World Tomorrow - A Time of Healing

Well, good morning to everyone. It's great to be here. What a beautiful day God has given us as His family to be able to meet together, to be able to see one another. We have two sons here, two daughters-in-laws, six grandchildren. That's the reason why we came back from Jekyll Island. We were there for the opening night, first Holy Day. It had a wonderful service. Jekyll just has a certain mystique atmosphere about it. This is their 50th anniversary, and I think it's the longest-running fisight we have. We were in Jekyll in 1963 for the first service. Many of you will remember the big tent, Hurricane Flora, the door of the next year, going back and forth, and up and down, and how God protected His people. So we thoroughly enjoyed that. When you look at us here, we see our family. We've got five sons. Maybe we see them once, twice a year. You're able to spend a little time with your grandchildren. Same thing is true here. Most of our congregations today are smaller, and when we come to the feast, it's like a big family reunion. We come here, we see people we haven't seen in a long time, and we're able to get together with them and share what's been going on in our lives, find out how they're doing. So it's a wonderful opportunity. Norman and I were amazed that there were very few people in Jekyll that we did not know or had not met at one time or another. It's amazing how many of them go back 50, 40, 30 years, and over that period of time, you've met them, you've talked to them, and it was just great to be able to see all of those people again. So I bring you greetings from Jekyll Island. They ask that we do that. They very much are thinking about you and all of the other feast sites. Along that line, Jerry asked me to make the announcement to please greet the big Sandy, Texas congregation. They're meeting there, and I guess they're having services piped in. And also, Cher Brooke in Canada, the brethren there. So we would like to welcome all of them and extend greetings to anyone who might be tuned in. I was really struck by the sermonette today and the fact that so often people do not know anything about history, what's going on in our country, and what God has done for our people. Hans Morgenthau in his book, Politics Among Nations, describes the motivation that most rulers have. Basically, it can be summarized in two words, power and wealth. They want the power, the authority. They want to rule over people. They want to be looked up to. They want the wealth. They want the money. They want the adulation, the influence that can be given to them. But when you look at that type of leadership, you ask yourself the question, who motivates rulers to be that way? What's behind that attitude? What influences rulers to go in that direction? If you're familiar with Galatians 1 verse 4, and Galatians 1 verse 4, it calls this present time this present evil world. This is not God's world today. Satan the devil has been given the opportunity to try out all of his forms of government. Mankind thinks that he's going his way, but Satan the devil is the unseen influence behind it. The governments, the economic systems, the political systems that we see today are termed in the Bible Babylon, called Babylon the Great. The word Babylon means confusion. When you look around the world and you see all of the governments, different types of governments that we have, economic systems, hundreds of religions, you see utter total confusion among individuals. You have to ask yourself, is God the author of confusion? And the answer is obviously, no, he is not.

Have you ever stopped to ask yourself why the Day of Atonement comes before the Feast of Tabernacles and the eighth day in the sequence of God's holy days? I mean, if you're going to fast, you think normally you and I would fast before Passover or before the days of Unleavened Bread. But the Day of Atonement shows who is the power behind the scene. Who is that unseen influence? Who is influencing the nations, the religions, the cultures, you know, the way of life that you see in the world today. Well, Satan the devil, he is the God of this world. He's a false God. And in order for the world tomorrow to be established, the millennium to really take hold, he has to be removed from power, from authority, and that has to be taken away from him. And a new society has to be established. What we need is a new breed of leaders. We need real leaders and rulers who truly are different, a different kind of ruler. But you can look at the whole history of mankind and the rulers that have been there, and you begin to realize that that's not the kind of rule that we need in the world tomorrow. Those of us sitting here right now, and I include myself, I'm not sitting, I'm standing, at least one of us is standing, perhaps we may be alive when Jesus Christ returns to this earth. We're in a unique position. We're in a unique position in that we may have the opportunity to bridge between two different worlds, this present evil world and the world tomorrow, if we have the opportunity to be alive when Jesus Christ returns. We could be the generation that bridges the gap between the different systems, cultures, ways of government and approach. And we will have lived in one world and be able to live in another.

