Viewing Life in the Window of the Future

I'd like to begin my sermon with a thought provoking question for all of us. And here it is. When God looks at you and your life, what does he see? That was the first thought that came to your mind. How does God view you?

Maybe different than you expect, or that you think. I'd like to begin the sermon today, drawing an analogy to a house that literally exists in New England, a gentleman who's wealthy, and he did this because he can. He built a unique tower on his property. And when you go up to that tower, you see four sides and you see four different colored tinted windows. You see one that's tinted brown and one blue and one green and one red. Same outside, but as you look through the glass of these windows, you get a different perception of what's happening outside.

For example, the ground represents fall and you kind of get the idea that things are shutting down, that things are browning out. If you look through the blue tinted window, you get a sense of winter. Everything has this cool look to it. If you look through the green tinted window, it gives you the impression of springtime. And when you turn around and you look through that red tinted window, it gives you the perception that it's summertime, that things are hot, baking outside.

So when a visitor sees through the window, what they see is from a limited perspective of the color of that tinted window. And what's the point that I'm bringing across in this metaphor? Well, the point is that we view our lives in the world around us with a very limited tint on what the world is really like. Because we only have two things going for us. We see the world, we see our lives, we see other people from the past and from the present.

And that is very, very limited. We do that because we're human, we're physical, and we can only glimpse at life with the knowledge of the past and what we see today. But that is not how God views the world, and that is not how God views you and your life today. God chooses to view his children from a different perspective, from a window of the future. We can't understand the future. We haven't lived in the future. But the Eternal who knows the beginning from the end, and obviously everything that happens between the beginning and the end knows the future.

And when he sees us, he sees us through the window of the future. Now this is an important principle regarding the fall Holy Days that I want to discuss today. Of course, each and every day is important to God, but he's always been more interested in the long term, the end result or the grand plan of what he's doing for all humanity and for your life and for my life. And during these fall Holy Days, we celebrate the good news of the end result of God's plan for all humanity. These Holy Days that pictured the return of Jesus Christ, we celebrated that on the Feast of Trumpets, reconciliation and at-one-ment with God, and we celebrated that on the Day of Atonement.

And here we are during the Feast of Tabernacles, a little more than half over now, celebrating the Millennium and God's Kingdom here on earth. And the best is yet to come because soon will be upon the eighth day of the Feast, and we'll be celebrating the Great White Throne Judgment, the last great day, also known as the eighth day. So we'll be celebrating that in just a few days.

I want you to think about God's Holy Day plan. I just outlined the fall Holy Days. You'll notice that there are no fall Holy Days that look forward to negative events. They all look forward to positive times of hope and accomplishment. There's no Holy Day that celebrates the festival of the Great Tribulation. Have you noticed that? There is none that says the Feast of Open Seals, the Feast of Plagues. Have you ever noticed that? That's not part of God's plan. Those events occur very painful and very difficult for the world, but all of God's Holy Days look forward to a positive future and a time of hope.

I'd like to remind all of us once again that Jesus Christ is at the center of all of the Holy Days. The Holy Days represent what Jesus Christ did beginning from the Passover, becoming our Savior, shedding His blood for the forgiveness of our sins. So they represent what Jesus Christ has done, what Jesus Christ is doing today within His church through His Spirit, and they represent what Jesus Christ will yet do in the future, particularly with this feast, as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

Let's turn to Revelation 13 and verse 8. If you'll turn there with me. When God looks at you and me, He's not simply interested in the now or today.

He also sees us into the future. He projects what we will be like in the future. He's focused on the long term, the end result of our calling, not just what is going on today in our lives. Revelation chapter 13 and verse 8. I'd like to mention this regarding how far in advance God has had a plan for all humanity. When Adam and Eve sinned, it certainly didn't surprise God. It disappointed Him. It certainly didn't surprise Him because He had already made provision for human sin.

