Unpacking for the Feast

Well, I heard Mr. Permars' sermonette, and he and I have been on the same wavelength here as we're on the last Sabbath here, before the Feast of Tabernacles. I'm going to continue in the same line, but I'm going to take a little bit of a different approach to it. Back when we observed the Spring Holy Days, there's words that we talk about and words that we remember, and perhaps we've packed some of those words away. Now, we won't think about them again so much until the next spring comes about. But as we go and prepare for these Fall Holy Days, because just like for the Spring Holy Days, we should be preparing.

Our minds should be on what we're doing. It's too late to start thinking about the Day of Atonement, the Feast of Tabernacles, when we get to the Feast of Tabernacles. But I want to unpack a word here. And as you're packing for the Feast of Tabernacles and putting all your belongings together that you're taking with you, let's unpack a few things and a few reminders here, so that as we go to the Feast, we remember what we're doing there, why we're doing them there, what these things picture that we're observing, and what God says about it. So, as we begin to unpack, the first word we're going to unpack is remember.

Remember is a word we usually always talk about at the Spring Holy Days. God says often about the Holy Days, remember why you're doing these things. Tell your children why you're doing these things. Remember, it was me who brought you out of Egypt into another land. And it's the same thing that happens here at the Feast of Tabernacles. So, let's go back to the Feast of Tabernacles instructions here in Leviticus 23. For those of you who are going to be in Jekyll Island next week, you're not going to hear a repeat sermon on this.

We're talking about it ahead of time, so we have time to prepare for it. But Jekyll, not Jekyll, Leviticus, Leviticus 23, and breaking into the thought about the Feast of Tabernacles gives us some instructions, some instructions about what we're doing and why and how God wants us to keep the Feast. Just like he tells us how to observe the Passover, according to his will, just as he tells us how to observe the days of Unleavened bread, if we're going to keep those days the way he wants us to, he tells us how to observe the Feast of Tabernacles if we are keeping them the way that he wants us to. Leviticus 23, verse 39.

Also, on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you've gathered in the fruit of the land, you shall keep the Feast of the Lord for seven days. On the first day there will be a Sabbath rest, and on the eighth day a Sabbath rest. Now, wherever you go for the Feast, on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, you know, Monday, October fourteenth, will be a Holy Day where you are. Monday, October twenty-first will be the eighth day. There will be a Holy Day where you are. Those are the days that God commands us to be together.

But it's more than just those days that we're observing during the Feast of Tabernacles. Verse 40, he says, and you shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of beautiful trees, branches of palm trees, the boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook. And then he talks about that, and he says, and you shall rejoice before the eternal your God for seven days. Well, there is a command for seven days you keep the Feast, for seven days you come before God. And he talks about these branches that people should gather during that time.

Verse 41, he says, you shall keep it as a Feast of the Lord for seven days in the year. It shall be a statute forever in your generations. Remember the word forever. The Hebrew word is olam, O-L-A-M. It means as long as there's heaven and earth, basically. These days are to be captive.

It shall be a statute forever in your generations. You shall celebrate it in the seventh month. Verse 42, you shall dwell in booths for seven days. All who are native Israelites shall dwell in booths.

Now, the modern day, or today's equivalent to native Israelites, is you and me. Right? The guns who God has called, the ones who have repented, the ones who have been baptized, the ones who have God's Holy Spirit, he sees us as his people. The equivalent to that is all baptized people, all people who see themselves as children of God, should be keeping these days, all seven days. And he says, dwelling in booths. Now, booths comes from the Hebrew word sukkot, S-U-K-K-O-T. It means temporary dwelling. Temporary dwelling. God says, you know, get away from your home. It's not a home that we're going to celebrate this feast in. The days of Unleavened Bread, we celebrate that and observe it in our homes. In fact, we clean our homes. But for this seven-day period, you're not to be in your homes, you're going to dwell in these temporary dwellings that you're going to go to. And if you're going to keep the feast the way I say to keep it, then this is what you do. You go, we'll read here in a minute in Deuteronomy 16, you go to the place that I choose and you stay there. Now, why would God have us, why would God have us stay in temporary dwellings? What would be the purpose of it? Just so that we have a vacation, just so we have some time away from home? Well, He does say come out of the world, and when we leave our homes behind, we are reminded this is not our permanent place. This is not where we're always going to be, come out of the world. And as we picture the millennium and the coming reign of Jesus Christ, we're not going to be where we are today. This world will have passed away and it will be a new place that we are living. But God uses the temporary dwellings in other ways to remind us of who we are.

And as we go to the feast, we need to remember what it is that He's built into these feast days that we're observing. We need to remember and we need to remind ourselves as we're going there why we're there. It's not just to do the activities, not just to see the beautiful sights of the feast sites around the world. It's not just to party and eat good food. There is something that God built into these days, several things that He wants us to be reminded of.

Well, before we go further, let's go to Deuteronomy 16 because in Deuteronomy 16, He gives further instructions about these holy days we're about to enter into. Deuteronomy 16, in verse 13, leading up to Deuteronomy 16, 16, which you will doubtless hear as you gather together, wherever you are, for the feast, a week from Monday, as we talk about the offerings as we come before God.

In Deuteronomy 16, verse 13, He talks about the Feast of Tabernacles we're about to embark on. Verse 13 says, You shall observe the Feast of Tabernacles seven days. It's a seven-day feast. Just like the days of unleavened bread, we don't eat unleavened bread just on the first day and seventh day. We observe it all seven days. Observe the Feast of Tabernacles seven days when you have gathered from your threshing floor and from your winepress. And you shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow who are within your gates. Your whole family should be participating in the feast. Now, sometimes I hear, well, this is only a command for the males to go to the feast. No, God expects the families to go to the feast. He expects us to, as you heard in the sermon, be preparing all year long to go to the feast. It's not something that we think about a week before or even in April, you know, when often the booklet comes out on the housing. It's something we prepare for all year long as we save our second tithe. And just like we prepare all year long for the Feast of Tabernacles, we prepare all our lives long for the coming of Jesus Christ. So, when he says in verse 14, you know, everyone should go and observe the feast. Verse 15, seven days you shall keep a sacred feast to the Lord your God in the place which he chooses.

