents.

We're probably familiar, most of us, with having read this passage before.

What I'd like to focus on here, though, is the element of understanding, because what was at the center in this account, in this parable, of what made the unprofitable servant unprofitable was an unrealistic view of his master.

He did not understand what his master was about.

When you look at this viewpoint that he has, he says, I know you to be a hard man to reap where you've not sown and gather where you've not scattered seed. Is that even physically possible?

How many people, I know we've got a few people out here who are enthusiastic gardeners, how many of our enthusiastic gardeners go out and are able to reap tomatoes in August or September after not planting any seeds?

Doesn't happen, right? You don't reap where you haven't sown, right?

So this servant had an unrealistic view of what his master was. He had received one talent, a small amount by comparison to the others, a small amount of value.

If you added it up, it would still be worth over $1,000 in today's currency. So it wasn't a small sum that was given, but in comparison to the others, it wasn't much. And you can picture what this servant was probably saying was, well, my master left, got these other servants who are much more capable, they're doing all these great things, and my master, he does all these incredible things. It's like he does magic.

He reaps magic beans where he hasn't planted any, right?

So I'm going to take this one talent, and I really can't contribute much to the cause anyways, so I'm just going to bury it in the ground. Why bother? I can't do anything very important anyways, so why bother? And it's that lack of understanding and the fear that was generated by that lack of understanding that paralyzed this servant and led that person in the end to become unprofitable.

So what is it that we should think about and learn from this parable?

As we're moving forward now from the day of Pentecost, and moving forward into the summertime, and hopefully focusing on our lives, like Mark Graham encouraged us to do on Pentecost, thinking about praying about the Holy Spirit, how it operates in our lives, and that it can operate more powerfully in our lives, I'd like to focus for today on getting a better understanding of what it is that our Master is doing to make sure that we don't, in fear and in misunderstanding, bury our talent in the ground, take the God-given gifts that were given to us, ignore them so that we become unprofitable servants.

But rather, if we do understand, that we can move forward in that understanding and continue to be dynamic tools in God's service.

I'd like to do that through two dimensions. First of all, broadly, thinking about and understanding what is it that God is doing with mankind, and then taking a much more narrow view and looking at our own lives and saying what is it that God is doing with our own lives.

How does he view us? What is it that we have to understand with him, about him?

So let's think broadly about how God is dealing with mankind.

Those who are familiar with the Holy Days and the plan that God lays out for us through the Holy Days will understand clearly the fact that God is working a plan.

And I know when I talk to people who are not in the church, one of the things that I like to do, and I don't know about you, but I know in business circles every now and then, you're encouraged to have an elevator pitch.

If you're asked by someone to explain what you do, or in this case, if you're asked by someone to explain what you believe, in the time that it takes to go up ten floors in an elevator, what would you tell them?

It's worth thinking about some time. It's worth even spending some time writing it down. I've thought about it quite a bit. I've talked with a lot of friends about it.

And what I'll talk about today in this section is what forms my elevator pitch. Because what I tell people is, I have a belief that God is working out an active plan for all of mankind, one that impacts every one of us.

And it's laid out what he's done in the past in giving Jesus Christ as a sacrifice for sins, what he's doing in the present in terms of working with people through his Holy Spirit to further his plan, and what he's going to do in the future in terms of making a reward for his life.

And an everlasting kingdom available to all mankind. That's what I believe.

And let's talk a little more about that three-step process, because it correlates to three seasons that God lays out in the Bible.

Now, we're used to thinking about the Holy Days in sevens, aren't we? Seven annual Holy Days that we keep, and they absolutely are.

But how often have we thought about the fact that the Holy Days are laid out in the Bible as well in a pattern of three? Turn with me, if you will, to Deuteronomy 16. We read Deuteronomy 16.16 commonly at the Holy Days and in the context of giving and offering, but it also lays out a pattern of the Holy Days in threes, and it's not the only place where it's laid out that way in the Bible.

Deuteronomy 16.16.

Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God in the place where he chooses, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles, and they shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed.

