Unpacking the Feast 2023

Well, it is good to be back home. The feast is great, wonderful. We had a wonderful time here, and Big Sandy, our average attendance of 50 people, it didn't dip. As low as 47, high as 63 in the last day, and we really had a good time. If you don't believe me, well then ask somebody else that was here. I think you'll hear the same thing. We had a really great time. Of course, returning home means a number of things, doesn't it? Returning home means it's time to unpack.

It's time to unpack. Yes, we have to unpack what? Our clothes, our shoes.

Yes, you better put away your toothbrush and your comb. You better take care of that laundry. You've been dragging around the country for a few days. We need to unpack our new possessions, perhaps some new treasures and little souvenirs we may have picked up along the way. Photographs, videos, all these things, of course, are done electronically now, so maybe that's not such a challenge to unpack anymore. And you may still have a few special treats in some of your favorite foods that you've squirreled away somewhere and you're still nibbling on.

Now, my wife and I, as I said, had the opportunity, and it really was a pleasure to be here in Big Sandy for the feast, and we really did have a wonderful feast. I'm not kidding about that at all.

But as my family knows, I do hate packing, but I do very much prefer unpacking. In this week, I have been busy unpacking from the feast, but perhaps not in the way you may expect or think. So just what do I mean, then?

Well, unpack does have a variety of meanings. Of course, one way, the main way we think of unpack, is to remove the contents of our suitcases and our bags and what you might call luggage. But to unpack also means to analyze, quoting from Eran Webster here, it also means to analyze the nature of by examining in detail. To unpack means to explicate. And so you may hear people talking about, let's unpack that idea. And so we need now that the feast has come to an end and we've returned home, we may begin now to unpack what we heard and experienced during the feast, and begin incorporating some of that material, those ideas, those points into our lives. That would be messages we've heard, quite a few of those, and it also includes our experiences, things we did or maybe we didn't do, things that were new and familiar, pleasant and possibly unpleasant. There are lessons and all sorts of things that happened to us in our lives.

And so my purpose today is to encourage us to make time to unpack the valuable lessons we garnered and have packed away with us at the feast. Now whether or not we actually packed and traveled for the feast this year, we all do have something to unpack. And we need to be in the process of doing that before the busyness of our everyday lives starts settling in. And what we end up with is a little notebook or a few pages tucked away somewhere that we've never looked at since the feast is over.

Now yes, I am a huge advocate of taking notes. I am. That's what I've done most of my life, it seems. And there's great value in that. And if you haven't written down, it's very easy then to go back and study.

And so we need to unpack those feast experiences. We do that through thoughtful consideration. And we draw from them those very precious lessons that God prepared and presented to us. Because with those men that speak, ask for God's inspiration. And we sincerely believe He does inspire us. And that He has given us something necessary for all of us to grow on, spiritually speaking, in the year ahead.

And so in addressing our topic today, we'll draw attention to three broad areas, which we all have a common shared feast experience. And so we're going to draw attention to the messages we heard at the feast. We're also going to draw attention to the things we did.

And then it is part of our feast experience. We're going to draw attention to unpack what we might learn from the return from the feast to our everyday lives. And so the title of this sermon, then, is Unpacking the Feast 2023. Unpacking the Feast 2023.

Now, I don't know if you've counted it all up, but typically the number of distinct messages we hear during the feast can well be around 17 in number minimum. That is not counting any Bible studies or seminars. That's not including the teen Bible studies or Sabbath school for our children. That's quite a few messages, both big and small. And again, unless we take notes, somehow write these things down. I know some just like to listen, and I guess they have wonderful memories. I've never been very good at that, and so I do take notes. I hear, I see, I write three key ways of getting that information in the old noggin, as we used to say. So unless you have some kind of note-taking process, and maybe you do have great memories, we're going to lose that information. We're going to forget who said what. A few days out, a few weeks out, we'll be scratching again. And you know, I just don't trust that everything is going to stay electronically recorded and preserved. I'm one of those guys that wonders about what happens one day, and they pull that giant plug. I don't know. We need the information. Now, as an example of how we can unpack the messages, we're going to talk about messages first. As an example of how we can unpack the messages we heard during the feast, I'm going to use share it through my own efforts as an example. Just as an example, maybe not the best example, but as an example of how one can unpack the messages. And there are a few messages I've been working on this past week trying to unpack. Not trying, but unpacking, but it's a process. One of which, one of those messages was and is the video sermon that Mr. Rick Shabey gave midweek during the feast, which I trust we have all heard, we all viewed. And in that sermon, if you recall, he drew heavily from the Bible to emphasize the point, the important point, of worshiping God with the right approach and attitude of fear.

