Willing to Sacrifice

You can wake up now, Drew. I've given a few impromptu sermons in my day, so I know what it's like. They gave one tag team sermon once. Mr. Armstrong, in the middle of the service, got up and walked out of the room and said, here, I'll give my notes.

Continue on. So I started talking. He came back about 20 minutes later and said, where are you? And I said, I'm right here. He gave it back to him and he went on. That's got to be a first, too. Unusual the way it is. Appreciate being here with you today on this holy day and hearing the story of Egypt and the Exodus. I've read Josephus. It's always fun to fill in the gaps of some of the things in Exodus that are there. Of course, every time we talk about Moses, we all see Charleston Houston.

That's now, and he'll be on again next week, I'm sure. And the things that Cecil D. DeMills put in the Bible that aren't there. Even some of our ministers, one of them said once, talk about the death angel. I said there was no death angel. It was the Lord. But, Charleston, and heaven had the death angel coming in the Cecil B. DeMills, the Exodus, and Ten Commandments. Which is interesting.

We used to have the Bible bowls down in Texas when my kids were little. And it was funny, my son, he memorized all the plagues and knew exactly which one was which, and everything goes about the book, Exodus. And he was up there and they asked the question, what was the, to one of the kids, what was the third plague, and what was the seventh plague? And they came to him, and they said, what was the fourth commandment?

And he said, flies! Because he had heard plagues, a set of commandments. And he had no idea why everybody was laughing, but... And he just didn't listen to the question. He was ready for what it was. And that happens sometimes. We don't hear everything as completely as we should. Anyway, it's good to be here with you and to have a chance to talk to you. I'll try not to break the eleventh commandment, which is, thou shalt not go overtime.

But, uh, because that annoys the younger people in the audience. At the same time, a message that fits for you and make it work. Mr. Armstrong's willing to stop people from going overtime. When I was a little kid, we had three and four hours of sermons sometimes. And sometimes the minister would, while you're asleep, you get up and let's sing a song, and then you continue on again. They could actually preach longer than I could sleep as a five or six-year-old.

But I'm not going to do that to you. One of the scriptures that we need to take to heart, I think, is one of the hardest things, is Romans 12.1. One of the hardest things you may ever do. Romans 12.1, I'm just going to read the first verse. It says, I beseech you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service.

That's a hard one, because sacrifice means that you are making a choice to do something that you probably don't want to do. Something probably difficult. Something that you choose to do for someone else. And of course, the greatest sacrifice ever made was that of Jesus Christ, which we celebrated Friday night at Passover. Turn with me to Luke 22, verse 40, because they were getting ready to keep this feast.

And the disciples were there, and I'm sure they thought it was going to be just like the last three and a half years when they were with Christ. Come in, have the Passover, and you know, kill the lamb, eat, and he'd probably be doing miracles, and we got to watch things happen, and people get healed, and raised from the dead, or whatever new thing was coming. And I'm sure that's where they were when they were with him on that last one. In Luke 22, in verse 40, it says, when he was at the place, he said to them, pray that you enter not into temptation. And he withdrew from them, and kneeled down and prayed.

And he said, Father, if you be willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done. He wasn't desiring to go through what he knew he was going to go through, but willing. Verse 43, there appeared an angel to him from heaven, strengthening him. And in agony he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling to the ground. The angel didn't take the pain away. The angel comforted him. When he rose up, came to his disciples, he found him sleeping.

He was sorrowful. He said, then why do you sleep? Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation. They didn't see any reason really to stay awake. I mean, there's Passover time. It's a feast. Are we asleep, or are we on guard? Like the disciples. Do you ever think others don't know or don't care what you're going through? His disciples went to sleep.

Now, Jesus knew they were going to desert him. He knew that was going to happen, but they didn't understand what was happening right then. And Jesus, it was so intense for him that he was virtually sweating blood because he knew what was coming. And he knew he was going to have to go through it, even though he asked if it could be taken away any way that it could be. In life, we go through difficult times. Now, I've never sweated blood, but I've prayed fervently before. And the seven years when I first started traveling with Mr. Armstrong, I flew alone.

