Why Is This God's Church?

Many in the world are oblivious to the existence of the Church of God. They're not aware, in fact, that what would be considered a true Church of God even exists. How could the Church that Jesus founded in 31 AD exist today? The world is, of course, different today than it was in 31 AD. In fact, most people believe it's pompous. They believe it's egotistical to claim to be the, quote, true Church, unquote. To be the true Church is just the height of egotism.

Too many people, of course, in the world have a different view of what, in fact, the Church is. Most don't even know what the Church is and why it is, why it exists. Too many people attend their Church as more or less of a social club, where you meet people and you compare clothing and compare the toys that you may have, the cars that people drive, the homes that they live in. And so it's that kind of a thing. It's one-upmanship. You know, a man may or a woman may contribute heavily to their Church because they want the recognition, you know, in the Church.

So many people do frequent a Church for the wrong reasons. They don't attend because they have proven much of anything. Or they may think that they have. They may think that they have looked into the Scriptures. But in reality, they believe, essentially, most of the time, people believe what they've been taught from the time that they were brought up. If I believed what I was taught when I was growing up, I'd probably be a Baptist today.

You know, you might be something else. You may have grown up in a Catholic family. Or somebody else might have grown up in another Protestant-type family. Sometimes people grow up in families where there is no religion at all. And they come into the Church. You know, Mr. Armstrong used to ask the question time and again, why are you here? Why are you here? And so, brethren, have you proven that this is the right place to be in? Have you proven that this is the right place, the church, God's church? Rather than calling it the true church, let's call it God's church.

We are certainly aware today that there are many groups that out in the world who have actually come to know the truth. And many of them, of course, have broken away from our former association. But there are a number that would be classified as God's people, God's church. But, brethren, have you proven that this is God's church? Is it arrogant or are part the claim that we are God's church?

I don't even think it's arrogant, by the way, to claim that we are the true church. If we understand again, we are of the true church. You know, I don't know any church in the world that claims to be the false church. Do you? I mean, I don't think there's a solitary, Protestant church I've ever heard of that advertises, Come to us because we're the false church. All of them think they're right, don't they? So I don't think it's arrogant or our part to believe we're God's church and God's true church.

Many people would actually say that proving God's church is not even possible in the Bible. I mean, you read this book, and you know, you've heard it said, haven't you? You can prove anything in this book. Just take it, and a lot of people do, you know, they take it, and they, of course, presuppose something, and then they go look for Scriptures to prove their point called proof texting in theological circles. But think of all these churches, you know, that are out here. I remember when I was first studying the Bible, and I began to really have some powerful questions about my needs to answer.

Think of all the churches that are out there, and I thought for briefly, they can't all be wrong. But conversely, I came to realize they can't be all right either. Sometimes people think, well, you know, the majority must be right. You ever heard that said before? The majority must be right. I don't think so. The majority isn't always right. In fact, the way it goes is, the majority is usually wrong. You know, Jesus Christ Himself said, He said, Broad is the way which leads to destruction.

And, you know, the mainstream, which I would classify as the Broadway, the mainstream of Christianity, most churches are all about the same. I mean, tell me significant differences between one Christian church and another in the world. I mean, most of them, you know, have the same theological principles. On the other hand, God's church, you know, that is not the case.

We have distinctly different theological differences. We do believe in Jesus Christ, of course. We do believe in salvation. We believe in the Holy Spirit. There's a number of things that we do not believe in that are distinctly different than the Protestants out there. So I think that you could say that God's church is in what one would classify as the narrow way. But Christ said, broad is the way that leads to destruction. You know, and He talked about how many go that way. But He talked about narrow is the way that leads to life, and there are a few that find it.

And so God's church then must be a narrow way that is not generally accepted in the world. Is it not what the theology would say? I mean, if we're going by what the Bible says and what Jesus Christ said, then if you go the narrow way, that way is not going to be accepted generally by this world and the society that we're living in.

I said, how could you find the church that Jesus Christ established in 31 A.D.? In Matthew 16, verse 18, remember that Jesus Christ said to His disciples then in Matthew 16, verse 18, He talked about how the church was going to be built upon Him, who is the rock, this huge rock, this powerful rock, and not on the little pebble of Peter. Peter, you know, comes from the Greek word petros, which means little, little rock. But Christ was the big rock, and He said upon this rock, I'm going to build my church, and He said the gates of hell would not prevail against it. As we understand in the Greek, the gates of the grave would not prevail against it.