If you look in the Scriptures, like I mentioned a moment ago, this concept of three seasons, I found another four times that it exists in the Bible. We'll turn to one more, and I'll let you search and see if you're using the tools that Mr. Housen laid out during the sermon at.

See if you can find the other three if you don't know about them already.

Let's go to Exodus 23. Exodus 23 verses 14 through 17. Another place where this three-part division of the Holy Days is talked about.

Exodus 23, and we'll start in verse 14.

Three times you shall keep a feast to me in the year.

You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, where you'll eat unleavened bread for seven days as I commanded you at the time appointed in the month of Abib.

Verse 16, at the Feast of Harvest, the first fruits of your labors which you've sown in the field, and the Feast of In-Gathering, thirdly, at the end of the year, when you've gathered the fruit of your labors from the field.

Three times in the year, all your males shall appear before the Lord God.

Now, if you look through biblical texts and other descriptions of these, these three feasts, which again is a subset or a grouping of the seven Holy Days that we keep, were considered the three pilgrimage feasts.

Now, we're familiar with the pilgrims who came to the United States. They were called pilgrims because they left one place and went to another. And the pilgrimage feasts, likewise, were in that time and in that culture, the time when people from all around the nation would come and they'd take a pilgrimage from their village, the homes where they lived, and they would go up to Jerusalem to keep that feast.

And they would go up three different times out of the year. They would go at the time of Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread.

They would come up at the time of Pentecost, which is why there were so many people gathered from so many nations at the day of Pentecost that we read about in Acts.

And thirdly, they would go up at the time of the Feast of Tabernacles and the Last Day.

And they would bring sacrifices and they would offer those sacrifices.

Now, interestingly, these three different seasons were also correlated with harvest seasons.

And we won't turn to all of the different verses, but let me give you the verses if you want to look briefly at it.

The first festival, pilgrimage festival, was related to a season when the barley harvest had just been finished.

And you can look at Deuteronomy 16 verse 9. Deuteronomy 16 verse 9 if you want to check that.

The second season, we talk a lot about firstfruits, and that's exactly what it related to.

If you turn to Leviticus 23 and verse 16, it'll show you that Pentecost was the time when the first ripe wheat would appear.

And we talk about it often as a feast of firstfruits.

We know that's a picturing of a smaller group of people that God calls at this stage of His plan.

And it's correlated with that early wheat harvest.

And then lastly, the Feast of Tabernacles, if you were to look at Exodus 23 and verse 16, you'll see that it's correlated with a much larger harvest.

All the wheat harvest comes in. There were grapes that were harvested, perhaps other fruit that was grown.

And that large harvest would come in at the time of that third pilgrimage feast, actually, usually shortly before that.

So at the point in time when people went up to Jerusalem for the feast, it would have been after they finished their harvest, and after they had all the plenty that they brought in from their fields.

So the three pilgrimage festivals that were kept correlated with the harvest seasons that we had in ancient Israel.

Now, if we think about it by analogy, these three different seasons also correlate with different ways that God has worked with mankind over the course of history.

And let's spend a little time going into the Scriptures and talking about that.

Again, as we're trying to gain an understanding and making sure we understand clearly and think broadly about what is it that God, our Master, is doing while Jesus Christ went away and left us with these talents to use and to multiply.

So the first season, as we've talked about many times in sermons here, was a time when God was working through a physical nation, the nation of Israel.

He had a priesthood that was established. And you approached God during that initial season as a child of Israel, born as one of the tribes of Israel, or someone who converted in the way that was laid out in the Old Testament to be an Israelite.

And you would approach God through the sacrificial system.

Turn with me, if you will, to Hebrews 9. There's one section where this is talked about.

I think those who've read the Old Testament know that there are extensive chapters written in books like Leviticus that go through all of the minute portions of the sacrificial system.

And how people in this season of God working with mankind would approach God through that sacrificial system and through the priests as mediators.

Hebrews 9 verses 6 through 10.

Describing here what happened in those times under the Old Testament, or what the first season of Holy Day's pictures.

Now, when these things had thus been prepared, the priest always went into the first part of the tabernacle performing the services.