My wife didn't get to travel with me at that time. And I went through some very scary and difficult situations. The last five years when he made me his aide, my wife got to fly with me, a stewardess and a secretary.

And she flew. And one of the trips that we took was one of the ones that I came close to sweating blood. It was about 1980. It was a day not unlike any other day when we were traveling. We were going to a country, strange country we hadn't been in before. It was the dry season in a normally monsoon tropical climate. English wasn't the native language of this country. French was. It was the capital city of Abidjan on the Ivory Coast.

The hotel we were in was comfortable by their standards. The world was not as progressive as it was now. It wasn't a super nice hotel, but it was nice for what they had, clean by their standards. We were going to meet people that we didn't know and talk to and unlikely to ever see again. But Abidjan is a city that lies on the southeast coast. That's where a lot of the slave trade was in the past.

Unfortunately, a lot of bad things have happened in those areas. But it was a cultural hub of the area. It's the third largest city, French-speaking city in the world, Abidjan is, with nearly five million residents. The capital has since moved to Gamosuko, but at that time it was the capital. It's still the largest city in the economic capital of the world. It's an important seaport, a hub.

And it's famous for a huge market called Le Plateau. And I wanted to see this market because you could buy all the arts and crafts and things there at a good price. And I wasn't paid very much and I like to negotiate, so I wanted to go see the plateau market. Well, when I went up to the concierge and I asked him about going to the plateau market, and he said, oh, are you going alone?

I said, well, why? I said, I'm taking my wife. Why do you ask? He said, well, he said, there's a big slave trade here for white women. So you got to be careful. Well, my wife didn't hear this, or I probably would have never gotten to the market. She usually tries to keep me from dangerous things. I tend to be more of an explorer. And so I took her to the market and I held on to her tightly the whole time we were there. She probably thought I was mad in love with her, which I was, but that wasn't why I was hanging on to her.

I want to make sure that she didn't get out of my sight for even a moment.

And it was a great market. Beautiful things. Lots of ornate ebony carvings. We bought some of those. I bought some butterfly paintings, which are paintings that are made out of butterfly wings, and some lapis lazuli and malachite and various things that handstones. Beautiful things almost given away. They were so cheap. But it was a wonderful thing. And I saw all sorts of idols and religious things. They're everything from Islamic to witchcraft to Buddha. Virtually all the gods are in those areas, the things of the world, and the people tend to appease all of them. I guess they want to cover their bases by making sure that they didn't annoy anybody. But they had little knowledge of God, little knowledge of his way of life or anything to do with that.

But we had a good time shopping, and I got back, and everything was fine. And I thought, well, that wasn't so bad. But part of my job the next day we were going to leave, part of my job was, along with the setup of the hotels and the meetings, was to take care of the luggage. And Michelle was supposed to take care of it with me because the passengers at the time didn't really want to be bothered with all the luggage that we had. So I had all these pieces of luggage. And now that my wife was flying, it actually worked out real good because when they opened the suitcases and found women's clothes and it was all my luggage, I now I could explain it with her being there.

But so we were able to go through, and I was fine. And they had a bus for the luggage, and I was putting this stuff in the back of the bus. And what happened is the concierge or the bell captain came up and said, that's its last piece. And I was in the back putting it down. And he slammed the door and started to drive off. My wife was still outside. She's supposed to be going with me. And I yelled to the driver, arate, arate! You know, stop in French. And I wanted to get my wife on board. And I looked out the window and saw my wife, man, grabbed her by the hand and pushed her in the taxi. And they took off. And they took off the opposite direction of what we were going. I was sweating bullets at that time. It's about an hour's ride out to the airport. And I thought, this is it. And I was ready to sacrifice my life on that hour's ride. I was praying and thinking about how I was going to cross the tropics and the Sahara and the speech I was going to give Mr. Armstrong that I wasn't going to get on the plane. I was going to find my wife. And I drove that hour in sheer terror, basically. I was ready to sacrifice my life to search for her. Again, sacrificing. In my imagination, I saw all sorts of things.