You know, past generations of people who have lived, as far as we know, know nothing about many of the modern conveniences, gadgets that we have. They've never seen an airplane. They've never seen rockets. They didn't see people going to the moon. Computers, cell phones, TVs, radios, modern style of warfare. All of that would be something that would not be known to them. So how are these past generations, people who lived before the flood, like Noah or Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, how are all of these individuals going to govern? All generations, I think we will find, have been called and worked with by God. God Almighty has worked with every generation to teach them the basic principles of rulership. And brethren, that's why we're here. We're here to learn how to be proper leaders, how to teach, how to guide, how to direct God's people when He calls them in the world tomorrow. What is it that all of us have in common? It doesn't matter what generation God called you in. If you were Abel, if you were Noah, if you were Abraham, Moses, Daniel, prophet, it doesn't matter. That all of these individuals called by God have been fundamentally taught certain basic principles of governing, of rulership, of teaching.

This is what we have in common. Let me ask you, what kind of ruler will you be in the world tomorrow? Have you ever stopped to ask yourself that? What kind of ruler will you be? What kind of ruler will I be? One day, Jesus Christ will say to those in the first resurrection, well done, good and faithful servant. I want you to notice in Luke 19 verse 17, Luke 19, 17, 17, He said to him, well done, good servant, because you have been faithful and very little have authority over ten cities. Now, I want you to notice the keys that are emphasized in this verse. Certain things just sort of leap out at you. Number one, faithful. It's those who are faithful, remain faithful, endure to the end, and not just enduring and hanging on, but who are growing, who are overcoming, who are developing, who will be in the kingdom of God. And once we're there, God will give us authority. We will be given authority, some over ten cities, some over five, two or three or a hundred. This is not just said to this generation, but it applies to all generations, everyone who comes up in that first resurrection. And as I said, this would include Abel, Enoch, Abraham, all of the prophets, the church down through the last two thousand years. What will the world tomorrow be like when its rulers, its leaders, its culture are all based upon spiritual living principles of the Bible, of the Scriptures, of God? The godly character that we are developing today, such as love and joy and peace, patience, long suffering, gentleness, kindness, goodness. These are the values that the world tomorrow will be founded upon. These are the foundations that things will be built upon. Everyone who will be in the kingdom of God will be taught these basic principles.

I'd like to cover some of these with you because there are some fundamental principles that if we learn to govern according to these, we will truly be a different breed of rulers, a different kind of ruler. Number one is the fundamental principle that God has established is that we will be servants of the people. A leader in the world tomorrow must learn to be a servant of the people. That service will be based upon what we call today Christ-centered service, not self-service, not human service, but godly service. We will serve people. Let's notice in Matthew 18, verse 1, Matthew the 18th chapter will begin. And verse 1 says, at that time the disciples came to Jesus saying, Who then is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?

We all want to be in God's kingdom, so who's going to be the greatest? And he called a little child to him, sat him in the midst of them, and said, But surely I say to you that unless you are converted, unless you change, you're converted, and become like little children, you will not ... excuse me here.

Lighting's not that great up here. Says, You will be by no means enter into the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Though few and I are going to be in God's kingdom, we're going to be given opportunity to serve. It must be based upon humility. Humility is the basis of service.