Now, back in the time of ancient Israel, the place that he chose was Jerusalem. And you read about the people that would pilgrimage three times a year to Jerusalem to keep the Days of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, the Feast of Tabernacles. And we read of Jesus Christ, and he was, you know, he was there at those pilgrimages, and they were his family was keeping the feast. And you can imagine what a joyous time it was as everyone descended on Jerusalem to come before God and keep his feast.

Today we don't go to Jerusalem, but there are many places that the church has designated as the places that God has chosen for us to keep the feast. And just like they went to Jerusalem for the feast, then we keep the feast in the places that are designated for us. Not our choice, not our decision, not where we want to be, not saying, well, God is just as happy as I keep it here in this place as opposed to where the church is keeping it.

No, if we're going to keep the feast the way God says, we keep it in the place that he chooses in temporary dwellings all seven days, and then, of course, the eighth day as well. Going on to verse 15, he says, you keep the feast in the place he chooses because he will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands so that you surely rejoice.

When we do things God's way, we rejoice. When we do things God's way, happiness results. But why these temporary dwellings? Why? Why? You know, back in the ancient days, they didn't have holiday ends, they didn't have condos and all these other things, so they had to make their temporary dwellings because it wasn't a society like we have today.

But today we have temporary dwellings that can range from the nicest condo you can imagine down to the most meager accommodations that you may have ever experienced. It makes no difference. Temporary dwellings is where God wants us to be, and you can rejoice in a temporary dwelling that's very meager just as well as you can rejoice in the nicest condo or hotel in the world. It's not about the place that we stay in a temporary dwelling, it's the fact that we're doing what God said to do. But beyond the place that we stay, God wants us to learn something about ourselves as we go to the feast.

Because, you know, we are all, as we've talked about, in temporary houses in ourselves, right? We're all flesh and blood. What you and I are living in today is a temporary place, a dwelling place that God has for us. This body isn't eternity. Our mind, the spirit, the character that God is developing in us, that's for eternity, but this physical body isn't for eternity.

And throughout the Scriptures, when we read about these temporary places, we see what God had in mind because we use the Bible to interpret Himself itself. Let's go back to 2 Peter. 2 Peter and see what he says about temporary dwellings and using the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word sukkot, that's u-k-k-o-t.

See? 2 Peter. 2 Peter 1. In 2 Peter 1, you know, Paul lists all these things that we add to our development, and he says, this is how you make your calling in election, sure, as we talked about last week. But in verse 12, as he's wrapping up and summarizing and going on beyond that section, he says this. He says, For this reason I will not be negligent to remind. Well, there's another word that we can pull out of our trunk and unpack, to be reminded, and that we use that word through the feast, reminding ourselves of what we're there for.

For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth. He was talking to an audience, much like we have here today. Many who have kept the feast a long time, but we need to be reminded of what we do and why. Why we're keeping these feasts. Why we go away. Because sometimes it can get watered down into, wow, that is a beautiful location. I'm going to do this, this, this, this, and forget the real reasons that we're there. So he says, I'm going to remind you about this. In verse 13 he says, yes, I think it's right, as long as I am in this tent, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you.

Now, I see what Peter says there. He's using the Hebrew, or the Greek word that's equivalent to temporary dwelling that we read about in the commands to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. I'm in this tent. This isn't where I'm going to be forever, but as long as I'm in this tent, I'm going to take the opportunity to remind you of what you're doing and why. You and I are in the same position. We're just in a tent today. This isn't the body that Christ has in mind that God has in mind for us for eternity.

This is a temporary dwelling. Just like we go to a temporary dwelling when we go to the Feast, a reminder of who we are, what we're looking forward to, and what this life is really about. He goes, I think it's right, as long as I'm in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you, knowing that shortly I must put off my tent.

Oh, I'll be gone from this temporary dwelling shortly. And then I will be waiting for the permanent dwelling that I look forward to. I'm in my temporary dwelling today, but I look forward to eternity. When we're at the Feast of Tempernacles, we're reminded we're in our temporary dwellings today.

Where we live, the bodies that we're in, but we look forward. We look forward to the permanence that God has promised us if we follow what He has to say. And we do it diligently and carefully. Let's look at 2 Corinthians 5, because Paul says the same thing here.

As he's talking to the Corinthians in his 2nd epistle, 2 Corinthians 5, 2 Corinthians 5, verse 1.

He says, For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, See what he's doing there? Here's this temporary dwelling that I'm in, this physical body that I'm in. For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. That's what God has in mind for you and me, eternity. But today, we're in a temporary dwelling. For in this regrown, he says in verse 2, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation, which is from heaven.

That's what we look forward to. We look forward to that eternal body, that spirit body, that won't decay. We look forward to the time when this temporary dwelling place that we're in, that we pass from it. For in this regrown, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation, which is from heaven, if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked.

Well, today, God sees that he has given us a down payment, as it says in verse 5, earnest money on his Holy Spirit that will result in eternity for us. If we're not found naked, if we are doing the things that God says, if we are allowing him to clothe us in that permanent, eternal body, for we who are in this tent, groan, being burdened. Not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life.

Temporary dwellings. Temporary dwellings as we go to the Feast of Tabernacles and stay in them. One of the things that we're reminded of is we live in temporary places, we live in temporary bodies, we look forward to the eternity, and we look forward to the return of Jesus Christ when we are in the bodies that he wants us to be in for eternity.

You know, a few, I guess a few months ago now, we talked about physical Israel. After we talked about America's roots, and we talked about the future of America and physical Israel in the world today, and you remember we talked about how God is going to bring physical Israel back to their promised land. And we talked about how physical Israel does have a place in the millennium. And we'll be there, and as we read in Ezekiel 6 and 7, they're going to loathe themselves for what they've done.

And for a while, when God opens their eyes to what they've done and how they've misused and abused him and the blessings that he's given them, given us. And they're going to loathe themselves, and they're going to be brought back to their physical land that God had promised them. In Hosea, in Hosea 12, that'll happen during the millennium. Jesus Christ has returned to earth. What has happened to Satan we'll talk about on the Day of Atonement. The physical Israel will still be physical Israel, and he will bring them back to their land. If I can find the book of Hosea, there it is.

