Unpacking for the Feast

I know what we'll all be doing here this week. We'll all be packing for the feast. I know that you'll all remember everything physical that you need to bring as you pack your clothes and pack your belongings and pack everything that you need for when you're going to be there, whether you're staying at a hotel or a house or anything like that.

But as we prepare for the feast, I want us to maybe unpack a word that we may have packed away several months ago. At the spring festivals, we often talk about the word, remember. Because when God gave us the spring festivals, he says, remember what I did with Israel during that day. Remember what you're doing here. I want us to take that word out of the trunk today. I want to focus on that word as we look forward to the feast and as we prepare for the feast. You might think this is a feast sermon. If you're up in Jekyll, you're not going to hear it again next week. But it's good for us to think about some of these things before we go to the feast so that we can derive from the feast what God wants us to get out of the feast. So let's go back, and I've got five points on things that we can remember as we pack for the feast and as we unpack some of the things that we should be looking at as we prepare. Let's go back to Leviticus 23. Just read God's commands for the Feast of Tabernacles.

In Leviticus 23, he talks about it earlier than that, but in verse 39 he describes some of what we do during this feast that's coming up. Also, on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, he says, When you have gathered in the fruit of the land, you shall keep the feast of the Lord for seven days. On the first day there shall be a Sabbath rest, and on the eighth day a Sabbath rest. So the feast this year begins on next Sunday evening, beginning at sunset, and the Monday the fourteenth is that first day, and then Monday the twenty-first is the eighth day. So we'll be doing exactly what God says there, and he says, And you shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of beautiful trees, branches of palm trees, the vials of leafy trees, and willows of the brook. And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days.

So he talks about these things that the Israelites should do during that time as they commemorate and remember what this day and what this festival is about. He says, You shall keep it as a feast of the Lord for seven days in the year. It will be a statute forever. And you remember the Hebrew word for forever is olam. As long as there's a heaven and earth, you know, keep this day. It shall be a statute forever in your generations, celebrated in the seventh month. Verse 42, Now, the equivalent of the native Israelites today is us, right? Those who are baptized, those who have become spiritual Israelites, those who have repented. Turn to God with all our heart, mind, and soul, baptized, received the Holy Spirit. He says, When you keep this feast, you dwell in booths. And of course, the Hebrew word that's translated booths there is the older King James. I think it says, Tabernacles there is sukkot. It means a temporary dwelling place. So what God is saying is, For those seven days, you don't do it at home. You go and you keep the feast in a temporary dwelling. And there's significance to that temporary dwelling that we do. That God says, This is where you keep the feast. This is how you do it, all of you who are native Israelites. Do it. In verse 43, he tells why, So he said, When you keep this feast, remember what I did to them, to ancient Israel. And for us at Ebi, you remember what I did to you. In the spring feast, we remember what God brought us out of the world. He delivered us from Egypt. He took us out of the world, and he's taking us to a Promised Land, just like he was the ancient Israelites. To us today, he says, When you go, remember, remember what you're going there for, and remember why you're staying there. Because there's significance to it. It's not just a matter of a vacation to get away from the house for eight days. That's important, because God does say, I want you to come out of the world. I don't want you to be there. I want you to be with everyone else for eight days. But I want you to dwell in temporary dwellings. And this temporary dwelling, you know, some people would want to argue we should be living in huts and tents and whatever. You know, whether it's the nicest condo in Jekyll Island, or the barest accommodations that you have in Jekyll Island, it's still a temporary dwelling. That's what God wants us to realize. We're there to serve Him in a temporary place. And the temporary place that we live in during that time should remind us of something that God wants us to remember during the Feast of Tabernacles.

Why temporary and why away from home? Well, let's go back because let's go back to 2 Peter. In 2 Peter, there's something about the temporary dwellings, you know, that we live in during the Feast that should remind us of who we are and what we're doing in this world and what we are today and what we look forward to. In 2 Peter 1, and beginning in verse 12, Peter, in this chapter, he kind of lays out the steps to the Christian life. And at the end of it, you know, we read last week about, you know, if you do these things and you make your calling and election, sure. He goes on in verse 12 of that with that thought in mind. He says, For this reason I will not be negligent to, and there's another word that we can dig out of our trunk, remind, okay, I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth. So we know these things. I mean, those of us who have been around a while, we know what the Feast of Tabernacles is, but we do need to be reminded of what we're doing, why we're doing it, what it signifies. Because sometimes if we just let it happen, it's like, oh, you know, the focus is all on the physical. Look at the place we get to stay. Look at what we get to do and everything. And that isn't where our primary focus should be. For this reason, he says, I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know, and are established in the present truth. Yes, I think it's right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you. Now, that word, tent, that he says, when he was referring to himself, is a temporary dwelling place, the Hebrew equivalent of sukkot. So he says, you know, I am in this tent. I'm in this temporary body. This is where I dwell today.