Now, as he explained, he is not talking about fear, such as the fear that is to terrify or to terrorize one, but that fear that is more closely connected to honoring, of honor, of respect, and reverence.

And so I'm going to turn to a few scriptures Mr. Shabey used, and then later I'm going to tie in from other scriptures. These are sort of things we do as we unpack messages and unpack information. So let's turn to that familiar set of verses Leviticus 23 verse 1 through 4. Remember, his message, his theme, had to do with, among other things, showing the right sort of fear or reverence for God. Leviticus 23 verse 1 through 4, you should recall that before the feast began, and even during the feast, we were reminded that the feast tabernacles, like all of God's holy days, including the seventh-day Sabbath, the weekly Sabbath, are appointed times God has established. God has established for his people for them to gather together in holy convocation. I've heard a number of times this past week that there are Jewish holidays. I don't know what those are, but these are not Jewish holidays. These are God's holy days. Leviticus 23 verse 1, and the Lord spoke to Moses, the source is God, the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, The feast of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are my feasts. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work on it. It is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings. These are the feasts, and of course here he's referring to all the holy days and the Sabbath. These are the feasts of the Lord, holy convocations, which you shall proclaim at their appointed times.

I know so many times the word, the phrase, holy convocations. What God is commanding is that we must convene in assemblies. That's what a convocation is. It's an assembly. A holy convocation suggests to us that God's presence is with us. God's presence makes things holy through his Holy Spirit. And so a convocation is a gathering of individuals. It's assembling together, and we gather before God during what we call church services or worship services. That's how we phrase it ourselves. So now what should be our attitude and approach when we come before God's presence during church services? That is what we're doing. If you listen carefully to Mr. Stewart's opening prayer today, at least twice he asks God to do what? I shouldn't quiz you like this.

He specifically asks God, if you're listening carefully, to please be with us. He is asking God to be with us. God is with us in our church services. And so that should do something when we think about our attitude and approach when we come to services. And so in his sermon, let's go to Exodus 20.20 because in his sermon, that was I think the second or maybe third place Mr. Shaby took us as we continue to unpack a bit of that sermon of his. Just as my example to you, how we can be doing this, Exodus 20.20. And here he explained that God wanted Israel, and we understand God wants all his people, all people, to fear him, but to fear him for a specific and very good reason, a specific and very good reason. Exodus 20 verse 20. And Moses said to the people, do not fear, for God has come to test you, that his fear may be before you, so that you may not sin. And so they've assembled before the mountain, and God has come down, and the people are terrified in probably not so good way that God would want them to be terrified, but at least they're showing reverence at that point. But God didn't come down just to scare people. That's not the way God works. God wanted them to fear him in the right way so that they would not sin. He doesn't want people to be terrified of him, but he wants people to respect him, to recognize who and what he is, to revere him in such a way that we will want to stop sinning, and we will want to stop, excuse me, want to start pleasing him. Then let's go on Deuteronomy 31, another scripture we are taken to in that video sermon. Deuteronomy 31 verses 10 through 12. This picture of what it means to fear God is being developed here through scripture. Deuteronomy 31 verse 10 through 12, we are shown in that sermon how God also wanted his people to hear and to be reminded of his law at the Feast of Tabernacles. It's one of the reasons we go to the Feast. And so Deuteronomy 31 verse 10, reading again, and Moses commanded them, saying, At the end of every seven years, at the appointed time in the year of release, at the Feast of Tabernacles, when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God, in the place which he chooses, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. Gather the people together, men and women and little ones, and the stranger who is within your gates, that they may hear and that they may learn to fear the Lord your God and carefully observe all the words of this law, and that their children who have not known it, who have not known the law, may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God as long as you live in the land which you cross the Jordan to possess. And so from this we gather that clearly God wants, wanted, and he wants his people to fear him, to revere him, to respect him, to honor him, so they would not sin. And not just for one generation, but for generation after generation after generation, always and forever.