Hosea 12. Hosea 12, verse 9. God inspires Hosea to write this. He says, I am the eternal your God ever since the land of Egypt. You've known me. You've known who I am. I'm your God, physical Israel, ever since the land of Egypt. I will again make you dwell intense, as in the days of the appointed feast. Even in the millennium, physical Israel is going to live in physical surroundings, temporary dwellings, because we learn something by living in temporary dwellings, and they have yet to learn that.

People of God, temporary dwellings, these tents that we live in, these temporary things that we picture at the feast, the things that we do, all have meaning for us that we should be reminded of as we keep the Feast of Tabernacles, if we really want to derive the inspiration that God wants us to have for these days. You know, Israel, as they came out of Egypt, they were in temporary dwelling places for 40 years.

For 40 years, they didn't have a home they went to. They lived in tents, they were wandering in the wilderness, and they stayed just as long as God wanted them to stay. If the cloud moved, they closed, they moved. If the pillar of fire moved, they moved. They couldn't say, this is where I live, and I'm going to stay here for the next 10 years. It was whatever God said. It was temporary dwelling places as He led them to the Promised Land. And so they learned the lessons from that time, or should have learned the lessons from that time, about the temporary dwelling heading toward the promises that God made for them.

But they weren't the only people of God that did that. Even the patriarchs had temporary dwelling places. You know, Abraham, Abraham was a very wealthy man. We know that. The Bible says, God blessed him richly, but he didn't have a permanent home. He wandered. Wherever God took him, he wandered.

He lived in tents. He lived in temporary places. It talks about that in Hebrews. In Hebrews, as we learned the lesson of Abraham, that, you know, he followed God, and he understood his job was to be in temporary places as long as God had him here, and he dutifully followed and obeyed. Hebrews 11. Let's pick it up in verse 8. Hebrews 11, verse 8.

By faith, Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out not knowing where he was going, just trusting God. By faith he dwelt in the land of promise, as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. For he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. All his life he lived in temporary dwellings, waiting for the city whose builder and maker is God. On to verse 13, the same chapter, speaking of the people listed in the Men and Women of Faith here in Hebrews 11, it says, These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, were assured of them, embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

This wasn't their eternal place. This wasn't their permanent residence. Oh, they lived life, and we should live life, and we should do all the things of life, and enjoy life, and we should take care of ourselves, and prolong that life as we follow God's will. But this isn't the permanent place. The permanent place is something that God has promised us. For those, who say such things, declare plainly that they seek a homeland. We seek a homeland. That's what Paul was saying in 2 Corinthians 5. We look for that promised land that God has promised us. The Israelites, as they wandered for 40 years, they looked toward the promised land. That's what their focus was. You know, you and I, it might be 10 years, one year, 20 years, 60 years, that we've been wandering in this wilderness since God has called us. And we'll wander in this wilderness as long as He wants us to wander. Always looking for the promised land. Always looking toward the kingdom. Always with our focus on that place that God is leading us to, that place of permanence and eternity. And learning the lessons that we need to learn during these temporary years of our lives. We're in these temporary bodies, living in temporary dwellings. As we picture, as we're in the Feast of Tabernacles, looking forward, looking forward to the time when Christ returns. And those who are called in Christ now and who have His Holy Spirit spend eternity with Him. Let's go back to Deuteronomy 8. As Moses, as Israel is nearing the end of their years of wandering, living in temporary places as they enter the promised land. Moses gives them so many instructions here in Deuteronomy 8. They're so instructive for us as well. What they should have learned during those years of wilderness. Which are exactly the same things God wants you and me to learn during our temporary, in our temporary dwellings. And the places that we sojourn on this earth. As we look forward to the kingdom, as we look forward to the time of His return. And the eternity that He has planned. Deuteronomy 8, verse 1. Moses says to Israel, He says it to us too, every commandment which I command you today, you must be careful to observe. Boy, we can't read that enough. Be careful to observe what God says. That's what He is looking for. People that will obey Him. People that will follow Him. People that will want the kingdom. And that are willing to deny self and do what He says. Every commandment which I command you today, you must be careful to observe. That you may live and multiply and go in and possess the land which the Lord swore to your fathers. If you want the kingdom, if you want eternity, if you want to be part of the bride of Christ, if you want to be there when Jesus Christ returns. There's one way. Repent, baptize, have the Holy Spirit carefully follow what He has to say. And here's the word, and you shall remember, you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these 40 years in the wilderness. To humble you, to test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. Hmm. You know, Abraham, God said, He kept my commandments. He kept my statutes.

God has us living in these temporary dwelling places, these temporary bodies that we're in. He tells us how to keep His feasts, the things that are important to Him that He commands us to do. And all these years in our wilderness, in these temporary places, He's looking to see, will you do what I say or not? I'm doing it to test you and to see what is in your heart. Will you follow me, or will you defer to yourself? Will you follow me, or will you always make allowances for yourself? Will you do it my way, or will you do it your way?

Same thing He did for Israel. They failed.

I hope none of us fail, but we understand what He's doing as He leads us in these temporary places in the wilderness that we're in.

Down in verse 7, they live all those times in the wilderness for 40 years, just like we're here in this time of our wilderness, as we progress through, as God sees who we are. And as we become the people He wants us to become, using His Holy Spirit, learning His Word, diligently following it. But they should have always, and we're looking for the Promised Land. Verse 7, as you did those things, He says, in verse 6, keep the commandments of God. For the Lord your God, verse 7, is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, that flow out of valleys and hills, land of wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, and pomegranates, and so on. A great land, not like anything you've had before. Whatever the kingdom of God is, whatever we have in life, no matter how much money we make, no matter how nice our house is, no matter how meager our house is, whatever it is, what God has prepared for us is something better than anyone can imagine.