But this isn't my eternal body, this flesh and blood. This is a temporary dwelling that I have. He goes on to say, in verse 14, knowing that shortly I must put off my tent. I'm not going to be in this temporary dwelling forever. This is where I am today, and there's lessons that I learn in my temporary dwelling today in this body that will stand me in good stead for the rest of my eternal life. And it's God's purpose that we are in these temporary bodies, these temporary dwelling places, to learn the things and develop the character that he wants us to have that will allow us to serve him and whoever else we serve for the rest of eternity. And when we're at the Feast of Tabernacles, in a temporary place, we should remember this is not our permanent existence. We're here for eight days in a temporary dwelling place, and that has significance to us if we remember that. And when we're there, we look forward to a better place than this temporary existence that we have, this temporary tent that we dwell in. And that's part of the lesson of the Feast of Tabernacles. Paul says the same thing. Let's turn to 2 Corinthians. He says it in a slightly different way than Peter, but he understood the temporariness of the body that we live in, and the analogy of that to the temporary dwelling that we go to when we go to the Feast of Tabernacles. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 1, he says, For we know that if our earthly house, this tent that is us today is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

If this temporary dwelling is disappeared, this isn't the permanent place. We look forward to something different. We look for something too permanent. This is not the permanent body that God has us in. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation, which is from heaven.

If we really are praying, thy kingdom come, if we really want that, we long for the day when we will be in a spiritual body that will last forever, and we don't hold dearly and so tightly to this physical body. Yes, we do things to keep it healthy. Yes, we do things to make sure that we are doing what we should do.

But we realize this is just temporary, a precursor to what eternity is. For in this we groan, he says in verse 2, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation, which is from heaven. If indeed, having been clothed, because God does give us, as he says in verse 5, a down payment on that eternity when he puts his Holy Spirit in us, If indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. 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.

Paul got it. This is a temporary dwelling place. When we're at the feast, we should remember there's a reason we're in these temporary dwelling places.

There's a reason that God has us, and we should be reminded of that and continually remind ourselves of that thing, of that precept or concept that we're living.

And while we're up there, focusing on what the purpose of this festival is, looking forward to be delivered from these temporary bodies to the place that Jesus Christ would have us be.

Let's go back to Hosea. As you're turning back to Hosea, I remind you of physical Israel. We talked about physical Israel a few months ago.

They have a place in the millennial reign of Jesus Christ, too. Physical Israel is there. They have their job in working with Jesus Christ in Jerusalem.

And remember, it says that physical Israel, as they realize what they've done to God, they will loathe themselves. It tells us in Ezekiel 6 and 7, they will turn to God.

And God says He will bring Israel back to the place that He promised their fathers. Here in Hosea 12, verse 9, Hosea writes, under inspiration from God, repeating what God inspired him to write, But I am the eternal your God, ever since the land of Egypt. I am the same God who was back there. I am the same God who is there with you. Now, I am the eternal your God ever since the land of Egypt.

I will again make you dwell intense, as in the days of the appointed feast.

When I bring you back, Israel, you're going to live in temporary dwellings. Even what you dwell in, physical Israel, in the millennium, isn't the permanent house. It's a temporary place.

I will again make you dwell intense, as in the days of the appointed feast. The feast that we're reminded, this is temporary.

We look forward and we groan for the time when we are in our permanent home, but today, we're not. We're exactly where God wants us to be, and we treasure life, we treasure it, and we live it fully the way God said.

But it isn't the permanent home.

Let's go forward. Forward to Hebrews.

You know, as you think about what God had the patriarchs do in ancient Israel.

They all were living in a temporary place. Israel, when God brought them out of Egypt for 40 years, 40 years, they never had a permanent home.

They were moving from place to place as God ordained. When the cloud moved or the pillar of fire moved, they moved.

They didn't have a stake and say, we're going to be here for 40 years. They were in temporary places until God brought them in to the Promised Land.

And that was their home in a physical sense.

You look back at Abraham, you know, the patriarch, if you will. Abraham never had a permanent home. Abraham was a nomad. He moved from place to place.

He didn't have a house like you and I have, that he could say, this is my home, I go here every night. And God moved him around several times, right? Even from the place when he was first called and baptized, God said, get out of here. Go to the place that I show you to.

I show you. So, let's look at Hebrews 11.

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.

I'll just trust God. Wherever he leads, I will go.

By faith, he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents, a temporary place, never permanent, 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.

My life is here. It's temporary. Now, God greatly blessed Abraham.

He had great wealth. It wasn't like he was living in a very meager existence.

God blessed him, and we know he was a wealthy man, but he knew it was temporary what he was doing.

And what he looked for was the same thing you and I should be looking for.

The permanent, the permanent residence, the permanent land that God will take us to, the promised land that he has given to all of us.

And we're at the Feast of Tabernacles to remember, as we're in those temporary dwellings, no matter how nice they are or no matter how meager they are, what we're reminded of is we are here temporarily.

We look forward to the time when, if you and I follow God's principles the way he has opened our minds to and given us the Holy Spirit, that we can, that we would be, at the time of the millennium, in our permanent spirit bodies.

If we go down to verse 13, it speaks of all the people in Hebrews that are listed here. It says, These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, just as we see things afar off. We know what today's picture, we know what God has promised us.

