Victory as We Return Back into This World

Well, good afternoon, brethren. I won't follow Mr. Jones' example of saying shalom. That's something he's done each day here, I think, and I appreciate that very much. I do want to certainly thank the choir. I know that putting the choir together at the last minute and having everyone come together so beautifully is really not the easiest thing to do, but I appreciate all of them. Actually, I appreciate all of you who have been serving in so many different ways. And as has already been mentioned, I do appreciate what Mr. Jones and his wife Joy and even his whole family have done to help make all of the things run smoothly here during the feast. It's really been very nice. I was wondering when he was looking for the pumpkins. I didn't tell him I had pumpkin pie for lunch. Anyway, it's a blessing and privilege to be able to speak to all of you this afternoon. I very much appreciate Mr. Corbett's message this morning, an explanation, very heartfelt explanation of our teaching understanding about this day and how important it is, how incredibly significant this day is. It is, of course, the eighth day, the day that's after the seven days we've observed the Feast of Tabernacles. And yet it's a day that pictures a time that has incredible hope, incredible mercy, and incredible justice, because all of those things are what tie together the entirety of the plan of God. And in my thinking, as we know, there's pictures of resurrection that's going to occur at the end of the millennium, at the end of a thousand years, a resurrection of so many people that have not known the truth but who are going to benefit from knowing the truth. And as I think about it, I want to think about it not just from my standpoint, because I know I can do that. I could think of maybe seeing my mother because she actually died when I was born. So I don't know my mother, although I do know mom. Dad was remarried shortly thereafter. He had a little brat of a kid to take care of, and so he had to be remarried within about six months. And so I know who my mom is, but my mother is yet to come to know more about God. And yet, you know, when you think about what God is doing in connection with this festival and with the understanding we have from the word of God, God is actually expanding his family. He's expanding his family. He's doing that with us today. He's going to continue to expand that family in the millennium, and then there's going to be a huge boost in the number of people that God is going to be introducing and then, in a sense, generating to be a part of his family. So this is an incredible day, a wonderful blessing, wonderful opportunity for all of us to meet together. I thank all of you for being here. It's really a great blessing, as has been described, to observe this festival with all of you, with such a loving, caring, inspiring group of brethren. And actually, as I look out over the audience, and after having seen you for seven and now eight days, most of you are somewhat familiar. You're somewhat recognizable. I may not remember or know very many names, but your faces are familiar.

And that is a great blessing. I know I've met so many of you from different parts of the country, and yet we do have a commonality. That commonality is the Spirit of God, the same humble attitude and genuine love for one another that God expects to see from us.

And so that makes everything very special. What I want to cover this afternoon is certainly not going to be new to you, but I hope it is encouraging to you, because there are some very special things that we need to keep in mind.

What we all know, having been there for the last seven days, is that God has provided. He has provided for us not only blessing and protection from disease or illness, but He's provided us so many blessings. He's provided us messages about the meaning of the Feast of Tabernacles and the coming Kingdom of God. I wrote down what I at least got from the messages. I'll quickly go over theirs, and we started off with rejoicing, not only because of the physical blessings that we have, but really because our names are written in heaven. That's really an important thing to rejoice about. We heard a very good message about the coming Kingdom being the Kingdom of Light, as opposed to the dark system, the system of evil and darkness that we see around us today.

We again had another service about God's promise, and how He has promised us a great deal of blessing, but the gift of inheriting eternal life. That comes from God. We had a sermon about the anchor of our soul, Jesus Christ, the hope that we have in that. One on the rulership and the Kingdom, the servant leadership that's required the humble service of Jesus, Jesus Christ, the servant. We had a sermon on having faith in God, and He ended with the penny that said, in God we trust. We had a sermon yesterday about arming ourselves with the mind of Christ, and then this morning about another segment of God's plan. God's plan needs to be understood by us, but we need to see it from God's standpoint as well. As I said, He's continuing to expand His family. As we enter this final service on this last great day of the feast, all of us know we're going to be heading back home. Some of you are going to be flying back soon, some of you are going to be driving, but all of us are going to be going back home into a dying world. And we're reminded from what Jesus said that God has not taken us out of this world. This is where we are. This is where we live. We have to function in the world, but not be a part of the world. And so I want to show all of us, as we go back, in a sense, into the world, or as we go back into our homes, I want to show us how we can be absolutely assured of success in our quest for eternal life.