That's what He's leading us to. Do we believe it? Do we follow? Do we mean it when we say, Thy kingdom come? Do we understand what we're doing? Because when we go to the Feast of Tabernacles, we're picturing that kingdom and all the joy and the peace and the harmony that should be there as part of it, as we are all together for eight days out of the world, working with one another just like it will be in the kingdom or in the millennium. Though we're there during those days, do we want it? Well, God has got us in this journey right now to see whether we want it or not, whether it's real to us or not. And He cautions us in verse 11. Caution them and He cautions us as we're in this life that we're living. Beware that you don't forget the eternal your God by not keeping His commandments, by not keeping His judgments and the statutes which I command you today. Be careful. Be reminded. Remember what we're here for. Remember what we're going to the Feast for. It's not just eight days away from home and school. It's just not eight days to do sightseeing and lay on the beach and enjoy all those fine things. That's part of it. That's not the primary part of it. The main reason we go to the Feast is the reasons that God gives us. One is we remember when we live in temporary dwelling places and remember where it is as we're out of our environment, out of our homes, doing the things that He says and the things we learn from that time. So we can look, and one of the things that we can unpack as we remind ourselves and remember what God has is this recognition of what we're going there for and what God has built into these days or about to observe. And not to forget them while we're there, but while we're there to remind ourselves, this is why we're here. This is what God had in mind. All the other good things go along with it, too, but the reason we're there is not for all the physical things. Yes, we enjoy those things, but the reason we're there is to learn what God has for us to learn. Well, let's look at another point. This time, let's go over to Nehemiah. Nehemiah 8.

In Nehemiah 8, we have the people, Judah, that's coming back from captivity. They've been conquered by the Babylonians, gone for 70 years. They're coming back. They're rebuilding Jerusalem and the temple. In the new Nehemiah 8, they discover something. They discover something that they haven't been observing for quite a while. But let's look at the end of chapter 8 first and get the end of the story here before we go back, because there's something I want to show in your mind as we go to the face and as we do the things that God says to do. Chapter 17 of Nehemiah 8 says, Here, as they go through this chapter, it's like they hadn't kept this face the way God said to keep it in a long, long time. And notice what it says here. And they hadn't done it, but they did it that year. When it came to their attention, they did it. They did it, and so, it says, as the last sentence in verse 17, and so there was great gladness.

Want to rejoice in the feast? Do you want to be happy? Do what God says. And that's the lesson here. Do what God says. They had great gladness because, even though they hadn't done it, and we're going to see in a minute, they hadn't done it in a long time, and they didn't have six months to prepare for it. But when they learned what they needed to do, they did it. They did it, and they had great gladness.

Well, that's not point two, but let's go back to verse one here of chapter eight, and let's see a point that we can see as we read through the first eight verses here. And see what the people did. It takes us back to the Feast of Trumpets that they were observing here in chapter eight. Chapter eight, verse one. All the people gathered together as one man in the open square that was in front of the Watergate, and they told Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the eternal had commanded Israel.

So here they were. Much like you and me, they were gathered together. Now, it was a whole lot of them. They were sitting outside at the water gate, and they were having a church service. They were gathered together in one place, just like you and I are today, just like we were this past Monday when we observed the Feast of Trumpets. And they were going to be preached to, if you will, or read to from the book of the law.

Much as we have our church services, and we read, and wherever you are at the Feast, you'll have eight days of sermons, you'll have eight days of sermonettes, you'll have Bible studies. You will be read to every single day from the Bible and have the opportunity to learn exactly what God wants us to learn, and as these people learned here. Verse two. So Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly of men and women, and all who could hear with understanding on the first day of the seventh month. There we have the setting. There there are on the Feast of Trumpets. They're in a church service. They're together. They're going to hear the word of the law. And he read from it in the open square that was in front of the Watergate from morning until midday. Not just an hour. Not just an hour that he read to him from morning till midday. There were several hours that they were gathered together. They were hearing the word of the law, you know, as it was read to him. Much like we hear for an hour and a half, 90 minutes, or, you know, a little more than that some weeks. Same thing that we do. He read from it in the open square from morning until midday before the men and women and those who could understand, and the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law. They were paying attention to the words that were being read to them. They were paying attention to it. They kind of were listening to every word. And as they listened, they began to see some things that we haven't done. Some things we haven't done.

And they could have said, you know what, we haven't done it forever, no reason to start now. But they were attentive. You know, when we go to the Feast of Tabernacles, we should be attentive. Actually, every time we come to a Sabbath service, we should be attentive to the word of the law. Because when God has messages for us, there's something, we should pick up something from every message that we have. These people were attentive as they were there. They weren't tired. They weren't flipping through cell phones. They were attentive to what was being said. So in verse 4, so Ezra the scribe stood on a platform of wood, which they had made for the purpose. We've got a platform of wood up here, and whoever is speaking to you stands on this platform. So you have the setting. What we're doing today is very similar to what was going on here on that Feast of Trumpets. And then he had all these people behind him, as he, as Ezra, read from the book of the law. Sometimes you watch on the news and you see some official giving a news conference, and he's got all of his people who support him behind him. We could have several people lined up behind me. What it shows is they are supporting what Ezra had said, just like when you see the mayor or the governor speaking, and he has all these officials behind him. They're supporting what he has to say. They're in unity behind what is being read. And so they have this service that is going on. In verse 5, Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people. It took the book of the law. It wasn't, you know, it wasn't this size. It was much bigger. It took it, and he opened it inside of all the people. Much like you see, whoever is speaking to you when they come up here, they opened their Bible. The Word of God, which we're here to listen to and pay attention to. Ezra opened the book, for he was standing above all the people, and when he opened it, the people stood up.

Now, I don't think, I might be wrong, that they orchestrated it. I don't think they had a little flash sign behind there. When Ezra opens the book, you all stand. I think it was a spontaneous thing, and they realized what they were opening. We are going to hear the Word of Almighty God. And when Ezra opened that book, it was a significant part of that service.

Now we will hear God's Word. They stood up. They stood up. It was a reverential awe that they had for what was going to happen. They were attentive, and they were listening. Just like when we come here, and we hear the Word of God, it's God speaking to us from these words written in this book. Do we have even somewhat the same awe? Do we have even somewhat the same reverence for what these words are? Those people did. Those people did, and they learned some things that day.

Verse 6, Ezra blessed the eternal, the great God, and all the people answered, Amen, Amen. Just like we have opening and closing prayers as we begin our services and end our services, and we all say, Amen, Amen. While lifting up their hands, and they bowed their heads, and they worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. Respect. Deep respect for what they were about to hear and what they were doing in that service that day.