We see them afar off, we don't have, haven't gotten them, haven't received them today, but having seen them afar off or assured of them, embrace them, and confess that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

This is not our permanent place. This is not where we reside permanently.

Same thing we should rehearse or remind ourselves of as we go to the feast. For those who say such things, declare plainly that they do seek a homeland.

I won't read verse 15. They realize the country they're in, if they made that their permanent home, they'd have an opportunity to go back. But we shouldn't look at things that way.

God has called us to look forward to His home. And when we're at the feast, we should remind ourselves in these temporary bodies, in these temporary dwelling places, we learn.

We learn and we look forward to what God has called us to.

Now, let's look back at Deuteronomy 8.

Now, as we look at what God teaches us, similar to what He has taught ancient Israel as they moved from place to place, and as they were 40 years in a temporary dwelling place until He brought them into their permanent home, the Promised Land, as Moses was dying, He reminded them of some things that we should remember as we go to the feast of Tabernacles.

Now, we have these temporary places that we go. In Deuteronomy 8, verse 1, Moses reminds Israel and He reminds us, 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 of which the Lord swore to your fathers.

And similarly for us, if we want to be in God's kingdom, if we want to be with Jesus Christ in His millennial reign, if we want that permanent home, we have to be careful to obey. Obey what God says to do.

Even when it counters what our will is, or even the excuses that we have that we do His will exactly and deny self, which God is looking to see that we will obey Him implicitly. So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you didn't know, nor your fathers knew, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. This Bible. This is the word that we follow. This is the food we should be digesting. This is the food that should fuel us and that should change us, that our lives look more and more like Jesus Christ. That's what we do, and as we go to the feast to remember those things. Now that was what they did in the 40 years. They're about to cross over Israel as Moses is about to die and as they're going to cross over into the Promised Land. If we drop down to verse 7, we know we're here in a similar situation to ancient Israel. For 40 years, 50 years, 60 years, 10 years, 5 years, 1 year, whatever, how many years God has been leading us through the wilderness of this life. So as for Moses, he reminds them where they're going as they look forward to the place that God is going to take them. Therefore, you shall keep the... I'm sorry, verse 7. For the eternal your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, a land that flow out of valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey. And he reminds them in verse 11, you know, keep your focus on what God is telling you. The land I'm bringing you into is so far superior than anything you have today. No matter how much wealth we have or how little we have, whatever we have pales in comparison to what God is bringing us into.

Beware, he says, that you don't forget the eternal your God by not keeping his commandments. I'm in verse 11. By not keeping his commandments, his judgments and his statutes, which I command you today. Remember who you are. Remember why you're here. When you're at this Feast of Tabernacles, remember where you are. You're to be living in temporary dwellings during that time because there's a reason that God says, Israel, my people, shall be in temporary dwellings during that time. You know, we can go over here in Deuteronomy. Let's go forward to Deuteronomy 16 because God expands on his command for the Feast of Tabernacles in Deuteronomy 16.

Verse 13 says, Deuteronomy 16, 13, And you shall 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 and your female servant, and the Levite, the stranger and the fatherless, and the widow who are within your gates. Your household should observe the feast.

Sometimes, and once in a while I hear, well, it's only the male who has to go to the feast. As it was verse 14 tells me, the people we should be going to the feast, our households should be observing the feast, as God commands. In verse 15, it says, Well, in ancient Israel's times and in Judea's time, that place was Jerusalem. You remember, as the people would pilgrimage three times a year, as we will doubtless, wherever you are for the feast, on the first holy day there. We talk about the offering. They'll read verse 16.

People pilgrimage to Jerusalem three times a year back in those days. That's where God wanted them to keep the feast. Today, we don't go to Jerusalem for the feast, but there are places throughout the United States, throughout the world, that God has appointed for his people to go to keep the feast. And, if we're obeying God's commands, that's where we will be. That's where we will be in one of those places that God has put his name for his people to keep his feast.

It's not difficult to understand when you read the Bible. And when you read through what he says, this is what my will is, this is an important feast, this is an important lesson that you learn from it. If you remember what you're going there for, if you are reminded of why we're going there, and not just for the activities, not just for the good food, not just for the housing and the beach or the mountains or whatever, you know, those other things that are great to observe during the feast, but shouldn't be the primary reason or focus for us going.

Because if we're going to enjoy the feast and derive from it what God wants us to, we need to remember why we're there. And it's not just for those things. Those things are important, and every single feast site has activities, and those are all part of being together and enjoying the feast. But those things aren't the primary reason that we're there. So he says, go to the place where the Lord your God chooses, because he will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you surely rejoice.

Do what he says to do. Do what he says to do, and you'll rejoice. It's a simple concept, right? When we do what God tells us to do, we're happy. When we're in concert with God, good things result. Now we can go to the book of Nehemiah. In Nehemiah, we find a group of people who are keeping the feast that we're about to embark on here, with the Feast of Tabernacles in a week. And in verse 17, if we look at Nehemiah 8, verse 17, it says, and we're going to go back and look at some of the verses here that lead up to verse 17, but in a transition from the first point, you know, remember what we're going for, why we are going, and why we're living in temporary places, and what we're going to the feast for.