When Christ was getting ready to die and throughout his life, he knew exactly what was going to happen to him. I can't imagine spending your life knowing what Isaiah 53 says about how you're going to die. The amount of sorrow is acquainted with grief. You'll be beaten so badly that you won't even be recognized, as we read the other night in the Passover. And that you'd be deserted. That even your friends would leave you. Everyone would turn their own way. And that you wouldn't talk back. You would take it patiently. Isaiah 53.10, I'll skip to a couple verses in that chapter, because the prophecies of his being stationed between two thieves and dying and having his burial in a rich man's tomb only could happen with God to fulfill that.

Isaiah 53.10, it says, yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. It pleased God for him to go through this. It says, he has put him to grief when you shall make his soul an offering for sin. He shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

He shall see the travail of his soul and be satisfied, and by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, and he shall bear their iniquities. We're only able to come to this feast and put sin out because of what he did. The sacrifice he knew he would have to go through, sacrifice that he lived with that knowledge throughout his life. I only had to go through mine for an hour. This prophecy was not a pretty picture for Jesus to recognize what was going to happen to him, but it pleased God because of what it meant for his creation, what it meant for you, and for me, what we could do. And he died for his enemies. I was willing to sacrifice my life for my wife. If we're like to be him, we have to have the faith that he had, have to have the obedience that he showed toward his father and his mind. Do we have that? You know, as he puts the sin out of our lives, we have to put something else in. And what we put in is love of God, a change of heart, to be like our Savior. Most likely then, as we put that out and become like him, we're liable to sacrifice, to have done to us some of the same problems and things that he had done to him, to be rejected at times, to be ridiculed at times, to face discrimination, which we will as an organization. It's already difficult to say certain things on TV. In Canada, you can't even read. In 128 and 29, it's against the law. The Bible is hate speech.

That's what we will possibly will face in this country, where you won't be able to quote God's Word without being cut off. And with the internet, the family of the Word, they can turn the switch and cut you off. We're looking at those things, and even though it will happen to us probably as a group, it can also happen to us individually that we'll face these things. Turn to 1 Peter 2, verse 19, if you would. Because as we near the end, some of the Christians are due to be martyred, as they were in the first century and beyond. Throughout history, people that turn to God face death, face ridicule, face discrimination, but we have to keep His commandment. And yet, we have to love the people actually that hate us, as Christ died for those people. Not what they do, but the fact that they're future children of God as well. 1 Peter 2, 19, it says, This is grace. If we're conscious toward God, anyone endures grief, suffering wrongfully, and we're not called for this. Christ suffered on our behalf. He left us an example that you should follow in His steps. That's the price we pay for God's calling and for the reward He promises to us. Christ did that. He did no sin, and God was not found in His mouth. When He was reviled, He did not revile in return. When He suffered, He did not threaten, but gave Himself up to Him who judges righteously. We have to come to the point where we say, God, I'm in Your hands, just as He did. Your will, not mine. And we may even be put to death.

Being put to death is a sacrifice, but it's not a living sacrifice. Actually, sometimes I think James, who was beheaded right away, was probably the one who got off easy, in the sense that it happened quickly, and it probably scared the other apostles, realizing, wow, yeah, we could die for this. And yet to be a living sacrifice is more difficult than being a dead sacrifice. It means you have to go on, like Paul, and suffer stonings and shipwrecks and various things along the way.

We'll be despised for our beliefs. We'll have to understand where God takes us and face our trials, be tested. God has to know that our character is set for eternity. We're not going to reach perfection humanly, but our character and our desire and our will has to be set that way, so when we're made spirit beings in full measure of His Spirit, that we won't be like Lucifer, like Satan the devil, who wants us, who's causing these things to happen. He was really unhappy in Egypt, I'm sure, when the plagues were happening. He wanted to destroy Israel. He wants to destroy the church, spiritual Israel. His attitude toward Christianity about you or about others?

For Christ, it was about others, what He had to do. Turn to Isaiah 14. Yesterday, we should talk about Ezekiel 28, about Lucifer. I'd like to read the parallel a bit to that, Isaiah 14, beginning in verse 12. We see how Satan fell and what he did, and we see mankind has taken up his way of life. The Spirit in man is reached very easily by Satan the devil, just as easily as it was in the Garden of Eden for Eve. It can be for man today. Isaiah 14, verse 12, how are you falling from heaven, O Lucifer, Son of the morning? How art you cut down to the ground? Which did weaken the nations? And he does that. For you have said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the Mount of the congregation and the sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the Most High, or actually to be interpreted, be the Most High. He wants to be in charge. He wants to do it his way by putting others down. It was about himself, about power, about position. He didn't esteem anyone else, not even God. It was about himself. Again, it's our attitude about Christianity, about Jesus Christ, or about Satan's way, about you or about others, Jesus's way.