As they were coming and gathered before God in exactly the way that He wanted them to be. And then in verse 7, it talks about all these people, the last sentence there says, They helped the people understand the law, and the people stood in their place. Well, you know what? That's what we do in Sabbath services. We read the law, and whatever sermon you hear at the feast here in Orlando, wherever you're visiting, you're going to hear the law read and talked about. How do we apply it into our lives? What does it mean? How do we do what God says?

How do we please Him? Explain these words to us. That's what we do, and at the feast you're going to hear many sermons and sermonists. How do you apply what it is that you're going to hear? Just like we do here, every Sabbath and on Holy Days. They were doing exactly the same thing that we do.

They were helping the people to understand, so they read distinctly from the book in the law of God. They gave the sense and helped them to understand the reading. They gave them the sense. What does that mean? Here's what it means. Here's how you understand that. Here's how you apply. They got it. They got it. They took the time to ask questions. They wanted to know how to apply. They wanted to know how to do these things.

Just like when we want to know something, we should never be shy to ask. We should never hesitate to ask, I don't know what to do. I don't know how to do that. What does the Bible mean when it says that? How do we do these things? If we want to please God, we should be always seeking those things that we don't know and allowing God, through His Holy Spirit and through His Word, to teach us those things. But that's why we get together as well, so that we learn the things and how to apply them into our lives, so that we're living and learning the things today that we will be teaching others in the millennium if we learn them and God judges us as worthy to go forward in that regard.

Well, as we read through those eight verses, what stands out? Well, they're there on the Feast of Trumpets, as we were on Monday, two days before the Feast of Tabernacles. What was the significant event of that day? Was it the fact that they were all gathered together? That was significant.

They all came together on that first day of the seventh month. Was it Ezra? Was he the star of the day? Was he what they all gathered to hear? Is that the thing that made the difference in their lives? Well, he was there and he was the spokesman. That's who God wandered up there, and he read the message. What was the star, if we had to say, what was the star of that day?

The star of that day was the Bible. The Bible. The Word of God. The message is always the main thing that we pay attention to. We read the Bible. We preach the Bible. We live the Bible. We talk about the Bible. The Bible is the thing. This book. This book. Not the person who's speaking it. Not the place that we gather. Not how nice it is or not how un-nice it is. It's the message. It's the message that the people heard.

When they saw the book opened, what did they do? They all stood up. They didn't stand up when Ezra took the stage. They all stood up when Ezra opened the book. Now, back in those days, as I mentioned, the book that Ezra had would have been much thicker than the book that you have in your lap or the book I have up here that's called the Bible.

But it was something that the people recognized instantaneously when that scroll came out. When they came out, they knew and they said, bring that book of the law out here and you read from Ezra. And when I walk in here and you walk in here and you see Bibles, you know exactly what the Bible is. The Bible throughout history until recently has always looked different than every other book. If I walk into an airport with this book, they're not thinking he's reading a novel or he's reading fiction or reading some textbook.

They know this is a Bible. Bibles look different. Now, one of the recent trends in the world is that we make the Bible looks like any other book. Kind of minimizes it and whatever and you see it on tables, you see it in bookstores.

But the Bible throughout history has always been distinct. It's been something to pay attention to. And you know when I'm at home, if Debbie or my kids see me reading the Bible, they know exactly what I'm doing. They're not wondering, what is he doing over there? They know exactly because they see the book.

You know when we walk into a Feast of Tabernacles and when we're there and we say, it's the Feast of Tabernacles and people, what is this Feast of Tabernacles these people are observing? And they say 600 or 650 people in Jekyll Island walk in with Bibles? Bibles that they recognize are Bibles? You know what? It makes a statement to them because the Bible is a public book. Just like the scroll was a public book, when people saw the scroll, they knew exactly what that was. No mistaking it. It was a witness of what was going on that day. I want you to think a minute because we live in a society and I'm not saying it's wrong and I'm not saying anything like that. But imagine if I or someone else came up here and what we brought up here was just our cell phone or an iPad. We laid it down here and we started pushing buttons. Would it have the same effect? If I had a computer up here and I was just typing in Nehemiah 817, would that have the same effect as turning in the Bible? There is something about having a Bible, a paper Bible, that is special. So what we were raised on throughout history, there was a book that God had for people to do and it was a precious thing in their sight. Now probably everyone in here grew up in a household where there was a Bible. And it wasn't something you took lightly. It wasn't something you threw away. I still have Bibles from when my father was alive, when my mother was alive. They probably had Bibles from the times. Well, no, they didn't do the Bible before they came into church. But we had Bibles. They're heirlooms. They're something we treasure. When we're done with the Bible, when it wears out and we have too many notes in them and we have to get a new one, we don't throw it out. Like we might a novel when we're cleaning off bookshelves and say we don't need this anymore. We respect this book.

Might I suggest, might I suggest for this feast, that you unpack your hard copy Bible and you take it with you. And you flip through it. You turn to the Scriptures when you're at the feast this year. You turn to the Scriptures and you flip the pages and you hear the other five, six, seven, eight hundred people that are there flipping through the pages as we review the Word of God.

Do it. There's something different when you have the pages of the Bible there. And I remember back a couple years ago, we were up visiting my older son where the grandkids are and it was the Sabbath morning before we were going to church and the Bible was laying out on the table. And my son and his kids, they don't go to any church at all. And the kids really know nothing, very little about God. But our little granddaughter saw this Bible and it looked different than all the other books that are there and she was just flipping through it. She was just flipping pages and she just seemed mesmerized because this book was different than any other kind of book that she had. And Debbie was there with her and it's like, what is this book? The pages are this way and she just couldn't stop. She was fascinated by this book because it was different than the textbooks. It was different than her little reading books. It was different than anything else they had in their house. Now she knows what a Bible is. They don't pay attention to it. One day they will, but they don't today. But she knows what a Bible is and when she sees this book, she knows exactly where we're going and she knows exactly what it is. We need, perhaps as a people, to get back to the Bible. To this. To this. Again, nothing wrong with iPads, nothing wrong with phones, nothing wrong with computers. It can be very helpful in researching and whatever else. But just for this time, might I suggest, unpack the hard copy Bible and take it where you're going and use it during this feast. You know, along with this, as I was thinking about this and thinking about how the people responded to Ezra opening the book and what we should do when we look at this Word of God that we, every one of us, has multiple copies probably in our homes of it. I thought, I wonder what we've lost. I wonder what we've lost in this age of technology. Do we really get the same stuff out of the Bible today when we read it online that we do when we read the pages? Still today, I can't even read our booklets. This is available online. I'm not going to be able to read it online. I never have been able to. I've got to have the hard copy there in order to digest it well. I can read little snippets of things and whatever, but it's hard to not have the book there.