It has to be the basis that our service is built upon. To love others, to always do what is best for them. Not to rule out of pride, out of vanity, out of selfishness, out of greed, out of, you know, your own personal delights. But because you're there as a servant of the people. This is how God measures greatness. Greatness is not measured by how many cars you have, how big your house is, how much money you make, but how much you serve other people. Turn over to chapter 20 and verse 25 here. Chapter 20 and verse 25 of the book of Matthew. Jesus called them to himself and said, you know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them and those who are great exercise authority over them. See, that's how rulers rule today. They lord it over people. They take advantage of people. Yet it shall not be so among you, but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And says whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave. Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. Leaders today are in office for power, for the money, for fame, adulation of the people. The praise or the authority goes to their heads. They think they're great. Once a person is in office, you see this too often with politicians, they don't want to give it up. They're in that office. They'll do anything to get back into office, to be re-elected to office. And they think they're great. They think there's something, but in God's eyes, they're tiny. They're small. They're minuscule. God says all nations before him are as a drop in a bucket. And anyone who walks around in the vanity, in the ego of his own mind, is not great in God's eyes. God wants us to be servants, to be motivated by humility, to serve other people. Think of the rulers down through the ages. You know, before the flood, society was based upon the way of Cain, the way that Cain lived of violence, taking. He killed his brother. After the flood, along came Nimrod, and Babylon has carried on from that point down to today. Then we had Alexander the Great. You know, the emphasis on the Great. You had the Caesars. You had Hitler. You had Stalin, Pol Pot, Assad today. I mean, you've got all of these individuals who are considered, quote-unquote, great rulers. And yet, most of them were despots. Most of them ruled out of their own vanity. Just because a leader doesn't kill millions of people doesn't mean he's a good leader, either. Now, there are those who killed millions of people. Even so-called pious men have taken nations to the brink of collapse because they lack the basic skills of knowing how to rule. And they've left legacies and frustrations and corruptions because their abilities were never wedded to character. In the world tomorrow, our ability to rule must be wedded to character, to the character of God, so that we will rule from that motivation. Do you realize that God is the greatest servant in the whole universe? We don't normally think of God as a servant, but He is. He serves every human being. He has the opportunity to help everyone. You're here today, not because you're so smart, but because God opened your mind. He called you. He infused your mind with understanding. And God is working with all of us. He serves us. He helps us. We have needs. We go to God. We pray. We plead with Him. He grants us. He answers prayers. Let's notice in Psalm 10, verse 14. Psalm chapter 10 and verse 14.

Here's a psalm that describes God and what He does for us. It says, But you have seen, for you observed the trouble and the grief, to repay it by your hand, telling Him how God will intervene on the behalf of His people. The helpless commit Himself to you. You are the helper of the fatherless. Notice. God looks down and especially those who are fatherless, widows, the needy, the poor, those who don't have anyone to stand up for them. He is a helper of the fatherless. You break the arm of the wicked and the evil man, and you seek out His wickedness, and you, until you find none. The Lord is king forever and ever, and the nations have perished out of the land. Lord, you have heard the desire of the humble. You have prepared their heart, and you will cause your ear to hear. To do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed. This, that the man of the earth may oppress no more. So there's coming a time when oppression will cease, when God will be the helper of the needy at that time. The Holy Spirit today is referred to in what terms? What's our comforter, but it's also our helper. The Holy Spirit is given to us to help us, to help us to overcome, to help us to have the mind of God, to help us to grow spiritually, to help us in every way.

God established marriage as a vehicle to teach this lesson. God created Eve, and one of the reasons he did it was that she might be a helper. Adam needed help. Ladies, we need help. You know, we need help all the time. Now, you women can learn that lesson very quickly. You know, you're in a position where the husband is responsible.

He's supposed to be the leader of the family, and you're there to help him. But we collectively are the fiancé, bride of Jesus Christ. We have the opportunity to learn to be helpers today. The church will marry Jesus Christ. You know what Christ is seeking? The same thing that Adam did. Adam looked around, and guess what?

He saw monkeys and eggs and dogs and cats and frogs and chickens, but he didn't see anybody who was comparable to him. Nobody looked like him. Nobody was on his level. So what did God do? God came along, took some flesh and rib, made Eve. She was the only one not made directly out of the dust of the ground.

This is why Adam said, she's bone in my bone. She's flesh in my flesh. And they were to become one flesh to cling together. God is looking for a bride for his son who will be comparable to him, who can be a helper to him. And when he looks around right now, there's no one yet in that position. And that will take place in the resurrection.

Guess what? In the resurrection, we will be made immortal, given eternal life, given a spirit body. And we will then be comparable to Christ. Pigratively speaking, he will marry that bride. We will be one of his kind. Kind reproduces after kind. And God is creating a family. We are his sons and daughters. We will become a part of that bride. And we will have the opportunity to assist Jesus Christ, our husband, throughout the millennium, the white-thrown judgment for all eternity in carrying out his plan and his duties.

So all rulership must be based then upon service, on helping others, on giving to others. You see, as spirit beings, we want all at once to become a spirit being and say, huh, I'm a spirit being.

I don't need to be humble anymore. No, as a spirit being, you must exemplify humility. At the beginning of the millennium, stop and think, the nations will need help to be resettled. Bridges and roads will have been destroyed. Warfare had been running rampant. Atomic bonds, armies, scourging the earth. Let's go over to Isaiah 11.