But into the second part, the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood which he offered for himself and for the people's sins that were committed in ignorance.

The Holy Spirit indicating this, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing.

So during this time that this first system was in place, the time that ended with the death of Jesus Christ, it was a time that there was not entrance all the way to God's throne, which is what was pictured by the Holy of Holies, for us as individuals. And so people had to go through the priesthood, and the priest would go and offer an offering and be able once in a year, on the day of atonement as it is, enter into that place.

It was symbolic in verse 9, for the present time, in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered, which cannot make him who performed the service perfect with regard to conscience, concerning only with food and drinks and washings and fleshly ordinances that were imposed, until the time of Reformation. So we see that this first season, this first way of God working with mankind, was intended to be for a period of time. And as we understand, it was a period of time that ended with the coming of Jesus Christ, a time that's pictured in that first pilgrimage feast, the Feast of Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread, where in the actual fulfillment, which happened now already historically, Jesus Christ gave his life. Turn with me, if you will, to Hebrews 1. Hebrews 1, and we'll read verses 1 through 4. And this drives home this point, in terms of this first dimension. Hebrews 1 verses 1 through 4. God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, has now in these last days spoken to us by his Son. So showing how when Jesus Christ was sacrificed, and when he was on earth before that sacrifice, God spoke to us through his Son, whom he's appointed heir of all things, through whom he also made the worlds, who, being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person, in upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, as we know happened on the day of Passover, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, and the angels, as he has by inheritance, obtained a more excellent name than they. So this first season of how God worked through mankind was through a sacrificial system, through the children of Israel, and working through priests as mediators. And when the first set of pilgrimage holy days, Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread, were fulfilled when Jesus Christ came, his blood was shed for us for forgiveness, that system ended and we were able to come directly to Jesus Christ. And that brings on the second season, the second pilgrimage festival, which we just kept a week ago, the Day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came to dwell with mankind. So in the past, God symbolically dwelt in the tabernacle, he symbolically dwelt in the temple, for example, that Solomon built in the Old Testament. But now, as shown on the Day of Pentecost, he now dwells with mankind. And the symbolic end of that temple system was when fire came down from heaven on the Day of Pentecost, and the fire didn't sit over the altar in the temple, it didn't sit over any other physical place, but it divided itself into tongues of individual flames. And it sat on the individual believers who were there on the Day of Pentecost, a symbol of God with his Holy Spirit coming individually to believers and working with us, one by one, so we can come directly to him through Jesus Christ. Turn with me, if you will, to Acts 17. Acts 17 is the passage where Paul is speaking in Athens to the philosophers that are gathered there on Mars Hill. Acts 17, we'll just read one short segment of what he speaks about to them. Acts 17 in verse 24.

God, it says in verse 24, who made the world and everything in it, since he is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples that are made of hands. And in contrast to that, Paul writes in 1 Corinthians, if you'll turn with me to 1 Corinthians 3, he reinforces where he does dwell, just as symbolically was laid out to us through the Day of Pentecost. 1 Corinthians 3, and we'll read verses 16 and 17.

Here in 1 Corinthians 3 verse 16, Paul writes, Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? So he tells us that we as individual believers now are figuratively the temple of God. He doesn't dwell in a physical temple made of hands anymore. He dwells through his Holy Spirit in each one of us as believers. If anyone in verse 17 defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him.

For the temple of God is holy, which temple are you? So we are individually holy temples of God containing his Holy Spirit. Let's move forward to the third season, that third pilgrimage festival, which pictures the establishment of God's kingdom on earth.

Revelation 11 verse 15 talks about that. And we talk about this often when we keep the Feast of Tabernacles and the last day that comes after it. Revelation 11 verse 15. And the seventh angel sounded, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever. A time that we all look forward to. And unlike the first two sets of pilgrimage feasts, which have now been fulfilled in historical events, this third one is the one that we still look forward to as Jesus Christ's future coming back to the earth.

