Why Are We Here?

Good afternoon, everyone. Well, that was beautiful, special music, a wonderful message in that song, and very well done. I'm looking forward to seeing God's glory, and it's so exciting to know that He's willing to share that with all of us. We are His children. One day, we shall be glorified. We're here celebrating the future. So that's very, very exciting to know and understand and comprehend that truth. You know, Mr. Dunham, Bill Dunham, who has been leading songs today, we went to college together, so we're roughly the same age, but I've noticed he's aged quite a bit.

His hair's quite a bit grayer. I remember my hair was much darker back then, so I just thought you'd like to know that. I used to have a lot of hair back in those days. Bill has done better than I have in terms of keeping his hair, but that's okay.

Well, brethren, it really is wonderful to be here. It's really great to see Mr. Dunham again. It's been, I think I saw him maybe once since college, 15 years ago or so, so it's really wonderful to see him. We were good friends back then, and continue to be friends today. Brethren, why are we here? You've heard that question asked many times at the feast. In Leviticus 23, God tells us why we're here.

God tells us to be here. Let's go to Leviticus 23. We'll start in verse 33. Then the Eternal spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days to the Lord, to the Eternal. On the first day there shall be a holy convocation.

You shall do no customary work on it. For seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. On the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation, a commanded assembly, and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Eternal. It is a sacred assembly, and you shall do no customary work on it. These are the feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations to offer an offering made by fire to the Lord, a burnt offering and a grain offering, a sacrifice and drink offerings, everything on its day, besides the Sabbath of the Lord, besides your gifts, besides all your vows, and besides all your freewill offerings which you give to the Lord.

Also, on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, which is today, when you have gathered in the fruit of the land, this is also called the Feast of In-Gathering, when you have gathered in the fruit of the land, you shall keep the Feast of the Lord for seven days. On the first day, there shall be a Sabbath rest, and you shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of beautiful trees, branches of palm trees, the boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days.

You shall keep it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It shall be a statute forever in your generations. You shall celebrate it in the seventh month. You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All who are native Israelites shall dwell in booths, that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt.

I am the Eternal your God. So Moses declared to the children of Israel the Feast of the Lord. So that takes us back a number of thousands of years to this particular event when God commanded that we observe these days. Of course, we realize that we are spiritual Israel, that we are here as spiritual Israelites. There are some, no doubt, that are a lot of us that are descended from the tribes of Israel. We are the children from the children of Israel.

There are Gentiles here as well. We know that we are all one in Christ. We are all together here as brothers and sisters in Christ. Christ is our older brother. So it was under the Old Covenant that the instruction that I just shared with you was given. God instructed His children to observe His annual Holy Days.

I didn't read all the other Holy Days. I did read about the Feast of Tabernacles and the Eighth Day. Now, in preparing this sermon, I asked myself, what is really the most important message that I could give as we begin to keep the Feast of Tabernacles? That seems like an obvious question someone would ask on the opening day. I asked myself of that, and I had to ask, well, why are we here? And so I went to Leviticus 23, as I already read. And I was thinking, what about the New Covenant? In answering this question, why are we here in terms of the New Covenant, Zechariah 14 came quickly to mind.

In Zechariah 14, verse 16, God inspired the prophet Zechariah, and it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem. We know this was prophetic. We know that in the last days, there will be nations that will gather around Jerusalem to fight against Jesus Christ as He returns, to fight against the saints who are coming with Him.

So those who are left, because many, many will die according to the Scripture, many will die who fight against God. The vast majority will die. Some will live. God will be merciful. Some will live into the millennium. And those who are left shall go up from year to year to worship the King. Now, Mr.

Hall mentioned this at least three or four times last night. They shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the eternal of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. This was a very powerful Scripture that certainly helped a lot of us back in about 1994-95, as some were trying to teach us that these laws were done away. And yet, here's a very clear Scripture that these days will be kept in the millennium. So these verses give us great encouragement. We are here keeping these days because we believe this is what God desires. This is what God wants. This is what He commands of His children.

And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, on them there will be no rain. God will withhold the rain, and they will eventually, probably won't take long. They'll get the message, and they'll all come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. So why are we here from a New Covenant perspective? Well, I had to answer, we're here to worship the King and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. That's why we're here, to worship the King and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. And by the way, I forgot to do this, but I always like to say happy feast to our Deaf brethren.

