Want to Be King? Be a Servant

Thank you very much. It's good to be here with you. I was hoping to avoid that $9 million thing. It's not any fun to think about. Yeah, yeah. I always told people that when you usually get called up from reserves, when things are going really bad, and then you get to fix them or try to, and you can't do it. Actually, God has to do it. It's a work of faith. Always has been. Always will be. And at times we get too complacent and too far ahead, and then we start trying to do things ourselves, and it doesn't work. And we have to learn to do them His way. Good to be here with ABC again. I was out with them two weeks ago, so they keep dropping off getting sick here. You sound great, though. I love coming with them. And I told them I was going to give a different sermon they gave two weeks ago, so they hopefully won't fall asleep on me. I love having them in class, too. It's fun to be around young people. It's to get people early in their lives where they haven't made as many mistakes as us old people. Get a better start. I've titled this sermon, Want to be a King? Be a Servant. Turn to John 1833, if you would.

A little less than 2,000 years ago, the Roman Pontius Pilate asked Jesus a question, asking Him, Are you king of the Jews? Verse 33 says, Pilate entered into the judgment hall again and called Jesus and said to Him, Are you the king of the Jews?

And Jesus answered Him, Say you this thing of yourself, or did others tell it of Me? Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? I'm a Roman. I'm not. You're not my king, if you were. Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you to Me. What have you done? Why are they so irritated with you? What have you done?

Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews. But now is My kingdom not from here? And Pilate therefore said to Him again, Are you a king then? And Jesus answered, You say that I am a king, to this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone that is of the truth hears My voice. Are you and I, as we come up to this Passover season, listening? Do we hear the voice of our king? To hear the truth in a world full of lies? Do we really hear what Christ is saying to us? As we approach these days of examining ourselves, we look at our own inadequacies in trying to be like our Lord.

We are told to be like Christ. And yet we are told to have His mind, the mind of Christ, flipping as 2-5, let this mind be in you, which is in Christ Jesus. To become perfect, as our Father in Heaven is perfect, very lofty goals, and obviously we don't attain them as human beings. We won't until we are spirit beings and have the character and the ability to do that. But we have to be setting that as our goal, to be like Him.

We've adopted a phrase now in the Council before it was Christ-centered servant leadership. We've called it Christ-like service because we're trying to build everyone. It was interesting I asked Dr. Howard Baker, who gave the original seminar on servant leadership, that started a progression 10 years ago, which stopped, unfortunately. And I asked him if he wanted to do another one.

He said, I'm actually beyond that now. Not that I don't teach that. He said, what I'm focusing on now is a Christ-centered culture. He says you can be a Christ-like servant leader, but if you're in a culture of Satan, it's a totally uphill battle. It's very, very hard to do that. He says, what we need to create is a Christ-like culture where everyone is acting that way, where we're all brothers and sisters doing the same thing. Christ was born to be king of kings, which means that you and I, and him as our older brother, are meant to be kings and priests with him.

We think in terms of, when we think of kings, we think of majesty, beauty, wealth, and power, the things that this world advertised. We have a wedding coming up in a couple weeks with Prince William. It's interesting, I was in London with my wife, Mr. Armstrong, when Prince Charles married Diana. It would be interesting to see the fanfare of stuff that goes around with this wedding.

But that's what we think of. We don't think of what Christ, when he came as a king, to be the suffering servant, to be a baby and a manger, to be ridiculed by his own people, to be left alone to die. For whatever reason, God so fit for my wife and I to be placed around any of the royalty in this world, to see how they live, to see what they do, to see the ones that are good, the ones that are bad, the royalty in Europe, in Africa, in Asia.

It was interesting to meet those people and hear of their work, to hear of their struggles, to hear of what they wanted to do, hear their frustrations and the things they couldn't do, but their goals of what they wanted for their people. Even the world's kings seek help in accomplishing what they want to accomplish, because it's very difficult. They want to do things that sometimes seem impossible.

Some of them try to do things right, other ones just try to pad their own position, their own posterity, write their own books the way they want them written. It's no secret that I favored the royal family of Thailand most of my life. I'd met with them more times probably than any other, although I met with others several times as well. But I was able to spend more time with them and get to know them more on a human level, which was interesting.

In inaugural speech, the king started out his royal kingship with a statement. It reads, We will reign with righteousness for the benefit and happiness of the Siamese people. We'll reign with righteousness for the benefit of the people. I've read a lot of ceremonies. Most of them say things like that. But do they do them? He didn't start with I will, he started with we. He recognized that a family sets a position and sets an example for the whole country.

He recognized his wife when he said we will reign with righteousness. He realized that everyone in the family has a duty. Jesus Christ recognizes that we and his family have a duty as well. We must be able to serve others because it's about serving and giving. That's how we learn as we approach the Passover about giving honor where honor is due. When Queen Sarah could visit the United States in 1985, some 26 years ago, I was asked to escort her around the campus and also around Los Angeles.

She was able to spend a number of hours with her. One day we were in the car together for probably three or four hours. There was some trouble in her family and she was talking about it. It was interesting because her son, his royal highness crown prince Maha Vahri Lomkhorn, had had some difficulties. She was wondering what she should do to help him. She leaned over to me and asked me a question. She said, Aaron, how can I raise my son to be a good king?

I was shocked that she asked me this because I didn't expect that question. See, his royal highness, the crown prince, was born July 28, 1952. About a month and a half later is when I was born. He and I are virtually the same age. I wonder why she would ask me this question about her only son who was born to be king. How would I answer that?