It was difficult. We're supposed to be the bride of Christ. That's what we're called to be.

He picked us. He chose us, just like I picked Michelle. It's my bride. Jesus was about his father's plan, and he chose you. He chose me, and we're here today. Small number. He's been sorting out the church. He's been sorting out mankind, the people, his firstfruits for really 6,000 years to find out that small handful of people that are part of the better resurrection as the firstfruits, which will be the next feast that we celebrate in 50 days.

Are you approving your church choice of God by your actions and by your words?

We've had a lot of people through the centuries that have known the words, could repeat the words, but didn't live the words. And if you're not living it, it's hollow. It's just saying there are people that have memorized the whole Bible, and you can tell them a scripture, Ezekiel 27, 12, and they'll tell you exactly what it says. Literally, the whole Bible. But they don't do anything. They don't understand it because they don't have spirit to understand what the true meaning of it is. Jesus' prayer, which we read the other day, is filled with the fact that Christ was all about them. He's praying his prayer. Of course, he asked for the katia, he passed from him, but then he does his prayer with the disciples. He talks to him, and I'm doing this for you. I'm taking care of you. The Holy Spirit's going to come for you, the commandment that you love one another, that you can be like me and my father. It was about you. He told him, you haven't chosen me, but I chose you, that you should go forth and bring forth fruit. And I'm going to send the comforter for you, someone who's about to die. Most of us, when we're going through a terrible trial, we tend to think about us. We don't tend to think about others. Although one of the best things you can do if you're going through a trial is start praying for other people. Start praying for them to be helped, because God sees that. Any spirit will comfort you if you're in that. Turn to Zechariah chapter 8. If you're worried, verse 16, we'll start there. Jesus knew what was happening. He knew the Scripture so well.

And he gives us a command. Zechariah 8, verse 16, he says, These are the things that you shall do. Speak you every man the truth with his neighbor.

Execute judgment of truth and peace in your gates.

Let none of you imagine evil in your heart against his neighbor. For love has no false oath. Love no false oath. For these are the things that I hate, says the Lord.

Sometimes it's hard to do those things when people are doing things against you.

When people are creating evil.

I've been in situations in my life where I've had things happen to me where you wonder, God, what is this about?

Peter and the disciples, when Christ had been accused, I didn't understand. Turn to John 21. It's interesting.

In John chapter 21, he asked the question of Peter. He wondered if Peter had gotten the message yet. Did he really understand as dynamic as Peter was?

Turn 21, verse 15, when they broke the fast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these?

He said, yes, Lord, you know I love you. He said, feed my sheep. Feed my lambs.

He said, a second time, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me? Yes, Lord, you know I love you. Feed my sheep.

He said, a third time, do you love me?

Peter was grieved because he said him a third time. That's because he denied him three times, and he recognized what Christ was doing.

Are you going to deny me again?

He said, Lord, you know all things. You know that I love you.

He said, feed my sheep.

Peter is the one, the few people on earth that knew how he was going to die. He knew he'd be killed, as Christ had told him.

God wants us to have the feeling that he has for mankind, to love them as people for what they can be, but not the love of the sins that they're part of.

We have to be like Jesus when he said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. It's difficult. It's difficult a thing to do, but as we put sin out of our lives, we have to put love into it. We have to see the world as God sees it.

These are the people that we witness to when we put out the broadcast, people that see our programs, see our booklets. We have one of the best web presences of the best of any of the splinter organizations, but even high up in regards to the world's religions. People do know who we are in that sense, but we see a world divided. We see a world that needs what we're being taught and what we have to offer, but they don't know it. It's difficult to know what's going to happen. I'd like to turn to Genesis 22 as well, because God tests us.

We have to have pure motives. We have to know God is fair. No matter what he puts you through, it's fair by definition, because when God does it, it's for the benefit of the individual.