Now, again, that isn't something that hasn't been covered, but I'm going to cover it in a little different way, I think. We need to be very, very confident. We should be very confident of the victory that we can have over Satan's attacks and over just living in a dying world. And I will say that in connection with what I would title this sermon, it comes down to our personal relationship.

Your individual, personal, and my individual personal relationship with our Heavenly Father and with our Lord, Jesus Christ. That can make us very assured. That can make us incredibly confident. And so, a title would be our victory over Satan and the world that we live in. Actually, I'm going to give you three points here today. I'm not going to give you seven like I did last time. I'll give you three because I know many of you are prepared to leave.

And I'm actually even going to summarize those three and be done in about five minutes. The first one, actually, if you want to write these down, you'll have your notes complete. Now, the first one, Revelation 12 verse 11. You don't have to look it up. We're going to go take a look at those later. The first one is Revelation 12 verse 11. It says we can be victorious. We can be overcomers. We can conquer Satan and the world we live in.

The second point is John 6 63. And, of course, that talks about the Word of God. The Word of God.

Now, again, you've heard all of this before. But, again, I hope to point this out in a way that can be meaningful for us. The third point I'm going to cover is 2 Corinthians 13 verse 14.

Now, in some of your translations, it could be 13 13, like it is in mine. But, I think in most, if you're using a New King James Version, it says 2 Corinthians 13 14. And that verse, the focus that I'm going to make on that verse, is about the Spirit. The Spirit of the Holy God.

And so, for those of you who are prepared to leave, if you want to leave, you've got the sermon as far as what I intend to cover. But I hope you'll stay. I know that that's something that we all need to think about more. I'd like for us to turn to Revelation chapter 12, because in Revelation 12, we are seeing a description here in Revelation 12 about the end time, about what will happen in the end time. Revelation chapter 12 actually is a chapter that describes in the past the people of God, the people of Israel. It describes the coming of Jesus. It describes His success. And then it describes the church. Now, if we start reading in verse 7, war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back, but those evil angels were defeated. There was no longer any place for them in heaven, the great dragon. See, verse 9 is a verse we all probably know and have read many times.

Amazingly, most people who even read this verse don't believe what it says. But it says, the great dragon was thrown down, the ancient servant who is called the devil and Satan, he is the deceiver of the whole world. That's why this world is in darkness.

He is the deceiver of the whole world. He and his angels were thrown down to the earth.

The angels were thrown down with him. And I heard in verse 10 a loud voice in heaven, proclaiming, and of course this was a statement and vision that John was recording. He says, I heard a loud voice in heaven, proclaiming, now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of the brethren, the accuser of our comrades or brethren, has been thrown down who accuses them day and night before our God. Sometimes we wonder why are we having some problems? Now, some of those problems are made by ourselves. I make some of my own problems. And yet Satan may well be involved in some of the problems that we are facing. And certainly, whenever you get into accusing one another or accusations, that is clearly something I think you would say that Satan is involved in. But I do want us to focus on verse 11, because as you have already written down, that's the first point. Revelation 12 verse 11, it says, those brethren who are under attack, those brethren who are accused, have overcome or conquered, they are victorious. They've conquered him, and so they've conquered Satan. And then it gives three points here. Of the blood of the Lamb, by the word of their testimony. And then lastly, they do not cling to life, even in the face of death.

And it says in verse 12, Rejoice then, you heavens, those who dwell on them, below the earth and the sea, for the devil has come down to you with great wrath. He knows he has but a short time remaining. Do we really believe we live in a time when Satan is so active and so tyrannical in the world around us, and that he actually, he's got the world in his hand, in a sense. Now he's concerned about those of us who know better, those of us who believe what it says in verse 11.

What is it that it says in verse 11? How can we be victorious? How can we overcome and conquer even the power that the deceiver has on this earth? Well, first of all, it says, He overcame Satan by the blood of the Lamb. Now again, you can think that's a very simple statement, and in a sense it is. And yet, our faith, our trust in Jesus Christ, in His sacrifice for our sins. You know, I want us to read here in 1 John 1.

1 John 1 is an amazing chapter. 1 John 1 is amazing. It's really incredible because it describes the Word, having existed in the past and yet coming to the earth as Jesus Christ. And in verse 5, it says, this is the message we have heard from Him and proclaim to you that God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.

And it says that if we have fellowship with Him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not what is true. But in verse 7, if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, then we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanses us from all sin.