Very rarely, the church would never die, is what Jesus Christ said. In Luke 12, verse 32, you might just write these down just again to show you that God's church would be not accepted in the world. But in Luke 12, verse 32, it says, fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

So, it's a huge flock, but a small flock by comparison to what was going on. Of course, in His day, which the Jews involved many millions, in fact. But the church at this time was very small. It started out with the humblest of beginnings. On Pentecost, they had 120 present for that. And that was after Jesus Christ had conducted His ministry for three and a half years, performing miracles, healing people, even raising the dead. Imagine all the things that Jesus Christ did, and 120 people were part of it.

He said, fear not, little flock, it's your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. So, Jesus said the church would always exist, and that it would not be significantly large. It would be a small group. In the end, Jesus Christ was talking to His disciples, and He talked about it. He says, take it. He didn't know they had deceived you. He said, name were going to come in His name, and what did He say in Matthew 24? He said, it deceived many. And so, in the name of Christ, many, since the 31 A.D., when Jesus Christ began to build His church, in that time, the last 2,000 years, man has built up his own churches, based upon the name of Jesus, but there's always, of course, been God's church.

But where is that church today? Where is God's church today? And can we know where God's church is? And like I said for the statement, brethren, of this sermon, is, have you proven this is the right place to be? You're here in the church of God today. So, how can we know that? Well, let's go through and talk about this, brethren, and what the Bible says. Not what I say, not what other people say, but what does the Bible say?

You know, God's church, this small flock, by the way, this would be, you might say, one of the proofs of God's church is the church recognizes God as supreme ruler of all things. God is ruler of all things.

That's what the true church of God, founder of 31 A.D., the people of God, would believe, that God is supreme ruler over all things. Whether God rules the entire vast universe, and He rules His church, and He rules you and me. He rules us. Sometimes that's a hard lesson to learn.

He governs us. Now, people oftentimes don't let God govern them, and that's why we've got the problems out in the world out here. You've got war, you've got famine, you've got disease, you've got family breakdown, marriage breakdown, add-in, finitin. And, you know, God rules, in fact, all, but it remains to be seen whether or not we will let Him rule us. Long ago, there was a king. King Nebuchadnezzar had to learn this lesson.

He had built, of course, the fabulous hanging gardens in Babylon, and no doubt was walking out of the veranda of his beautiful, palatial estate that he had that was so beautiful. Because remember, Nebuchadnezzar ruled the entire world. All money flowed into the Babylonian Empire. Wealth was not an issue. And anyway, he probably boasted about, as the Bible indicates he did, boasted about himself, how great he was, how wonderful he was. Let's go over to Daniel, Chapter 5. Daniel, Chapter 5, over here. In the book of Daniel, in Chapter 5, here in verse 20, after, of course, he was doing all the boasting of how wonderful he was and how great he was and how powerful he was because he did have the ability to show life or death to someone.

He had that power over all upon the face of the earth. In verse 20, it says, in Daniel 5, verse 20, And when his heart was lifted up, and his spirit was hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne. And they took his glory from him.

And then he was driven from the sons of men. His heart was made like beasts, and he dwelt, his rally was with the wild doggies. And they fed him with grass, like oxen. And his body was wet with the dew of heaven. Till he knew that the most high God rules in the kingdom of men, and appoints over it whomever he chooses.

You see, Nebuchadnezzar had to come to learn that. Have we learned that, brethren, that God rules? Sometimes you see a t-shirt, somebody says, women rule. Or maybe it's something else. Usually people use that rule very loosely. But the fact of the matter is God rules. He rules all things. And Nebuchadnezzar had to come to see that. And that's the reality, brethren. And the church of God sees that reality. God rules all things. In Ephesians 1, Ephesians 1, down in verse 20, down here, we're told that Jesus Christ, in fact, was given responsibility over all things.

In fact, in heaven and earth. So we know He came to disqualify Satan, and to qualify to be the king of kings and Lord of lords. And God elevated Him and gave Him the job and the responsibility of being over all things. But in verse 20 here of Ephesians 1, it says, So as it were, what happened, God the Father made Jesus Christ His prime minister, as it were, over all things.

He said, But also in that which is to come.

You see that, brethren? Jesus Christ is the head of all things regarding the church. He's head over, in fact, the entire earth, for that matter. And He's over heaven as well. He's like the, again, the prime minister. You know, of God's kingdom, entire kingdom, which we, of course, don't even understand full and stand up. Because remember, God inhabits eternity. Well, let's notice over here in chapter 4, showing again that Jesus does have that power. He does have that authority within the church. But in verse 10 of chapter 4 of Ephesians, It says, It says, So Christ is over all, and He appoints the leadership of the church.

So, brethren, Jesus Christ sets the government in the church. And the Bible says that God puts His in the church as it pleases Him. And the ministry has the responsibility to preach, to warn. The Bible talks about that ministers should preach and warn every man so that every man can be presented perfect in Christ Jesus. That's in Colossians 1, 28. So that's what the ministry is about. And, of course, when we are preaching to every man, we're preaching to ourselves, too. Because we're not above God's law by any stretch of the imagination.