When you and I sin and we make mistakes, sometimes we disappoint God, but we have to understand that God isn't mad at us because we make mistakes. God isn't mad at us. God is mad about us. He loves us. He has a plan for our lives. He's not only doing a work on this earth, He's doing a work in your life. He has a personal development plan for your life that He's constantly working on with the end in mind.

Not just what's going on today, not just some mistakes we have made in the past, but with the end in mind. Revelation chapter 13 and verse 8. All who dwell in the earth will worship Him, whose names have not been written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

So when was it established that Jesus Christ would be slain? The Lamb would shed His blood for the forgiveness of sins? From the foundation of the world.

The Father and Jesus Christ knew in advance of man's creation that we as carnal limited human beings would sin. And they even made provisions in advance so that humanity could be reconciled to God. God's always been interested in the end result more than the process of things. His end result is to create a family. He wants to adopt children. He wants to share everything He has in the universe with His family. He's a giving God. As I said, He wants to give away everything He has.

Eternity, glory. He wants to share all that He has with you. And that's why He created a plan. A plan of salvation for all humanity. A plan to call you at a certain point in your life. A plan to work on you each and every day to help prepare you for service in that kingdom when it comes to this earth. God has always been interested again in the end result more than just the process. And that's why He allows suffering. He looks upon us with our ultimate character and destiny in sight more than our daily problems and our personal struggles in issues.

You know that sometimes God doesn't answer our prayers. Why? Because He's looking into the future and He's saying, the growth that I want in this individual is only possible by not healing them. By delaying doing certain things that are very important to them, that they're praying about, that they want desperately. Yet, because I have the end in mind, I'm not going to answer that prayer or I'm going to delay answering that prayer because there's something I want them to learn by going through this difficult experience. It might be a health experience. It might be a difficult relationship with someone we love. It might be financial difficulties. It may be a career shift or losing our job, whatever it may be.

God is working in the long term in our lives to get us where He wants us to be. He sees the future and He's working out our destiny by the things that He allows us to experience. I'd like to give some examples of some biblical characters we're very familiar with for a few minutes. A few biblical characters. Perhaps we can learn a few lessons from their experiences. We'll begin with Abraham. Abraham was a fine man.

Obviously, God worked with him. God loved Abraham, but Abraham was human. He had personal problems. He sometimes lied, sometimes told half truths, didn't have the kind of faith that he should have when God said he would have a son and he tried to provide a son his own way by having physical relations with his wife's concubine instead of the way that God had intended it to occur all along.

The relationship with Hagar and the son they produced caused numerous problems for the family for Abraham and Sarai. Sarai was upset. He was not a perfect man. He had problems like all of us have problems and challenges and difficulties. Yet Abraham had qualities that God loved. And you know, you have qualities that God absolutely loves. Sure, we all struggle with our own foibles and our own issues and we all have weaknesses, but God looks beyond those because he sees us from the window of the future, not just as we are today, but when God sees you, he sees you from the window of what you can be, your potential.

Someday what you shall be. That's how God views you. Romans chapter 4 and verse 16. If you'll turn there with me, Romans chapter 4 and verse 16. The qualities that Abraham had that God loved. Abraham was repentant even through the mistakes that he made. He always wanted to be obedient to God and hear him. He was teachable and he believed in God. He had a deep, abiding faith in God. Romans chapter 4 and verse 16. Here's what Paul wrote to the congregation in Rome regarding Abraham and the promises of Abraham and we can connect this to us as well.

Therefore, it is a faith that it might be according to grace so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. Now, we touched upon this a little bit in the Bible study last night and that is that the promises to Abraham included blessings from a seed.

Paul mentioned that singular, referring to the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, and that the promises to the Gentiles are as wonderful and as glorious and equal to the promises to those who are the physical descendants of Abraham. As a matter of fact, Paul says that those who have faith are the real descendants of Abraham. But continuing here in verse 17, as it is written, I have made you a father of many nations in the presence of whom he believed God, or he believed God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did.