If we say we don't have any sin, then we're deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. And so we need to see our sins. We need to recognize them, but what does it say in verse 7? We can be cleansed. We can be washed, not just by thinking about Jesus at the Passover, which we should do, but we should think about Him every day. We should thank Him back. Verse 7 is absolutely true. And of course, there is salvation through no other name. I'd like for us to look at Hebrews chapter 10 because Hebrews chapter 10 gives not only some instruction about being confident in the Word of God, but it gives us instruction about in verse 19.

It talks about having confidence because we are under the shed blood of Jesus Christ. We are under the cleansing that comes. We can be forgiven. We are sinners, at times we are. We have to be continually mindful of that, but we can be forgiven. But here in Hebrews 10 verse 32, it talks about stumbling, talks about even willfully sinning, and of course that's something we want to avoid. But in verse 32 it says, recall earlier days. And some of you have been around for 50, 60 years aware of the truth of God in your life.

It says, recall the earlier days after you were enlightened. You endured a hard struggle with suffering, sometimes even being publicly exposed to abuse and persecution, sometimes being partners with those so treated. In verse 34, you had compassion for those who were in prison, and you cheerfully accepted the plundering of your possessions, knowing that you yourselves possess something better and more lasting. And so in verse 35, it says, do not therefore abandon that confidence of yours. See, we need to be confident that we are going to be victorious in overcoming the devil and his attacks throughout our lives.

So in verse 35, have compassion for those who were in prison, or excuse me, drop down one verse, verse 35, do not therefore abandon the confidence of yours, because it brings a great reward. You simply need endurance. All of us simply need endurance so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what God promises.

See, in a sense, this summarizes a lot of what we've been told this week. We need to endure. We need to anticipate those promises. In verse 37, yet in a very little while, the one who is coming will come and will not delay, but my just ones will live by faith. And so that's what we are to do. My soul takes no pleasure in anyone who shrinks back, but we are not among those who shrink back, or so are lost, but among those who have faith and are saved.

See, brethren, that's what we have available to us. The Word of God that tells us to be enduring and how it is that we can be victorious by simply understanding the blood of the Lamb. And the second part of that was the Word of our testimony. What is that talking about? That again is in Revelation 12, 11. The blood of the Lamb, the Word of our testimony.

What is it that we testify to? See, we preach the gospel. We preach the gospel of what? Well, the gospel of the coming kingdom of God. The gospel of the kingdom of God and of the king of that kingdom. Now, there are a lot of religious people who understand at least the wording, kingdom of God. I can tell you they do not understand it the way you do.

They do not understand it the way all of us have been learning over the last week.

And they do not understand the role of Jesus Christ in the same way that we do. This is a way that we're going to overthrow and conquer the devil by the blood of the Lamb, by the Word of our testimony. See, that's what we testify to. See, I have a couple of stickers in the back of my car and some of you probably do too. It says, beyond today. Whenever I am asked about that, I'm always happy to be able to explain, well, that's a radio or a television program or however you can pick it up. It's a religious program, but it's about the kingdom of God that is beyond today. Now, usually people are no longer interested after I explain that. I mean, they didn't really want to know that much about it. And I have to say, you know, most people just, uh, uh, just a catchy phrase.

And yet that's what we testify to and see our involvement. Our involvement in the doing of the preaching of the gospel. Most of us are not directly preaching that, except we do on an individual basis. If we interact with others, we are proclaiming the kingdom of God and Jesus Christ, the king of that kingdom. And finally, there in Revelation 12, 11, it says they did not cling to life even in the face of death.

See, now that's kind of a difficult topic to think about. And yet all it's talking about is a complete commitment to the end of our lives. You know, my life is going to end before Christ returns or when He comes, one way or the other. That's what I'm planning. And I think that's what you're planning, too. You understand that because in Psalm 50, verse 5, and I'm not going to turn to this, some of these verses for the sake of time, Psalm 50, verse 5, talks about a covenant of sacrifice that we have entered into.

And we have come to understand that we are to lay down our lives, possibly in death, but certainly we're to lay down our lives in service to other people. That's a part of our lives. So these are all factors in being victorious over the accuser of the brethren. I'll read one other verse here in Matthew chapter 10. Matthew chapter 10, you see Jesus explaining why He came. He actually said in verse 34, I didn't come to bring peace to the earth.