Unpack that word, remember. Remember it this week. Remind yourself when you're there why we're there. Verse 17 of Nehemiah 8. So it says, so the whole assembly of those who had returned from the captivity, and this is the time, of course, when Judah had been conquered, now they're back, they're rebuilding the temple, and all this. So all this whole assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths.

Okay? They were at the Feast of Tabernacles, and they sat under those booths. For since the days of Joshua, the son of Nun, until that day the children of Israel had not done so. They kind of had allowed this festival to just kind of go by the wayside. They weren't paying attention to it. But now it's come to their attention, they're doing what God said. And as we'll see in a minute, you know, they didn't have months and months to prepare. They learned and they did it. Notice what it says.

And there was very great gladness. There was very great gladness. When we do the things of God, when we follow His principles, there's great gladness. So when you go to the Feast, when you go to that place for seven days, you know, seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles, the last great day, the eighth day, whatever you want to call it, when we do God's will, there is gladness. And He does bless us for what we do when we follow His principle.

And all too often we forget that and think that there's other ways around it when God is pretty clear in His word of what He expects when we keep this seven-day Feast with an eighth day to act on to it. So the second point, let's go back and let's remember something else. And let's see how these people back in Nehemiah observed the Holy Days because it starts off here with the Feast of Trumpets that we just observed this past Monday.

And let's read through a little bit of chapter 8 here and see what they did. It says, Now all the people, verse 1 of chapter 8, gathered together as one man in the open square that was in front of the water gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the eternal had commanded Israel. So here they are all in one place. They're all gathered together, much like we're gathered together here today. Here they are, one and two, and they say, you know what?

Bring God's law here. Now we're gathered together. We're here on His Holy Day. Let's let His Word be the focus. 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. So there they were on the first day of the seventh month, commanded assembly. They were together. And what were they focused on? The Word of God, just like you and I.

This past Monday we were together. We focused on the Word of God, just like we're here on the Sabbath day. We come together. We focus on the Word of God. They were doing exactly the same thing. Verse 3, then he read from it in the open square that was in front of the water gate from morning until midday.

That's more than an hour, right? Their church service is a little longer than what we have today, but for several hours there in the morning, they were reading from God's law. The people were all gathered there and they were hearing that. Before the men, he was reading that 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 listening to it. They were digesting it. They were hearing what the will of God was, and their ears were paying attention to it. It just didn't, you know, it wasn't just nice words. It wasn't just things that they did just because it was rote and the things that they do.

They were listening attentively. As they were listening attentively, they realized, man, there are some things that we just haven't done. There are some things in God's law that we haven't done. Ezra the scribe stood on a platform of wood, which they had made for the purpose. Beside him, he had some people. So, you know what? We today, we don't have a stage here, but we have kind of a stage here. Ezra was up on that stage. In Orlando, we have a stage. That was there. Some of the people that supported him or around him, you see those on the newscast, you see where someone is speaking and they have all their supporting cast behind him.

That's kind of what the scene was there in Israel. Ezra was reading from the book, and he had his supporting people there on the stage with him. The significance was we all support what Ezra is reading. We all support what is going on and what is being read here. So they have a setting similar to what we have today. And Ezra, verse 5, opened the book in the sight of all the people.

Just like whoever is speaking to you opens the book in the sight of all the people, for he was standing above the people. And when he opened it, notice all the people stood up. Now, I don't know if they commanded them, if they orchestrated that and said, you know what? When Ezra does this, everyone should stand up, or if it was just the Spirit of God that had them all stand up in reverence of what they were about to hear.

Because when we hear the Word of God, when we read from the Word of God, it's the most special thing that we should ever experience. And the people recognized that. And as Ezra opened that book, they just rose up in respect to God, in respect to what was going to be read, of what was happening there that day.

And Ezra blessed the eternal, verse 6, the Great God. And all the people answered, Amen. Amen. Similarly to what we do when we have our opening and closing prayers. While lifting up their hands, and they bowed their heads and worshipped God with their faces to the ground. Deep respect for what they were about to enter into. This was a special time in their existence, a special ceremony here on the first day of the seventh month as they observed this holy day.

They were grateful. They wanted to learn. They wanted to please God. And then in verse 7 it names all these names and says in the last part of verse 7, these people helped the people to understand the law. And the people stood in their place. They read it, but then they also learned it. What does it mean? How do we apply it into our lives? What do we do with it? How do we make it part of our everyday lives?

The same thing you and I do when we read in the Bible and when we come to services. And when you're at the feast, you're going to be hearing what, eight to ten sermons during that time, a number of sermonettes during that time. There will be Bible studies during that time. All those things, you know, they're similar to what's going on here that God ordains for us to do.

And those messages are going to explain what do we need to do? What do we need to remember? Here's the principle of the Bible. What do we do with it? The same thing that you hear as you come here.