In other words, Abraham is dead, but when God sees Abraham, when he thinks about Abraham, what he sees is Abraham in the resurrection. He sees the promises to Abraham fulfilled through the Jews and the Gentiles because God looks through the window of the future. He doesn't limit himself to looking at himself and looking at other people only through the windows of the past and present. That's why sometimes we get very negative on ourselves. That's why sometimes, unfortunately, we become judgmental towards others, some of our own brethren, some members of our family, because we're only looking through the window of the past and present.

Unlike God, we're not looking at their potential. We're not looking at it the way God looks at it, and that is the way that they can be, the way that they someday shall be. I'm going to read verse 17 from the New Century Version. As it is written in the Scriptures, I am making you a father of many nations. This is true before God, the God Abraham believed, the God who gives life to the dead and who creates something out of nothing. And it's easy for us sometimes to feel like I'm nothing. I'm just spinning my wheels.

I don't feel like I'm growing. I don't feel like I'm making progress. But it says here that God gives life to the dead. God has, inspires, and as part of his plan is to have a resurrection, and he creates something out of nothing.

In other words, though we don't see what's going on in our lives, God is working in the background to get us exactly where he wants us to be for the role that we will serve in for all eternity. Things that may seem mundane to us and not very exciting, God's still working in the background in your life. When you go through a trial you didn't expect, maybe a health trial or something goes on that's horrible, that's challenging to you, don't get discouraged because realize that through it all, God's doing something great in your life.

He is working through that situation, through those experiences, through the things that you're feeling, through the emotions you're processing, through the maturity that you're gaining, through that event. God is preparing you for all that he has for you for all eternity. Because God knows and can visualize the future, he boldly proclaims things that don't yet exist as if they already do. That's what Romans chapter 4 and verse 17 says here.

God looks at the big picture. He looks at the conclusion of events, not just what's happening today. He looks at us and he doesn't get disheartened by simply seeing us as we are today. Instead, he looks out of the window of the future and he sees our potential. Again, he sees us as we can be, as we shall be.

Let's talk about David for a minute. David was another prominent biblical character and he had many problems. He was a man after God's own heart. God loved David. He saw qualities in David that he absolutely loved. But let's be honest here, David was human. He broke his marriage vows. He committed adultery with another man's wife. Then he lied about the situation to try to hide it.

He caused an innocent man to die so that he could acquire his wife. He could take his wife as a possession. He took a census of Israel's military. He caused great suffering in the nation. That's recorded in 2 Samuel chapter 24. Excuse me. Yet, as frustrated as God may have gotten with David at times, you see, God, when he looked at David, he just didn't see him in a limited way of that human being struggling with his own emotions, sinning and making mistakes. He saw David for what he someday could and would be. Jeremiah chapter 30 and verse 7. Let's see this prophecy about David. Jeremiah chapter 30 and verse 7, if you'll turn there with me.

I'm wondering if someone would be kind enough to bring me up some water, bottle of water, or vodka. They won't be able to tell the difference. Just put it in a plastic bottle. I'm not particular, though I prefer Smirnoff's. Thank you. Jeremiah chapter 30 and verse 7, Alas, for that day is great, so that none is like it, and it is a time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it.

For it shall come to pass in that day, says the Lord of hosts, that I will break his yoke from your neck, and I will burst your bonds. Foreigners shall no more enslave them, but they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their King, whom I raise up for them. Thank you. So again, we see here that the prophet Jeremiah in this 30th chapter of his book reminds us that in God's kingdom in the world tomorrow, David will be resurrected and will serve as a king of the physical descendants of Israel.

Though he was imperfect, God looks at David when he looks at David's life. David is dead now. He's awaiting the resurrection, but when God looks at the totality of David's life, he doesn't simply see David as he was, or David as he is now. He sees David through the window of the future. And when God looks at your life, he sees you again through that window of the future.

This is how God chooses to view his children today, not as the limited and sometimes troubled souls that we are at this time in history, but for what we shall be. We are living construction sites. Have you ever been to a construction site?