Now, He is going to come to bring peace to the earth, but He hasn't done that yet. He didn't do that when He came the first time. Matthew chapter 10, verse 34, don't think that I've come to bring peace to the earth. I've not come to bring peace but a sword. He says there's going to be some conflicts among people. And it says in verse 37, and this may affect some of us, whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. But in verse 39, those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. See, that's talking about the devotion, the commitment, the consistency of our covenant with God. And so, if you think about that one verse, Revelation 12, 11, you know, we can have great stability in our lives and be victorious over Satan even in the face of stress, of discouragement, of depression, of the challenges that we face. You know, last year, you know, some were able to attend the feast. We had some difficulty with COVID last year. I hoped at that time, you know, we got through that. God blessed us, and we wouldn't have a problem this year. But as we all know, it's still a problem. It's still a problem, and it's a problem for many of our brethren. Some of them very, very severely. Some of them have even died. But see, they also understood, well, I am willing to lay down my life. So, that was the first point that I wanted to make mention to you. The second point is pretty obvious. The two convicting agents in our lives are the Word of God and the Spirit of God. And so, those are the last two points that I'll be covering today. First of all, you know, what is it about the Word of God, you know, that we so greatly appreciate? Well, the fact is that we live in a world that is full of deceit and deception. And Jesus said that Satan is the liar and the father of lies. That's the world we live in. But the Word of God tells us what is true. And that's why we've been encouraged to study our Bible. That's why, you know, most of us are carrying a Bible. At least I do. Mine's falling apart, but some of you have got a neat little tablet or something where you can easily look for things up on the... Here's a nice computer down here on the front row. That's what many people use today. But see, don't take that for granted. Don't take that for granted. The Word of God points us to the truth. We all know, John 17, 17, that says, and Jesus stated this, thy word is truth.

But I will point out here in Matthew 13, when we read the parable of the sower and the soils and the seed being sowed. You know, I know all of us in verse 23, Matthew 13, 23.

That which was sown in good soil is the one who hears the Word, understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields in one case a hundred, another sixty, another thirty.

I think all of us want to be in that category. At least I want to be in some category there. 130, 60, I don't know what I would produce. I think maybe that's referring to just different times in our lives. Sometimes we're more excited and more sealed. Other times we're a little less.

Sometimes we struggle, and struggling is not bad. Struggling is actually good. You just have to keep struggling, and you have to keep at it and endure unto the end. But what I want to point out in this parable is verse 22. Matthew 13, verse 22 talks about category number three. See, that's the category that I fear the most. Because I know I don't fit the first two.

I do know what God told me. I have kind of gotten through the second level there, the seed that sowed on rocky ground. But what about number three? Verse 22, For that which was sown among thorns is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it doesn't yield anything. See, that's one to be on guard against. What does it say? It chokes the word.

See, that's why we want to be in the Word of God. That's why we want to be studying the Word of God every day. Now, I know you have to come up with your own pattern, and you have church services, and usually information there that you could review later. But see, we have to be consistent in feeding on the Word of God. And that's why I want to point out in John 6, which, of course, you know, is an incredibly wonderful chapter. John 6, in verse, this is a chapter that includes so many wonderful things. It talks about Jesus being the bread of life. It talks about, in verse 44, the Father drawing us to Jesus Christ.

But in verse 60, many of the disciples heard what Jesus was saying, and the teaching that he gave was difficult. They said, this teaching is difficult. Who can accept it? And Jesus, being aware of the complaining that was being done, said to them, does this offend you?

That what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?

See, he didn't want them to be discouraged. He wouldn't, didn't want that. He wanted them to be absolutely stable in his word because he says, in verse 63, it is the Spirit that gives life.

The flesh profits nothing. The words, the words that I have spoken, the words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. Now again, that needs to sink in. It needs to sink into where we are sure that we know that studying the Word of God is going to be a benefit to me. It's going to stabilize me. It's going to fill me with truth. And actually, a little later down, after some left in verse 66, many of the disciples turned back, no longer went about with him. And Jesus asked the 12, do you want to go away too? And of course, Peter steps up and answers.

Verse 68, Peter answered, Lord, where would we go? And that's truly what we all have to think about. We've been given the most important understanding of the Word of God that we could ever have.

He said, Lord, where could we go? Where would we go?

He says, you have the words of eternal life.

See, each and every one of us have to have a love affair with the truth of God. We have to come to know it. We have to believe it. We even have to love it.