Beginning in verse 11, we'll find that one of the jobs that God will give to us at that time is to help these people and to help bring them back and to resettle them according to where they should be. The Jews will come back to Judea. All Israelites initially, but then eventually they'll go back to the UK, go back to the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, wherever the other nations of Israel have been scattered.

But here in verse 11, He shall come to pass in that day, but the Lord will set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people who are left from Assyria and Egypt, from Patros and Kush, from Elamin's Shinar from Hamath and the islands of the sea. He will set up a banner for the nations and he will assemble the outcast of Israel and gather together to disperse the Judah from the four corners of the earth.

The envy of Ephraim shall depart and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off. Ephraim shall not envy Judah and Judah shall not harass Egypt. And then, you know, goes on to talk about how God will gather them and the wealth of the Gentiles will be gathered also. In verse 15, the Lord will utterly destroy the tongue of the sea of Egypt with His mighty wind.

He will shake His fist over the river and strike it in seven streams, and He will make men cross over dryshod. And there will be a highway for the remnant of His people who will be left from Assyria as it was for Israel in the day that He came up out of the land of Egypt. And we will help Christ initially to begin to regather millions of people, to resettle them.

Right now in the Mid-East, there are millions of people who are unsettled, who are having to live in tense cities because of warfare going on. Think about the whole earth being displaced at that time. Whole nations having gone into captivity, and they're going to have to be brought back.

The Bible talks about how in the future that Jesus Christ will take one person at a time, just like picking up a lamb in His arms, and carry them, and guide them, and we'll go seek these people out, and we will direct them. That's something that we'll spend a little more time on as we go on in the sermon.

What kind of help will people need? They'll need to be healed. They'll need food, clothing, and shelter. They'll need houses to dwell in, spiritual knowledge and understanding. Think about everything that goes on in society today, and that's going to have to be replicated, the right things. At that time, our motivation will be we're out here to serve you. Think of all of the rulers today. Stop and think about it. The president, his cabinet, everyone in the federal government, the House of Representatives, the Senate, Supreme Court, every mayor, every governor in this country.

What if every one of them was in office, and his vile purpose would be there to serve the people? What a difference that would make, as we know that that's not the motive that we see today. Okay, that's the first principle of rulership. Secondarily, we will be leaders, or rulers, who will comfort people, who will encourage people, who will strengthen people.

Isaiah 12, carrying right on here out of Isaiah 11, since we're right here, notice, in that day you will say, O Lord, I will praise you, though you were angry with me, talking about how the nations of Israel go into captivity because of their sins, God was angry, but your anger is turned away, and you will comfort me. God is going to comfort the people. Behold, God is my salvation, and I will trust and not be afraid for Yah, the Lord, is my strength. And so, He also has become my salvation.

Therefore, with joy, you will draw waters from the wells of salvation. I was struck by Pamela, the beautiful song that she sang. It ties in directly with this, drawing waters from the wells of salvation, that God's spirit will be there. And just like growing up on a farm, which I did, you go out and you let the bucket down, you bring up this cold bucket of water, and you drink out of it.

Well, at that time, people will be drawing water of salvation. And in that day, you will say, Praise the Lord, call upon His name, declare His deeds among the people. Make mention that His name is exalted. Sing to the Lord, for He's done excellent things. This is known in all the earth. Cry out and shout, O inhabitants of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel in your midst.

And at that time, God will be great. He will comfort the people. He will start with Judah and Israel, and then eventually His government will extend and spread to all nations. Notice Isaiah 61 in verse 1.

Isaiah 61.1. Here are our marching orders. This is what we are going to assist Jesus Christ in doing. We're the bride. We're there. We've been made comparable to Him. We are a helper. And it says, The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted.

I don't know if you've ever talked to anybody who's been brokenhearted.

I have. I've talked to a lot of people who've been brokenhearted. You lose a mate. You lose a child. You have a child stillborn. You lose a child in an accident. You do any of these type of things, and it breaks your heart. It tears you up emotionally. You're distraught. You don't know what to do. You begin to think, well, this isn't fair. This isn't right. Think of the millions of people who've gone through warfare, families destroyed, disrupted, they've been thrown in prison, concentration camps. Notice what it goes on to say here.