Happy feast. If you all want to join me in this, just take your hands like this, go like this, and then like this is an F, this means feast when you put it together like this, tabernacle, this is a tabernacle sign. Happy feast! It's really wonderful to be with the Deaf brethren again this year. This is the official designated feast site. We started in Jamaica, then went to Lake Junaluska, then Gatlinburg, and then we landed in Cincinnati.

So that's our journey to the Feast of Tabernacles this year with this group down here. I wouldn't necessarily be here in Cincinnati otherwise, I'm very glad to be here. So again, what is the most important message that I could give you today? What's the most important message? Well, I believe it's to talk about why we're here. And we are gathered together to worship the King. That's why we're here. So let's be sure to worship the King this feast.

We need to be sure that we're here worshiping the King and that He is pleased with our worship. Also, we're here to learn to respect Him and honor Him, to fear Him more fully, more completely, with greater understanding. So how should we worship the King this feast? How might we show proper honor and respect toward our King and learn to, again, respect and fear Him appropriately?

Today, I'd like to share with you eight ways that I would encourage you to worship the King and keep the Feast of Tabernacles. Eight ways that we're going to go through. I believe this should be our focus, this feast. And if all of us will focus on these eight principles, I believe we will have the best feast ever. We'll have the best spiritual feast ever, maybe the best physical feast ever. But I believe we shall have the best feast ever.

How should we worship the King this feast? And I'm not talking just about Jesus Christ. Of course, He is the coming King, but also the Father who sent Jesus Christ the first time to die for us, to pay the penalty for our sins, to have His blood shed. But we know Christ is coming again, and this time He's coming for salvation. Salvation for who? Salvation for the saints, for those who are called now, for the first fruits. Initially, at the very beginning of the millennium, it will be only those who are the first fruits who are going to be changed.

Now, everyone will have their opportunity in their own order. But this is so significant that we are here, brethren, because we have been called as the first fruits.

In Exodus 34, verse 13, God says, For ye shall worship no other God, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. God led them out of Israel. Moses went up on the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments. He was up there a long time. He was very faithful. He fasted. He prayed. He was doing what God wanted. But the people down below were beginning to worship an idol.

And they were turning from God so quickly. In fact, some of them wanted to go back to Egypt so quickly. And so he says, You shall worship no other God, for the Eternal, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. Believe me, God will not take it lightly if you do not worship Him properly at this feast. It is important that we all worship God the way He desires to be worshiped.

And God will show us exactly how to do that. Worship only God because God loves us, and God knows what is best for us. He's not a jealous being, like mankind is jealous of one another and envious. No, that's a sinful act. God is not jealous in that sense. But God loves us so much, He wants us to do what's best for us. And when we dedicate ourselves to Him, who created us, who shaped and formed us in His image, then He understands that is best for us.

We are His children. We should love our parent. We should love our Father in heaven and our elder brother. Nothing should get in the way of your worship of God the Father and His Son this feast.

But it's up to you whether that will happen. Matthew 6, verse 33 says, But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Brother, we are called to seek first the kingdom of God. How much more at this feast of tabernacles can we not dedicate ourselves fully for eight days in greater ways than perhaps we've ever done? Give God your very best this feast.

Let's offer up nothing that's blemished in any way. Let's really be careful about the decisions that we make these next eight days. That they are sound, godly, good decisions. We must worship the King and seek the kingdom of God with all of our heart, all of our soul, and with all of our might. In Deuteronomy chapter 26 and verse 10, and this was just before entering the Promised Land, the Israelites were instructed by Moses in Deuteronomy chapter 26, and now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land which you, O Lord, have given me.

Moses is telling them that when they come into the Promised Land, this is what they are supposed to do. They are supposed to go to God. Behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land which you, O Lord, have given me. We know that you give us every good gift. Then you shall set it before the Lord your God, and you shall worship before the Lord your God. So you shall rejoice in every good thing. We are called to rejoice this feast. So we have to see God as He truly is. A loving and wonderful and beautiful Father who loves His children so much, He wants us to rejoice. He wants us to have an unbelievably wonderful feast. We don't have to be afraid of God. God loves us.

We do need to respect God and honor Him, but we don't need to be afraid of Him.

It says, So you shall rejoice in every good thing which the Lord your God has given to you, and your house, you and the Levite, and the stranger who is among you. God also accepts anyone who will come to Him, yield to Him, and surrender to Him of any nationality. It's always been that way. When God led the children of Israel out, there were some strangers, Egyptians, who went along, who went with them. God accepted them as long as they were willing to follow His way and keep His commandments and honor Him and respect Him. So we should love others as God loves all people. In Deuteronomy 26, if we go down a few verses, verse 16, This day the Lord your God commands you to observe these statutes and judgments. Therefore, you shall be careful. Notice that you shall be careful. You should be careful this feast. We all need to be careful. You should be careful to observe them with all of your heart and with all of your soul. It's not something to take lightly. To be called out to understand this truth.