I knew what he needed. What he needed was the knowledge of God, the knowledge that you have, that I have access to, the knowledge in this book, with their Buddhists. And they protect the Buddhist religion. She was very sincere when she asked that, though, and so I prayed for God to give me an answer to her. I gave her an answer. I knew it wasn't time to make a convert and go into the well. You need to baptize him and make him read the book. It wasn't exactly what she wanted to hear or would be appropriate in that situation. Although I could have told her that.

She's read some of the Bible. I know she read Mr. Armstrong's book, Mystery of the Ages. But I answered her this way. I said you should raise him the same way you were raised. You see, they never expected to be the king and queen of Thailand. And so they were raised very differently than the first-born son or a daughter who expects to be a queen. He was to become king when his older brother, his Majesty King Ananda of Mininal, the Rama the 8th, as he took, they're all Rama's, this king is Rama the 9th.

He died unexpectedly. In reality, he was poisoned after two years of branding because he tried to straighten out the government, and it was corrupt. Her Majesty Queen Serk was born August 12, 1932. She was about five years younger than her husband to be. Her father was a great-grandson of Rama the 5th, so she had royal blood, although it had been deluded by a couple of generations. In her childhood came the invasion by the Japanese in World War II and the occupation of Thailand.

And although they had servants and land, they had very little money. She told me that she had to carry water from the well. That was her job as an 8-9-year-old. You've seen the pictures over in China, in places where they have the pole with the two pots. She carried that. I remember the royalty, but that was her job, to serve the family and to help in doing that. She told me of the bombs that were falling when they first took Thailand, how some landed near the shrapnel, and the people that she saw that were hurt, the death, the screaming, the panic and the fear that people had.

She was a royal image, yet she understood hardship, more so than most. It was interesting, though, because, as she told me her life story, she told me of the time she was 16 years old. At age 16, she was invited to a royal party at the palace. All the young, eligible ladies had been invited, as well as a lot of the very rich and political, powerful people. It was a time because the Crown Prince and the young prince were both of age and getting to know them for the time when they'd want to be married.

So the party was there to meet all the various people, and she was excited at being invited to this party, just as you would be excited if you were invited to a royal wedding or a party or something of that nature.

But she had a problem because she wanted to look her best for this party, as any of us would. She went to her father and she said, Daddy, Daddy, can I... I've been invited to the party, can I have a new dress?

And her father said, no, I'm sorry, you can't. She said, but it's a royal party. He says, I can't, I don't have any money. She said, but you have land, you can sell some land. He said, yes, I could sell some land, but you see, I'm responsible for the people on this land. In the country with the war and the corruption and things, he said, if I sell some land, the people buying it will just throw the people off and they'll starve. She said, I can't do that. He says character, responsibility, honor are all more important than a new dress for a party. So he wouldn't give her that dress. And she asked him, can I have some new shoes? And he said, no, honor is more important than new shoes. And then she asked him, Daddy, can I please have money so I can take a taxi? He said, no, honor, character, more responsible than having some shoes. So she went to that party in her school uniform, wearing tennis shoes, on a bus. That would have to be very difficult. Think of yourself as 16. Would you even go? Would you even like to take the opportunity? She'd look out of place. She said she was. Because everybody else there, the money and various people of power, had nice things. And that's why I told her, you should raise your son like you were raised. Because it is about character. It's about honor. It's about responsibility. It's about caring for other people. It's about love and concern for people that others would discard and throw out as expendable. People that this world would look down on and not care about at all, as we see every day in life. When we think of examining ourselves, do we look to see our own faults? Yes. But do we look to the well-being of others? In helping them, are we our brother's keeper? We are, like Christ said when He said, I was born to be a king. We were also born to be kings. But how do we look at it? Do we look at it from the standpoint of this world's point of view? Do we look at it from Christ's point of view? From service and humility. Do you want to be a king? Be a servant. You can't look at it from a point of power and entitlement. It's too easy to do it that way. Most royals here are caught up in luxury in building things for themselves, unfortunately. Just like politicians and rich people. Luke 12. When we come before God, are we like the rich man? Luke 12, verse 21. The parable there, the man whose ground brought forth a certain rich man, had brought forth plundefly.

Verse 16. What are you going to do when you have too much? Instead of giving it away, as Christ did, He was willing to, when they only had five fishes and some loaves, give it away. That's what the apostles probably thought when they said, Go feed them with it. He thought within himself, What shall I do? Because I have no room to bestow my fruits. This will do. I'll solve this. I'll pull down these barns and build bigger barns. I can store this up myself in 19. I will say to my soul, Soul, you have much goods. Lay up for many years. Take it easy. Eat, drink, and be merry. Is that what we're supposed to do as kings? It's not what the king and queen of Thailand have done. It's not what our Lord and savior did. But God said in verse 20, You fool, this night will your soul be required of you. Then who shall these things be which you have provided? When I look at the things, my mother died last March. All the things that she had. I remember when my grandmother died, and all the little knickknacks and things she had, and the daughters and sons divided them. All the things that were so important to her, some of them went in the trash can. Just like with us, some of the things that were so important to us. If we die, go in the trash can. We don't take those things with us. What do we do? Verse 21, So he that lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God, is like that man. Therefore I say to you, Take no thought for your life, what you shall eat, neither for your body, which is put on. Life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment. He goes on to talk about the birds of the field. They don't toil. If you lay up treasure on earth, your heart's not with God. Most royalty is spoiled. Most royalty doesn't know about God. When you think you'll be a king, it seems that if we don't believe we're going to be a king in this world, you tend to serve better, humanly. Just like the king and queen of Thailand, who didn't expect it. What kind of king will we be? Israel asks for a king, and 1 Samuel 8, if he'll turn there. It's interesting because do we deny who our leader is? By being like him? Do we point others toward us, or do we point them toward Christ? Israel had a problem. Of course, we're spiritual Israel. 1 Samuel 8, verse 1, it came to pass when Samuel was old, he made his son judges over Israel. Typical thing. Verse 3, his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after money, and took bribes and perverted judgment. It's interesting how many times the children don't follow what their parents do. They're raised with a different sense of respect. My children, I tried not to tell them much about the shell of my past, and they saw pictures on the wall, but we didn't talk about whatever. In fact, my children didn't even know I was a minister, really, because I wasn't preaching very much. The college, other people spoke all the time. In fact, when I went to correct my son one time, he said, you can't do that. You're not a minister. I said, yeah, I am a minister. He said, I mean a real minister. When I married him, I got to be a real minister.