That he will heal the brokenhearted, and he will proclaim liberty to the captives, those who are in prison, those who have been held as slaves, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound. And can you imagine at that time going, as the soldiers did in the Second World War, opening the gates of the slave labor camps and say, come out. We'll tell these people you're free. You don't have to fear anymore. God's on the earth. We're his children. We're here. We're here to help you. We're here to serve you, and we will have to convince them and show them and lead them and guide them in the right way. And then he goes on to say here, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn. God will comfort everyone who is mourning at that time, to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes and oil of joy for mourning and garments of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified. They will be planted. They will grow. They will prosper. They will produce fruit, and God will be with them.

So we will be there. This will be one of our duties to comfort people, to help them.

How do you comfort somebody who's lost a loved one?

Many times, one of the hardest, most difficult things to do is go and try to comfort somebody.

What should I say? How can I say something? You don't know what to say. Many times, you don't have to say anything. It's just a matter of being there. I'm here. Can I help you? What can I do? We love you, and you just give them comfort. You know, in 2 Corinthians 1 and 3, it describes God, the very nature of God, what He is like. It says, Bless be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort. God is the one who comforts us. Notice how it works. He comforts us in all of our tribulation that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble. So we go through trials, we go through tests, and God comforts us. How does He do that? He does it through His Word. He gives us comfort and encouragement through His Word. He gives us hope through the Scriptures. God gives us His Spirit. That Spirit is there to strengthen us, to help us. And God will many times send a comforter, someone who will come along and comfort us. So one of the reasons why we do go through trials and tests, and we have to experience what it's like to be a human being, is so that we can turn around and comfort others. And there will be somebody in the family of God who will have experienced almost everything that human beings will have experienced at that time. We'll be able to come up and say, I can help, and we'll be able to be there to help them. Isaiah 35 and verse 3. Let's notice Isaiah 35, and we'll begin to read here in verse 3. It says, Strengthen the weak hands, make firm the feeble knees, say to those who are faint-hearted, Be strong, do not fear, behold your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God, and He will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind will be open, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. That's physical and spiritual. Then the lame will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb will sing, and water shall burst forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert. Now notice verse 10. And the ransom of the Lord shall return, and they will come to Zion. How? All downcast, pitiful, woe is me. No, they will come to Zion with singing, with everlasting joy on their heads, and they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. God will be there. They will be overjoyed. God will be in the midst of them and comfort them. The days of mourning will cease. Let's read one other scripture here, Isaiah 60 verse 20. Isaiah chapter 60 verse 20.

And you'll notice here, it says, Your sun shall no longer go down, nor shall your moon withdraw itself. For the Lord will be your everlasting light, and the days of your mourning shall be ended. The days of mourning for human beings, with all of the suffering and everything that they have to go through now, will end. Also, your people shall all be righteous, and they shall inherit the land forever. The branch of my planning, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified. And a little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation. I, the Lord, will hasten it in its time. And that time is coming! Very shortly, we live in the end time, and God is going to come. And the days of mourning, the days of sorrow, are going to end. And the days of happiness and blessing will be there. So you and I are learning now to be comforters.

Thirdly, another quality we must have. We need to be leaders who are fair and just in judgment. Fair and just in judgment. Today in politics, we have what's called cronyism, favoritism, favorite friends, contributors, special interest groups. You give money to those who are your friends. You give power. You give positions. You give opportunities. But at that time, in the millennium, everyone will be treated the same. Everyone will be treated fairly. Just notice Isaiah 9, verse 7. Isaiah chapter 9, verse 7. I want you to notice what it says here about Christ and how He will rule. Of the increase of His government and peace, there will be no end.

Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and to establish it how? With judgment and justice. Judgment and justice. From this time forward, even forever. So once Christ sets His foot on the earth, He will begin to rule with proper judgment and justice. And it will go on forever. That's how God's government will be administrated, the kingdom of God. From that time forward, even forever, the zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform this. God will have a zeal to see that this is carried out. Judgment and justice. Notice in chapter 11, beginning in verse 2, it describes Christ growing up. But notice how He will judge and how He will rule. Beginning in verse 2, the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him. The Spirit of wisdom and understanding. The Spirit of counsel and might. The Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. What if all of our rulers today had God's Spirit, feared God, had godly knowledge, godly wisdom, godly understanding? What a different world it would be. But at that time, it will be different. Verse 3, His delight is in the fear of the Lord. And one of the reasons why we come to the feast is to learn to fear God. And so you'll find that He delighted in the fear of God. And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, nor decide by the hearing of His ears. You know, too often people look and they see and they think, ah, I know what's going on here. And they judge by what they see or what they've heard somebody has told them, perhaps. At that time, you know, God can look at the heart. He can look at the mind. He can see the motive. He can see the attitude. He can see the approach. And guess what? We will have those abilities likewise. You know, somebody comes up and is trying to con us. Well, you know, I did such and such, but let me tell you why. And they're trying to con us. And we say, listen, I know what your motive was. And you can see the heart. If you ever ask yourself, why did so many people at one time, we used to have feast sites where we had 10,000. I used to coordinate St. Pete. We had, when I was there, up to 12,000. They've had upwards to 14,000 at that feast site. Where are they today? What happened? What didn't take place in them? Well, I think with too many of them, intellectually, they agree. But in their heart, they did not agree. You see, God's law has to be written in your heart, not just your mind. It's got to be up here. You've got to agree with it intellectually. Yes. But sometimes, if you agree with an argument, well, somebody can come along and maybe you can't counter their argument. But if God's law, as we find it's under the New Covenant, is happening, is written in our minds and in our hearts, it doesn't matter if you don't have this book.

We love God's Word, but if we didn't have a Bible, do you know which day is the Sabbath? Do you know how to treat your wife? Do you know how to rear your children? Do you know how to love your neighbor? Do you know how to act towards others? Well, sure you do, because it's written in your heart, in your mind. We will be able to judge and not just see the sight or the hearing of the ears. Judgment will be based upon righteousness. Notice verse 4. But with righteousness he shall judge the poor and decide with equity for the meek of the earth, and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips, and he shall slay the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of his loins and faithfulness, the belt of his ways. So faithfulness, righteousness, he will judge. You and I need to be learning to judge based upon what's right on the Word of God, the Law of God, the principles of God, so that we judge righteously. If you ever ask yourself the question, why is David going to be king over all Israel? Maybe you thought, ah, I wanted to be king over Israel. Sorry. It's already been promised. But let's notice back in 2 Samuel 8.15. If we get a clue as to why David will be king over all Israel, chapter 8, verse 15, 2 Samuel. So David reigned over all Israel, and David administered judgment and justice to all his people. Same thing. Judgment and justice to all of his people. God is handpicking individuals today. He's selecting individuals to exercise certain key positions in his kingdom, like David over Israel, the apostles over the twelve tribes, rulers over cities. Responsibilities will be based on what you do with what you have. You don't have to look around at somebody else and say, well, they've got so much more ability and talent and skills than I do. You know, they'll have a much higher position. No, it's what you do with what you have. And if you don't have as much as somebody else, it's what you do with it that God measures this by, and he will reward us according to that. And with this approach of having judgment and justice based on righteousness and right values, peace will flourish. What will society be like when all rulers of all nations seek peace, not war?

You know, seek peace and not war. What influence will this have on society? Will there be no more manufacturing of war? No money spent on war, no young men going off to fight, no families being split up. We will strive for peace. The problem today, the Bible says, the way of peace they don't know. Mankind doesn't know the way to peace because it's only according to the way God says it should be done. And we humans are not capable. So there's coming a time when there will be no more violence. All violence will cease. Hatred among nations will cease. You know, Isaiah 60 in verses 14 through 16, you might just jot down, shows that the hatred between the nations, like the Jews and the Arabs, will cease. Can you imagine a time when the Jews come up to the Arabs and the Arabs come up to the Jews, and they hug one another's neck and they say, I'm so sorry. I wish we had not treated you in this way. Please forgive me. And you know, there are tears in their eyes. We should live with one another, and that they strive to live together. And you know, that's what God is going to have to remove. The spirit of this world has to be removed, and not able to influence the minds of mankind because Satan is a being of violence. He's a liar. He was a murderer from the beginning, the Bible says.

Then we come to the fourth quality. This is the last one I'll talk about here today.