But Jesus Christ is the head of the church, and the ministry has the responsibility of oversteership within the church. And God rules over us. In fact, you know, He has His church. And God rules us individually through His law and His Spirit. Now, the ministry, in the sense of ruling as kings, we do not do that. But we do oversee. The ministry has the responsibility of oversteership, of teaching the law of God, of showing what the Spirit of the law is, showing how God's Spirit works, and, of course, sometimes having to deal with problems that can come as a result of, you know, human beings being human beings. Just the way it works, isn't it? So God is rulership, ruler over the church. And He rules us through His law.

The world, of course, doesn't do what even Jesus Christ Himself said to do. You know, in Matthew 4-4, and in Luke 4-4, it says, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

Here, the apostle John said, you know, he that says he knows God and keeps that as commandments is a liar and the truth is not hidden. And Jesus said, if you know me, you will keep my commandments. So, you see, the government of God has a responsibility, again, to teach God's law. Somebody wondered, why do we spend time in the Old Testament? Well, you know, that's where the law is, isn't it? I guess I'd ask the Protestant world, why do you not spend any time in the Old Testament?

Because, frankly, the New Testament is mostly quotations from the Old Testament.

So, they studied, of course, the Old Testament, and we know to write even the New Testament letters and epistles that were said, even the Gospel. To show that Jesus Christ was the Messiah that was to come. Let's go over to Matthew 19. In Matthew 19, verse 17, you know, some are referring to Jesus as good. In verse 17, chapter 19 of Matthew, so He said to them, why do you call Him as good? No one is good but one that is God. And if you want to err into life, keep the commandments. You want eternal life, you've got to keep the commandments. And over in chapter 5, chapter 5 over here, of Matthew, the same book, in verse 13, Matthew 5, verse 19, here Jesus Himself, in His own words, whoever therefore breaks will the least of these commandments and teaches them so shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. In fact, by the way, the meaning of this, if you really break it down, in the Greek, is not going to be in heaven. Not going to be in the kingdom of heaven. Certainly we're not going to be in heaven, but not going to be in the kingdom if we don't keep the commandments. Certainly not going to be in the first resurrection.

Scott Ashley, by the way, gave a presentation talking about this at the Ministerial Conference. When whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. So the commandments are very, very important, brethren, because it's the way that God rules us in our lives. And it's the way that our character is trained. It's our character's trained through the commandments. Let's look at the end of the book, by the way, over here, in Revelation, the book of Revelation. This is, of course, the revelation of Jesus Christ, and not John, as some people try to say. This is what Jesus Christ himself revealed to John. John was more or less just a stenographer, writing it down. You know, he was the one that formulated what's in this book. But this is what Jesus, again, inspired him to say in Revelation 22, verse 14, Blessed, again, this is the end of the book, blessed are those who do his commandments, that they might have right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. Of course, this is New Jerusalem he's talking about here, that nobody's going to be entering in New Jerusalem unless they are commandment keepers. Now, that's going to be a shock, isn't it, for the people who believe that, you know, you folks that keep those old laws in the old Bible, you're much a legalist. But God is not going to let somebody in, in fact, the city, they don't have right to the tree of life. Of course, you don't have right to the tree of life. What happens to you? You die. You simply die. And it does say that the wicked are going to be the ashes of the feet of the righteous in the time that it hit. So, brethren, number one, proof of where the church of God is, the church really believes God is supreme. He's supreme ruler over all things. Now, there are three identifying signs. The next proof of God's church, brethren, is there are three major identifying signs. Number one, you're keeping the verse today, the Sabbath.

You know, Jesus came and He said that in Mark 2, verse 27 and 28, He said that man was not made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath was made for man. And Jesus said He was the Lord of the Sabbath. And so Jesus Christ, of course, Himself is the Lord of this day, of the Sabbath day.

And, you know, God created the Sabbath day. We see, in fact, back in the book of Genesis, where in chapter 2, in the first part, that God created the Sabbath day. Because it says that He looked at all He had created, and He liked it. He liked it. And then, it says He sanctified the Sabbath day. And so that's where the Sabbath comes from. And that being, by the way, that in fact did that, was the one who became Jesus Christ. Because Jesus Christ is the only one that anybody has ever heard. Nobody has heard the Father or seen the Father. Jesus Christ was the one that spoke the words and brought in being the great creation that occurred. The Sabbath, again, is an identifying sign. Let's go to Exodus 31. In the book of Exodus, in chapter 31, over here, are you in the right place, brother?