Early in my career, I was an electrician, so I was at a lot of construction sites. You know what construction sites are? They're messy. There's junk laying around everywhere. Pieces of wood, sawdust, pieces of metal, debris everywhere. People, it looks like a confusion of people coming in and coming out. One trade arrives and another trade arrives and they build a scaffold, and then they, some other trade moves that scaffold over here because it's in the way of their pipes.

And it looks like an absolute chaotic mess. But somehow, before the grand opening, everything is cleaned out and that building is ready. And my brethren, that's the way it is in our lives. Our lives may appear to be unorganized and fragmented, messy, and sometimes people may look at us and it may not be very appealing.

But the master architect is working on your life. He has everything under control and he will have his new creation completed and ready by the time of your grand opening, at the time of the first resurrection. The Apostle Peter. Like David, Peter was an emotional man. Sometimes he was impetuous in the things that he said. He had a bad habit of speaking before he thought things through, something that some of God's people struggled with sometimes.

He had assured Christ he would never betray him, yet we know by Scripture that his courage was weak and his faith was shallow. Paul reminded Peter in Galatians chapter 2. We also looked at that last night in the Bible study. Peter was told that he was a hypocrite by Paul. This was 20 years after more than 20 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus because Peter believed that those who were circumcised were better than the Gentiles who were uncircumcised. Yet Christ loved Peter and looked at what he could become, what he would become.

He just didn't look at Peter as a betrayer, as someone who made a promise and broke it. He looked at Peter from the window of the future. Matthew chapter 19 and verse 27. Let's see what he said responding to what Jesus said, responding to a question that Peter asked. Again, Matthew chapter 19 and verse 27.

It says, And Peter answered, and said to him, See, we've left all and followed you. Therefore, what shall we have? We've made a sacrifice to be believers and disciples of you, Jesus Christ. So what will be our reward? So Jesus said to them assuredly, I say to you that in the regeneration, that is the new kingdom of God established on this earth, when the Son of Man sits in the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones judging the tribes of Israel. Jesus told Peter and the other disciples that they would sit on twelve thrones. Why? Peter was human. Peter made mistakes just like you and I do. Peter was flawed just like you and I are flawed. Why? Because what Jesus Christ saw were the positive characteristics and qualities that Peter had. Just like he sees the positive characteristics and the qualities that you have. And God projects that into the future. And that's encouraging to God. And it should be encouraging to us.

The point is this, in looking at these examples, God loved and he praised these servants who had personal problems and who sometimes sinned. He looked at them not simply for what they were, but what they would and could become. And the same is true in the way that God looks at us and our lives.

And I think we need to be reminded of that during the Feast of Tabernacles. Sometimes we can get so hard on ourselves we become our own worst enemy. We can become judgmental about ourselves. We can become judgmental towards others because we're only looking at them the way they're acting today rather than the potential that they have, the good qualities that they have.

God loves us and he wants us to recognize our limitations. He wants us to strive to change and grow spiritually. And he patiently gives us the gift of his Holy Spirit to help us to do those things. God has a growth mindset, and that mindset requires patience. God's willing to exercise patience. It's one of the fruits of the Spirit he has given us. Sometimes we have to be patient with ourselves as we continue to use his Spirit and make those necessary changes and grow in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord. Sometimes we have to exercise patience towards others in our own congregation or in our own family while they slowly grow in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord.

God loves us because of our desire to remain faithful to the end. That's a quality in you that God absolutely loves and respects. He loves us because when we fall on our face, we draw on his Spirit, we get up, and we go forward. And hopefully we don't live in the past or look always to the past and relive past negative events, but continue to move forward in faith and in commitment to the work that God is doing in your life.

So how can we look at ourselves and others from God's point of view? Two things I would like to mention rather quickly before we get into the final segment of the sermon today. The first thing is to look to the future and be hopeful. I know that this has been a difficult year with COVID-19, and we have a presidential election coming up in less than a month, and it's going to be ugly, and it's going to be messy, and people are going to make accusations no matter who wins.

The other side is going to say the election was stolen. I can tell you it's just going to get uglier and uglier and uglier, because we have a nation that has some very serious problems.