You know, out of what, seven or eight billion people on earth, how many are actually keeping the feasts of tabernacles? Very few, right? Very, very few. I mean, the percentage is way low.

There aren't many of us who are doing this around the globe. So we ought not take it lightly.

We've been called for a high and a holy purpose. So let's talk about eight ways to worship our king. Eight ways. The first way is in assembling together, doing just exactly what you're doing right now. You've assembled together. You're here. And it's wonderful to be here. And we don't need to fear. God will protect us. God will watch over us. God will bless us. God will take care of us.

So come here. Don't worry about anything. Do your part. You know, be wise. Be careful.

But trust God. Have faith in Him. Pray for one another.

Believe God is here to protect us, to set us apart, to sanctify us.

Claim the promises that God gives us in His Word. Don't shrink back.

Claim these promises with faith. God will bless us and be with us.

So we, number one, worship Him in assembling together. So attend all the services that you possibly can and reflect on every message. If you're not feeling well, then please don't attend.

You know, we have to use some wisdom here. You know, if you have some concern, because God does allow things to happen to good people. You know, time and chance will happen sometimes, so we have to be careful. But we also need to go forward in faith and trust God and believe in God.

So it's obviously up to you. You make your decisions on how you worship God, how you assemble together. That's a personal choice. So ask again, how may you worship and serve God best, this feast? Allow God to work in you. Now, last night we saw a young man up here. I think he said he was 42 years old. Is that right? 43 years old. He's getting old. He's 43 years old. I remember Mr. Hall was one of the first decisions I had to make in regard to where to send him. Here's a Southern boy, and you know, I'm telling him, well, we think North Dakota would be, you know, really an outstanding place to send a man like you. And in the old days, that's probably where we would have sent him. But we sent him to Georgia. He's doing a great job down in Georgia, so we appreciate he and his wife Nissa and their family. So allow God to work in you. You know, who knows if he can work in me, if he can work in Ryan Hall, he can work in you, right? That's right. God does wondrous works. In Deuteronomy 11, verse 16, we read a warning. Deuteronomy 11, verse 16, God says, take heed to yourselves. That is, be careful. Take heed, lest your heart be deceived. Mr. Hall also talked about Satan and how he's going to try to get us off point, off focus, this feast. Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside, and you serve other gods. You know, if you put other things before God, if other things are more important to you than worshiping God and serving him, then I don't think God really appreciates that. I don't think he likes to see that. I think he likes to see people who are very submitted and surrendered to him. So do not turn aside and serve other gods. Do not worship them. You know, be here with God's people, keeping the feast days. This is the most important thing for you to do this week.

It's also important to realize that we don't give animal sacrifices during the feast, as they did under the Old Covenant. But we do give offerings of praise, offerings of thanksgiving, offerings of gratitude, of appreciation, offerings of joy. We do it every day of the feast.

We come here and we do this together. And God is very, very pleased. You know, we have just two days when we bring a monetary offering, but we bring offerings every single day. And we are to be living sacrifices, holy and acceptable unto God. That is our reasonable service. That's what's expected of someone who has such a high and a holy calling. So let's assemble together. That's the first point. If you want to worship God properly, then assemble together. Again, Satan will attempt to cause you to lose focus this feast. Don't turn aside. Stay on the straight and narrow path that leads to eternal life. There are so many ways to go astray. There are so many ways to sin.

Galatians 5, the works of the flesh. There's a bunch of the works of the flesh there. And Satan can get to you during the feast. Don't allow that to happen. Don't turn aside for even a second. Don't go one inch down that narrow path that leads to destruction. You stay on the narrow path that leads to eternal life. There's a wide path that goes to destruction. Don't get on that path. Say no immediately and don't start down Satan's path a single inch. Number one, assemble together. Number two, let's worship the king in daily fervent prayer. And I'm not just talking about the men who get up here and pray. I'm talking about every one of us, every person here, every man, woman, and child. Let's go to God every day and fervently pray for God's blessing, for his direction, and for his kingdom. That it might truly come that he'll send his son back because this world is suffering. It's dying. We need the return of Jesus Christ. And God needs to see a people who are very, very interested at his son's return.

So worship the king in daily fervent prayer.

Go to God and ask God to help you be more like your king.