Satan is clever. He doesn't want us to have a willingness to suffer wrong, but we will suffer wrong.

We don't want to get disillusioned. Satan is very clever. He appears as an angel of light, but we're told. He puts a twist on scriptures that can seem right at times, but it sows discord and it divides the flock when it's not applied appropriately.

If you get disillusioned because of what other people do, you're letting someone else take your crown, and we're told not to do that. Genesis 22, this was God proving Abraham.

Verse 2, he says, Take your son, your only son whom you love, even Isaac, and get into the land of Moriah. Offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains, which I tell you.

God was asking to give up his son that he waited 25 years for. It was Sarah.

And we know how long it was. Verse 3, he rose up early in the morning, saddled his animal, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son took the wood for the offering, and rose up and went to a place God had told him. Isaac had probably seen Abraham offer sacrifices before, and he was going with him on this. And on the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place far off. Now can you imagine, for three days, you know God has asked you to sacrifice your son. As they are walking along, I'm sure Isaac was wondering, why is dad quiet this time? Why is he not probably acting the way he has in the past sacrifices? And you can imagine Abraham wondering, praying, and knowing God had all power, but still being asked to do this thing.

Then he tells his servants to stay there and to wait for him as he takes Isaac with the wood and the burnt offering, and Isaac's carrying the wood. We learn in verse 6. And he took the fire and the knife. Verse 7, Isaac said to his father, Father, I'm in Abraham's time here, and he said, we have the fire in the wood, but where is the lamb for the offering? Isaac didn't know that he was to be the offering for that three days. Abraham didn't tell him. Imagine those three days. And Abraham just says, God will provide the lamb. And they went together. When they came to the place that God told him, he built an altar, put the wood on it, and bound Isaac his son. Isaac was a young man, strong, and Abraham was old. Isaac didn't fight him. He knew his father loved him. And he went along.

Jesus Christ knew that God loved him. Just as Isaac knew that his father loved him. He didn't understand, but he seemed to have a total trust in his father, which is a trust that we have to have in our God, our Father. He knew. What did our baptism commitment mean when we made that covenant with Jesus Christ and with God the Father? Was it like Abraham? Like Jesus? A total trust? Of course, you know the story. He doesn't have to offer his son. He's about ready to. God says, don't. For now I know that you fear God. You wouldn't withhold anything. Certainly a living sacrifice that Abraham was going through in thinking about that. And of course, then with that blessing, at the end of that chapter in verse 18, and in your siege, all the nations of the earth be blessed. And they are. The blessing is given to Abraham and the world, but the main blessing being Jesus Christ himself, the Son of God. And Jesus is that blessing, as we know in 1 Corinthians and other chapters. 1 Corinthians 15 and 20, Christ has risen from the dead, the first fruit of those asleep. And again, many of our brothers and sisters have slept, died, more well before Christ returns to be awake. Verse 23 of 1 Corinthians 15, every man in his own order, Christ the first fruits. And after that, those that are Christ is coming. There will be some that are alive, who have an instantaneous death when Christ returns. We are the seed of God, the first fruits. He's called us. But it's called us at a time when it's very difficult, a time when the world, we can't tell people, like in Isaiah where it says, the voice behind you will tell you, go this way. We don't have anybody telling people not to do things today that they have to listen to.

We're asked to sacrifice in many different ways, to be different from this world.

Christ knew what he had to do for humanity. His disciples didn't. They thought, Peter said, you're the Messiah. And with that, in his mind, he was thinking those chapters in Isaiah when we're going to be made the head of the world, we'll be at the front of the line, and we'll get rid of the Romans, get rid of all the Gentiles, get rid of all the bad people, and the kingdom will be here. But they didn't understand. That wasn't what his first coming was about.

It's difficult. I felt helpless in Abidjan. I just got on that bus, watched my wife drive off.

When I got there, there's nobody on the tarmac. I ran into the plane.

Thankfully, when I looked back in the back, my wife was there. The man had taken a different route. I didn't know it. She was a bit scared, too, because she wasn't with me, and she was going the opposite direction. But everything worked out, thankfully. She was smiling, preparing the aircraft, unaware of the mental stress I had gone through, basically. I'll never forget that feeling of helplessness and what it might mean.