And so we should fear God. We should keep his commandments in their fullness, even as Jesus Christ magnified their meaning, and as he set the example for us by his own life and everything he did. I don't believe Mr. Shabe referred to this scripture, but this is what we do as we begin to unpack messages. We recognize there's other scriptures we can tie in to help develop and fill up that meaning even more fully. You might recall Solomon's words from Ecclesiastes 12-13. I'm not going to turn there, but Ecclesiastes 12-13. Those words of Solomon remain true to this day. And Solomon said, let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. You know, what's life all about? And he said, fear God and keep his commandments. For this is God's... excuse me, this is man's all.

That's what God wants man to do. The New International Version puts it this way, fear God and keep his commandments. For this is the duty of all mankind.

That's really the gist. So no, the Holy Days of the Sabbath are not just for the Jews, and neither is God's commandments, neither is scripture just for the Jews. It's for all people. Now let's turn to Psalm 96, verses 6-9. And here, we're going to blend in, start blending in a few other scriptures that give...

that elaborate more fully the message given in that sermon. Psalm 96, verses 6-9.

Psalm 96, verses 6-9. And so we can and should tie in other scriptures that maybe were not mentioned in that message, but they do help to deepen understanding of what was said, and it does help to apply the meaning of the message into our lives.

And so what we find here in Psalm 96, verses 6-9, we find described the approach and attitude we should have toward God. It's a little more further elaboration as to what fear, or we might say, revere means. This brings in the idea of humility and adoration, the idea of praise, and of course reverence. And so verse 6, we read, "...honor and majesty are before Him, are before God. Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary. Give to the Lord, O families of the people, give to the Lord glory and strength. Give to the Lord the glory, do His name." And name takes the place of the idea of authority, everything God is, all power, all the majesty, all that He is.

Give glory, do His name, bring an offering, and come into His courts. O worship the Lord, and the beauty of holiness. Our worship of God is to be holy. It's to be special, not like anything else we might be doing in our normal day-to-day lives. Holiness is unique. And then it ends, last sentence, "...tremble before Him all the earth." We get more of that idea of fear, of quaking, and rightly we should. We're before God, who is our Father, but yet He is also the highest authority in the universe. He created the universe. Now let's turn to Psalm 111. Psalm 111, a little more elaboration occurs here. In Psalm 111, the psalmist elaborates in more detail on why you and I and every human being should fear and revere God. Again, we're unpacking, we're expanding the message we heard at the feast. Psalm 111, verse 1, "...praise the Lord. I will praise the Lord with my whole heart." Notice it doesn't say with part of my heart. It doesn't say half-heartedly. It says totally, exuberantly.

"...I will praise the Lord with my whole heart, my whole being, in the assembly of the upright and in the congregation. The works of the Lord are great, studied by all who have pleasure in them." And so should we. Verse 3, "...his work is honorable and glorious, and his righteousness endures forever." Wonderful reasons why we revere our God. Verse 4, "...he has made his wonderful works to be remembered. The Lord is gracious and full of compassion. He has given food to those who fear him, and he will ever be mindful of his covenant. He keeps his promises. He has declared to his people the power of his works and giving them the heritage of the nations. The works of his hands are verity and justice." Verity is a strong word for truth. "...all his precepts are sure. They stand fast forever and ever, and are done in truth and righteousness. He has sent redemption to his people. He has commanded his covenant forever. Holy and awesome is his name." In verse 10, "...the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and a good understanding of all those who do his commandments." Who do his commandments. Now, all of these marvelous and wonderful attributes are of God, and they declare these words trying to define just how marvelous is our God. They declare just why he is so worthy of our devotion and our reverence, of our worship. And yes, let's go to Revelation 5, verse 8 through 10. Revelation 5, 8 through 10, the end of the Bible. Here, as we read, I assume a number of times during the feast.

Here we learned why Jesus Christ also is so worthy of our total surrender, our wholehearted worship and reverence. Revelation 5, and I'm going to begin in verse 8. Now, when he had taken, speaking of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, now when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp and the golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song. We just read a song in Psalm 111, glorifying God. Here's the new one that's going to be sung. A new one. Not the only one, but a new song. Verse 9, saying, You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God, and we shall reign on the earth.