Ask him to help you become more like Jesus Christ, this feast. You know, Jesus Christ taught us how to pray. And right away he says, pray, thy kingdom come. Your will be done. Pray that God's will be done in all of our lives. Pray fervently and faithfully. Lead us not into temptation. Deliver us from the evil one. God, give us your kingdom. That's what we need to be doing. Praying faithfully this feast. You know, there's been a lot of angst lately in this world, more than usual. There's a pandemic out there. There's been rioting. There's been racial unrest. There's been raging fires. There's been hurricanes. Many have lost their lives.

They've lost their homes. They've lost their earthly possessions. Life is hard and worrisome for many people. Life is going to get harder.

And the devastation will become increasingly more and more widespread as we see the Bible prophecies being fulfilled. That's what you have to look forward to, brother, and that's what the scripture tells us. We can shrink from that, or we can accept it and believe it and understand it and prepare ourselves for it. Now, we don't know. You know, there may be a time of normalcy again.

I don't know what's going to happen. Maybe a year from now, none of us will have a mask on.

And maybe life will get back to a certain normal way of life that we've been used to, that I've been used to for plus 60 years. But this has been a different year. 2020 is a different year.

It's weird. You know, looking out, seeing people with masks on, even now, you know, it's strange.

I've never seen that. In all the years I've kept a piece of tabernacles, and I've been up here for about 40 years, in one way or another, and I've never seen this before. This is new. This is different. All right. Brethren, we ought to be sighing and crying over the abominations that occur upon this earth. You know, there are so many curses upon the earth. There's such great heartache, so much despair in all countries of the world. You know, so many people suffering, billions of people suffering. You may have it very nice. I have it really nice. I'll admit it. You know, God's been so good, so gracious, so wonderful. You know, I have it wonderful here in this beautiful country that we live in, but I must never forget how desperately others need the return. And I need the return, too, because nothing will be better than Christ ruling and reigning. Trust me, He'll be a lot better than the two options we have coming up here in America. A whole lot better. So, brethren, we sigh, we cry over what's going on. Ezekiel 9, we're not going to go there because I don't have the time to go there, but it talks about a writer's inkhorn and how there's going to be a mark on the forehead of those who sigh and cry over the abominations that are committed on the earth. That should be every single one of us. Let us pray earnestly, brethren, thy kingdom come, and the sooner, the better. Let us properly mourn for this dying world when we go to God and we pray. Let's sigh, let's cry, let's sincerely ask God to come back, to send His Son back. This world desperately needs Christ's rulership. So, brethren, that is the second thing that we can be doing. You know, we long for God's kingdom. We sigh and we cry for all the heartache present on the earth. We do it every single day, this feast.

A third way that we can worship the King, this feast, is in studying God's Word each day. And, again, I'm not talking about here. I'm talking about some personal Bible study.

Look, you've got 24 hours in every single day during the feast. It hasn't changed. 24 hours.

We're here about, what, three hours or four hours, something like that. Four hours.

You know, there's still a lot of hours left in the day. There's at least 12 hours when you take away showering and other things, sleeping. There's still 12 hours. Cannot you find 30 minutes to open your Bible, this feast? Maybe even an hour? You know, it's up to you. Will you do it?

I would say that many of us haven't always done that during the Feast of Tabernacles. We've gotten caught up in doing this, doing that, going here, going there, sleeping in, staying up late, watching TV, even. I would challenge you to open your Bible personally every day of this feast.

Ask again, what will it be like in God's Kingdom? What's it going to be like in God's Kingdom? Go study some of those scriptures. Think about scriptures that talk about worshiping the king.

Add to this sermon. Become active, actively involved. Add to the sermon.

What type of respect is shown a human king, even on the earth today? How much more respect should be shown a divine king?

Think about these things. You might even want to buy a new Bible this feast and start marking that thing and marking it with different colored pencils. You know, that's what I've been doing for the last year. I bought a new Bible. Actually, I was given a new Bible, and I've been marking it with colored pencils, and I have really been excited to get up and study my Bible every morning.

After 40 years, we can always learn more from God's Word. If you're not doing that, think about that. Have you gone through the entire Bible? Have you marked it with a colored pencil? Different colors for different topics? You know, it'll help your Bible study if you haven't done that. Think about it. Do something to energize your Bible study.

So, brethren, what will you do about personal Bible study this feast? Will you do it?

If you can read, even children! Get them a children's Bible if they don't have one here, and have them read the Bible during the feast. Number four, another way to worship God.

This feast is in meditation all day long. All day long! Meditate.

Even dream about the kingdom. If you can pull that off.