But don't let that get you down. Don't make that the focus of your life. All of those things are temporary. What God is interested in is the end result, His Kingdom. What we should be interested in is the end result, and that is the Kingdom of God.

Remember, it's the end result that's really important to God. It's the conclusion of the matter that counts. Be patient. Try to see the potential in yourself. Try to see the potential in other people as God sees the potential of other people. The window that we choose to view life from makes a difference in the way and our attitude towards other people.

Again, if we're only looking at others from the past and what we see right now, it's a very limited perspective of that person's potential. It's not seeing them like God sees them. It's not seeing them as they can be, as someday, through the grace of God, they will be. The story of the prodigal son is a reminder of this principle. You know, sometimes, and as a church pastor, I sometimes have people leave the church of God, and that's always very sad.

You know what? Sometimes people have to make mistakes and lose their way for a while in order to really understand themselves and come back home. Sometimes they just have to go through that experience, just like the prodigal son made some mistakes, left his family, but ultimately, God was still working with the prodigal son. Ultimately, he decided it was time to come back home, because again, God looks through the window of the future. So the first thing we can do is look to the future and be hopeful, be determined to eliminate all negativity from your life.

If you're watching the news and it starts to bother you, turn it off. If you're looking at social media, you're looking at Facebook or whatever, and it's a downer, it's a negative. If you're reading something and the individual's crying or whining or belly-aching or negative, do yourself a favor. Turn it off. Surround yourself with positivity and reject negativity, because it's like a cancer. You allow that inside of your mind, and all it does is metastasize, and then you start criticizing this, and then you start feeling bad about this, then you start feeling the blues, you start feeling despondent.

It just gets worse and worse and worse, and we create that routine cycle of negativity that we keep feeding over and over again. And brethren, that is not godly. That is not what God wants in our lives. Look to the future and be hopeful.

COVID-19 someday will be gone, but God's kingdom is just around the corner. Political presidential elections, it will be gone in a month. There will be lingering side effects from that, but life will go on. The day after election, the sun will come up. Human life will go on, and the dysfunction will continue, as it has for the last 6,000 years. Everything man has ever been involved in. Don't focus on that. Instead, focus on God's promises and what he's going to do in the kingdom of God.

The second thing I'd like to point out, to see things from God's point of view, is to endure our sufferings and to confront our problems. Too many of us become discouraged because we struggle with the same problems year after year. Keep working on yourself if that's the case. Don't give up. You know, given time, our struggles and the right principles will ultimately prevail. If you're on the right road and you're doing your best, allow the highest power in the universe to bring the proper outcome. Do your best. Have that growth mindset. Continue to work on those issues and problems you're struggling with. And allow the greatest power that exists in the universe to get you to where you need to be so he can work with you for all eternity.

So he can help you to serve for all eternity. Few people live without stumbling and falling down every once in a while. The true children of God are those who refuse to stay down when they go down. They get up again, they brush themselves off, and they keep their sights focused on God, on the kingdom of God, the righteousness of God, and they don't look back.

1 John chapter 3 verse 1, if you'll turn there with me. 1 John chapter 3 and verse 1. John reminds us that he also had developed a mindset that looked into the window of the future. He had learned not to be frozen in the past and not to only look at things from the window of the present and make judgments about the present as if they're going to last forever, because they're not. Everything physical is temporary.

Everything physical will eventually fade away. 1 John chapter 3 verse 1. Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called the children of God. What a privilege to be called a child of God through God's grace and through God's calling and through His mercy. Therefore, the world does not know us because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are the children of God and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know this, that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.

John said, I can assure you of this, you're going to be immortal. You're going to live for eternity because those are the qualities that Jesus Christ has. You're going to experience tremendous glory as part of the family of God, because that's the way that Jesus Christ is. This is a good scripture to remember when you struggle to do your best, and things seem to be going wrong in your life. If with God's Spirit you've done what you can do with obedience and faith, and your decision and your direction is right, learn to wait.