So obviously, my wife wasn't kidnapped for the slave trade, and we didn't have to go through that. But for that hour, it was very intense. And I can understand how intense more so for Jesus Christ, as He had to bear up to the sacrifice that He was going to give for you and me so we could have this feast and all the other feasts in His plan.

Part of my job was carrying the luggage, helping the other passengers.

Jesus Christ said He'll carry our luggage. He'll help us if we call on Him.

I didn't have to chase my wife across Africa, across the desert, and I thank God for that, but I do have to chase my Savior wherever He leads me. I have to do whatever He asks me to do, no matter how difficult that is. He doesn't ask us to give our children's life like He did Abraham for Isaac, but He asks us to give our own life as a living sacrifice. Christ died for the ungodly. We should be willing to see people as He does. Christ is our friend. He told His disciples that. I call you friends. You're not servants. Christ constantly broke protocol. He didn't break any laws of God, but He broke protocol constantly. The Samaritan woman did the well that He talked to. Disciples had gone into town, and He's there talking to the lady, and they come back. We read about that in John 4. John 4, in the later part of the chapter, around 21st 25, 26, 7.

Disciples come back, and they saw Him talk to this woman. They marveled that He talked to that woman, but they didn't ask Him any questions. They'd learned by then not to ask, but you knew what they were thinking. But He talked to her, and they wanted to know, why are you talking to this woman? And besides that, a Samaritan woman. It's against protocol to do that. Sometimes, are we worried about what we look like? Sometimes. Do we tend to hide back what we do? Or do we stand up for what we do? God's calling is to the weak of the world. It's not a calling because of our earthly position, our advantage. He doesn't call the Bill Gates of the world, the Bezos, the people that are wealthy, the royalty, it seems. But He wants us, because He wants to confound the wise when they don't. How come you pick those people? How can you pick that person for the team? In the eyes of God, though, He picks. God knows exactly what He wants. And He wants us to be heirs with His Son. Inherit the kingdom. He wants us to be able to teach. And I think when you've been at the bottom and been through troubles, you understand other people that go through troubles. And I think being a first fruit is to be able to help people when they're resurrected, when they're in the millennium or when they're resurrected in the second resurrection, to understand why the pain and why the suffering, who ruled the world that they grew up in, and who's ruling the world now, to understand that. We're told in James chapter 2 verse 9 not to show respect to persons. It says if you show respect to persons, you commit sin. And all too much in this world, you see respect to persons all the time. You see it in the courts. If you have money, you get away with things. If you don't have anything, they can throw the book at you. Even if you didn't do anything, they can set you up. But we have to look at the world the way God sees it, look at people the way God sees them. And indeed, we have to be that living sacrifice that Jesus Christ told us to be. The apostle Paul said to be like that. We're told to esteem all people, to love Christ, because God wants relationships and we have to develop our relationships with each other.

The forgiveness we have when errors are done, one of the hardest things for people, is to be able to forgive. In fact, I think the people who leave us and have over the decades, they haven't been able to forgive carrying grudges. It's a sad thing, because really, if you don't forgive others, God doesn't forgive you. It's one of the things, probably one of the biggest sins that we commit, is to carry grudges. And I've seen it way too many times.

When you live through these things, you understand what people go through and you can help them through it. In my life, I've had more opportunities than most to do a lot of different things, and I've had more trials than most, because the highs and the lows when you're in God's church, the lows teach you what it's like, the highs teach you what God can do. It's a special thing to put your hand and your life in His hand, because you don't expect the things to happen, sometimes in the church, even worse. But oftentimes in the church, we have people that, in the past, people like Simon Magus, who in Acts chapter 8 asked for the Holy Spirit. He was baptized, but he never received the Holy Spirit. And he tried to pay money to be able to give the Holy Spirit. He wanted to have a following after himself, and people who want something will do anything they can to get a following. And he started the Roman Catholic Church, basically, the first pope. He wanted to be an apostle. When Peter said, you have neither partner lot with us, they cast lots for Matthias to be the 12th. You wanted to be an apostle, Simon did.