If you'll turn with me to Isaiah 2, we'll read one more passage related to this, and we'll read verses 2 through 4. And it talks about how different it is that how God is going to deal with people at that point in time. Remember, we talked about how in the Old Testament, in that time that ended with the coming of Jesus Christ, which is pictured through that first pilgrimage feast, mankind, who were part of the children of Israel, related to God through the priesthood, after Jesus Christ gives his sacrifice and the Holy Spirit comes on that second festival of Pentecost, we can come directly to God, those called out by Him and given His Holy Spirit.

We don't have to be part of a physical nation, a physical people, and we can come directly to Him through His Holy Spirit, not through a sacrificial system. Let's look in Isaiah 2, and it'll talk in the future about how it is that all mankind will come to God. Isaiah 2, verses 2 through 4. It will come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord's house will be established on the top of the mountains and exalted above all the hills, and all the nations will flow to it.

And figuratively here, it's talking about mountains and hills as physical governments. So God's nation, God's government will be established and will be supreme above any physical governing authority. And many people will come and say in verse 3, Come, let's go to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and He will teach us His ways, and we will walk in His paths. For out of Zion will go forth the law and the Word of God from Jerusalem, and He will judge between the nations and rebuke many people, and they will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.

Nation will not lift up sword against nation, nor will they learn war anymore. So when we're thinking about this progression, these three ways that God is dealing with people in terms of past, present, and future, we look at how these are played out within the fulfillments and what we see written in the Scripture. It's plain, probably as we've already intuitively recognized, that we kept the Holy Days for a while. Everything that's embodied in Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread was fulfilled through the coming of Jesus Christ. What's embodied in that second pilgrimage festival through the day of Pentecost is fulfilled in the coming of the Holy Spirit. And we live right now in the age of this second season, right?

We live in the age of Pentecost. A time when God's Holy Spirit has come, a time that we can relate directly to Him, a time that we can understand His Word, that we can grow in grace and knowledge as those who have been called out. But we also look forward to another future time when that relationship is broadened out to be a relationship that all of the world will be brought into. Everyone who's lived will be brought into the opportunity to have that relationship. As we read here in Isaiah, it talks about as the waters cover the sea, that's how God's Word will be available.

We know, of course, today's world, it's not that way. Let's turn to one other scripture in Ephesians 3. Ephesians 3. And focusing on the past, present, and future elements of this in terms of what God is working out. In Ephesians 3, Paul lays out the fact that he was able to understand because of the point in time that he lived after Jesus Christ had come, and because God was working with him through His Holy Spirit, he and we as believers with His Holy Spirit are able to understand things that even the prophets who spoke some of these prophecies in the Old Testament were not able to believe or to understand.

Ephesians 3, verses 2 through 7.

If indeed, in verse 2, you've heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery. So he talks about it here as a mystery in terms of what God's plan was for man. As I've briefly written already, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ. Which, in verse 5, in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets. That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs of the same body and partakers of His promise in Christ through the Gospel, of which I became a minister according to the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power. So what Paul was saying here was that through the Holy Spirit coming to Him and to all of us, we're able to understand things and experience things in this age of God working with people. That people who were living in that first season, that first way that God was working through ancient Israel, they weren't able to understand. They weren't able to experience it. And so it was a great revelation as we read in other parts of the Scriptures in the book of Acts, as God made it clear that His Holy Spirit was not going to be limited, His relationship was not going to be limited to physical descendants of Abraham. But it was going to be open, as it says here, to all of the Gentiles. Something that many of the prophets that even gave those prophecies might not have understood in their fullness these mysteries of what it was that God was going to do. And Paul, of course, was there to minister to these Gentiles and to help to grow these churches and to spread the Word in areas where it would not have been available otherwise.

And likewise, we look forward now at this point, knowing that we understand the truth of God, we can look forward likewise to a future point in time when God's Word is going to be available to everyone. And as we understand that as what it is our Master is about, the fact that He intentionally, after He walked on the earth, left and went back up to heaven to wait until the times would be fulfilled. How does that drive our view? Our view of the lives that we're leading today? Our views of the people that we encounter day to day? How do we think of those people when we think of God's plan and what it is that He's accomplishing? How do we think that we're different than them? How do we think that we're the same as them? We'll come back to that thought a little bit later.