Do you believe, again, that God rules all things? Well, you're among friends. If you do. If you don't, you still got a problem.

But Exodus 31, I'm sorry, in verse 12, And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, saying, Surely my Sabbath you shall keep. For it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Eternal who sanctifies you. The God that set apart the seventh day also sanctified Israel. Through the keeping of the Sabbath, He set them apart from the world and the societies of those days. Of that time, as in fact, we are separated even today by what we do in our lives. But let's notice over here, verse 16, Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath to observe, and so they shall keep the Sabbath to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever. For in six days the Lord made heavens and earth, and on the seventh day rested and was refreshed. Again, Moses here harkening back to Genesis 2, when the Sabbath was created. But you notice it says that the Sabbath is a sign, a sign of God's people.

And it's a perpetual sign. Somehow people don't understand what the word perpetual means. All of us know what a perpetual motion machine is, don't we?

We don't have somebody with their perpetual problem in the backside. We know what that means, don't we? Okay? We understand that. Why is it people don't understand what it means when God says the Sabbath is perpetual? I think somebody's playing Icarinar. Because they have the reasons, supposedly theological reasons. When Jesus Christ came along as our older brother in the church and the head of the church, in Luke 4, 16, it says it was His custom, the inner end to the synagogue on the Sabbath day. His custom. What is your custom? What is your custom? What is your custom? Brother, what do you do? Every Sabbath. How do you conduct yourself? Now, another identifying sign that is sort of an addendum, by the way, to the Sabbath, but nonetheless, a sign as well, are the Holy Days. In Leviticus 23, by the way, this is what really, really caught my attention back in 1966, somewhere in there, when I began to read the Bible, you know, I saw these scriptures.

You don't have to be a rocket scientist to know what the word perpetual means. And you know what I found, too? You don't have to be, you know, an Einstein to understand what the word forever means. The words forever. But in Leviticus 3, verse 1, another thing I discovered, too, it says in the eternal spoke to Moses, saying, speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, the feast of the eternal. It says, the Feast of God. This is the feast of the eternal, the word here. Not the feast of Israel.

He says, say to them, the feast of the eternal, which you shall proclaim to be holy, complications, these are my feasts. Okay. Now, listen up. These are God's feasts, huh? Israel's feasts. People say, well, you know, the Sabbath's a Jewish day. Well, you know, Israel, if anybody knows anything about the Bible, Israel, it was not made up of just Jews.

Jews came from one tribe of Judah. There were 11 other tribes that are ignored. They were keeping the Sabbath, too. But nonetheless, it was called the Feast of the Eternal. Verse 3, though, which is really shocking, is the first feast day that God talks about here is the Sabbath day.

And then you have, in verse 4, these are the feasts of the eternal, holy, complications, which you shall proclaim at their point of times. And you can go on through here, but then I'll take a few moments to do this. But every time He talked about a holy day, God said, this is forever throughout your generations. And I remember, even as a teenager, when I saw that, you know, and I saw it time and again here in the book of Leviticus, because it's there a number of times. It's in verse 14. He says it there. I'll just read this part. But it says, you shall eat, whether bread or parched grain or fresh grain, until the same day that you brought an offering to your God, it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations of all your dwellings. And, you know, here, of course, it is talking, you know, about, in this particular case, he was talking about the Passover and the days of our love and bread. And as you go down, basically after each holy day, it says, these are forever throughout your generations. It says it in verse 14. It says it in verse 21. It says it in verse 31. And it says it in verse 41. How many times does God have to say something before we get it?

I think it should be very clear. The holy days, and by that I mean the Passover, our love and bread, Pentecost, which we just observed, or the Feast of First Fruits, the next one, of course, will be the Feast of Trumpets in the fall, the Day of Enrollment, which is a fast day. It's a fast feast day. And we're thankful it's fast because you do without food and water on that day. But, and then, of course, the Feast of Tabernacles in the eighth day, or what we call the last great day. And, by the way, when we go into the New Testament, people get hung up on everything that has to be in the New Testament. What do we find? In John 7, Jesus is keeping the Feast of Tabernacles. In fact, He risked His life to go up to keep the Feast.

They told Him, don't go, because they're going to kill you. And Christ went up secretly to keep the Feast. Now, the Bible says in Hebrews 13, verse 8, that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. God doesn't change. And whenever we, by the way, examine the Acts of the Apostles in the book of Acts, in Acts 20, verse 16, in verse 6, as well in Acts 20, they were observing the days of unleavened bread.