And of course, in doing that, we have to live it.

So the second point that I gave you is simply the importance of staying in the Word of God, not forgetting it, not ignoring it, not being as I am sometimes too lazy to read, too lazy. I mean, that's what it comes down to. It's not that I intend not to, but just too lazy, or too tired, or too sleepy, or just off track. I need to have my nose in the Word of God. And I think all of us would benefit from doing that. The last point that I'll make here this afternoon, as you may have written down, number three, 2 Corinthians 13, verse 14.

This is one of my favorite scriptures.

And it says, the grace, what's happening here is Paul is concluding this book. He's actually written to this, in a sense, a little bit troubled congregation in Corinth.

He's given some direction, some correction, some teaching throughout the first and then second books of Corinthians. But in the very end, he tells us in chapter 13, you just need to examine yourselves and keep growing. But in verse 14, it says, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit. Be with all of you. Now, that was his concluding statement. It has an incredible amount of meaning.

See, we clearly want to live in the grace of God, the grace of our Lord. We want to grow in the love of the Father. But I want to focus on what does it mean, the communion of the Holy Spirit? See, actually, an understanding of the Holy Spirit is probably the most confused topic, not in the Church of God, but in the world. They don't understand what it is.

They have many descriptions and different definitions, and yet they don't comprehend what the Word of God really says about the Spirit of the Holy God.

See, now, I rehearse this every day. Every day in my prayers, I would encourage you to do the same.

Because each one of us, if we've been given the Holy Spirit through repentance and baptism and then receipt of the Holy Spirit, as we've had mentioned, then we need to be able to relate to God, to commune with God. I have to go over that in my head over and over. I do it every day. It doesn't become rote. It becomes alive.

Another word—I know some translations give different words, and there are other words that could be used there about the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. I think about having a rapport with God. I certainly want—and we're told in James 4—we need to have a closeness to the Father, a closeness to the Father. I want a connection to the Father.

I want the unity of the Spirit. I want to be one with God. Now, that's drawing from many different areas of the Bible, but I think all of us need to think about the communion of the Holy Spirit.

How important is that? How important is it that we rehearse that, and that it is a connecting part of our lives to our Heavenly Father? This morning, Mr. Corbett mentioned being born again, and I want us to read John 3, if we go back to page or two.

Now, I have come to think about this in a little different way. I know the King James and New King James translations.

Quote verse 3 of John 3, Jesus saying, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born. It says again in many translations. It says anew in some, but it also in others, and this is the one that I find most beneficial for me, and I hope for you, that we have to be born from above. See, that connection to understand that I have been started on a process of being born from above. It's important for me to think about that. Of course, it says we can see or we can enter the kingdom of God if we are born from above, and ultimately God who offered that privilege to all of mankind. He wants us in his family. But see, as I think about this, I want to honor my Heavenly Father because I understand that it is the Father who engenders the children. This is accurate. This is accurate physically, and it is accurate spiritually. All of us need to be born from above. We need to honor our Heavenly Father by understanding the process that the Father begins by granting us the gift of the Holy Spirit after we're baptized. He begets us with that Spirit. And then the rest of our lives we're in a developmental stage. We're growing. We're developing. We are growing in the divine nature. Ultimately, and of course the whole process of being born from above is a process that will lead us forth to birth, to being a spirit being, being given a spirit body, and to be in a glorified state with Jesus Christ. I think understanding the communion of the Holy Spirit in a way that directly identifies me as responsible to my Father is an important concept to keep in mind. And I point this out. I point this out here as my third point, because the focus is not really on me or you. It's on God. And see, I am absolutely confident that I am going to be victorious if I don't rely on me and I do rely on God. I think many of you could quote Zachariah 4 verse 6. Zachariah 4 verse 6 is, and I'm not going to go into all of the, I'm surely not going to explain Zachariah to you, I can tell you, because a lot of stuff there that's hard to understand.

Zachariah 4 verse 6 was said, you know, that the work that you're being asked to do is not to be done by your own might, not to be done by your own power.

But to be done by the Spirit of God. Now that's power. That is incredible power.