God's working with mankind through all of these different seasons, and in the end, He'll work with all of mankind to come to Him. So let's go down. That was the big picture. What God is trying to create, what He's doing in His plan across broad human history. His creation, if you will, is spiritual creation. So how does that relate to our personal condition?

Because we have to understand not only how God wants to relate to all of mankind, but if we want to be profitable servants, we need to reflect and consider how it is that God is working with each and every one of us personally, and understand what it is that He thinks of us. For those of us who are married, what our spouse thinks of us is very important, isn't it? And when we know that our spouse is displeased with us or disappointed with us, it's something that we work to overcome.

It's a gap that we try to close, right? Any other relationship the same way, a friendship that we treasure, relationships with others. What about our relationship with God and how He's dealing with us? Let's go back to Leviticus 23 and verse 17. This is a passage that Mr. Thomas read, I think, in both of his sermons that he gave last weekend surrounding Pentecost. And I think it's central to understanding ourselves and understanding how God views us. Leviticus 23 and verse 17. Here it says, as part of keeping the Feast of Pentecost, You shall bring from your dwellings two wave loaves of two tenths of an ephah, and they shall be a fine flower, and they shall be baked with leaven, and they are the firstfruits of the Lord.

I'm not going to repeat everything that was talked about last weekend, but just as a reminder, these loaves, in that sense, picture us as firstfruits, right? And they were presented before God. And as we heard described last week, it's important what they were mingled together with, because it really describes our lives, and the lives that we live in this period of time, as humans living on the earth, not under God's government, but living under the world in the way that it directs us paths, but also having God's Holy Spirit.

And it's that mingling that we have to deal with all the time, right? The fact that the fine flower represented finely sifted flower with all the impurities taken out of it, picturing the Holy Spirit, God's way being there in that loaf, but at the same time, leavening being in that same loaf. Sinfulness, in our case, weakness in our human lives, it lives within us as humans. So those loaves perfectly really picture what we are, as Christians, living today. And that's the reality of it.

If you'll turn with me to Romans 7, Paul really underscores that. That reality of the lives that we live today, and that tension that we have of the Holy Spirit, God and His purity living in us through His Holy Spirit, even as we battle our fleshly instincts and drives that we contend with on a daily basis. Romans 17, we'll start in verse 14. Paul says here, He says, So we see that the loaves pictured that imperfection that's mixed in to us, to our bodies, as we're living through this age.

And we see Paul experiencing that in his own life. Even as an apostle of God, someone called out miraculously and very specifically by God in a way that nobody could deny. And he talks about the depth of this struggle that goes on within him. Turn with me to 1 John 1. Let's read one more passage where, in this case, the apostle John, talking about how it is that God sees the reality of what we are. 1 John 1, verses 8 through 10.

1 John 1, verses 8 through 10. If we say, 1 John 1, verse 8, that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

If we say that we've not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. So are those encouraging words or are those discouraging words? I find them incredibly encouraging. I was talking actually just on the Holy Day last weekend with one of our members, and they were talking about how they've been reading through the book of Peter. And some of the passages that are in there, we were talking a little more about some of the examples that are written up in the Bible.

And we see examples. They're very real, and they're very raw, aren't they? If you think about the things that David did in his life, the murders, the adultery, all of the sins that he committed. We look at other examples. We look at Abraham, the father of the faithful, and we might recall that as he was in his travels through the land, at least on two occasions, he lied about his wife Sarah. He was afraid because his wife was such a good-looking woman.

He was afraid that he would be killed by these other people that he encountered so that his wife could be taken and married to that person. So he lied about her and said she was his sister. This was the father of the faithful, a serial liar. We look at Peter and the weaknesses that he had as he jumped out of the boat to try to walk on water. And he did, amazingly.