Verse 4, all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together and came to Samuel and Raman. He said, and behold, you're old, your sons don't walk in your ways. Make us a king to judge us like all the nations.

Is what they said true? Yeah, his sons weren't working in his ways. But you see, they already decided their solution. They had every right to go to Samuel and say, Samuel, we need help. But they should have said, would you ask God what he wants for us to do? What does he want? How does he want us to solve this problem? They didn't have enough faith in their God to let him do it. And the thing displeased Samuel when they said, give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the Lord. He prayed, as he always did for Israel, because he was a righteous man. And God said to Samuel, he hearken to the voice of the people, and all that they say unto you, for they have not rejected you, they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.

When they said, give us a king, they rejected God.

We don't want to reject God. We want to make sure that we're looking to God, having the faith to wait for things to work out, and not try to do them ourselves. Every time we do something ourselves, we create a problem. We don't wait for God. It's like Abraham. We have Ishmael, because he didn't wait for God, for the promise, for the matter of a lack of faith.

But it's interesting, when he told them they could have a king, he warned them. Because humans, without God, don't know how to be kings very well. Occasionally you have a few that understand it, like the king of Nineveh, who repented with his city. And the king and queen of Thailand, not even Christians, who understand some of these things, but it's interesting. He says, listen to their voice in verse 9, verse 10. Samuel tells the words to them. Verse 11, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you. He will take your sons and appoint them to himself for his chariots and his horsemen, going to battle for them. And some shall run before his chariots, a dangerous position in a war. He'll appoint him captains over thousands and captains over 50.

Verse 13, He'll take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. And He'll take your fields and your vineyards and your oliveyards, the best, and give them to His servants. He will take a tenth of your seed and your vineyards and give to His officers and His servants. He'll take your men's servants and your maid servants, your goodliest young men, your animals, and He'll put them to His work.

He will take a tenth of your sheep, and you shall be His servants. And then you'll cry out in that day because you're king, which you have chosen you, and the Lord won't hear you. Does that sound like what the world is like today? Take, take, take. How many times have we heard give versus get? Christ came and gave. It's interesting. Is this the king that you would be if you were born in a royal family, raised like most are? Are you sure? I've seen many men, corrupted by power, both inside and outside the church, respected men. It's a very hard thing because it's true. Eli's sons didn't follow Eli, yet Eli seemed to be good. Samuel's sons didn't follow Samuel. We should take that to heart when we raise our kids to realize that they don't just absorb it by being there with you. They should see your example, but you have to teach them as well. If we simply desire power now or in the future for the wrong reasons, then we're not understanding what the Passover is about. We haven't really learned the lessons of Christ's foot washing and His death. And when you don't think you'll be a king, perhaps, you seem to be best humanly. Saul was humble when he started out as king because he came from the smallest tribe. He was big and he was impressive. People liked him, but in his own eyes he was small. But he forgot to have respect for God's authority. He took matters in his own hands when Samuel didn't show up soon enough and things didn't work the way they should. He did it for himself and offered offerings and did things that made him be rejected. Even Moses, the meekest man on earth, lost it momentarily when he struck the rock. Remember, he was up there and they were demanding water. I'm sure he was sick and tired of people ridiculing him, complaining. I'm sure he was upset. I would have probably been more upset than he. But he struck the rock and he said, must I bring water out of this rock? He couldn't bring water out of the rock any more than you or I could. God could. He paid a price for it. Figuratively, I've seen many people strike the rock. Like Moses, too many times. I've struck the rock before as well. And you learn by seeing so many others, I've learned a lot more than I would have had I not seen that. I try to use other people's witness in what they've done and the damage it causes. Because there's pain always involved. There's always a price. If you don't pay the price or not, we're human. Moses didn't get to go in the Promised Land yet. He was strong. At 120, his eyesight was not dim and his strength was not abated. There's always a price, but thankfully the physical price we may have paid for some of these things is not permanent. Because we have repentance. And if we cry out to God in love and in repentance and change, he forgives us. The king whose death we'll celebrate soon in a few weeks came and lived not as one of the kings of this world. He didn't live like the people who tried him. He did what no other king would or could do for each of us. He came to show us how to be a king. You want to be a king? Be a servant. A king with perfect love for mankind. A king who taught give, not get. A king who served, not taught being served. To accept the hatreds and the attacks without God. To truly be a servant to all mankind. Turn to 1 Thessalonians 4. Yes, he will come back in power because kings do have power. But it's how they use that power. And if you're only focusing on the power you're going to have, you'll be putty in Satan's hands.

And my son, he thought it would be great to be one of the two witnesses when I was telling about calling fired out from heaven and things. He was only six or seven and he was kind of great. Until I told him how they hung in the street dead and that he didn't think he wanted to be one anymore.