So I went online and I was wondering about schools because as I see our grandkids, they have iPads and computers they use instead of textbooks, and now you don't have textbooks, you just do everything online. I thought someone must have done a study on this and either proved that it's better to do everything online or better to do textbooks. So I looked it up and sure enough, I found a study. It was done at West Point. The only one of its kind I could find because West Point wanted to know, what is the difference? Should we have all computer, should we have technology in all our classes or should we go back to hard textbooks? What's the difference? Here's what the study concluded. It says, after the average final exam scores among students assigned to classrooms that allowed computers were 18% of a standard deviation lower than exam scores of students in classrooms that prohibited computers.

Now, some fancy words. As test scores were indicating, when they compared them side by side, the kids or the people, the cadets, who were using textbooks were scoring higher on tests than those who were using computers in the classrooms. Through the use of two separate treatment arms, we uncover evidence that this negative effect occurs in classrooms where laptops and tablets are permitted without restriction, and in classrooms where students are only permitted to use tablets that must remain flat on the desk service. This was published in May of 2016, and so it's all over the Internet, but it was done by West Point under another name the study is that they didn't write down. But there's evidence that shows, when we read from the books, much as Mr. Permar was talking about taking notes and writing them down as opposed to computers, there's something about reading things from a book that sticks in our minds better than from a tablet.

Not saying throw away your iPads, not saying that it's a sin to come with an iPad instead of a Bible. What might I suggest? Just suggest. You take the Bible, a hard copy of the Bible, with you to the feast this year. Unpack that. Unpack that and see if it makes a difference in the way you look at the feast when you have the Word of God there with you every single day in every single service.

That would be point two. Let's go back to Nehemiah again and read the rest of the chapter because there's something else that we learn as we unpack some of the things that we might have tucked away unwittingly as we prepare for the feast. As we go on in chapter eight, we see what the people did. Here they are on the Feast of Trumpets. They're reading the book of the law. They're listening attentively to what is being said.

As we move down to verse 12 in chapter eight, we see that they discover something. Verse 12, the people went their way to eat and drink, to send portions, and rejoice greatly because they understood the words that were declared to them. While when we understand God's Word, there is joy. When there is happiness, when we understand God's will and then do it.

Now on the second day, the heads of the Father's houses of all the people with the priests and Levites were gathered to Ezra the scribe in order to understand the words of the law. So they just didn't put it away after the first day. On the second day they were back. We want to know more. We want to know more about what's going on in this book. What are those words that we were reading? How do we apply them? And they found written in the law, which the Lord had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths during the Feast of the Seventh Month.

Oh, that's only two weeks away. We should be in some dwelling place, temporary dwelling places. It's not okay to just keep it at home. It's not okay to just keep it in our homes. Now, there are reasons that we wouldn't dwell in temporary dwelling places, but God knows and we should know what the difference between a real reason and an excuse is.

Moses said that the children of Israel should dwell in booths during the Feast of the Seventh Month and that they should announce and proclaim in all their cities and in Jerusalem, saying, Go out to the mountain, bring olive branches, branches of oil trees, myrtle branches, palm branches, and branches of levi trees to make broods as it is written. This is what we read. We have two weeks. Get out and do it. We only have two weeks to prepare. Don't have months, but you know what? We're going to keep this feast because now we know what it is and we know what God's will for us is. They went out and did it. Didn't say, well, wait till next year. Didn't say, eh, you know, we haven't done it forever and whatever. Let's just... whatever. They went out and did it. And the people went out and they brought them and made themselves booths, each one on the roof of this house, in their courtyards or the courts of the house of God, and in the open square of the water gate, and in the open square of the gate of Abraham.

They knew they couldn't stay in their homes. They needed to be in temporary dwelling places because that's a feature of the feast. Just like we put unleavened bread out of our homes for seven days, during the days of unleavened bread, we dwell in temporary places during the feast of tabernacles during that time, if we're keeping that day those days the way God said. So the whole assembly, verse 17... well, they went out and did it, is the point. Okay? Now verse 18, we read verse 17, there was great gladness. They did it. Now when they did it, there was great gladness among the whole congregation that was there, that did it the way God said. Verse 18, also day by day, from the first day until the last day. Day one of the Feast of Tabernacles, day two, three, four, five, six, seven, eighth day as well. Also, day by day, from the first day until the last day, he read from the book of the Law of God. Just like we do at the Feast of Tabernacles. Seven days plus the eighth day, there's a... at every feast site you go, there's a service planned. Every single day. Just like they did here when they understood the Law and understood temporary dwelling places, every single day they read from the book of the Law.

Every single day, likewise, we should be at the service that God has ordained for us to be. It's not okay to say, today I've got to drive three hours away because we've got to see this site on the other side of the state. That's not a reason, that's an excuse.

What we have to remember is the priorities that we have as we go to the Feast. These people in Nehemiah's time, they understood their priorities. We are there to keep the Feast of God. We have all these other ancillary things that God allows us to do, and he provides for us with the money that we have and everything, but we are there to keep the Feast. It's God's Feast. That's the priority and everything else.

Which is all good to do, and all part of the Feast. Every single Feast site you go to has activities, has features. Nothing is more important than to be where God wants you to be every single day of that Feast. And every single Feast site has a service every single day. So there they were, from the first day until the last day, and they keep the Feast seven days. And on the eighth day, there was a sacred assembly according to the prescribed matter.

No different than what the Church teaches today, following the law of God, exactly the way He said it, understanding the law, understanding why we do it. And when we do it, there's joy. When we do it and understand it, there's what God wants us to have. Keeping the priorities of God.

Let's go back. Let's go back to Deuteronomy 14.

Mr. Permai read this, I think I came in while he was reading about Second Tide. Let me just read Deuteronomy 14 here a few verses again.