And then he sank. How he made promises that he was going to stand up for Jesus Christ and then denied him three times before the cock crowed. And the stories go on and on. But in the end, to me, these stories are incredibly encouraging because what it helps us to understand is the reality of our master and how he sees us. God's not under any illusion about who and what we are. He created us and he knows us. He knows that we're sinful human beings. But he also knows that he's implanted his Holy Spirit in us. And what he's looking for is that constant drive and that push to connect to him and through the power of his Holy Spirit to drive our lives forward through him. To leave behind our old man, to leave behind the sinfulness and to move forward. But just as we see in nature, trees don't grow ten feet tall in one season. Children don't learn to walk in five minutes. Even animals who instinctively know how to walk, we see a baby deer born. You might see that on a nature channel or something. You see the wobbly legs and it takes time, different time for different types of creatures. But it takes time to develop these instincts. And no matter what type of animal you talk about, I can't think of an animal that's born full grown.

Maybe you can. If you can, let me know afterwards. They hatch from eggs. They come out very small and over time they grow. And that's exactly what God expects of us. But he's also realistic about the fact that we're not perfect. And as we're growing, we're doing exactly what our Master wants us to do. But if we're fearful, if we don't understand how our Master sees us, what it is that he's trying to accomplish, do we get afraid? And as a result, decide, you know what? I've got so little power through the Holy Spirit compared to what God can do. I can't move a mountain. I can't part the sea. I don't think I should bother to do anything. That's how the unprofitable servant thought. I have just this little fraction of the wealth of my owner. And I know my owner can do these incredible things. So he doesn't care what I do. He doesn't need what I do. And it really doesn't matter. And out of that misunderstanding of what his Master was about, he hid that talent in the ground and ignored it and moved on. So as we reflect on our spiritual lives, that's what we have to think about. Understanding how God really sees us, understanding the plan that's going on, God knows and understands the reality of our lives. We don't have to apologize for the fact that we're human. We have to ask forgiveness for our sins, and we have to move forward in His Spirit and ask Him for strength in it. But we don't have to feel bad about the fact that we're human beings. That we go through tiredness, we go through moods, we go through injury, we go through downspots in our lives. God knows all those things. He wants us to continue to move forward as we go through those things. So big picture. We understand that God's working out a plan, and one that includes all of mankind. That's what's exciting when we understand His Holy Day plan. Whether we look at it and divide it down between seven individual Holy Days that step through that plan, or whether we look at it as three sort of seasons or waves of how God is dealing with mankind in a past, present, and future sense, we can be excited and know the fact that Jesus Christ came to the earth for a reason, and He left for a reason.

So we through His Holy Spirit could exercise that spirit, could spread His word, could set an example, could live lives that strive for His perfection even though we know we'll never fully meet it without Him perfecting us.

Turn with me, if you will, to 2 Peter 3.

2 Peter 3, verses 1 through 9.

I like the way that this sums up this viewpoint towards what it is that God is creating and performing holistically through mankind.

You hear Peter's encouraging people not to give up just because Jesus Christ hasn't returned yet. I think they were expecting that to happen within a short period of time back then. 1 Peter 3, verse 1.

1 Peter 3, verse 2.

1 Peter 3, verse 3.

1 Peter 3, verse 4.

1 Peter 3, verse 5.

God doesn't expect that everybody is going to do incredibly great things at every moment in life. Turn with me to Luke 21. I think, again, that it's incredibly encouraging to understand that to God, small things matter in good ways.

Luke 21, verses 1 through 4. This is the parable of the widow's might, which many of you have probably read before. Luke 21, verses 1 through 4.

Here Jesus was looking up and he was seeing the rich people putting their gifts into the treasury at the temple. And he saw a certain poor widow who put in two mites. Think of it as somebody just putting in a couple pennies. Really somebody who had little, if anything, to give. And Jesus said, And what is incredibly touching to me out of this story is Jesus understood.

He understood her situation in looking at what she was able to give, what she was able to contribute at that point in time where she was in her life. And he valued it higher than a much greater contribution measured by physical and human terms. He understood. That same understanding of us is what Jesus Christ has. The same understanding that he had for that widow, he understands when he looks at our lives. Whether it's a difficult patch that we're going through, and despite that difficulty that we're going through, the fact that we take a little bit of extra time to reach out to someone else, to say a kind word, to give encouragement, to make a phone call, to help somebody else forward despite what's going on. Jesus Christ knows that maybe that's a small gesture, maybe it's a small thing that happened, but understands in the context of perhaps what we're going through at that point in our lives. That is a big thing for us to have reached out and done that.