Meditate about the kingdom of God. In reflecting and meditating on what the king has taught us about how to live our lives, we should ask ourselves, what did Jesus teach us to do?

How are we to live? What does the Sermon on the Mount tell us?

How are we supposed to love one another? How are we supposed to love even our enemies?

And pray for those who spitefully use us and persecute us. That's what Christ teaches us.

Reflect and think and meditate on these things during the feast. That's most important. That's really important. Think about these things. Meditate on. Train your mind to become more spiritually oriented. I know I need to do that. We all need to do that.

Think about Matthew 24 and 25, about Christ's return and about being a wise virgin and being prepared and also being willing to serve others. Christ said, if you gave a cup of water to the least of me, of these my brethren, you've given it unto me. That's what Christ said. He wants us to live.

This is our way of life. We need to live it. We need to be excited about it. We need to be passionate about God's truth. The most important thing you can do is keep the feast.

That's why we're here.

So, brethren, again, meditate and envision the kingdom. Think about each one of the Ten Commandments. What's it going to be like in a world where everyone is striving to keep all Ten Commandments? What's that going to be like? Satan's going to be locked away.

He's not going to have that influence that he has today. That doesn't mean we're going to be perfect in the millennium. Those who are human, they won't be perfect. They'll still have to fight the flesh.

It'll still be difficult for them, but we're there to help them, aren't we? As saints, as kings and priests, we're there to help them. We need to be preparing ourselves now so we can help them the very best way possible. What would it be like if no one ever stole anything in this USA of ours?

What if we didn't have to worry about someone stealing something? We could just leave it out and not have a second thought about it. What if we didn't have any locks on our doors or our windows?

We could leave things open and not worry about it. Someone will come by and shut it for us. They're not going to go in and steal from us. They're going to protect us.

They're going to take care of us. They're going to help us. That's what God's way is all about. What would it be like if everyone always told the truth? They always told the truth. They never lied. You could believe every single word that came out of their mouth. What about the movies in the future? What are they going to be like? Are they going to be anything like the movies we see today or the sitcoms? God's going to be the ultimate producer. He is not going to put up with a lot of stuff in the kingdom. So if you like what's out there today, you better ask yourself, why? Why do you like it? What's good about it? Is it truly godly? There is some stuff mixed in there.

But what about the bad stuff? That's going to all be gone.

God's not going to put up with that. He's going to show us how to walk in righteousness.

What about business? God's going to teach him not to be greedy.

Come on, people! You can't be greedy any longer. That's not how we do things anymore.

We're going to tell the truth. And look, what about those charger ports on cell phones?

How much money have you spent on different types of cords?

Because they don't fit the new brand. I'm sick of that. I'm tired of it. I don't want that anymore.

I'm looking for a better age, a better time.

No political parties. Man, I'm looking forward to that one. No political parties.

What's it going to be like when the government, the business, the schools, the education, the public works?

When all of it is yielded to God's way? What's that going to be like?

Isn't that going to be awesome? We don't see that today.

And what about churches? You know, people say, well, there's a church on every corner in America, especially 50 years ago. There was a church on every corner.

Well, literally, when everyone is in the church, there will be some very close local churches to go to.

Some of you have been driving for an hour and a half for the last 40 years to get to church.

You're not going to have to do that any longer. That's going to be awesome. Your neighbor's going to be in the church. The one on the right, the one on the left, the one across the street.

They're all going to be in the church. What's that going to be like?

When you see people walking, taking a walk, they're all in a church. Every one of them. I see people walking by, now they're in the church!

I'm looking for a better day. I'm looking for a better time. What about no poverty? No poverty. No people dying of starvation. No violent crime. Eventually, God will bring peace, every type of peace, national peace. There won't be nations fighting one another any longer. It's going to be beautiful. There will be no violent crimes, no domestic violence. Maybe a little for a while, but we're going to say, this is the way walk you in it or the consequences you won't like.

We will have an opportunity to instruct people and get their attention.

Without Satan around, it's going to be a different world. It's going to be the wonderful world tomorrow. It's going to be wonderful. Talk about a wonderful life. Jimmy Stewart is going to be blown away. He's going to be blown away. What will it be like in God's kingdom? That's what we should think about during this eight days. That's what we should talk about. Think about. Meditate on.

What about the feast activities that we're going to go to? Even when we're at feast activities, we need to meditate on God and His truth and His coming kingdom. What about those animals that we're going to see at the zoo? We're going to the zoo with the deaf people tomorrow.