And that wasn't it. You can't buy what God offers. We have to have a human touch, actually a godly touch, that He gives us. We have to recognize when one member suffers, we all suffer, and all those things that we need to show to help each other. Sometimes you do it alone. In different times in the Church. I know my wife was surprised one time when I left the note on the refrigerator that I'd been home and had to leave. The reason I had to leave was because my life was threatened. Mr. Armstrong called after a trip, after a particular difficulty, and I answered it, and he said, Aaron, leave town of me. Their life's been threatened.

And I left. I jumped motels for over a month with my wife wondering why. And I didn't want to leave the note on the refrigerator that said I may die. I didn't think I'd make her very happy. So I didn't tell her that until I got a chance to actually talk to her what was happening. But when people decide they want power or something and they feel threatened, which in this case they did, they had done some things wrong, and all I did was tell the truth. Sometimes when you tell the truth, it's not what people want to hear, and especially if it contradicts what they are. You know, when you've been told, I'm sure the disciples were told a lot of things, especially after Christ was gone, what they had to suffer and what they did was amazing. Each of us may have certain things happen in our lives. I was told by a secretary once that we know what you're going to say, you're going to tell the truth. There are six of us in that trip. We're going to lie. We're going to say what Mr. Armstrong wants to hear will destroy you, your family, everything you stand for.

Things like that happen. So again, when something happens in your life, it's not God doing something. It's a test. Are you still going to trust Him? It's really easy sometimes to kind of say, well, you know, say what people want to hear. But I made a promise, Mr. Armstrong, when he made me his assistant, that I would tell him the truth because I saw the people lie to him.

And I was unfortunate. But people, they get scared. Sometimes they do it for selfish motives. Other times they do it to protect themselves. And to tell the truth can be a difficult thing.

But we're here to put out sin, to put on God's love. And none of the people that did the things to me, I have any bitterness toward. I realize why they did it. I realize most of them probably didn't have God's Spirit. They came in contact with the church. They put on the facade. They crept in unaware as we're told about people that do that. But that's part of what Christianity is, is to be able to take people that reject you. Christ was rejected by his own disciples when they fled. You know, when they were there in the garden and Peter says, you know, I'm going to be with you no matter what, Christ says, you're going to die me three times. And they come to take him and Peter takes his sword and cuts off the man's ear. He was willing to do it his way. Christ said, I'm not here to destroy. You know, live by the sword. You die by the sword. And when they couldn't do it their way, then they ran off. All of us want to do things our way. Putting on God's Spirit and putting out sin is part of doing it God's way. Deciding that whatever happens is going to be the way God wants it for each of us. It's a difficult thing, but it's what we're called to do, to present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. Nothing that man can do to you should take you away from God. When you see someone in need, like Jesus said, when they talked about, you know, when do we see you naked, clothe you, they ask, you know, he says, that's what you have to do. When you see someone who needs bread, feed him. When he needs help, help him. And they said, when do we see you naked and clothe you? When do we see you in need? He said, if you did it to one of the little ones, you did it to me. And so for us, we have to show that same attitude in trying to help other people. Because Paul, who was taught by Christ directly in Romans 8 18 said he reckoned the sufferings of this world are not to be compared to the glory which we'll have. That glory that's going to be revealed in us for putting up with this world, to stand out as a light in this world, to perhaps be mocked and ridiculed by this world, and to perhaps die for what you believe. Because, as you heard in the sermonette, when we don't accept the morals of this world, we won't go along with what they want us to go along with. There will be a time when they decide that we should die. That's happened in every socialist, communist state where they, when Stalin was asked, do you feel bad about killing those people? He said, no. The state owns everything. They wouldn't give us their land, so we killed them.

And that's what happens when you disagree with the world, when they decide that that's what they're going to do to you. And we know from the prophecies that it's coming an end of this age, how soon? I think it's a lot sooner than we think, because the world is descending rapidly in its morals, in its economics, in every facet of what's going on. And so we have to be prepared, and if we suffer, we suffer, but what we have is glory. What we have is part of what Christ said, the better resurrection. Again, greater love had no man than this that he laid down his life for his friends. We have to be willing to do that. We have to be willing to lay down our life.

And like it says, we have to present our bodies of living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is our reasonable service.