It's interesting when you read the whole story. 1 Thessalonians 4.16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. You and I, firstfruits. Then we, which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. Why do we serve now? Because that's what we're supposed to do. It's what he did. And where do we go from there? We rise to meet him.

We need to comfort each other, knowing we can join his family. That you and I have that incredible opportunity, if we prepare as Christ teaches us. But our desire has to be in the humility, not in the power, in a proper attitude, not in a wrong attitude. There will be injustices. You can count on that. We're told that we will suffer persecution. In fact, if you're not having some kind of trial in your life at various times, you'd better wonder whose side you're on. Because you will, both in and out of the church. It's interesting, in Hebrews 5.8, it talks about Christ learning obedience by the things he suffered. He learned through suffering, and we do too as well. Why? It's interesting because he qualified for a job. Because he qualified, you and I have a job. But the job qualifications are not a resume of how good you are. All of you have probably had a job or tried for it. You have written a resume of some sort. In that, you praise yourself and say how good and all the things you know. And you stretch it as far as you can to get the job. It's about making yourself look good. But our resume with God is about being who we really are and about service, about coming to him and knowing that things were weak end, so that he can strengthen them, that he can make us more than we are.

It's not about how good you are.

Turn to Matthew 20.

How many times did Israel, and us as spiritual Israel, how many times have we been told, learn not the way of the heathen? His disciples were influenced by human nature, just as all of us are.

Because God's way in Satan's world is not the normal.

Matthew 20, verse 20, Then came to him the mother of Zebedee's children with her sons, worshipping him, desiring certain things of him. She came worshipping, as rightfully she said, the king, the Messiah. And he said to her, What do you want? She said to him, Grant that these, my two sons, may sit one on your right hand and the other on your left in your kingdom.

Now I'm sure she was probably put up to that. Every mother is proud of her children. And her sons, I'm sure, were smart enough to know not to ask things because they had seen Christ put down many other people who asked questions.

And Jesus answered her and said, You don't know what you're asking for. You really don't know what you're asking for your sons.

It's an uphill battle. Being a servant is not easy.

And he continued, Are you able to drink of the cup that I shall drink and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? His two sons were there. They said, Oh yes, we're able.

Yet what did they do when he was taken? They ran. All 12 of them.

And he said to them, You shall indeed drink of my cup and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, but to sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give. But it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.

God's government is hierarchical. There's no question about that. Christ didn't say there is no right hand or left. But it's only when God puts you in that position that it means anything. And there have been different types and forms of government on earth with God's people, whether it be judges, or prophets, or apostles at different times. But it has to be appointed by God.

But it's interesting because even though he told them it wasn't there, as the other disciples got upset with them, verse 24, when they heard it, the ten heard it, they removed the indignation against the two brothers. Who do you think you are to ask Christ, trying to get ahead of us? Yeah, do we try to do that? I've seen a lot of that. A lot of people who I think some never had God's Spirit, and some were baptized in the college. I know people that tried to be seen of men all the time. They'd always be there when the faculty were there, and leave when the faculty left. People that tried for position.

But Jesus called them, verse 25, and said, You know that the princes of the Gentiles exercised dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. It shall not be so among you, but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister, your servant.

We want the rewards. Are we willing to give the service, and be servants, and take the trials? Verse 27, Whosoever will be cheap among you, let him be your servant. Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered to, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many.

Do you want to choose life? It's interesting when God talks about choosing through the Bible. He always says, choose life. He doesn't say choose to avoid death. That is the opposite in one sense, but are we doing something because we're trying to avoid something? Are we doing it because we want it? Do you desire what God offers that much?

That you're choosing life because that's the way to do it? What are the world's religions? How many people are Catholics because they're choosing to avoid hell? Heaven doesn't mean a whole lot, but they definitely don't want to go to hell. That's not what God wants. He wants us to choose life. Some people stumble on the right things to do. We didn't stumble on to it. God called us. Somehow he reached out and opened your mind to see certain things, to make you look different, to see a greater purpose in life, to see something that only he knows why he calls any one of us. None of us were great.

We're just people. For us, the physical beginning was when we accepted Christ as our Savior, our spiritual beginning and our begettle. And then finally, when we're born, we rise to meet Christ when he comes. That'll be our birth, when he becomes King of Kings, with power, but still with service, because that's what the King of Kings does. He serves. Not those that are mighty, but those who are humble, the servants. It's interesting, Mr. Archdiombe, Vice President, oversees on one of the trips, and the nurse will sit in there and say, wow, you're important now.

And I looked at her and I said, I said, why? Well, you're Vice President. I said, what am I doing different today than I did yesterday? She said nothing. I said, it really doesn't make any difference. And I was thankful, Mr.

Archdiombe didn't announce that anywhere, because every time you get raised, there's always mud comes at you. In fact, he asked me sometimes, why aren't you in these pictures? And I said, Mr. Archdiombe, if you're in the pictures, people criticize you and throw mud at you. And I said, besides, we've airbrushed so many people out of pictures at $500 a picture that I don't want to spend the widow's money airbrushing me out of a picture if I mess up.

But it's true. If you don't build a hedge around yourself, you'll fall. Satan can come at you. All of us have Achilles heels that we have to protect and ask God to show us and the guard against. And if you don't build a wall around that, because if God's going to give you eternal life forever, He has to know that you are going to follow His way forever. In fact, I'm thankful that He made us human beings.