It's actually a deaf outing. It's a deaf day for anyone around here that's deaf. There'll be deaf people coming in all over. We just happened to hit it just right. God was good to us. That's tomorrow.

And we're going to go to the zoo and we're going to see some lions.

And we're going to see... I don't know if we'll see any lambs or not. Yeah, we should see some lambs, but you know they're not going to be together. They won't be together. But the Scripture tells us... I think it's Isaiah 11. It tells us they will be together. The wolves and the lions and the lambs, they're all going to lay down together. What a time will that be? That's going to be awesome. And what about the humor in God's creation? I love to watch the monkeys.

I mean, they're a delight. They're also disgusting. But nevertheless, there's a lot of humor. God has a sense of humor. I'm looking forward to the zoo. I hope I get to go to the aquarium because I love watching fish. Fish are amazing. And the grace that they glide through the waters.

Amazing sea creatures that God has created. No one else knows how to create these things.

Nobody can do it. I challenge any of you to go out and create a fish.

You can't do it. And no one can. God knows how to do those kinds of things.

And you're going to know how to do those kinds of things in God's kingdom. God's going to reveal that stuff to us. It's going to be wonderful. Bowling. Fun and games. God allows that. It's okay.

Go out and have a good time. Bowl. I'm sure some of you have a lot of skill. And some of you, not so much. But it'll be fun watching. I wish I could go, but I'll be on my way to Amish country. I was asked to speak over there. They have a feast site in Berlin, Ohio. So I'm going to be driving over there for a day. So I'm going to miss that. I would have enjoyed bowling with all of you.

And how about going out to restaurants? That's a good time to think about God. What about the variety of food? Isn't that amazing? Filet mignon? How often do you get to eat that?

Get some filet this year, if you can. And if you need extra money, then see Mr. Hall.

Mr. Hall will come up with some dough. Seriously, though, if you need some help, let me know. Let Mr. Hall know. You should at least be able to go out for one really dynamite meal. If you can't go out for one good dynamite meal, come and see me. I've got extra ties. I'll be glad to help.

There are other people here that would gladly help. Seriously, you know, we're all one big family. Let's help each other. Let's enjoy this feast. Let's have the greatest feast ever!

Okay, so that was the... I think that was number four.

Number five. How are we going to worship the king? I probably should look at my watch here.

How are we going to worship the king, this feast? In song and in praise. We've already been doing that. I mean, the songs we had this morning, awesome. I was especially paying attention to the words. The words that we're seeing are wonderful, godly, beautiful words.

Think about what you're seeing, this feast. Sing with gusto! Come on! Let's make him hear us up there! We can do better. We can sing louder. The scripture says we should make a joyful noise.

Seven times in the Bible it talks about a joyful noise. Even if you can't sing that well, please sing out more. Let's show God that we really love him, and let's praise him in song. It doesn't mean we have to scream at the top of our lungs. I'm not saying that. It should be beautiful as well. But, you know, put a little more energy into what you do.

So worship God in song and in praise. Be enthusiastic. Don't curb your enthusiasm.

Get that enthusiasm out there. Read the Psalms. That's another thing you can do during the feast is read the Psalms and praise God. You can go to God in prayer with the Psalms.

David was a man after God's own heart. He wrote many Psalms, and he praises and worships God in those songs that were written.

Psalm 95 verse 1. Let's go there and read this together. Psalm 95 verse 1. O come, let us sing to the Lord. Let us sing to the Eternal. Psalm 95 verse 1.

Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving. Let us shout joyfully to Him with Psalms. He's the rock of our salvation. Let's shout joyfully. Let's shout to Him. Let's show Him again how much we appreciate Him in song. And then in Psalm 98 verses 4 through 6. Shout joyfully to the Lord. Shout joyfully to the Lord all the earth. Now, he's looking forward to the time when all the earth will shout joyfully.

There aren't many people doing it now. How precious are our hymns to God right now.

He wants the whole earth to praise Him, and they will in a day yet future that we're here picturing. Break forth. It says, break forth! Get enthusiastic. Get fired up. Break forth!

Come on, let's do it! Break forth in song. Rejoice and sing praises. Sing to the Lord with the harp, with the harp and the sound of a psalm, with trumpets and the sound of a horn. Shout joyfully before the Lord the King. You know, David danced through the streets because he was fired up.

He was excited. His wife mocked him for that. God didn't like that. God liked the fact that he was excited and was willing to get out there within reason. He did have some clothes on, I think, a little bit.

Anyway, we're to make a joyful noise with passion and with zeal, with enthusiasm. 6. Let's worship the King this feast in our spiritual conversation and in our fellowship.