1 Corinthians 5, they were observing the Passover, very clearly, and 1 Corinthians 11 was a controversy arising about the Passover. And in fact, Paul says, let us keep the Feast, not with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. They were observing the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And other Scriptures talk about other holy days. You know, in the book of Acts, it mentions about Pentecost. The church was founded on Pentecost. 31 A.D. People gathered on Pentecost, Acts 2, all in one accord.

You know, you didn't have somebody say, well, wait a minute. I'm not sure that Jesus is one of us to keep these old days. No, they were there in one accord. And later we find Paul keeping Pentecost. We, in fact, see the Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur, as the Jews referred to it, being observed. This is shown again in the New Testament. Jesus, as I mentioned earlier, keeping the Feast of Tabernacles. So holy days are a sign of God's Church. Now, when I found out about the holy days, by the way, I realized I was in the wrong place. I came to realize that, and I had to move on when I came to realize that. The other thing, this is, of course, an elementary thing, but nonetheless a very important thing. What is the name of the church? It's going to be the Church of Leapers and Jumpers.

What is it going to be? The Intergalactic Federation of Churches? What's the name?

Well, in John 17, verse 11, remember when Christ was talking to His own disciples? He said, Father, keep them in Your own name.

So that would mean the name ought to be the Church of God. The Church of God.

And we find all through the Bible, by the way. Every time it refers to a church, it refers to it as the Church of God at Corinth, the Church of God at Thessalonica.

In Acts, Chapter 20, let's notice in Acts 20, this is Luke, of course, recording actually the many Acts of the Apostle Paul. In Acts, Chapter 20, over here, you know, here Paul was up talking in that big church in Ephesus. He was warning them of their responsibility as overseers. But in Acts 20 and verse 28, down here, you know, here Paul was warning them. He says, Therefore take heed to yourselves, say on top of yourself, spiritually speaking, and to all the flock, among whom the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the Church of God, to shepherd the Church of God, which he purchased with his own blood.

Now, let's go to 1 Corinthians, Chapter 1, by the way. Okay, this is in 50-something AD that the book of Corinthians was written.

50 or 52 AD, somewhere in there. So we're looking here 21 years, maybe after the founding of the church. But it says Paul, in verse 1 of Chapter 1 of 1 Corinthians, Paul called of an apostle, Jesus Christ, through the will of God, in verse 2, to the Church of God, which is at Corinth. So the name of the church should be the Church of God. You know, that's pretty important. You may not be aware that back when Mr. Armstrong began, the name of the church became a controversy. There was one group that, in fact, before Mr. Armstrong actually came along, I shouldn't say during the time he was there, I think it was prior to that, that they began to have controversy about what the name of the church was to be. And many people realized the name of the church should be the Church of God. But there was a particular group that decided to part ways because they felt that the name should more reflect basically the teachings of what they were doing. And that was when, in fact, historically, the Seventh-day Adventist came about. And so the Seventh-day Adventist, by the way, separated from the Church of God, and that's where, of course, they broke away. They were no longer known as the Church of God, but they were known as the Seventh-day Adventist from that time. That goes, of course, back prior to Mr. Armstrong coming along.

But again, brethren, there are identifying signs. These are just a few of them, but three important ones. So are you in the right place? Do we keep the Sabbath? Yes. We mention often the Sabbath's the test commandment. Do we keep the Holy Days? Yes. Do we have the correct name? Yes. Now, some may wonder, why are we calling ourselves the United Church of God? Well, the reason why is for legal reasons, but we're the Church of God.

United is just a name that is used also for advertising purposes. But we, I think you'd have a real problem in the Church among most of God's people if you change the Church from Church of God to something else. Having united, of course, on it is similar to what we had in our former association.

So, there are three identifying signs. What else, brethren, delineates us from the world? That sanctifies us and sets us apart different than others. How about truth about pagan doctrines?

Do we believe in the mortality of the soul? No, we do not.

You know, when God created Adam, remember in Genesis 2, verse 7, it says that God blew into him the breath of life and he became a living soul.

That word for soul is nafesh, which means a living, breathing creature.

And so, man is a soul. He doesn't have a soul. He is a soul. But when a man dies, his soul returns to the earth.

In Ezekiel 18, verse 4 and 20, these are a couple of memory verses that all of us at least should know where they are. You know, God talked about how Israel would blame former generations for the sins that they committed. But God said, I want you to set aside some of these ways that you have. In Ezekiel 18, verse 4 and also verse 20, he says, the soul that sins, it shall die. In other words, the person who commits the sin shall die. So that shows that a soul can die. A nafesh can die. That's what Adam became.

He became a nafesh, that's the Hebrew word, of course, which just simply means a living, breathing creature. So he said, a soul that sins, it shall die. And over in 1 Timothy 6, verse 16, I'm going through these rapidly, but for the sake of time.