I hope every Sabbath when we're here. So verse 8, so they read distinctly from the book in the law of God, and they gave the sense and helped them to understand the meaning. Here's what it says. Here's what it means. Here's how you should apply it into your lives. And for the people, it was an interesting day as they did that. And as we read in verse 17, they learned about this feast of tabernacles, but they hadn't been keeping it the way. And they immediately went out, and they made provisions to keep that feast exactly the way God said in that law.

They didn't hesitate. They didn't say, well, it's too late. We'll do that next year. This is what God says. This is what we're going to do.

I want to back up because my second point is we find embedded here in these verses. If we look back at the scene that's occurring there on the first day of the seventh month, and Ezra is standing up before the people. They're all gathered before him in the open gates. They're there before God's presence. What is the main attraction of that day? Is it the fact that they're gathered together there? That's an important thing. They're doing exactly what God said. Is it Ezra? Is he the one that they're there to hear? No, the star of that day, if you will. The main thing of that day was the Word of God. The Word of God. And as Ezra stood up before the people, remember it said, when he opened the book, when he opened the book, the people stood up.

There's something about the Bible, the physical Bible that's bound however your Bible is.

Throughout the ages, in the Jews' time, they transcribed this Bible over and over painstakingly. And as people saw the scrolls of the Bible, they knew exactly what it was. The only thing that was was the Word of God. You know, when I walk through my house and I see my Bible laying on my table, it gives me a feeling of comfort.

When I see it, the only thing that is is the Word of God. When I see you walking in with your Bibles, I know what you have in your hands. The Bible usually looks totally different than any other book you have in your library. Now today, more and more, publishers are making books, the Bible looked just like every other book. I've shied away from those because the Bible is a special thing.

The most important physical treasure we have is this Word of God. And as the people gathered there together and they were in awe of that Bible, it makes me think about what we do and how things have occurred today. You know, I look out and there's nothing wrong with using iPads and phones and whatever for Bible reading and whatever, and they can be very helpful. You know, computers can be very helpful.

They save a lot of time when you're looking at the coordinates when you want to compare other translations of the Bible. But there's nothing like having the paper Bible in your hands, at least to me. There's something that is always there. You know, when I was growing up, when I saw my dad sitting in a chair with a Bible, I didn't have to know what he was reading. I didn't have to say, what book are you reading there? I knew it was the Bible. If he was sitting there with an iPad in his hands, I might just be thinking, well, what are you doing? What are you doing, right?

Because you can do all sorts of things on an iPad or a phone. There's only one thing you can do with the Bible. There's only one thing it signifies. So I would suggest, and it's certainly not a requirement, but as we go to the feast this year, perhaps we unpack our hard copies of the Bible and take those with us.

Take those with us. And when you're there in services every day, turn in your Bible to what the man is speaking about. There is something about flipping those pages. You know, a few years ago, we were up at my son's house where our grandkids live, and they don't go to any church. We had the Bibles out. There was a Sabbath morning, and a little granddaughter, she would have been like seven or eight at that time, she picked up on it, thought, this is, you know, this Bible. And all she wanted to do was just sit and flip the pages.

Flip the pages back and forth, and she was absolutely fascinated by it. And she told me to know from my wife, what is this book? What is this book? It's different than any other book. And she just kept flipping pages. She must have done that for an hour. She was fascinated by the way that book was. Every time we're up there now, she sees that Bible. She sees that Bible, and she knows this, you know, in her house, they're not paying attention to it, but she knows when she sees it, there's something about that Bible.

You know, the Bible is a very public book. A very public book. When we carry a Bible, we're witnessing of what we believe, aren't we? We're witnessing of what we believe. I think it would be great at Jekyll Island to see 600-some people walking in with Bibles every day. So the people on that island know these are people who trust in the Word of God.

They saw it for years past. In the 50-some years we've been on Jekyll Island, when there used to be thousands of people going there, there were no iPads, there were just Bibles, and they knew who we were. I would suggest, you know, let's go back to what the Bible, the hard Bible, and do some of the things of old and recapture that book. Recapture the reverence of this Word of God in its physical sense.

Give a witness of who we are, and give a reminder of ourselves of how special this book is, this Word of God that is distinct from every other thing in your house. As I was preparing this, I was thinking about how much computers have changed our lives. I know even in elementary school, they replaced textbooks, textbooks with computers now, right?

We have iPads, we have all these things that kids work on, even our grandkids. They don't have textbooks anymore. They have all their textbooks, social studies, and whatever on the computer. So I wondered, well, as that's going on, what is happening? Is that better for the kids, or whatever? There was a study that's out there where they did it with college kids to see, is it better for kids to be reading on the computer, or were these hard copy textbooks, maybe did they have some benefit when they had a book in their hands and they were flipping pages and reading?

It was a study that was done at West Point, of all places, because they wanted to see what is the difference between computers and hard copy at West Point. Here's what the study says.

This was unrelated to the Bible, but tells us, there's something about reading a hard copy as opposed to reading from a computer. The study concluded that 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. So even on tests, when they were reading hard copies and not allowing computers in the classrooms but hard copy textbooks, standard test scores were lower in places that used the computer versus those that used hard copies.