We can do that with a mask on. It's not a problem. We can sing with a mask on.

Don't let a mask curb your enthusiasm for God. Don't allow that to happen.

Sing loudly. It's good.

Worship the King in conversation and in fellowship. Let's go to Malachi 3. I love these three verses in Malachi.

Malachi 3, verse 16.

Then those who feared the Eternal, the Lord, spoke to one another.

We fear God. That's why we're here. He says, Do it. We do it.

We respect God. We revere Him. Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord listened. You know, God's hearing what's going on in this feast. God's hearing our conversations.

Did you know that God listens in? He can do that. He can listen to all of us, all around the world at the same time. I can't do that. You can't do that. But God can do that. So He listened and He heard them. So a book of remembrance was written before Him, for those who fear the Lord and who meditate. That was another principle that we talked about, meditating on God's way. Who meditate on His name. Malachi 3, verse 17. They shall be mine. These people who fear Me, who talk to one another, who get excited. They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, on the day that I make them my jewels, and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him. God will spare us. God will be merciful to us. We don't deserve it. You don't deserve it. I don't deserve it. The wages of sin is death, and that's what I deserve. That's what I deserve. But thankfully, God's very gracious. He's very merciful. And I am striving to serve Him. I fall short. I'm weak in many ways, but I am striving to serve Him. And God will spare me as He spares a son who serves Him. He will spare you, sons and daughters of God. Verse 18. Then you shall again discern between the righteous and the wicked.

Now, we are called to discern righteous judgment. Between the righteous and the wicked, God certainly is going to. So we need to develop that kind of judgment as well. Between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him. Now, I found this verse to be very enlightening.

Between one who serves God. See, one who serves God, God calls righteous.

One who does not serve Him is wicked.

If you're not serving God, you're wicked. That's what this verse is saying.

If you don't get out there and get involved and start being more a part of all this and serve Him, then He could count you as wicked.

None of us want to be counted as wicked, right? So we do need to serve God. It's important that we learn to serve Him in so many different ways. And there are many, many ways to serve God.

We serve Him in prayer. We serve Him in just helping one another, making the feast happen.

There are so many ways to serve God. Sending cards to one another, to shut-ins that aren't able to be here in person. God wants us to serve Him and to be profitable servants.

He wants us to produce the fruit of His Spirit in abundance.

I believe we can do better this feast. I believe this can be our very best feast. It can spiritually be the very best feast that you've ever had, that you've ever kept, that I've ever kept, that we've all kept together. It can be the very best feast. 2020 can go down in history. It has the very best year at the feast.

Encourage people to talk about these things and think about these things.

You encourage others that you're talking to. All right, let's try to do what Mr. Welch asked us to do. Let's not talk so much about politics and other things. Let's talk about God's kingdom.

Let's talk about what we've been thinking about, what we've been meditating on, what's important to us. Let's fill our hearts and minds with those things this feast.

So, brethren, let's try to come out of this present-day mess that we're in. This is a mess.

Let's try to come out of this present-day mess. Let's focus for eight days on the ultimate reality that's coming.

It's coming. It's guaranteed. It's promised. It's going to happen.

God's kingdom will be established. Christ is returning. The prophecies will come to pass.

What will it be like to have God heal all the nations physically, emotionally, mentally, and especially spiritually? What's that going to be like? What about the year of Jubilee? You know, I was praying this morning. I was just thinking about how disappointed God must have been when they stopped keeping the year of Jubilee. They stopped keeping it. They stopped keeping it. Now, that was an important year for God's people.

They stopped doing that. It started on the day of atonement every 50 years.

They stopped doing that. That was to picture freedom.

Setting the captives free. That's what God's all about. God doesn't want people to be in prison.

Right now, this world is imprisoned to Satan the devil. He's the warden.

Most of the world is in chains.

The chains... You know, we've gotten the chains off because of God revealing His truth to us, because we've accepted Christ as our Savior. We're no longer shackled by chains. We're free.

Okay, so that was number six. Number seven. Let's worship the King this week in reflecting the King's example in all that we do. All that we say and all that we do. Let's reflect His example. Let's think about God's example, Christ's example. Let's be ambassadors for Christ, this feast. All of us ambassadors for Jesus Christ.

In 2 Corinthians chapter 5, Paul talks about being an ambassador for Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians chapter 5.

2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 18.

Well, let's read verse 17. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. 2 Corinthians chapter 5.

Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ.

As though God were pleading through us, we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. Be ambassadors for Christ. Be reconciled to God. Make that your most important mission to be reconciled and to pass that on. To set that example for others.