But there it talks about, in 1 Timothy, maybe I should turn over there to that one. But it shows the reality that human beings do not have an immortal soul. We are not immortal. I wish we were, you know, immortal. I wish you were immortal. Maybe then I have a chance right now, but that's not the way it works, is it?

Something that, in fact, that is later. But in 1 Timothy 6, verse 16, notice down through here, speaking again of God, who alone has immortality.

Growing in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen. That shows that man does not have immortality, but God alone has immortality. And, of course, we know God alone can only bestow that immortality.

And when you read in the Bible, and there are many scriptures that would take a whole sermon on this topic alone to talk about the immortality of the soul, is that man has to put on immortality. And, you know, the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 15 that those who are in Christ are going to be changed in a moment in the twinkly lie, and that this mortality must put on immortality. It's not something you have. It's something we're going to be given in the future. So, you see, that really changes a lot of things. Many churches believe they have immortal souls. You know, they think, you know, Aunt Matilda's up there in heaven already.

She's got her cloud, and she just... every time she strums in the harp, the cloud just kind of moves around, you know. Staring at the face of God forever, the beatific vision. You know, God wants you to waste your time up there floating around that cloud. I don't think so. There's a purpose for our calling, far beyond that. We understand also the truth about heaven and hell.

That there are three hells. Most people are not aware there are three hells.

And one of them you can't in fact avoid. And that hell is in the Greek called Hades. That's why Christ said the gates of hell will not prevail against the church. The word is Hades. In other words, the grave. The church wouldn't die out. The other word, by the way, is Gehenna. Now that is a fire that's represented in the Bible. By the way, it's not a place in the center of the earth, as some people think. When you're bad, you get sent to the center of the earth.

But Gehenna fire is the fire that eventually is going to be burning all the wicked out. That they become ashes under the feet of the righteous. In the future, that, of course, is when the time when God has given up. He's given every man a chance and opportunity. Also, there will be a literal fire, apparently, that will exist outside of Jerusalem. For those who simply will not submit, will not obey, that will exist at that time.

A third Greek word is the Greek word Tardarou, or Tardarous. And the word Tardarou, or Tardarous, means a place of restraint. In fact, the demons right now, Satan and his demons, who were thrown to this earth, are bound here upon the earth. They're in prison. They're in Tardarou.

And you and I are here, too, in Tardarou. You know, we, of course, have to exist side by side, as it were with these demonic forces. So, hell is not as Dante's Inferno depicts, if you've ever read Dante's Inferno. You know, different levels of hell, of torture, and whatnot. In fact, Paul wrote in Romans 6, verse 23, The wages of sin is life everlasting, except torture. No, it's not what it says, is it? The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is life everlasting.

So, there's no such thing as being tortured forever and ever. And, you know, the devil being down there with a pitchfork. And so, you know, if you get too comfortable, you know, he's going to use his pitchfork. Got that red suit on with a pale, and looks like he's a Halloween figure.

We understand, too, man's reward does not happen. But that the Bible says that the meek shall inherit the earth. They're not going to inherit heaven. They're going to inherit the earth. In Revelation 5, verse 10, it says that those redeemed from every tribe and kindred and nation are going to be kings and priests on the earth. On the earth.

So, nobody's going to be going up to heaven. That's not what our future is going to be. In fact, in John 3, verse 13, well, Jesus Himself said that none have gone to heaven except He that came down from heaven.

So, Jesus Christ is the only one that is gone to heaven. He is gone to heaven. Now, there have been those who have seen visions of heaven. That's a different story, isn't it? John saw a different...he saw a little vision of heaven.

He, of course, in Revelation, we see that Paul did as well, apparently. And no doubt others have. Isaiah as well. But in Acts, chapter 2, verse 29 and 34, I hope you're writing these down, by the way. We don't have time to go through them. But in the book of Acts, we are told that David's supplicor is with us to this day. So, David did not hear this righteous king did not ascend to heaven. And you can read Hebrews 11, because there it talks about all the patriarchs who died. It says, they all died in the faith, having not received the promises. But they don't receive the promises ahead of the saints that are called at this particular time. But we're all going to be rewarded about the same time. And that will occur when Jesus Christ comes to this earth a second time as the King of kings and Lord of lords. So, you see, we understand the truth about heaven, the truth about hell.

Another thing we understand the truth about is about pagan holidays. One of the first things you probably find out about when you start reading is that Christmas is not a Christian holiday. It was a pagan holiday that was Christianized. God tells Israel not to do that, by the way. We understand the truth about Easter. The Easter, again, is a pagan holiday. They were keeping Easter 4,000 years before Christ ever came along.