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 surface. It was published in May of 2016 by whatever the name of the group was that did that study at West Point. So there is evidence that there is some value to reading from a book. What we did forever, what we ever did forever from the time mankind was there, was very good. And now that we've gone technologically advanced, if you will, we might have done ourselves some harm in that way.

I hope it never doesn't affect us in our Bible reading and adherence to it as well. So you might want to remember your hard copy Bible and take it with you this year. So that would be number two. Let's go back to Nehemiah. There's a third point we can look at here in Nehemiah as we prepare for the feast. If we want it to be a feast of gladness and a face, that we come back with the inspiration that God would want us to have as we go here.

Let's drop down to verse 12 of Nehemiah 8. Verse 12 says, So it just didn't end on the first. They didn't go back on the second day of the seventh month and just go back to life. It's like we want to know more about this. And they found written in the law, which the eternal command had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths during the feast of the seventh month. Oh, we read verse 17. Remember, they hadn't done this from the time of Joshua. Okay, now we're reading the law. What does that mean?

So they found 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, bring in these branches, make yourselves these temporary dwellings, just as God said. Now we've learned it on the second day of the seventh month. By the fifteenth of the seventh month, we need to be living in temporary dwellings. There's significance to this feast.

And the people went out, verse 16, and they bought them and made themselves temporary dwellings, booths. They're at that time on the roof of their houses, and their courtyards are the courts of the house of God, and the open square of the water gate, and the open square of the gate of Ephraim. They knew they shouldn't be in their homes for the feast. They needed to be in temporary dwellings. And they began to seek and learn, what does it mean, these temporary dwellings, the same thing that we've talked about.

And then in verse 17, it says, The whole assembly of those who had returned did this. They all did it, and there was great gladness because they did it. Verse 18, Also day by day, from the first day until the last day, he read from the book of the law of God. All seven days, all eight days of the feast, every single day they were reading from the book of the law.

Every single day, wherever you're at for the Feast of Tabernacles, there will be a service. Every single day. Every single day, words from the book of the law will, or the book of the Bible, will be read.

Those people were there every day. As we go to the feast, we should remember what our priorities are and why we're there. We should be, if we physically can and we're not ill, we should be at the feast and in a service every single day.

It's not a good excuse because the amusement park is only open at 10 o'clock in the morning, and that's when service is ours. It's not a good excuse, so we have to drive three hours to get someplace to see it. And, misservices, the priority is you're there to hear the Word of God.

Every single day.

Just like every single day, there is a service that is there. As we go to the feast, we read in Deuteronomy 8, God is looking, are you going to obey me or not? Where is your heart? Where is your purpose? What are you really doing?

Will you learn in this temporary existence, this temporary body, to do what I say? Because I'm testing you, I'm watching, to see if you really want to serve me in the way that I have called you to serve for eternity. Do you really want that spiritual, permanent body that God will give us to, that God will give to us? If we show Him by our actions and choices, yes, this is what we desire. And we're willing to forego our own desires, or the desires of our children, to do what you want. So as we go to the feast, remember the priorities. It's easy to get off our priorities when you have this and this and this going on, and all these little things that happen, and some very nice sights around the world that God has placed His name for us to observe the feast. But remember the priorities. Let's go to Deuteronomy 14. Deuteronomy 14, God gives us the principle of what we call the second tithe, the festival tithe. I'm going to read through some verses here, but my primary purpose is not to talk about the second tithe. That's something we should have been saving all year long as we prepare for the feast, so that when we come to the feast, we're ready to observe it. And we're not scrambling at the last minute wondering what we're going to do. Deuteronomy 14, verse 22, as we read through verse 27, let's look what the focus is as we go to the feast. Verse 22, Deuteronomy 14 says, Do that. Go there. Save it. Why? That you learn to fear God always.

But, he says in verse 24, if the journey is too long for you so you're not able to carry the tithe, or if 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. Take the money in your hand and go to the place which the Lord your God chooses. If it's too far to carry it, exchange it for money, go. Still go to where he says for you to be. And spend that money on for whatever your heart desires, for oxen or sheep, wine or similar drink, for whatever your heart desires you shall eat.

Now, notice it doesn't say there any physical thing. What you want to eat, you know, we don't go out there and make it kind of a quasi-Christmas, okay? Ah, God says whatever my heart desires. I'll have that. Well, you know, we want to pay attention to what the real purpose for the feast is. It's not to get all these things. You shall spend that money for whatever your heart desires, for oxen, sheep, wine or similar drink, for whatever your heart desires you shall eat there before the Lord your God and you shall rejoice you in your household.

Don't forsake the Levite who's within your gates, for he has no part nor inheritance with you. So if we look at that, what is the focus? I mean, God is telling us how to finance, if you will, to go to the feast. Prepare year-round. It teaches us we always have our eyes on the kingdom. We always have our eyes on the millennium. We always have our eyes on the future as we save our second tithe and put it away dutifully and preserve it for that time.