I'm thankful I can be dust and ashes under the feet of the righteous if I don't make it, because I don't want to live for eternity in misery as Satan and the demons will, because they're spirit and can't die. I know that when I make it, when you make it, they will be eternally happy. It won't mean He's sadness. It's His gift.

Christ always represented God. He took Him to the front. You know, you think about wars, the way they were fought traditionally, always fascinated by the wars in Europe in the 17-1800s, how the generals would stand on the hill and they'd send the men out like cannon fodder, and they'd go hand-to-hand combat, and all these people would die. The generals never seemed to die. It's one of the things that really caught the British by surprise in the Revolutionary War here, is we shot officers.

You're not supposed to shoot officers. That's why you're not playing by the rules. The rules are different. Christ is out in front. He died first for us. What's God going to look at? Isaiah 66.1 we read, Thus says the Lord, the heaven is my throne, the earth is my footstool. You can probably memorize this.

Where is the house He built to me, and where is the place of my rest? Verse 2, For all those things is my handmaid, and all those things have been, says the Eternal. You want to be seen by God, the next phrase?

But to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit and trembles at my word. You may not have to give your life literally as Christ did, but you must be fully dedicating your life to God and the things of God. And you must be willing, if that's what's called on. But do we do it willingly, to live and practice giving and serving? Do you want to be a king? Be a servant. It is the surrender of your will to His will, your mind to Christ's mind. That's what it really takes to fully understand what the Passover is about.

To continue my story, how did this young second-born son become king? And this young 16-year-old girl who went to the party in a school uniform get to be the king and queen of Thailand. The war was over. Thailand wanted to send an ambassador to Europe. They selected a political appointee to send to Europe. The British, who had been in Thailand for a number of years, refused to accept the man the government appointed to be the ambassador. They said, that man that you chose has no honor, no dignity, no character. And they demanded a man named Nakhatra Mancal of Chandorri, none other than Queen Seriket's father.

They said he's a man of honor. And so he became the ambassador to Europe and moved his young family with him to Europe. The young prince went off to Europe to study. He wanted to study engineering. Being second-born son, he wanted to study something that could help rebuild his country from the war to help his people. And as he was studying, he went to Switzerland on a ski trip, where the ambassador's family was skiing, and he met a young lady named Seriket.

And he fell in love with her, the beautiful young ambassador's daughter. And they expected to get married. They planned a wedding. And they planned just to be what they were. Nothing more than that. It's interesting because the king hadn't noticed her at that party when she was 16. Of course, she didn't stand out. I'm sure she stood out, but not in the way that you'd want to stand out as a 16-year-old at a royal party.

But now he saw a young woman of beauty and character, and he wanted to marry her. And like I said, the king's brother died. He'd been poisoned because he tried to correct the government. And so Thailand became a constitutional monarchy instead of a ruling monarchy. And the young king, Prince Pumapong, and his fiancé returned to Thailand, where the king was crowned to take on the throne. And she, with their wedding, became queen. And they indeed have kept the promise that they gave it their coronation, the best of their ability to reign with righteousness for the benefit of the Thai people. And the projects that they've done, they started out, and the king realized that he couldn't do a lot with the government because he could be killed just as easily as his brother had been.

And so he began working with the Hiltripe people. And he had a palace. His brother run down at the time, but on that palace was an 18-hole golf course. And he realized that he didn't need a golf course. He needed to help his people. And so one by one, he started projects of growing rice and raising cows. The Thais aren't real big on cows and animals, but he knew they needed calcium.

Got the Danish government to donate cows, and they started making milk, and they pelletized the milk into calcium dehydrated pellets that they'd send to school to give to the children. And they'd get up on their hands and knees out with the Thais people. The queen, sitting there watching her, do her work. Some of you have some of the old envoys saw the picture of Strand, Strand, with the queen. She's down there with the people, and they'd write on little tags on the people what was wrong with them in English.

So that the other people wouldn't know if they were there to see what it was. She would know and try to help them. And it was interesting to watch her do this. Something that I've seen very few kings do. Queen Ashwarya and the king of Nepal did that until they were assassinated, some of those things.

The Thais people love their king and queen for what they've given to them. And the king and queen love their people and try to return, because they've dedicated their lives to help the people. How much more should we love our king and be willing to be like him who gave his life for us? She can only help them physically, help a little bit of the soreness and the trial that they endure every day, these poor people.

He's giving us life eternal to be able to help the whole world. It was interesting that they were preparing by not knowing that they would be king or queen. But they had had people around them that taught them character. And they saw that service was what was necessary, and they were taught how to serve. God expects us to prepare. We do know that we will be kings and priests. And that knowledge is imperative that we understand how to be a king. And that way is from God's point of view to be a servant, to be humble.

We can't earn what will be given to us. It's not about works. What we do doesn't earn us anything. But we indeed are saved by grace. But what makes Him apply that grace to you is your acts of service, the acts that allow Him to give you eternal life. What is it about you that makes Him want to give that to you and make you part of His family?

Well, Passover is about the heart, for one thing. Acts 13, verse 22, it's one verse. It says, When He had removed him, Saul, He raised up David to be their king, to whom he also witnessed and said, I have found David, the son of Jesse, to be a man after my own heart, who shall fulfill all my will.

It's about the heart. Yet David's heart wasn't always pure, just as ours' heart. I'm so glad God didn't leave out the sins of the men of the Bible, because I don't think I could make it if I had to be perfect, and think that everybody that lived in the Bible was perfect. You probably wouldn't even want to start the race. But it's about the heart. It's also about the mind.