And so, there's much more unpacking of Mr. Shabe's message we can do. In fact, we're going to do a little bit more here later in this message. But as we unpack this feast message, we can also, and should also, begin to ask ourselves questions. When we unpack sermons and messages we hear, we start asking, we call them, we call them questions, we sometimes call them critical analysis. It doesn't mean we're being critical in a negative sense, but we're breaking it down. We're trying to get to what is the meaning, what can I take from this? And in fact, one of the questions we do ask, when we should ask, when we listen to messages, is that question, what does the message mean for me? Our response should never be, oh, I've heard that before. Well, that's nothing new, because you're not the same person you were, for one reason, and there may be something you need to hear that maybe you didn't quite hear before. So what does the message mean for me is a great question to ask. A note I made in my book, a notebook, I'll give it to you. The question I asked myself after listening to Mr. Shaby, and one of the questions I'm asking myself as I unpack the sermon, I asked, do I have the fear of God in everything I do? That's the question I had. These sermons are for all of us. Do I have the fear of God in everything I do? And in this case, in this particular aspect of the sermon, we're talking about reverence and fear, the right reverence and fear towards God, we might also ask ourselves, ask ourselves, am I, am we, are we being reverent toward God during our church services? Because an aspect of what he was talking about is how do we approach God and these holy convocations when we come before God. Are we being reverent toward God during church services? And of course, we all should know that when we come to services, we need to be ready to come before God. We are coming before God. We are coming before God to worship Him with reverence. Now sometimes, unpacking a sermon, other ways of unpacking it don't always come out of the Bible itself. Other things can pop up that can cause us to pause and ask more further questions about maybe a message we've heard. You see, sometimes people aren't fully aware of how to be reverent during services. That's what it's occurred to me. You see, as an example again, the day after we heard Mr. Shaby's sermon here at East Texas, we were doing the webcast from Panama City Beach. The very next day, that was October 4th, the very next day, October 5th, I got on foxnews.com. That's one of the websites of about seven or eight others. I check and quickly check every day. On foxnews.com on October 5th, on their main webcast, at that hour, there was an article entitled this. It was entitled, Minnesota Pastors Viral Post About People Drinking Coffee in Church Ignites Fiery Debate.

And I'm going, hey, that's talking about reverence and services. And so I read the article, and because I've learned through the years that something is niggling or nudging me, maybe I need to give it a little more thought. And so the pastor asked this question. He posted this, I guess, to a chat room or something like that. And he asked, the pastor asked, can we reassess whether Sunday coffee sipping in the sanctuary fits? And then he asked, and then he added this reference, references to Hebrews 1228, one I hadn't thought of, but let's turn there and read it because it fits with what Mr. Shavey and what we're unpacking here. Hebrews 1228 was his reference, and in the New King James, it doesn't read as clearly as their revised standard version, which I'm also going to read. It's the version this pastor seems to have used. The New King James reads this way, Hebrews 12, verse 28, it says, therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. The RSV gets a little more clear, I think. It reads this way, revised standard version, therefore, let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe.

And so the pastor's questioning whether members of his congregation, is it a good idea to be drinking coffee during the church service? And obviously, the pastor read this, he'd done a lot of thought, and he thought drinking coffee was something casual and irreverent. He thought it was something not appropriate, not befitting the reverence and awe one should have when coming in the presence of God during church services. He thought it should be avoided. Many other people disagreed with him, and rather, well, from the few posts I saw vehemently so, they did not agree at all.

I think the pastor's right. Based on the scriptures we've read, based on the scriptures we've read, and knowing that God is our Father, Creator, our Sustainer, and that Jesus Christ is our Savior and King, God should be worshipped with sincere reverence and awe. Coming before God is not a casual matter, based on what I understand of Scripture. And so just as it's not appropriate, and the pastor makes this point, and it seems like a good point to me, just as it's not appropriate to bring our cup of coffee and cookie before a judge in his courtroom, neither is it appropriate when coming before God during church services. And so Scripture does give us pause to think about what are we doing in our lives. Are we being as reverent and filled with awe and worship and respect for God in every aspect of our lives as we should be? And it's interesting, this article's talking about church services. Scripture reveals that during services we do come before the presence of God to worship Him, to praise Him, to learn from Him, to learn about His way from His Holy Scripture. When we assemble before God at services, God's Word tells us we need to come before God with an appropriate approach and attitude, that honor, respect, and reverence.