Probably, not probably, this is the most important. Rulers who are motivated by love. Rulers who are motivated out of love, who serve out of godly love, who comfort out of godly love. Not out of power, not out of wealth, not out of monies, not out of vanity and pride and ego. What will society be like when every activity in relationship is based upon love? You might remember back in 1 John 4, 1 John 4, verse 8, it says, "...he who does not love does not know God, for God is love." Now, I want you to notice how that's worded. It doesn't say God loves, it says God is love. That's what he is.

Sometimes you can look at a person, you say, he is a violent person, or he is a vain individual. But God is love. That's his very nature. All of his activities flow from love. He will always do what is best for people. Out of God flows his grace. Out of God flows his mercy. Out of God flows his forgiveness, his goodness, his kindness. All of that flows from love. Love is the basis of it. God has a heart of love. And he has genuine concern for people, for the future member of God's family. God loves everyone. And he's going to offer salvation to everyone. God is described in the Bible as a God of love, comfort. This is a part of God's character that you and I have to be developing and emulating. And so, as a member of God's family, the basis of everything we will do must flow out of that.

Let me ask you a question. I asked this to start with. What kind of a ruler will you be in the world tomorrow? Is there a way to gauge how you will rule, how you will govern, how you will serve and teach at that time? I say, yes, there is. How do you rule today? How do you deal with your mate today? Does your wife say, I am so glad he's my husband?

Or you can have him. I don't want him. Which way is it? Or vice versa. Are you glad that your wife is your wife? I thank God every day that he gave me Norma as my wife, because I could not have a better wife than the one he gave me. And she's been such a blessing to me. I hope that all of us feel that way. How do we treat our friends?

How is our marriage getting along? Are we learning to rule today properly and govern according to God's principles? So often I see families. I see how we treat our children. Not according to this word. We deal with them, but we're not dealing with them according to the principles of the Bible and the Scriptures. We need to apply God's law. Do we serve in the Church according to our capacities and our talents? Health and age may limit us, but you pray and keep up with the work of the Church.

With Don Ward's permission, I'll mention a couple of members from his area. I used to pastor the East Texas congregation. We had a number of widows there I felt set a wonderful example. They were faithful, fully committed to supporting the Church. One of them died here recently, Alba Pyle. She goes back forever. I believe she was 99 years old. Here she is in her 90s, and she learns how to use a computer. She sends messages to everybody all over the world. I got messages from her all the time encouraging people, strengthening people, reaching out to people.

Prior to doing the computer, she would write, and she would send these out. There's another widow, one of the last ones there now, Faye Carwile. She used to be at Ambassador College. Meantime, you visit her.

She's sitting in her easy chair. She's got bookshelves on both sides with Bible helps and Bibles, recorders. She's got sermons. She sits there and studies and prays and listens every day. If you say something wrong, you better look out. She will catch it. She knows her scriptures, and she stays focused on God and what the Church is all about. Are we learning God's way? Are we comforting others? Do we encourage others? Do we strengthen others? Are we growing in love? Are we striving to bring peace between us and someone else? Or is there resentment and bitterness and hatred there? We are being trained right now for positions of rulership in the world tomorrow.

We're being trained for responsibilities of serving all of those in the Millennium. And you know what we're also doing? We are being trained to train trainees, because in the Millennium, all those people are going to be trained the same way. They're going to be trained on how to rule.

And then when the eighth day comes along, when salvation is offered to all the billions of people who come up, those who've been trained in the Millennium will assist us and help us. And we will then offer salvation to all mankind. So we are preparing the assistance for the eighth day in the White Throne Judgment.

We will train the trainees who will become trainers at that time. Brethren, God has given us this Feast of Tabernacles. It is a blessing from God. It is His gift to us. We are becoming comparable and a helper to Jesus Christ. I want you to notice one last scripture in Isaiah 22, verse 14. Isaiah 22.14. So to summarize what we will be doing at that time, verse 14 says, Bless their loaves who do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city.

But notice in verse 17, the Spirit and the bride say, Come! Let him who hears say, Come! Let him who thirsts, comes! And whoever desires, let him take of the water of life freely. We are blessed beyond measure today to be able to help Jesus Christ and the Father extend salvation to all mankind in the future.