You know, actually, I look back in the book of Daniel and you see this, you see this, it's interesting to me because in the book of Daniel, we know Daniel was, of course, very blessed by God. He was given information that there wasn't any way of knowing. He was told what the king's interpretation of the dream was. He was even told what the dream was. So, and he, Daniel said in chapter 2, it's not because of me. It's not because I'm so smart, but there is a God in heaven who has incredible power to tell us what's going to happen. And, of course, he goes through the history of the world-ruling kingdoms. And he explains this to Nebuchadnezzar. And see, it's interesting in chapter 5, whenever the handwriting is on the wall, and whenever Velsazzar is, you know, he's about to lose it because he can't, he doesn't know what that means. I better turn back there to get this right. But in Daniel chapter 5, if you'll look at that, and I know most of you are using the New King James. Some of you may be using some of the newer translations.

But in chapter 5, in the section about the handwriting on the wall, Velsazzar is shocked. He is terrified. His face is pale. He's just totally perplexed.

But the Queen comes to him and says, this appears to be his mother, I guess, O King, live forever. Don't let your thoughts terrify you. This is in verse 10.

But he says in verse 11, there's a man in your kingdom who is endowed with the Spirit of the Holy God. That's what the New King James says.

In the days of your father, he was found to have enlightenment and understanding and wisdom like the wisdom of the gods. It's an excellent spirit. See, how do we think about the spirit that God has granted us to be his children? And do we think about being born from above, and that we want to commune with our Heavenly Father every single day?

You know, you actually see what I said here in verse 11. There's a man, in this case Daniel, endowed with the Spirit of the Holy God. Do you think of yourself as being... See, the Bible uses different descriptions for the Holy Spirit. God's Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, being led by the Spirit of God, the Spirit of our Father. But the Spirit of the, the Holy God is what God has given us. He's given us that to relate to Him, to commune with Him, to love Him, to appreciate Him, to appreciate His calling now, to appreciate being one who is belonging to Christ whenever Christ returns. He wants us, as His children, to fully appreciate what He has given us. See, I was talking to my wife about this, and she said, well, now that's the same Spirit. That's the same power. It's the essence of God through which He does unbelievable works of miracles. Even in Hebrews 11, verse 3, He brought everything into existence out of nothing. How powerful is the Spirit of God that God has given us?

See, and again, I think we ought to rehearse that every day. We ought to rehearse that thought about being born from above. And so we will be able to be victorious if we follow exactly what it says here in Revelation 12, verse 11. If we remain faithful to the Word of God and stay with our noses in the Word of God, then we're going to be greatly benefited. And if we commune with God through the Spirit of the Holy God, our Father, well, then we are going to be victorious. We're going to be victorious throughout this coming year, no matter what we face as we go back home, as we are once again a part of the world that God allows us to live in, in many ways a many-blessed condition, and yet in other ways quite difficult. That's what we are intend needing to do. So those are the points that I wanted to bring to you today. I hope that can be helpful. It's relatively simple. And yet I do think that as we conclude here today, that it's appropriate because it is not by our power or by our might, but it is by the power of the great God that we go forward with excitement and with cheer. And so I think it's appropriate that we close with the blessing that God gave Moses to give to Aaron.

Most of you would know, or many of you know, it's in Numbers chapter 6. I want us to read that. You know, we could think about the significance of it. It's an entire sermon in itself. But in Numbers chapter 6 verse 22 through verse 27, this was a blessing that was given to bless the people of Israel that they would. And of course they were the people of God. We are the people of God today. The same kind of blessing is just as valid for us. And certainly, again, not by our might or by our power, but by the spirit of the Holy God. You know, we are going to be victorious. You know, this blessing in verse 24 and 25 and 26 is very simple. It says, the Lord bless you and the Lord keep you. Verse 25, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. Verse 26, the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. All of us benefit from thinking through that blessing. There's a number of things mentioned. God's blessing, his protection, his grace, his peace, his face continually upon us, his countenance blessing us. You know, I think that's something we want to ask for every day. And so, as we do what we've covered here in these three brief points here this afternoon, we can truly come to a closer walk with God. We can truly know, as John 17, 3 says, that eternal life is to know the one true God and to know Jesus Christ, whom he sent to the earth. That's what we want to know, brethren. That's what we want to keep in mind. That's what we have available to us, the spirit of the Holy God growing inside of us until we are ultimately born. So clearly, all of us do, I'm sure, but we can even more so pray, thy kingdom come. And so, I certainly hope all of you have a safe trip home as well. But beyond that, I want you to have a victorious, wonderful year and intend to be back here next year or somewhere, keeping the Feast of Tabernacles again.