But the real focus in these verses is that the feast is about God. That's the purpose of the feast. When you read through there, we are there to glorify God. We are there to obey God. We are there to do what he says, first and foremost, and not our desires. Those are there. Those are important. God says, I want you to enjoy because the feast that you're picturing is a millennium in where there will be plenty for everyone. There will be joy, there will be peace, there will be harmony, there will be abundance. But it's about God. He's the one who brings that about. He's the one and the reason that we go to Jekyll Island, Panama City Beach, or wherever we're going for the feast. He's the reason we're going. He's the one who has let us know what this is, what these days are, and what they represent.

When we're there, we're to glorify him.

You know, as we go to the feast, I think one of the things you probably hear every year, when you coordinate a feast, you hear it. You hear it, and it's always gratifying to hear. As you go to Jekyll Island or other places that you may go, how complimented they are of the people of God?

Of all the groups we have come in, you guys are the best. You're orderly. You pay attention to what we have to say. You pick up after yourselves. You're a joy to have here. And invariably, at every feast site, you hear that. And that's good. That's a witness of what God wants us to do. Let's look at 1 Peter. 1 Peter 1.

1 Peter 1 and verse 11.

I'm sorry, 1 Peter 2. 1 Peter 2 and verse 11. Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, see what Peter's reminding us of? We're in temporary dwellings here. Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul.

We do that every day of our lives. During the feast, we have more money at our disposal. We can go out and buy all the liquor we want, right? We can buy all of anything we want, because we have 10% of what we made during the year to use in just a week. Maybe even more at the Feast of Tabernacles we abstain from lusts. Do what God says. Enjoy it, absolutely, but don't give in to what we might overdo. Abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. Having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, maybe they look at what we believe and say, don't get it. Don't understand why these people keep Saturday. Don't understand why this. Don't understand that. As time goes on and they don't understand some of the things that we believe, as the world begins to spotlight maybe some of our beliefs that they disagree with, I don't agree with what they say, but look at their conduct. Look how they act. When they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation. Sometime down the road, they're going to remember the example that you set and I set, and that we set at Jekyll Island, that we set at Panama City Beach, that we set at every feast site. Oh, look at those people. I remember that group. Their beliefs were strange. I didn't want to believe what they had to say, but look at the people, the type of people they were. They weren't throwing the drunken revelry parties. We didn't have to call police on them. The police weren't on notice, you know, yeah, we got a group coming in, and it's going to be a disorderly group, and we're going to have to watch what's going on. They were different than the other groups they had. They treated where we were with respect. They were respectful when we asked them to do something. The thesis of time, to be a witness of what God's way of life is as well. A light to the world. We're there wherever we are, and no matter what size the group, we're a considerable group in the presence of those people. They know we're there. We make a difference in their economy. We make a difference in their restaurants and everything. They see what we do, and they watch what we do. And they know, for instance, on Jekyll Island, for 50 years, 56 years, I guess, now, they know exactly who we are. They know what to expect. They know the church. They may not agree with it, but they know it. So we have an example. Rejoice. Enjoy the blessings that God has given you. Absolutely. I'm not saying don't do that. But also keep an eye on what we're there to do, and that is to bring glory to God's name. 1 Corinthians 10. 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 31. Paul makes a blanket statement for every day of our lives, not just the Feast of Tabernacles. It certainly applies during the Feast of Tabernacles. He says, Therefore, 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 31, whether you eat or drink, we'll be eating and drinking. Therefore, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Do all to the glory of God. When we're there at the Feast, remember to remind yourself, I'm rejoicing. I'm going to do what God has asked me to do. I'm going to do it to the glory of God. Let me just briefly mention something that if we have it packed already in our minds, that we would unpack before we go to the Feast.

One of the things we could unpack is worry. We can worry about our homes. We can worry about what we're leaving behind. God says, you can mark it out in Exodus 34 verse 23, where He says, Don't worry. I'm asking you to do this. Don't you know that I'm capable of watching over what you have behind there? You don't have to worry. You don't have to fret yourself of it. Go and do what I say, and trust me. If God knows, as He says in Matthew 10 verse 29, 30 in that area, that He knows that every hair on our head, if He knows every sparrow that falls to the ground, I guarantee you He knows what's going on with our homes, our belongings, our jobs, and everything else like that. We can go, and we can trust God, and we can remind ourselves He knows. He knows, and He's capable of doing that, and leave the worry behind, the worry that might dominate our lives so many times during the year, we should learn to leave it behind, and trust Him, and trust Him, and pack that. Unpack the worry. Pack the trust as you go to God, as you go to the feast this year. Another thing, you know, let's turn to Galatians. Galatians 2.

Another thing that we can pack and remember, you know, as we go to the feast, is it's not just about us. We're there among 500, 600, if it's Panama City Beach, 900, 1000, whatever it is, people at your feast site. It's not all about us.