And so, a lot of these days that man keeps, this is the one that's far out. You wonder why any church would keep Halloween. But they do! Of course, they make it into sort of fun for the kids. You've got to have a fun time for the kids. Give them a lot of candy and a lot of junk. Here's another one. The world observes Valentine's Day. It's a pagan holiday as well.

And of course, one of the things everybody... These are commercialized, highly commercialized in our world. But all of them, if you study, we eat them. They're all pagan. In Jeremiah 10, verse 2, God told Israel, learn not the way of the heathen.

Let's go over to Deuteronomy 12. Deuteronomy 12. Deuteronomy 12. There's so much we could, of course, cover in the course of showing these proofs. Over God's people are. But in Deuteronomy 12, verse 29, God says to Israel, When the Etero-ed God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess, and you displace them and dwell in their land, take heed to yourself that you are not, instead, to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you, that you do not inquire after their gods. So how did these nations serve their gods? I also will be doing likewise, you shall not worship the Lord your God in that way. For every abomination to the Lord which he hates, they have done to their gods.

For they bow to them their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods. For ever I command you, God said to them, be careful to observe it. You shall not add to it nor take away from it. Can we get that point, brethren? You know, we don't need other days to observe. God has given us seven annual festivals to observe that really picture something, really moon something. In fact, the Holy Days, the festivals of God picture the God's plan of salvation, how he's saving mankind, in spite of what mankind may think.

Here we understand God's power as well. God's church understands the power of God in the church. It's not by physical might, but by the Spirit of God, as it says in the book of Zechariah.

But let's notice Mark 16 over here. Mark 16.

Some of these I'm going to have to breeze over, but I do want to touch a little bit on it. But we understand again about God's power.

And, you know, when we're baptized, we're not given the Spirit of fear.

But as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 1 and 7, we're given the Spirit of a sound mind, or self-control, and the Spirit of power. It is power that God gives to us when we have the lain out of hands, and we have the Spirit of God imparted to us. But in chapter 16 and verse 17 over here, Jesus was talking to his disciples, and he said, These signs shall follow those who believe. In my name they shall cast out demons. They shall speak with new tongues. They will take up surface if they drink anything deadly. It will by no means hurt them, and they will lay hands of the sick, and they shall recover. So, healing would be a part of the church. Sometimes casting out demons would be a part of the church.

We would even see occasion where tongues would be spoken.

Now, in the way it was done in the book of Acts, so far as I know, it has not happened in the church. But we know those things are coming. Because in the future, brethren, when we see occasions where it's going to be absolutely necessary, there's no way somebody's going to hear the gospel, unless it is by that means God will aspire that gift at that time. And certainly we've seen healings of the church. We've seen, in fact, people that raised the dead practically. I know stories about people that had died and were brought back.

No man was, in fact, died and he was annoyed before he died. And they actually put him in the morgue.

I'm sorry, it was a hospital and they put him in the place where you take people that, I don't know what they call it in the hospital. But it was a quiet room. Let's put it that way. And anyway, the guy sits up and he's got the sheet over it.

He sits up and he was resurrected. But these are the kind of things that have happened in the church. It's bone-shilling to think about the things that have been done.

It's a matter of faith, too. You know, there are times when Christ could not perform miracles with people that just didn't have any faith. That's why we as God's people need to have faith in God's power and what he can do. And don't lose that faith. Don't lose it. Don't allow yourself to, in fact, let it diminish in you. But don't forget about God's great power. Another truth, brethren, that sanctifies the church, that makes it God's church, is God's church sees and practices the health laws of the Bible.

Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14 talk about the laws of cleaned and unclean meats. So we practice these laws. We practice the laws of watching after our health as God's people. We live by the seven laws of radiant health. Number one, food and fasting. Number two, God's people practice cleanliness and dress, to dress appropriately, modestly. Number three, we believe that sunshine, fresh air, is important to good health. We ought not be couch potatoes. Number four, exercise. We apply ourselves to keep on top of ourselves. Number five, sleep and rest.

We get adequate rest. We don't stay up all hours the night. I hope you don't do that, brethren, prior to the Sabbath. I hope that you get to bed at a decent hour so you can get up and you can be refreshed. I think a lot of people's sickness is because they are not getting the proper rest. You're not getting five hours, at least, of solid rest every night. You're hurting your health.

You're burning the candle with the both ends and you're going to pay the piper. And, of course, God's people are careful to avoid getting the situations where they could be bodily injured. They're not foolish. They don't want to tempt God, in other words. And number seven, to try to maintain a peaceful and tranquil mind. We're not people that are become the angry people of the world. But we have a very positive outlook for the future about what God's going to do. So that separates us, doesn't it? How many people do you know do that? How many places have I been where, when the dinner was put on, it was something that shouldn't be eaten? Other things we understand. Vowt Church understands prophecy, or general understanding of prophecy. We have a framework of prophecy. Let me put it that way. We don't understand all things of prophecy. I don't think anybody ever has. We understand the day for a year in prophecy. Ezekiel 4, 6, and Numbers 14, verse 34. We know who and what the beast is.