I guess I'm repeating myself a lot, but repetition is an important key of education.

So again, this is just one example of one sermon, a part of a sermon we heard during the feast that I've been unpacking this week. It's an example of what we all can be and should be doing this week and the weeks ahead. There are many messages. So again, we should ask, what does a message mean for me? It does not mean we should stand there in judgment of other people and condemning the focus should be on taking care of our own business, cleaning up our own house, we might say. And so we might ask ourselves, are we being appropriately reverent toward God? Do we fear God and keep His commandments as well as we should? We should ask each of ourselves that.

And then if we do find behaviors in our lives that we need to change, then change. Ask God to help us change, and it will be for more likely for the better. The point is that as we unpack the many messages we heard at the feast this year, we will have some very helpful instruction to act upon for our spiritual growth and improvement. It's meant to make us more like God, more like Christ.

So now let's move on to the second aspect I mentioned to you about unpacking from the feast. That is, let's consider and unpack the things we did during the feast. Let's consider the things we did during the feast. Now, among our intentions and goals in keeping the feast is that goal, that intent, to strive harder to live God's way of life, to try harder during that week of the feast, among other brethren, to keep His commandments, to try harder and better to follow Christ's teaching and example of loving service to others, of self-sacrifice. And when we come home, it's a good idea, a great idea, to consider and review how well we did do in that area during the feast. Kind of a little bit of self-evaluation. We need to unpack the things we did and perhaps the things we didn't do or didn't do it all or didn't do so well. We do this so that we might make some better decisions in how we apply and practice God's way of love and service in our families, in our congregations, and everywhere we go.

In doing this, we are fulfilling that aspect of our fear and reverence for God that requires loving God and loving our neighbor. That requires putting aside what we want to do and do what God would have us do. And so, we are learning to serve others, not begrudgingly, because we have to. We're serving others because we're learning we want to. It feels good to help people. It feels good to know that we're pleasing God. And that is something we do in reverence for God as well, doing the right and good thing according to His Word. So let's turn to Mark chapter 10. Let's look at Mark 10, verse 42-45. And Jesus himself taught His disciples that there is a better way to lead. We heard mention of it, and Mr. Gonzalez touched upon that in his sermon today. Since God's called us to be kings and priests in His kingdom, we know that we need to be learning how to think and act like a godly king, godly king-priest that we will be in the kingdom. Now is our time to be learning from God and His instruction. Of course, there's always going to be more to learn in the kingdom, but we need to be learning all that we can, even now. And so, Jesus' point is He told them that to be true leaders, you have to be truly good servants, and we often now call it being a servant leader, being servant leaders. But here's how Christ put it, Mark 10, verse 42. But Jesus called them His disciples to Himself and said to them, You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lorded over them. They're oppressive. They're demanding. And their great ones exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you, but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve. Do we understand that difference? Yeah, I think we do. He did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many. And now, I guess we're on the same wavelength, Mr. Gonzalez. Let's go to John 13. John 13, 14 through 15.

In explaining why He washed their feet, Jesus explained to the disciples the importance of humility and service, loving service, towards others. And of course, as mentioned earlier, this is a critical part of our Passover service every year. John 13, verse 14, If I then, your Lord and teacher have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.

For I have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you. And most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. Of course, there's that very important little English word, if, if you do them. Never enough to know it.

You have to do it. And finally, let's look at 1 John 3, again towards the back of the Bible. 1 John 3, verse 16 through 19. Many years later, John is teaching faithfully as he had been taught. And here John tells us, as an emphasis to what we just read, that it is not good, it's not good enough simply to believe that we should do good things. And it's not enough to simply talk about doing good things and laying down our lives for others. Because talk is what?

Yep. Talk is cheap. It's really worthless. What is talk without action? It's just a lot of air. It's all it is. It's just air. It's nothing. We must actually do it. John 3, 1 John 3, 16. John writes, by this we know love, and of course, he's speaking about God's love. By this we know love because he, Christ, laid down his life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world's goods and sees his brother in need and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?