Just like our daily lives isn't all about us. If all we're focused on ends with us, then we're missing the point of God's calling. We have a responsibility to each other. God has put us in a body. The Koinonia that we talked about a few weeks ago, the fellowship, what an opportunity that we have at the Feast of Tabernacles to do something we can't do. There are the other 51 weeks of the year. For eight days, nine days, when you're up there on the Sunday the 13th, and as you're at services, if you're up there on the 12th for our Sabbath services, 11 days, I guess, we have an opportunity to be with each other out of the world.

We're not working. We're there with each other day in and day out. What an opportunity to practice fellowship and to be watching out for the needs of others. You know, here in this congregation we don't have a lot of teens and whatever, but some of you have been to camps and whatever. I'm always heartened when I see the Orlando teens and the people who work at the staff up there at those summer camps come back.

They are on a high when they get back. For seven days they've been up there. The teens aren't allowed to have any cell phones. They're not allowed to have any iPads. There's no technology up there. They have to bring hard copy Bibles, and they have to work and live with one another.

And they come back sky high. They come back with relationships. And the challenge for parents is, you know, you need to keep that zone going for the rest of the year somehow. Don't let it go back to where they were before. Kind of learn what they do at camp so that your kids are excited about what's going on. You know, the Feast of Tabernacles should be like that for us. It's eight days. Eight days that we have an opportunity to be with one another. Eight days we have an opportunity to go out to dinner with one another, watch out for one another, see what's going on with one another.

You know, Galatians 2, in verse 10, Paul is speaking when he and Peter got together, and they realized Jesus Christ taught him the same things. They had no difference. They had no difference in the beliefs that the apostles who walked with Jesus Christ had and what Peter had. It says in verse 10, They desired only that we should remember the poor, the very thing which I was also eager to do. You know what? While we're at the Feast, remember the poor. Not everyone has the same blessings that we might have. Not everyone has as much second tithe as we might have.

Watch out for them. Keep your eye out for them. Make sure they're participating, and they're not just having to go back to their hotel room and do nothing. Keep an eye out for one another. See where the needs are and fill it. This is an opportunity to do that. That we're all together. Every feast site, every single feast site is going to have group activities. At Jekyll, if you've seen the schedule, we have something going on every single day of the week. And there will be other opportunities for people to get together. You know, we have at each feast site, one of the reasons we put it in was as family helping family fund, because we want everyone to be able to participate and not have funds be an issue with anyone.

That everyone can do and be with one another. Watch out for one another. It's an opportunity to do that and to get to know people and to learn to love people. I mentioned my letter yesterday about, I wonder what it was like when Jesus Christ was on earth and all those thousands of people came up to Jerusalem. What a joyous time it had to be to see all those people in Jerusalem. In a limited way, we have that to look forward to wherever we're going.

An opportunity for eight days to be with one another, to learn from one another, to look for one another, to get to know one another. Take that opportunity. Remember the reason you're there. Remember the reason the God said, come out of the world and be there. Be there with all of your people and leave the world behind.

Proverbs 31.

Proverbs 31.

There are so many places in the Bible I could turn to. Proverbs 31 is one of them where God is defining a virtuous woman. I remember when we read about a virtuous woman, it's the females in our existence who would do this, but every single one of us. What's our future? To become the bride of Christ. So when we read this, men, we don't say, oh, that's my wife's problem. My wife has to do this. Uh-uh. It's for every single one of us when we look at what our future is and what God has called us to. Proverbs 31.

And verse 20, as it defines all these things that a good wife does and how she works, and her husband respects her as well, says, she extends, extends, verse 20, her hand to the poor. She reaches out her hands to the needy. Wherever you read about what God's will is, whenever you read it, He always mentions, watch out for the poor. Watch out for the needy. Take care of them. Don't have your focus only on yourself. Make sure you're watching out because we all take care of one another, and we're there to help each other. And to bind together as a family. This is an opportunity when you're there. Remember it's an opportunity. Yes, an opportunity to have fun. Yes, an opportunity to eat good food. Yes, an opportunity to do things and see things. Remember the priorities. Remember the things that we need to do. And don't let the feast, if you want it to be a feast of joy, a feast of rejoicing, do the things that God said. Remember those things as you're there. And remind yourself and prepare ourselves ahead of time for those things as well. My last point. My last point. Turn back to Deuteronomy 16.

Deuteronomy 16, verse 14. You shall rejoice in your feast. Go there to rejoice. That's what God wants us to do. We remember him, and if we're doing things the way God said, there should be tremendous rejoicing. Just like it was for the people in Nehemiah's day, when Ezra read that, and they did what God said. Without months and months notice, they simply did what God said, and the people were glad. It was maybe they would even say years later, that was the best feast they ever had. Because they did it the way God said. They didn't make excuses. They did it the way He said. It's a lesson for us in all of that. So as we go to the feast, remember these things, and certainly our thoughts and prayers will be with all of you who we don't see. Certainly those who are in Jekyll Island as well, but we'll look forward to seeing you all at the feast. And remember, the Day of Atonement services here are at 1 o'clock on Wednesday. But to all of you, have a very good feast. We will look forward to seeing you either at Jekyll or on the 26th.