Yes, it talks about the Tide that we keep, because God wants us to prepare through the year for these Feasts that we go to.

But let's just read through the first three or four verses here of that section, beginning in verse 22.

And see what the focus is here. Tide is one thing. What's the real thing that we're talking about here? You shall truly Tide, verse 22, all the increase of your grain that the field produces year by year. And you shall eat before the Lord your God in the place where he chooses to make his name abide.

That's where we eat it.

And he talks about the Tide of your grain and all these things that we have accumulated as we have faithfully kept our Tides during the year. 24th, the journey is too long for you, so you're not able to carry the Tide or the place where the Lord your God chooses to put his name is too far from you. When he has blessed you, exchange it for money. Exchange it for money, take the money in your hand, and go to the place which the Lord your God chooses.

Save it. Go to where he says to go. Follow him. It's his feast. He chooses where to go. Not us. Verse 26, spend that money on whatever your heart desires. But notice it doesn't mean go out to, you know, Walmart or Costco and buy all these little presents for yourselves necessarily. Nothing wrong with that. But he's really talking about, hey, you know, they had existences during the year, and they could eat whatever they wanted to during the feast. You've got this 10% of your income at your disposal here as you go to the feast. Spend whatever your heart, spend your money for whatever your heart desires, for oxen or sheep, mine or similar drink, for whatever your heart desires. Eat it. Eat it before the Lord your God in the place he chooses, and you shall rejoice you in your household. The focus is God. Do it where God says to do it. Remember him in what you do, and remember him that the reason that you're there is because of him, that you have the things that you have because you've done what God said to do. Focused on the kingdom, focused on eternity, focused on the coming of Jesus Christ, focused on the millennium, focused on the things that he says that if we do and live our lives the way we prepare for the Feast of Tabernacles in diligence and carefully observing, that's the way for this temporary dwelling, our body, to become the permanent body that God wants us to have. Now, as we go to the Feast, we have 10% of our income at our disposal if we've done things right. One of the things that's nice as a coordinator, and I think everyone who's been in the Church a long time, you hear comments made from people that are at the Feast site, people that like the Injekal Island, the people that are at the convention center and the hotels. They will almost always make the comment, you are the nicest group of people we ever have year-round. You pay attention to what we ask you to do. You're very kind and polite. You're very cognizant of your surroundings, your needs. You clean up after yourselves. Your kids are polite. We don't have the problems that we have with everyone else. And indeed, by and large, that's because of who we are. That's because of what we do. And we set an example of God's way of life when we go to the Feast, and we should be cognizant of that. And remember that when we're there as well. God gives us 10% of our income, and every place we go, there's bars and there's things that we can do, and we could create some mayhem if we want. And, you know, thankfully that doesn't ever happen because of the type of people we are, and because of the Holy Spirit in us. But let's go back to 2 Peter, I believe. 1 Peter. 1 Peter 2.

Because when we're there, we're focused on God, and we not only are doing what God says, but we're being examples of His way of life. We're witnessing of His way of life to all the people on Jekyll Island. All the people at Panama City Beach. All the people in Jamaica. All the people in California. All the people wherever you're going, they're watching. You're a church group. You're doing this thing called Feast of Tabernacles. We don't know exactly what it is. We might think it's kind of silly. They might think it's kind of silly, but they're watching to see who we are. Peter talks about that here in 1 Peter 2.

Verse 11. Notice he begins, verse 11, by reminding us who we are. Beloved, I beg you, as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. We all have those lusts that war against the soul. He's saying, keep it in check. We do it throughout the year. Do it at the feast, too. It's not like you go to Las Vegas and what happens in Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas, right? That's not what the feast is for. Having your conduct, having your conduct, honorable among the Gentiles. Having your conduct, honorable among the Gentiles. We have a responsibility when we go to the feast. Show them who the people of God are. Show them what God's way of life is. It's not a vacation. It's time away for a purpose. But it is a witness to the people around us of what we believe and what God's way of life is. Having your conduct, honorable among the Gentiles. That when they speak against you as evildoers, or if they might say, I don't get these people. I don't understand keeping a Seventh-day Sabbath. I don't understand this feast of tabernacles. They need to come out of the ancient days and come into the 21st century. They may not today call us evildoers, but they may question that even when they question you, even when they have these things to say about you, they may, by your good works, which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation. Somewhere along the line, when they understand, oh, that group of people, that group of people that came to Jekyll Island every year, that group that came to Panama City every year, they were different than all the other people we had. That's what made the difference. Now we get it. They lived by the Word of God. And they were a light to the world, which we should be when we go to the feast. 1 Corinthians 10.

1 Corinthians 10. Verse 31.

Paul tells us, remember what you're there for. Unpack it if you've forgotten. Keep it there and remind yourself as you're there at the feast. Therefore, he says in verse 31, whether you eat or drink, and we'll be doing that wherever we are at the feast, therefore whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Do all to the glory of God. Remember, remind, unpack that if it's been packed away, and keep that there in the forefront of your mind as you're there. Do all to the glory of God.

Now let me quickly run through one thing. We do want to leave it home, and if we've got it packed in our mind and our mindset, we want to unpack it and leave it at home. Leave worry behind. Leave it at home. There's no place for worry at the Feast of Tabernacles. Exodus 34, verse 23, you can read it later. God says, as these people were pilgrimaging to Jerusalem all the time, don't worry about your homes. I am more than capable of taking care of your homes and watching out for your belongings while you're gone. You know, Matthew, Christ said in Matthew 10, you know, God knows every sparrow that falls from the sky. He knows the numbers of hairs on our heads. He knows how many of these hairs are loose every day. If he knows that, do you think that he cannot take care of the things that you have at home? Do you think that he's that unobservant or that absent-minded that when you go and do what he says, that he can't take care of those things? Leave it behind. It's something we should be doing every time. Leaving it to God and trusting him and leaving worry behind. Certainly at the Feast, don't use it as a reason to not go to the Feast because it's more of an excuse, right? God promises, take him at his words. Okay, let's go over to Galatians 2.