And the answer is, it can't. It doesn't. That's something we need to think about. Verse 18, and so he continues, My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but indeed and in truth. And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. We know our truth when we do love by we do love in word and indeed and in truth.

It's the complete package. And so the feast provides many opportunities to practice God's instructions, to practice this way of love, this way of laying down our lives for our brethren, for one another, of giving up of ourselves. A feast time that week or so together is, as we've often encouraged, we've been encouraged for decades, that is the time to really focus on living life God's way of thinking about the kingdom and how things will be so different then. And so I know some of us served in the choir this year.

I saw one of our members in the choir in Panama City Beach. I will not mention names. Anyway, but and I know some of you were serving as ushers. Some of you were serving on safety and the sound table ushering. Others were giving rides to those that needed a ride to and from services. Others were cleaning tables. Some were able to do what they could and they were encouraging one another with a good word, sending down to have a nice wholesome chat with others. They're sending cards to those unable to attend the feast. And most certainly, many were praying for God's blessings upon His people.

And I'm going to say this again because I can't tell you how many times I've heard people say, well, I can't do anything more. I just don't have, I can't serve much. All I can do is pray. That is so important. That is so important. James 5 16, the effective, infervent prayer of a righteous person avails much. That is the most powerful, important way of serving, of laying down our life, giving a little bit of our precious life's time to think about to do something for another person.

We don't have much time to give a little bit of it to someone else is a sacrifice. And so, however, we were able this year, we did put aside our self-centered self and gave some of our precious time to others for their benefit. And it does feel good. We were told the more you give into the feast, the more you get out of it. There's that idea of God's love.

It's cyclical. The other person may not know you're loving them, but in that act of love, there's something automatic that comes to us. It comes back to us because we give out of ourselves. There's that blessing. Paul, in Acts 20 verse 35, you don't need to turn there, but when we serve at the feast, we should remember part of what Paul records that Jesus taught. Acts 2035, Paul wrote this. Paul told us there that he said, remember the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, that he said, it is more blessed to give than to receive.

It is more blessed to give than to receive. And so we need to unpack those feast experiences we had serving this year. We need to remember that what we did, what we did, and how our serving affected others. And whether or not others knew that you were serving, they may not have known that you were serving. God knew it, and you knew it. And you were blessed for serving as Christ instructs us to do.

The feast reminds us of what we will be doing in the kingdom. What we'll be doing in the kingdom? We're going to be serving. We will be busy serving.

I promise you, we will not be having some sort of grand vacation.

And that's not what we go to the feast for. It's not a vacation, is it? It's much better than a vacation. But now that we return to our everyday lives, we need to carry that same approach and attitude of service, as I mentioned before, into our families, towards all people, and certainly among our brethren and our congregation. And by the way, if you want to serve, please do. Find the best way for you to serve. We can always use an extra hand, maybe two or more, and maybe two or more in the cleaning crew. We can use more help on the sound booth, safety, kitchen, you name it. We will find a place for you to serve. We do not build empires in our areas of service here. We serve together. We are a family. We love each other, and we work together, that everyone can serve together and be growing together. And so let's unpack and consider things we did maybe didn't do during the feast this year. Come up with some goals for how we can do things better next year or even now. And we need to ask God to help us have that servant's heart and attitude, that same heart and attitude Christ exemplified. And if we're determined to serve and practice God's love towards others, then we can certainly be doing it. So unpack what we learned, what we did, put it to effort, and then we'll be following Christ's example. But there's then this third aspect of returning, of unpacking we need to do, and that unpacking occurs when we return to everyday life. Unpacking the feast in that regard this year, returning to everyday life, I think we'll all agree has been very unusual this year because of what happened in Israel last Sabbath. Last Sabbath morning, early in the morning, just one week ago on the eighth day, a holy day. Early that morning, I received an email from Brent Baker. He sent me the little video clips some of you may have seen on the news report that Brent had been interviewed on ABC Local Channel 7. Brent sent me an email that morning from Israel. He kept the feast in Israel, and he's alerting me and others, his family and friends, that Hamas, the terrorist group Hamas, had attacked several Israeli towns that morning.