And what he's looking for is that at every point that we are in life, whether things are going well or things are going poorly, we're continuing to take those additional steps, continuing to exercise his spirit, not burying things in the ground, saying, I'll wait for a better day, I'll wait for a different day, I could do this, but it's really no big deal, anyone else could do it, so I'm just not going to bother doing it myself.

One more place, and then we'll wrap up. Last scripture, Matthew 10.

I love the symbolism and the picture that this one paints in Matthew 10. Matthew 10, verse 42. Here Jesus Christ says that whoever gives one of these little ones, talking about people who understand God, people who are called by his name, only a cup of cold water in the name of the disciple, assuredly I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward. A cup of water is what he's referring to here. You can't think of somebody with a Dixie cup. How long does a cup of water refresh somebody? Not that long, really. It doesn't matter if you're super thirsty or just a little bit thirsty. A cup of water is going to last for a short period of time. But look at the value in this passage that Jesus Christ puts on that, giving something as simple as a cup of water. And what's encouraging here is this understanding that what God is looking for, what Jesus Christ is looking for, is us to exhibit that heart that he has within, that's living within us, his heart, that's living within us through his Spirit. We exercise that. We do small things. And if we do small things, we start doing them on a more regular basis. We can start to do larger things as his Holy Spirit empowers us more and more. And we can reach out, and by doing that, we can accomplish a lot more. Now I want to say one thing, and that is within our congregation that we have here, this is not meant in any way to be negative towards what we do here. Because I have to say, in the congregations that I've attended, this congregation surpasses experiences that I've had all over the place, in terms of people's willingness and readiness to reach out, to show love and kindness, to support one another, to pitch in in so many different ways. And to me, what's incredibly encouraging, having come here three years ago, is to see the difference that people are making, and the way that people are getting involved and contributing, in ways that are even beyond what they were doing two or three years ago when I got here. And it's exciting to see how God's Holy Spirit works within us as a people. And this is an encouragement to continue to reflect on that, and to continue to think about how we can grow and develop, like building a muscle. If we're lifting five pounds today, how we can lift ten pounds next month. Not tomorrow, but next month, as we continue those repetitions. So, to wrap up, we started by talking about the need to understand our Master, and the parable of the talents. The unprofitable servant, how he didn't understand how his Master was looking at things, didn't understand how his Master would value even multiplying that one talent, and looking at that one talent in comparison to the greater amounts that were given to others, decided to do nothing. And because of that, was considered unprofitable. We need to make sure that we understand what our Master is after, both in the big picture, in how he's viewing his plan for mankind, and how he's working with each one of us as individuals. So, in conclusion, I'd like to just encourage two things. Mark Graham gave a homework assignment last week, so I feel like I have to follow in his footsteps. So, I'd like to encourage people to take a little time and think about two things. These are personal things, things you can share with others if you want to, but I would really encourage you to take some time this week to reflect and even pray on a couple of questions. Number one, how does your understanding of God's plan impact the way that you interact with others around you? How should your interactions with other human beings continue to develop as you exercise his spirit?

How is it that we are all using our understanding of that great plan where God intends everyone to come to repentance? The guy who stole ten bucks out of our locker when we were in high school? The woman who cut us off on the freeway on our way home? The person who almost got in an accident with us because they didn't look both ways before they pulled out into traffic? All people that God wants to come into his kingdom? How does our understanding of God's plan impact and influence the way that we interact day to day with all the people that we come into contact with? And secondly, on a personal level, on our individual lives, as our understanding of our Master deepens, how is it motivating each and every one of us to overcome fear and misunderstanding of where we stand in God's sight and to multiply the gifts that he's given us? As our understanding of our Master deepens, how is it motivating us to overcome fear and to multiply the things that he's given us? Hope that you'll have a profitable week and enjoy, perhaps, reflecting on those questions and wish you a happy rest of the Sabbath.