Like it says, let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus. Is our mind on Christ, on God, the things of God? It's about humility as well. Numbers 12.3, it says, the man Moses was very meek, above all men which were upon the earth. Would you like to have God say it about you? Humility, not pride. It might be read in Isaiah 66.2, where he said, This man will I look to him, that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembles at my word.

Do we look at God's word to make it part of our life, our being? The Passover is about building godly, righteous character. You take nothing with you to the grave but your character. What you become is what you build spiritually, and not what you build in your barn, and how big and how much you have. People have often said, Well, you must have been good to be picked by Mr. Armstrong to work for him.

No, I wasn't that good. I just knew how to cook. One of the hobbies I'd picked up along the way, because I wanted to eat a little better at college. And when they needed somebody on the plane, because the steward before me was leaving, he'd ask the college for someone to do the job, and they didn't have a cooking class that most of the men take, and I'd done all the faculty dinners and all the college ladies' nights and men nights, and I'd eaten quite well in college, which was very selfish of me.

But, it did put me in a position where I knew how to do that. I was glad to be with him, but it wasn't a matter of being good with him, because when you're sitting next to him, or the minister, or your parents, if you're young, you don't do stupid things. Not unless you are stupid. And at times we are, I agree. When we're really little and we think our parents can't hear, can you do things and they hear it and they didn't see you but they heard you.

You grow into the stage where you finally realize that noise travels, and there are mirrors and things like that, and your parents do hear things, and your mom especially has that fifth sense. To this day, I'm still trying to do the things he taught me as my mentor, what he taught me through the Scriptures. Passover is about love as well. Love of our God. It says, Love God and love your neighbor. On these two, hang all the law and the prophets.

It's what Christ said. Everything in this Bible is about love and relationships. We haven't been too good at that in our careers, unfortunately. We need to be better. It's usually a lack of faith that God is in charge. Our desire to give us a king, our desire to give us a son, like Abraham, our desire to, it's not right, I have to change things, when it's not our job. If it is your job, you can do it.

If it's not your job, then you're not having faith. It's a time of examination that we're coming up now. In reality, all year is a time of examination, but we focus on it now. As we do the foot washing, do we see this as a way of life, or do we see it as a ritual?

I've seen it as a ritual before, the first few times, Passover. You know what Christ did, and you see it in your mind, and as you've been through something, you really don't understand it until you really start seeing how it is. One of the reasons I respect Queen Seriket so highly is what she does for her people and the practice of humility without God's Spirit.

Sometimes, like Christ said, the children of the world are wiser than children of life. Because my exposure to her was such that I saw her as a person, not necessarily as a queen. We were up in the northeast corner of Thailand in 1985, Mr. Armstrong was visiting. She was meeting with the Queen, and the Queen asked her husband, you know, he's really old, what should I do? What should I do? He's coming to visit. Well, asking if he wants to go see the projects that he started in 1972-73.

And she said, but he's really old. And he said, well, that's okay. Ask him. He can say no. So she took us up to the projects in the very edge of the Burmese border in the corner of Thailand to the town called Nangkang, where we had planted, we had taught the people how to grow apples and oranges and orchards and various things and vegetables.

And the King had agreed to buy the vegetables from them after they were taught how to grow them. There was no roads up there at the time to get around. But as we were up there, we had flown up on the, Mr. Armstrong was playing to Chiang Mai, and then we'd taken a military helicopter with the Queen, the Queen's helicopter, up to the village and landed there. And then we took a jeep around these terribly steep roads. It was really steep terrain, very difficult to get into. And I was sitting on, actually, the good side because there was a cliff on the one side.

And Mr. Armstrong was on that side. He couldn't see, so it didn't bother him and my wife. My wife was trying to jump my lap to make sure she didn't go off the edge.

But it was fascinating because we got down to the village and we watched the Queen again, down in the dirt, with the people, finding out what their problems were and giving them little things. They were going to give us, somebody came up with a handful of bracelets, little woven things, and I was going to give them a dollar for about 50 bracelets. And she said, no, no. The lady in the waiting counter said, no, no, too much, too much. They'll get spoiled. I thought, a dollar for 50 bracelets doesn't seem like spoiling people.

But she said, no, no. She said, don't do that. And then we had lunch with the Queen, and they had taken sock lunches there. And it was interesting because they had these little tables there and little umbrellas with the palm fron type things over them, things you'd picture in Tahiti or the tropics or whatever. And it was somewhat tropical climate up there.

And so we're sitting down to eat, and they brought out the sock lunches, and the ties are very decadent, especially with the royal family, and everything always looks like a bird or an animal or something. You've got to try to unwrap it. And Mr. Armstrong didn't know, couldn't see really well, so he didn't know what you were supposed to eat and what he wasn't. And he was trying to, you know, pick it apart. And the Queen reached over and undid it for him.

And the staff is shocked because the Queen doesn't do that for people. That was remarkable in itself. However, the next thing that happened is my wife had to go to the restroom, and so she went to one of the ladies and waitings and asked, where should I go to the restroom? And when she got up and started walking toward kind of what was somewhat of an outhouse, with a little bit of running water through it, the Queen saw where she was going, and she jumps up and she runs after my wife.

And before my wife goes in the room, she says, no, you wait here. And she went in and cleaned the restroom before my wife would go in. And she gave her some things, said, don't use the water, use this wipe here, take care of this, because I don't want you to get sick. But to have a Queen clean a restroom, that taught me a lot of what foot washing is about.

It's about doing something that you wouldn't expect. How many times do we clean the restroom for someone who we would think below our status? How many times do we do the things that Christ did for us? Difficult. Your daily life shows your heart, shows your mind, shows your character, shows your love of God. You can't really love God unless you love your neighbor.