Learn to allow that greatest power of the universe to direct you and take you to where you're supposed to be. I'd like to now turn to a prophecy in Isaiah chapter 60, if you'll turn there with me, beginning in verse 1. This is a remarkable prophecy of Isaiah, and it's talking about Zion. Now, this is more than just the physical city of Jerusalem. The word here is Zion, and of course Zion is, spiritually speaking, it's a metaphor for the church of God, of which you are part of the church of the living God.

And here Isaiah describes what it's going to be like to experience a resurrection from the dead, what it's going to be like to be the church in the beginning in the establishment of the kingdom of God. So I think to encourage ourselves today and to realize that God looks at you from a window of the future, that we take a minute and do exactly that.

Isaiah chapter 60, beginning in verse 1. The prophet writes, picture a resurrection occurring here, arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. You see, the glory that God has will be given to you, because God is giving away what he has to his children. His glory will be reflected upon us. His glory will be our glory. God's glory will shine on us as members of his family.

We will radiate the brilliance and energy of God as his children. We will be glorified, and the majesty of God will be reflected upon us. Verse 3, the Gentiles come to your light and kings to the brightness of your rising. Gentiles will come and pay honor and respect to us as members of the family of God.

Teach us about this God. We came from Gentile backgrounds. We came from kingdoms in which we worshiped many gods. We had very dysfunctional faiths and lives and peoples, and we want to know more about this kingdom, more about this king of kings. Teach us. Show us. We're attracted to you. Tell us about this good news. Verse 4, lift up your eyes all around and see. They all gather together. They come to you. Your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters shall be nursed at your side. All people will desire to come to be loved and taught about God. Picture and imagine the destruction they've just witnessed through the great tribulation and the trumpet plagues, and everything that occurred on earth, and they are wounded, and they are hurting, and they're suffering, and they've come to be nursed.

They've come to be loved, and we're there to do that for them. Even our unconverted physical families will come and can be loved and nurtured by us. Verse 5, then you shall see and become radiant. When you become spirit, you see everything from a spiritual perspective. You're not limited to the physical thoughts and the physical world that we exist in today. We radiate the greatness and the glory of God because we've been resurrected immortal and eternal and filled with the spirit.

And your heart shall swell with joy. Imagine the joy of being resurrected and literally transformed in the twinkling of an eye from the form that we are today into immortal, uncorruptible.

And saying to ourselves, it's happened. What I always prayed for is happened. God loves me. I am accepted. I am a child of God, able to be with Him for all eternity. Because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, the wealth of the Gentiles shall come to you, the multitude of camels shall cover your land, the young camels of Midian and Iphah, all those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and incense. They shall proclaim the praises of the Lord.

Our hearts will leap with joy as we realize we've been changed into a new spiritual form of existence, that we've been able to shed off this physical tent and all of its pains.

The pains of growing old, pains of disease, all of the limitations that it gives us. We've been able to shed that off and become spirit beings.

We'll be given incredible wealth and express great joy as God's very own children.

We won't be given this wealth so that we can hoard it, like the nations of the world do today.

We will be given this wealth so that we can share it and rebuild a new world all around the globe, from all the corners of this earth, to rebuild new cities and new places of worship, new homes, new places for people.

We will be given this wealth so that we can build a new world and build a new world for people to work and learn about God.

Verse 7.

All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together to you.

So you see, all of this wealth that's left from the world is coming to Zion and being turned over so that it can be used in positive ways, in beautiful ways, to grow the world, to change the world.

All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together to you.

The rams of Nebaoth shall minister to you.

They shall ascend with acceptance on my altar, and I will glorify the house of my glory.

Who are these who fly like a cloud and are like doves to the roosts?

Who are these spiritual beings who just travel around all over the place, who travel at the speed of thought, as spiritual beings will fly like the wind to travel the world, will travel at the speed of thought, will be able to learn from and worship Christ in Jerusalem, and within seconds be at the other end of the globe to teach and serve others?

Anywhere, at any time, who are these who fly like a cloud and like doves to their roosts, who keep returning to Jerusalem over and over again?