We know what it's going to be like.

We understand the day of the Lord, of the book of Revelation, what that's about. That God takes the time where He punishes those who are sinners upon the earth. We understand about New Jerusalem. We know Israel's identity, which is the key to unlock a third of the Bible. And, of course, 90% of it applies to the day. We understand that there is a three-and-a-half-year tribulation. That's different than the world does. They think that it's going to be a seven-year period. But the Bible never mentions a seven-year period. It always mentions a 42-month period. And that's three-and-a-half years.

We understand the mourning. We understand also the great white throne judgment. So we have an overview of prophecy. So, in the Bible, let's say, surely the Lord God will do nothing unless He reveals it, His secret, to His servants, the prophets. So God's not going to completely surprise God's people. Then, watching world events, you know, that's why we have the prophetic times that we put out. So we can keep an eye on world events. And why do you keep an eye on world events? Let me tell you why. The person sitting in that chair right there, you. So you can keep an eye on yourself. And I can keep an eye on myself to keep on top of it spiritually.

You know, God's church, by the way, if you find God's church, God's church understands what true spiritual life is. Spirituality is not sitting, you know, with your legs on a lotus posture.

True Christianity and true spirituality, brother, is not wearing black and red robes with funny hats, or black square-toed shoes with buckles. Jesus would like the average man of his day, and he'd walk through the crowds unnoticed.

Those who are practicing true spirituality are led by the Spirit of God in their daily life. Romans 8, verse 14, it says the sons of God are led by the Spirit of God.

And that led to be weird. It's like one man actually told me this many, many years ago. You know, when he was beginning to come to see the truth, because he was sort of fed up with the fakery of the world, you know, how sometimes people call brother this and sister that and reverend and all that, that people do in this world. And he said, you know, you guys make Jesus Christ a believable character. Believable! Jesus would like the average man of his day. He wasn't strange. Wasn't weird. He wasn't this long-haired, kind of hippy-looking character with a, you know, gaunt look on his face with a little rosy cheeks, like they do, you know, to try to depict him kind of like his fingers up like this all the time, you know.

Looking sort of sanctimonious. But God's people, let the Spirit of God live in them. Like Paul said in Galatians 2, verse 20, he said, I'm crucified with Christ. He said, nevertheless, I live, and yet not I, but Jesus lives in me. Christ lives in me.

So we allow God to lead us. And in John 16, verse 13, John 16, verse 13, it says that the Spirit of God there will lead us into all truth. We don't have all truth, brethren. Just those words alone tell us that we don't have all truth. We're being led into it.

And so God is doing that. A true Christian, brethren, the real church of God desires truth inwardly. To live it from the inside out, and not just from the teeth out, but from the inside out. And I think the greatest thing of all, which is the greatest proof of the church of God today, brethren, God's church, is the true church is going about the business of preaching the gospel to the world, the true gospel to the world. In Matthew 24, verse 14, Jesus Christ, when that gospel has been preached to the whole world as a witness, and what did He say? Then the end shall come. So when we're done preaching the gospel, that's why we are preaching the gospel as we do on television with the Beyond Today program. That's why we're going on the Internet gangbusters. We're trying to get on there big time. And the church is doing a very good job, by the way, at that. Because the church of God preaches the gospel. You know, as a church, we're spending more and more of our income on the preaching of the gospel. So, brethren, when you examine these areas that we covered here today, you can find and prove where God's people are. And really, it's a simple process of elimination. Now, you can do it the easy way, or you can do it the hard way. Let me tell you, though, if you're looking for God's church, there are 1,200 different denominations in the world. And you know what? You would be about Methuselah's age if you went through every one of them. Or, you can do it the easy way and look at some of these proofs that we mentioned here today to show where God's church is. Now, brethren, I have a confidence that the church of God will continue to reflect these signs, as it were, these proofs. And I've proven that Christ is the head of the church. Again, we don't understand everything but with patience. And in due time, brethren, with God's help, we will. One of the disciples were in Christ's presence, and he began to talk about the Passover, and he was talking about to people. He said, unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you cannot enter into life. It's as many of the disciples stopped following Christ after that, because it got bizarre to them.

And Jesus asked his disciples, he said, are you going to go too? And Peter said, Lord, where will we go? You have the words of eternal life. Well, I hope that you have found the place where the words of eternal life are spoken in God's church, where you're sitting and where you're now, and that we continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.