Who's your neighbor? Everybody. Some of them won't let you love them, perhaps. But you have to be willing to. 1 John 4.20 makes this statement. If a man says, I love God and hates his brother, he's a liar. If we say that, we lie. For he that loves not his brother, whom he has seen, how can he love God, whom he has not seen? In our mind's eye, we have to see God. We have to love Him, and we have to love the people around us. And develop a love for people that's hard. Sometimes, because sometimes people make it difficult to love them. But look at the ones who beat Christ, who spit on Him, who He died for, for all the sins of billions of people on earth.

Why do I look forward to the Passover? Because I realize how little I can do for other people. I yearn to help. I've walked the streets in the foreign countries where I've seen lame people. I've seen blind people. I've seen people who were crippled by their parents to be able to beg better children. And your heart goes out, and you wish you could just reach out and have the faith to heal them right there.

But it's not the time. There will be two people coming soon, the two witnesses that will probably do miracles like that. The world will see the things that they do.

I wish I could heal them. I wish I could teach them. If they're willing to listen. Some are, some aren't. Kings of this world, even the few that want to help, can't help that many. They put him upon him, Thailand. He wants to help his people. The queen told me when we were walking, she said, you know, I get so tired. I can't stop the prostitution. People selling their daughters into brothels. I can't stop all the drugs, crime, corruption. I get so tired sometimes, I wish I could just...

When I die, I just want to be an angel sitting on a cloud somewhere. She says, it's interesting though my husband doesn't want that. He said, my husband, he wants to have the power and the authority to really make a difference. He wants what you and I will have the power to do when we're appointed. When we're raised with Christ to help serve with him in the millennium, to teach others to help.

In a world that's different than this one, our job, our life, our true reality really begins when Christ returns. When the trumpet sounds, and we need to desire it fervently. But it begins with being a servant, it begins with Passover, God's plan there. Because that's what a true leader does. I fully believe we're in the times of Matthew 24. Nation has risen up against nation. To see the people in the news, country after country, dominoes falling like they are right now. To see people, leaders, see Mubarak, lead power, the man whom I met several times, who took Sadat's place.

To see these things happening and understand what's going to happen in those countries, what's going to happen in the rest of the world.

In Matthew 24, verse 8 says, those are the beginning of sorrows, the earthquakes, the nations rising against each other, famines and pestilences. Verse 9, they shall deliver you up to be afflicted, and they shall kill you. Are you prepared? If that's what we're called to have to do, you'll be hated of nations for my name's sake.

And then shall many be offended, and they betray one another, and shall hate one another.

And many false prophets shall rise, and deceive many.

And because of iniquity, because it shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

I've seen people's love wax cold. I've seen anger throughout the various years if people get discouraged. Maybe with cause, maybe without cause.

But you've got to have faith and trust in Jesus Christ, and you've got to be willing to endure those things because He does set it right.

Sometimes it takes years.

I know I've prayed several times for God to show Mr. Armstrong things, and He did at times, but I remember the one time it took more than a year or two for Him to see it.

And you want to do something yourself to change it, but you've got to realize God does it His way.

What do we have to do? Verse 13, He that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved.

Endurance, tribulation, trials.

And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness to all nations, and then shall the end come.

Now, in our budget this year, we're trying to make sure we don't cut that out.

It's the easiest thing to cut.

To even read things that don't affect people. But yet we're going to have to do some things that are more personally sacrificing.

Because we have a job to do.

And what's important is what this world needs to hear.

We want to give that to Him.

We're seeing these things happen for our eyes, and we have to wake up.

Get our actions to match our words.

But even with God's Spirit, we can only change ourselves.

I can change me, and you can change you.

And I ask God to change me. And I hope that you ask God to change you. That I'll be like Abraham was to Lot.

That I'll say, hey, which land do you want? If it comes to a choice. The good land, the water plains that Lot shows.

Abraham got the mountains and the hills where he had to rely on God for water and for food.

The faith, the rain-induced season and reliance on him.

We have to have that faith, because God puts us in positions to test our faith.

To find out what we're made of.

We can slip, we can fall, we can repent.

But he wants to know where you stand.

Christ always pointed to God.

He was always thinking about others.

Does your life point to God in his way or to man's way as directed by Satan?

Do you claim the restroom is for others?

Or do you want others to do things for you?

Do you see people as below you or above you?

Or as fellow laborers?

As fellow servants?

If you don't see them that way, you're missing the point of Passover.

It's interesting when God's city is described with the streets paved with gold and pearls for gates, giant pearls and onyx and beryllium and diamonds.

You know, if that's what's on the outside of the city, what's it like on the inside in the rooms?

Is it worth humbling yourself, confessing your sins and changing?

To be there, to see it? Absolutely. But it's the way of give versus the way of get.

How many times did the Old Among Us hear that? Many times.

Christ was always pointing to God, thinking about others.

Does our life, again, point to God? Do we think of others?

These days remind us of the promises of God, the knowledge of them.

That's great, but the knowledge is only the mechanical part.

It does nothing for us. It's the actions we take because we understand the plan of God that's important and means everything.

Our motives for doing them must be pure.

They're not trying to get in the kingdom for me.

I want to get there to serve others.

I want to be able to give. I want to be able to help those people that I saw when they're resurrected, or if some of them survived in the Tribulation and the Millennium, to heal them, to tell them that they can be healed. That there is a God that loves them. They didn't have to have this way, that they lived in this life.

And it's not to make a name for ourselves.