3 Corinthians chapter 5. You know, Paul sacrificed himself as an ambassador for Christ. Three times he was stoned.

Five times he took 39 stripes, beaten. Five different times. He was shipwrecked three times. He talks about all the perils that he went through with robbers and with shipwrecked and everything else that he had to go through. He set the example for us as well as an ambassador for Christ. He laid his life down. He truly was a living sacrifice. So, brethren, enjoy the good things of life, this feast, but always remember that the material things are secondary to true happiness. True happiness really does come from serving and helping and setting a godly example, learning to love each other as God loves us. It starts with our families. You should be very strong there in our families, so make sure your kids have a great feast. Show them a wonderful feast. In fact, I forgot to bring it up here. I had a whole bag full of candies from different countries because if you've never been to Jungle Jims, you really need to go there, this feast. Jungle Jims has an international market of the likes you've never seen before. I'm telling you, if you haven't been to Jungle Jims, you have not seen an international market full of goodies from many different countries. This morning, I ate cookies from Belgium. I've got stuff from, oh, let's see, all different kinds of... Mexico. I've got it from Dutch, from Holland. I've got stuff from... what was that? No, no, no. Lithuania. I've got a chocolate bar from Lithuania. I've got a chocolate bar from Australia. I've got all kinds of chocolate and good stuff that I'm looking forward to eating. The Scripture tells you to eat those good things, like the filet mignon and like the chocolate and stuff like that. That's good. God wants us to do that. So enjoy these things, but put God first. Make it a spiritual feast, but it's okay to have a physical feast as well. God wants us to rejoice in so many different ways. We should be generous, this feast.

Again, look for others who could use a little help. Give them some extra money. Help them. Ask them if they could use a little extra. It's okay. Let's not be offended if you've got plenty of money and someone asked you if you want more. You don't have to take it.

But if you could use a little extra, then that's okay. Maybe I'll need extra next year.

He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, but he who gives bountifully will reap bountifully.

So again, let's look out for each other. That each one giveth he purposes in his heart.

Not grudgingly, for God loves a cheerful giver. God and Christ are unified. They're one. They want us to be one as well. They want us to truly reflect their love and their character for each other and for each and every one of us. God truly did love the world, and that's why he gave his son. He gave his son to save this world. That's what the scripture says. John 3 16 and 17.

For God set not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. God's going to save this whole world. We're picturing that now. That's awesome.

To be able to picture it, to have a head start, to be on the ground floor. This is better than winning a lottery. It's better than being Jeff Bezos' friend when Amazon got started.

It's better. It's better than being Jeff Bezos. That guy is rich!

Is it Jeff? I think it's Jeff Bezos. Anyway, we are ambassadors of Jesus Christ, so let's be good ambassadors, all of us. All right, number eight. Last point. We worship the king in rejoicing this feast. We have to rejoice. We have to have some fun. You've got to have fun, this feast. You've got to have a lot of joy, this feast. God wants us to be joyful.

In Psalm 5 verse 11, but let all those rejoice who put their trust in you. Again, this is David who wrote this Psalm. Psalm chapter 5 verse 11. Let all those rejoice who put their trust in you. Let them ever shout for joy because you defend them. God defends us. God takes care of us.

God is our buckler. He's our refuge. He's our strength.

He gives us everything that we need. Let those also who love your name be joyful in you. Do you love God's name? Then be joyful in him, this feast.

Let it come out. Let it come out from every pore in your body.

You know, I've got one of those masks that you can see my smile.

It's a smiling mask. It's pretty cool. It was a feast gift. I appreciate that.

Let's smile a lot. You know, if we have to wear those masks, let's smile under the mask. So what really is the most important thing that I can share with you, this feast?

I think I shared it with you. I think the most important thing is that we need to worship God, this feast. We've talked about eight ways to do this. These are practical things.

Now, this is not just some pie-in-the-sky type sermon. Asoteric, this is real stuff.

You can pray. You can study. You can do all that every day, this feast. You can talk to one another about God. You can get excited. You can show some energy. You can show some enthusiasm.

You can do all these things that we talked about today. And you know what?

You can do them for the rest of your life, too. You don't have to stop after the feast is over.

These are things that you can take with you. They're habits that you should build into your life. These are habits, eight habits that you can build into your life. And God will be very, very pleased to see you do this. So, yes, I implore you, make this the best feast ever. I want to. I want to practice what I preach. So, brethren, let's all worship the King. Let us keep the feast of tabernacles.

And the eighth day as well.