And for me, immediately, that news changed the tone of the eighth day. And of course, not just for me, but for many of us, and certainly for the people directly affected in Israel. This past week has continued to be grim for many. It's not been a good week in that sense. And the Israelis are now calling that attack and massacre by Hamas their Pearl Harbor. They're calling it their 9-1-1. Israeli authorities, I didn't see if the number's gone up today, but Israeli authorities estimate that 1,300 people were killed in the attack. Most were civilians. The number I saw, they're getting close to 900 civilians. Most of the civilians read a musical festival, music festival that early morning. And then there were 20 communities, 20 communities along the Gaza border. That's from the Jerusalem Post of two days ago. Heavily armed terrorists, brutally murdered infants, children, women, and the elderly. And another 150 individuals of all ages were kidnapped. And the photographs of the aftermath and the accounts of those who survived continue to stun and horrify us. And I'm not going to go into detail, so I don't think it's appropriate now to do that. But if you're not aware and you want to know, we can talk about after services.

And now Israel seeks vengeance upon Hamas. So after a week of lasting strategic targets in Gaza, the Israeli infantry is now prepared to enter in. I don't know, have they actually entered in now? I don't know if the news report says they were gearing up for it last evening. Israel warned civilians in northern Gaza to evacuate. They gave one million people 24 hours to move out of the way, get out of harm's way before their Israeli army begins its raids, its attacks. The death toll, the most recent death toll I saw, was over 1,900 people in Gaza, and those also include people of all ages. Water, electricity, fuel to Gaza has been cut off until those kidnapped are interned, Israel says. And so it's an ongoing catastrophe upon the people of Israel and upon the people of Gaza, and it is intensifying. Now, if any of you have been watching the news lately, then you are probably shocked, as well as I have been, by the many protests against Israel.

The protests against Israel, whom these protesters hold totally and only responsible for all those deaths, they're saying it's all Israel's fault. And the anti-Semitism expressed openly by so many, so many, even in our elite universities, our leaders in this country and elsewhere, the hatred for the Jewish people is very alarming. It's being expressed openly.

And the callous indifference protesters expressed for those murdered by Hamas terrorists, it's simply disgusting. It is. It sickens us. And it should sicken us.

What happened in Israel last Sabbath is God's feast was ending. And it was and is a very sobering reminder that we are living in Satan's world.

We usually have a little gentler return to that world when we leave the feast, but this year, it's been a shocking rip and a tear of what's going on here. We are living in Satan's world. Hatred and murder continue on, though, as we know, since the time of Cain and Abel.

And we know the source and cause. It's Satan. Satan tricked Abun-Niv, deceived them, misled them, convinced them to reject God's offer. And Jesus Christ called Satan a murderer and the father of lies. That's John 844. As Israel raids Gaza and attempts to destroy Hamas, and as Hamas and its allies conspire to attack Israel, we are witnessing another very old and sad reiteration of the fact that mankind does not know the way of true peace, which is of God. As I went back to my notes, I reread Isaiah 59 verse 7 through 9, which Mr. Shaby quoted in that midweek video. Let's turn back there. Isaiah 59, like I said, sometimes we start unpacking these messages. Life continues to move on around us, and some things pop up that can make a message even more powerful than the speaker originally intended or perhaps perceived. It happens a lot, and it happened with the servant Mr. Shaby gave during the feast. As we read in Isaiah 59 verse 7 through 9, which Mr. Shaby quoted, he is quoting in reference to how the way of mankind is contrary to God. Man on his own will not follow God. Let's read this together. Well, let's just read it. Verse 7, describing humanity. Their feet run to evil. They make haste to shed innocent blood.

Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity. Wasting and destruction are in their paths.

The way of peace they have not known, and there is no justice in their ways.

They have made themselves crooked paths. Whoever takes that way shall not know peace. Therefore justice is far from us, nor does righteousness overtake us. We look for light, but there is darkness, for brightness, but we walk in blackness. This week, God's words through Isaiah are especially true, aren't they? Vividly true.