First nine. Surely the coastline shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish shall come first to bring your sons from afar.

They are silver and they are gold with them to the name of the Lord your God and to the Holy One of Israel, because He has glorified you.

It's God's glory that He has given us as we have become spiritual, immortal beings serving in His family.

Generations of family will be reunited, and God owns everything, and He will share both His wealth and His glory with His faithful servants.

First ten. The sons of foreigners shall build up your walls, and their kings shall minister to you, those who are kings today, those who are leaders today, those who are prime ministers today, and have all the wonderful titles that exist in this world today. They will all be brought low.

Everything we know in this world, like a spade, is going to be dug into this earth and turned upside down.

And all of these people who thought they were so important, so influential, who controlled the levers of power in this world, will be brought low.

And their kings shall minister, shall serve you, instead of the way that it is today.

For in my wrath I struck you, but in my favor I found mercy on you. Therefore your gates shall be opened continually. They shall not be shut day or night. That men may bring you the wealth of the Gentiles and their kings in procession for the nation and kingdom, which did not serve you, or which will not serve you, shall perish, and those nations shall be utterly ruined.

People who lived through the latter days will share. In the rebuilding of a new and exciting civilization, and again worldly titles and rank that exist today, will mean nothing in the kingdom of God.

And together we will build homes and cities and places of work and temples of worship in a culture of love and caring for others.

Verse 13, the glory of Lebanon shall come to you. The cypress, the pine, the box tree, together to beautify the place of my sanctuary, and I will make the place of my feet glorious.

God's church will experience and be able to enjoy the most beautiful woods and gems and precious stones that will be used to build homes and dwellings. We will enjoy the accommodations of the highest quality that befit a child of God. Verse 14, also the sons of those who afflicted you. Have you ever maybe lost a job because you kept the Sabbath?

Or maybe had an angry fellow member, a fellow family member who's been a little hard on you because of your religious beliefs? Maybe are sarcastic about your religious beliefs or give you a difficult time? Maybe a school system gave you grief about taking your children out to observe the Feast of Tabernacles?

And the sons of those who afflicted you shall come bowing to you, and all those who despised you shall fall prostrate at the soles of your feet.

And they shall call you the City of the Lord Zion, the Holy One of Israel, the Church of God, glorified, magnified in God's glory. Whereas you have been forsaken and hated, that's the way we feel sometimes in the world today, we are a very small church, so that no one went through you. I will make you an eternal excellence, a joy of many generations. You shall drink the milk of the Gentiles, the milk of the breast of kings. You shall know that I, the Lord, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.

So as the prophet reminds us, even though we're considered small and insignificant and unimportant in this age, we'll be honored and respected as part of the family of God. We'll gather the wealth of the nations. Again, not to hoard it, as leaders do in this world today, but to make sure that it goes to those who have a genuine need, so that it can be used to build a new world, an entirely new civilization. Verse 17, instead of bronze, I will bring gold, only the best for the Church of God. Instead of iron, I will bring silver. Instead of wood, bronze. Instead of stones, iron, I will make your officers peace. Not like the problems we have in the world today. Unfortunately, we do have a small, small percentage of correction officers who abuse people and cause problems. And unfortunately, make all of the good police officers make them look bad because of a few bad eggs. But at this time, I will also make your officers peace, and your magistrates' righteousness. Violence shall no longer be heard in your land, neither wasting nor destruction within your borders. No more rioting, no more pulling over statues, no more burning within cities.

Peaceful officers, magistrates, and judges who rule righteously with equal treatment. No more violence in our cities. But you shall call your walls salvation and your gates praise. So we will bring peace to the cities we rule. We'll be known as peacemakers. Jesus said, blessed are the peacemakers. All law will be administered fairly and in righteousness. There will be no more partisan politics, no more bloated government bureaucracies. One of my favorite sayings are, dear ticks, dog ticks, politics, they're all parasites. That will be gone in the kingdom of God. Be no more drugs on the streets, no more terror in our cities, no diseases, no more dysfunctional families, no more starving children, no more suicides due to hopelessness. But a world in which officers bring peace and which the judges are fair and judge in righteousness. Verse 19, the sun shall no longer be heard or shall no longer be your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give you light. But the Lord will be to you an everlasting light. Everlasting for all eternity, we will share and radiate the glory that God has given us through His grace because He's allowed us to become His children.