Something else to remember as we go to the Feast. You know, the Feast is about God. That's where we're going, to worship him and to honor him. The Feast is not about us. There's a lot of things we get to do at the Feast. Every Feast has a lot of activities. Every Feast has services. It's not all about us. God wants us to be there. He wants us to enjoy. He wants us to be able to have the time that he wants us to. He wants us to learn. He wants us to be inspired. He wants us to have a vision of his kingdom as we all turn together in unity and harmony and peace, which we should be. In Galatians 2, verse 10, setting the setting here for Galatians 2, Paul is talking about, you know, he was trained by Jesus Christ. The apostles in Jerusalem were trained by Jesus Christ as he walked with them three and a half years. They got together. They compared notes. They found out what they believed exactly the same thing. They believed exactly the same thing. They knew who it was who had trained them. And in verse 10, as Paul writes about this, he said, They, the apostles in Jerusalem, they desired only that we should remember the poor, the very thing which I also was eager to do. Remember the poor.

You know, every feast site we go to, there will be those who have a lot of second tithes, and there will be those who have very little second tithes. And just like in our lives, we're told as we practice agape day by day, the feast is a genuinely great opportunity for eight days that we're with each other. All on an island, all in one place, all seeing each other day by day, and even ten days if you're there for the Sabbath and Jekyll Island next Sabbath.

Ten days. It's no other time of the year that we're together that often, at that much, many times. And it's fine to have friends. It's great to have friends. But you know what? We're not there to just hang out with ourselves, our families, or just our friends. Be concerned with everyone. Everyone.

Watch out for the people around you. Watch out what's going on. If you see someone that doesn't love them, not having a good time, befriend them. Talk to them. Practice what we talk about in the feast. Get to know and love the people. You know, I wrote in my letter yesterday what it would have been like when Jesus Christ was alive, and all the people were going to Jerusalem.

It had to be a magnificent time to have all those people around, and the joy that had to be in the air as they were gathered together. For those three times in the year they got together and came to worship God. We have one time to do that. We have one time to do that and to embrace it. It's one of the ways we rejoice and learn how to rejoice. When Jesus Christ returns to earth, it's not just going to be you and him or me and him.

It's going to be us and him. The bride isn't just one bride. It's a whole group of people that make up the bride of Christ who work together and appreciate each other and look out for one another just as Jesus Christ looks out for us. He says, watch out for what's going on. Watch out for your brother. At every single United States feast site we have what's called a Family Helping Family Fund. The reason for that fund, as you'll hear at the feast, is so that everyone can participate in the activities.

If they have very little funds and they can't donate what we might want to have people be at the family day or the dance or whatever the occasion is, people chip in so that everyone can participate. So no one says, I can't afford it. It has to be that way. Everyone's there and we look out for one another and we help one another. Don't forget that. Remember that as you go. Mind yourself as you go. Watch out for other people. Watch out for my brother. I am my brother's keeper. Whether I know them or not, I am my brother's keeper just as Jesus Christ is.

As he watched out for everyone he was on earth. Let me turn to Proverbs 31, just as a point here. Many, many scriptures. I mean basically all through the Bible. When God and his word, how many times does he remind us?

Remember the poor, remember the needy, remember the widow, remember the fatherless, remember those who are less fortunate than you. It's not just about you, it's about the whole group and becoming part of that group and the koinonia that we talked about and the fellowship that he expects us to have.

Proverbs 31, of course, is the proverb that we say is the traits of the virtuous woman. And husbands will look at this and sometimes they'll say, my wife does this, this, this, this, but not this, this, this, this.

That isn't the purpose for the chapter, right? I mean, most of us can say our wives do that. But, you know, no husband, you know, this isn't just for women. This isn't just for women because what is the purpose that God has called us to be? To become the bride of Christ, right? So everything written in here is for every one of us, whether we're men or women, because we all will be the bride of Christ.

And so what we read written here, we just shouldn't be pointing fingers except back at ourselves and do we do this? Would we be a good bride to Christ? What we're developing? Well, you know all the things, but look what's here in the middle of chapter 31, verse 20.

All these things that she does, she works. Her husband trusts her. She trusts her husband. They work together. They're a great team. As they build their lives together, verse 20, she extends her hand to the poor. She reaches out her hands to the needy.

Now we need to be doing that. At the feast, we need to be doing that. In our lives, we need to be doing that.

If we really are letting God prepare us, and if we're doing the things and recognizing the things we need to do as God prepares us for who he wants us to be.

So unpack, unpack, and remind yourselves. Remember, remind ourselves, remember the poor, remember the needy. Look out for other people. Practice the agape that God wants us to. It's a golden opportunity. At the risk of taking another minute, let me, you know, we have a number of people who go to their summer camps in this congregation every year. You know, I'm always heartened when the campers come back and the staff comes back and they're sky high, right? It's been a wonderful seven days that they have it at camp. And you know, during those days, the kids are told no cell phones, no iPads, no technology. Every day begins with God. Middle of the day begins with God. Every day ends with God and teaching about Him along with all the activities that go on. They bond together. They begin to enjoy each other. They come home sky high. And the challenge the parents have is how do we keep that same momentum built up in their lives? Well, it takes some work. But just like that camp is such a great time for those kids, the Feast of Tabernacles is our time to build that. Our time to build that. Our time that we should come back sky high on the way of God. Sky high and so thankful that He called us in this way of life and the picture that we have of what life will be like in the millennium when Jesus Christ returns and everyone is living by that way. If we're keeping the Feast right, if we're doing the things that we need to do, if we're remembering the things that we need to do, we'll taste that. We'll taste it. But if we forget them, if we pack them away and just think, oh, you know what, next year or whatever, then we won't. Now is the time, and between now and the Feast, to preparing our minds for what we need to be doing. I'm not going to turn to Deuteronomy 16, verse 14, but another point is, God commands us to rejoice. Rejoice at the Feast. Right? You see that over and over in the Feast of Tabernacles, rejoice. The coming millennium will be a time of rejoicing for all of mankind as Satan is put away, as people learn the ways of God, and the world becomes a place that we all want it to be, and that even people who aren't in the Church would want it to be if they understood what it meant. Go to the Feast. Do it the way God said. Remember and remind yourself through the time why you're there. Prep your mind in between now and then of what we are doing and what God wants us to do with that Feast and what He wants us to learn. Keep the Feast. Have a great Feast. We will see you on the Day of Atonement.