Vividly true. And Mr. Shaby also read from Romans 3, verse 10 through 18. Romans 3, verse 10 through 18. In these verses, Paul has gone to the written word, the Old Testament of his time, some call the Hebrew Bible. He went to scripture and pulled out various scriptures to again describe the way humanity. And here's the list Paul gathered together, and we read it Romans 3, verse 10 through 18. Paul says, as it is written, it's scripture, there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none who understands. There is none who seeks after God.

God has to call us. He has to call us.

They have all turned aside. They have together become unprofitable. There is none who does good. No, not one. Verse 13, their throat is an open tomb. With their tongues they have practiced deceit. The poison of asp is under their lips. Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways. In the way of peace, they have not known. There is no fear, no reverence of God before their eyes.

And this is an abysmal description of humanity. And yet it is so true, and especially as demonstrated by the last Sabbath's murderous attack and its ongoing repercussions and vengeance today in Israel, Gaza, and across the world.

Now, will those actions lead to a broader war in the Middle East?

Will they lead to terror attacks in cities in the United States and elsewhere, as people think?

I don't know. We don't know. Only time will tell.

How should we respond to these events? How should we respond?

We who have been called by God to be kings and priests in the kingdom of God.

At times like this, of never-ending news updates, the endless commentary, the repetition of the pictures, the videos, and all the raw emotions being expressed both in video and in print now, all that can deeply rattle us. It's been a hard week as we've been reading these things.

It can rattle us. Perhaps if we're not careful, it can even shake our trust in God.

If we're not careful, it can perhaps cause us to question God's law in his way.

Why does he allow this?

Those are good questions to ask because there are good answers.

But we should not allow these things to shake our trust in God and to doubt God's love and authority. That's not what we should be doing. Instead, we need to be strengthening our resolve to be faithful to God. We need to be strengthening our resolve to hold fast to his word.

Yes, we need to recognize the terrible suffering occurring among all those now affected by that terrorist attack. We mustn't ignore the human suffering among all innocents, but have compassion.

We need to have compassion for all the thousands of victims of this hate and vengeance and war.

That's part of our calling. We are ambassadors of Jesus Christ.

Just as we reviewed during the feast and the preceding Holy Days, we do need to sigh and cry for the suffering of all peoples of this earth under Satan's sway.

We need to be praying for the true peace of God's kingdom to come upon Jerusalem, but not just Jerusalem, but upon all nations and all peoples so that no one will make war again. And so that Satan will be put away once and then finally forever.

But in order for us to be ready to help others now, to serve in God's kingdom, we must remain faithful to God, faithful to this calling, faithful to his word and his instruction.

We must trust God. Hold to his word through this present crisis and through the troubles big and small that will come, that will come.

Now we might wonder, how will we do that? How are we going to be doing this? How are we going to keep trusting God? How are we going to keep holding fast to his word? How?

You already know. It's what we've already been talking about so far in the sermon.

It's what we've been unpacking. It's what we've been unpacking. At least we've touched upon. The answer is we need to revere God. Don't approach God casually. The world is very into casual laid-back approaches now and attitudes. God's scripture says we should give God more than that, much more effective. We need to be keeping God's commandments. We need to be practicing his way of self-sacrifice. We need to be becoming more like he is.

During the feast, we have received more precious information than we might ever know, unless, brethren, we go back and take time to start unpacking those valuable messages we've heard. To look at each message and see what is there that we can draw out from that and apply in our lives to deepen our relationship with God, to improve our relationship of love with our brothers and sisters in Christ, and to help us get along with all people to become more like God, more like Christ.

We need to unpack those precious lessons. Don't leave them all stuffed up in our notebooks. Take those lessons out. Air them out. Get them in your heart and mind and start doing them. We all need to be doing that.

So, as I conclude, brothers and sisters in Christ, the world will continue on, and we know it, because that's also what the feast tells us in the Feast of Trumpets and Atonement. We understand that for now the world will continue on in its horribly darkened way. But we have been called to know the true light, Jesus Christ. We know that there is light in this darkness, and that light is with us. It's in us through God's Spirit, and we too have been called to be light, to be lights in this darkened world, to live the example of Jesus Christ. Not for our glory, no, but for the glory of our Heavenly Father, for our Father. And so, as we unpack this year's Feast of Tabernacles, I encourage all of us. Let us learn well those precious lessons from God's Word, and let's be applying them now. And forevermore.