I've heard people at college say, I'm going to be something. I want to be great. I want to be important.

Always surprise me because they wanted their name remembered for the wrong reasons.

Our reason is not to build pyramids to ourselves, like the Egyptian pharaohs did, so that people would know that we were here. I don't care if people know I'm here. You shouldn't care if people know you're here, except through service.

But we're here to build character and to have humility, so that God knows you were here.

Turn to Matthew 25, if you would. If we get close to closing.

The true foot-washing attitude makes you visible to God.

Do you want to be visible to God? To be seen?

Verse 31, When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, He shall sit on His throne in glory.

And He's going to gather the nations and separate them one from another, as the shepherd divides his sheep from the flocks.

Then the King says to them on His right hand, Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundations of the world. He is prepared for you. You want to be a king, be a servant.

Why? Verse 35, I was hungry, you gave me meat, I was thirsty, you gave me drink, I was a stranger, and you took me in naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me, I was in prison, and you came to me.

Do we do that for each other? We do. To an extent, do we do it enough? You need to learn to do it where you don't even think you're doing it, before it becomes second nature.

Because the righteous don't know that they're doing it. It says in verse 37, The righteous will answer, and say, Lord, when do we see you hungry, and feed you, or thirsty, and give you drink, or a stranger, and took you in, or naked? They didn't see Christ in those positions, so what are you talking about?

The King answered them in verse 40, Barely I say to you, and as much as you have done it to one of the least of these my brethren, you've done it to me.

If you cleaned the restroom for my wife, you did it to me.

And he says to those on his left, Apart from me you cursed. And they said, Well, we didn't see you, we'd have done it. You didn't do it to the little ones, you didn't do it to me.

I can think of very, very few people in royalty that would have done what the Queen did.

I know no one has done what Christ did.

But that's what it's about. Being like him, having meekness, the lack of pride and arrogance, it's difficult.

Each of us has weaknesses, each of us has strengths. Each of us has a part to play in God's kingdom, or He wouldn't have called you.

It's easier to see the wrong than it is the right. The wrong often pushes itself forward. The right stands in the background. The meek people let God put them forward, if and when He chooses to do so.

Moses never said, Do you know who I am?

In fact, Moses, every time an episode came by, he asked God to forgive them.

God was going to kill all of Israel. And Moses said, No, don't kill them. He played it and said, If you do that, it will make a mockery of you. You brought them out there, you're strong enough to bring them out, but not strong enough to keep them. When Meriam talked against them, it became leprous. Moses said, Please, God, please heal her.

Even with Korah and his rebellion, they came to Moses afterwards, and Moses said, I didn't kill them. They said, Why did you kill our leaders? Moses took it. He didn't do it.

But that's the way it seems that we have to be. It's not always easy. Christ always thought of others. Why did he love Moses? Because Moses thought of other people above himself. Why was David a man after God's own heart?

Because he repented fully and turned toward God, and wanted to see God praise His name and bless Him. Why did God hear Daniel? Because he refused the king's portion and wanted to follow his God. Why did God respond to Peter's prayer when he said, Silver and Gold, have my none, but what I have I give you, rise up and walk? Because it wasn't about Peter. It was about Christ and about God. God gave His Son. Christ gave His life. Our service to God must be a life of servant. If you want to be a king, be a servant. Your examination is to make the changes in your life so that you can join your older brother in mind.

Always try to be fair to others. Never expect others to be fair to you as a condition for your being fair, as a condition to you changing. My brother and I as little kids say, You make him change. If he does it, I'll do it. No, it's not that. Christ didn't demand anything of us before He died for us. We shouldn't demand that of others. If you do demand it, you'll not know what Christ meant in the Scriptures when He said, Though you were a son, He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. Hebrews 5.8 bothered me for a while trying to understand because Christ was always obedient.

How did He learn obedience by the things He suffered? If you think about it, what did Christ leave when He came down to this earth? He left the throne of God. He left a world where everything was absolutely fair. Everything was absolutely just. Everything was absolutely righteous with His Father. He was brought into a world where nothing was fair. He was never treated with respect by the majority. Occasionally, someone would know who He was and anoint His feet, drive with her hair, or respect Him enough to say something.

But very, very few, and usually by people that no one respected, is where He got some respect. He learned obedience because He had to learn it in the world that you and I live in, where they don't respect what's right. And that's where we are. Indeed, the Passover, when fulfilled by Christ, was the first step in the plan for mankind and salvation. Most important events in history. And you've been given a chance to have a front row seat to see how God does it. Practice humility and service now, and you'll be able to serve millions in the future, sharing your story to encourage other people to attain what God has given to you, eternal life and His kingdom.

In January of 1986, I was asked to make a promise. Mr. Abersharn grabbed my hand and held it, my father in the faith. And I had to listen to his final orders that he gave. And he grabbed me and pulled it to me, and he said, Help prepare the bride. And that was enough. I didn't know how or what. I didn't know what was going to happen after he died. I knew he said half the church would leave and things would break up. He would quit everything that has happened in more ways than he even said. But I recall his very clear request to me when he said, Promise me that you'll rise with me when Christ returns.

I ask for you to make that promise to yourself. We may be in our school uniforms. Maybe all we have is tennis shoes. Maybe all we have is a bus. Will you make that trip? Will your pride to have it your way stop you from getting on the bus? I pray not, because Jesus Christ made that trip at Passover. And when Christ returns, you and I will be kings, not because of us, but we do our minuscule part in what we have to do, but because of him. Christ is holding your hand. Please get on the bus. Be a king by being a servant.