And your God, your glory, your sun will no longer go down, nor shall your moon withdraw itself, for the Lord will be your everlasting light, and the days of your morning shall be ended.

The days in this physical life in which we grew old and all the aches and pains that we have experienced, some people that we have loved dearly have acquired diseases and died prematurely, no more suffering and mourning because we lose a job, because we have an unexpected financial disaster, because we have a relationship challenge and it just doesn't seem to be any solution. And we're mourning over the loss of a relationship with a loved one. All of those things shall be ended. The glory of being in the family of God will outshine the sun. There will no longer be nighttime, and all the problems and trials that we faced in this physical life are a faded memory.

Our days shall be filled with vigor and purpose and service to others, and we will not grow old or grow tired.

Also, your people shall all be righteousness. The people that we teach that we mentor, that we coach, wherever God places us within the role within His kingdom, that we'll have a positive effect on the lives of others.

We will change lives for the good. We will mentor and teach other people to become righteous and to love God's law, to have it written on their hearts.

Continuing, here your people shall be righteous. They shall inherit the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.

A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation. I, the Lord, will hasten in its time.

The people that we love and that we serve, the cities that we manage, the people will thrive.

One person will have the opportunity to grow into a great family, in a world in which people don't die prematurely because of disease, where their kids aren't shot walking the streets, where people aren't stunted because they grow up in a household of starvation or dysfunction because their parents can't live their lives correctly.

All of that will have been swept aside, and people will be given every opportunity to grow great and to reach the potential that God originally had planned for all of humanity.

A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one, a strong nation, I, the Lord, will hasten it in its time.

Again, the people we serve will be blessed. They'll be blessed tremendously.

Many of them will grow in the greatness in the kingdom of God in the world tomorrow.

Brethren, what a grand and fantastic future we have. And it's our future.

All we need to do is continue to grow and endure until the end.

It's our future. We need to remain faithful disciples of Jesus Christ and never abandon our calling.

Not to allow anything in heaven or on earth or under the earth to take our focus off of the kingdom of God and all that God has planned for you.

God wants to finish the work. He has begun in you. And He can only do that if we stay close to the trunk of the tree.

And if we begin to look at our purpose now, not from the limited perspective of the past and what we see today, but begin to look at our purpose and the purpose of our brothers and sisters in Christ and our loved ones from the window of the future.

Seeing, looking for that potential beyond what they are today and looking into what they can be, what they shall be, because that's the way that God looks at all of us and looks into the future.

We just read from Isaiah, and God inspired this prophecy to encourage His children. And I hope you were encouraged by it.

We're closer than ever to being born into the kingdom of God, born anew. And this picture that we're celebrating today, this feast that we're celebrating, this picture of the kingdom of God, is a reminder of all the wonderful things God has planned for us.

We are now celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles. It's a time that God has looked towards and desired since the foundation of the world, when He made that provision, realizing from the foundation of the world that the lamb would need to die, would need to be slaughtered from the foundation of the world.

We're celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles. God has looked forward and desired His kingdom to be restored in this earth for a long, long time.

He has always encouraged Himself, and He's encouraged many others by looking at the window of the future.

By doing this, if we get in the habit of doing this, and I think we all want to be more like God, our attitudes will improve.

We won't be as harsh on ourselves. We won't be as self-righteous and judgmental towards others who are going through various issues and problems and difficulties, just like Abraham and David and Peter went through issues and troubles and difficulties.

We'll cut them a little slack, and we can begin to look at others the way God looks at them from the window of the future.

Brethren, I wish all of you a wonderful Feast Day during this day of the Feast of Tabernacles, and look forward to speaking to you again in a couple of days.

Have a wonderful and fulfilling festival.