"Worshipping God in Spirit & Truth"

...saying that we're going to go up to the mountain of the Lord. And that's what we're going to talk about today. I'm going to share something which is kind of fun for a moment. If I can't, I have to smile. I haven't been a child of the church growing up in the church, being a minister in the church, and trying to prepare for something.

And I'm going to only use this. And it's not to demean the people they give it, but have you ever... we've come up to, again, for people coming into our midst, we do not observe Christmas.

We certainly do observe in the birth of Christ and the miracles thereof. But you know it'll be like the sermonette on December 24th. Christmas being December 25th, saying, why don't we observe Christmas? Well, it's a little late because the season's actually been going about a month and a half beforehand. I only say that just kind of a smile. We all do things a little bit differently, and I'm glad that they gave the message.

But I want to prepare you as your pastor beforehand, weeks beforehand, as far as what we are about to engage in as the body of Christ around the world. Whether we're in Bangladesh, whether we're in Pakistan, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, South America. I don't know if we have anybody in Tierra del Fuego, but wherever God's people are, we are preparing for something awesome. We are preparing for a time of when people are going to come up to the mountain of the Lord. That's what the prophecies tell us. And to recognize that what we're about to experience, just think about it, in a month and a half, we are going to be keeping four of the festivals of God.

Boom! Boom! Did I say boom? Boom! And boom! That tells you what the gospel message is about. And to recognize that that same God that in Genesis 1 said, in the beginning God, and it says that there was darkness that was upon the face of the earth. And then to recognize that God Almighty, the Word, interrupted time and space and brought light where there had only been darkness.

God, our God, is a God of light. He is also in that, when I want to share with you, and the more I focus on this word in the latter years of my ministry, I hope I have a few more, but the latter years of my ministry, is we worship a God that interrupts. He interrupts the universe. He interrupts human history. And guess what? He also interrupts our lives. And it's not only when He first calls us, it's not when all of a sudden we begin to follow up with our speaker just shared with us to consider and to think, and we begin to see things that we've never seen before in Scripture, or come to know a God that we've never known before.

There's an interruption. And to recognize that the first four festivals, not the first four, because again, some being newer, there are three sets of festivals in the year. The first two high days, or the festival Passover, then we have the two holy days of the days of Unleavened Bread, and then we have Pentecost, which is normally in May-June, as far as from the calendar sets.

But now we're in that autumn season, and they're not stretched out like they are in the spring. It is boom, and then it is, you can say, boom. And all of them are interruptions. The Feast of Trumpets teaches and reminds us every time that God is once again going to interrupt not just the darkness, but the darkness of human history left to itself because it's rejected the Creator.

And there's going to be an interruption. And Jesus Christ is going to stand on the Mount of Olives, as it says in Zechariah. And then just before after that, just a week and a half later, we learn about another interruption. And the interruption that comes about by the Day of Atonement, as we were reminded that a Savior was set apart, and that the high priest could only go into the Holy of Holies once a year. Only one, only one man out of millions of Israelites that were in the wilderness could go through the veil and come in and make peace with God with that sacrifice of that goat.

That is quite an interruption. But let's build upon that interruption, just dealing with the Day of Atonement. That allows you and me, are you with me? That allows you and me in prayer to go beyond the veil of being on earth to heaven and in the name of Jesus Christ, which that goat represented, which only one man could bring that forward to God, that you and I are given the opportunity to knock on God's door, which is Jesus Christ.

He is the door, he is the gateway, and we are able to individually go before God. And he asks us to. He says, be bold, come, be. That's a major interruption. And then we're going to go into the Feast of Tabernacles. And the Feast of Tabernacles tells us God, who's the master of timing, says, over and out, over and out. And I'm going to have to come down, and I'm going to have to teach humanity myself.

And Jesus Christ is going to set up the millennium for a world that needs teaching that's going to come out of Jerusalem. But there's also one more festival, the eighth day. And you talk about an interruption. Put on your seatbelts. We are going from that time of time, we are going from the realm of time and space, and we are going into eternity.

Ultimately, the eighth day, the eighth day, pictures eternity and peace with God that will come to Him through the Lord Jesus Christ. And that there will be that heavenly Jerusalem, of which there is no darkness. There is no, but there is no temple. There is no sun. You talk about interruption. Because the Father and the Lamb are the light.

Can I tell you something? Knowing all those interruptions in the next five to six weeks as we keep those four holy days, we have a lot to think about. We have a lot to prepare. And we just can't wait the day before to make good with God and understand what we might learn. Susan and I have been keeping this way of life since we were kitlets, since we were tweens, basically 11 and 12. And so we've kept the holy days for nearly, whatever, 62 years? 63 years? I want to share something with you. And then we're going to go into the sermon.

I am preparing myself, and I am going to ask God to interrupt me during these next six weeks. I'm going to ask that His Spirit interrupts me, that I might learn more, that might grow in the grace and the knowledge of not only what He's going to be doing with the world in the future, it's always fine to be talking about it. Isn't it easier to talk about other people? But what He wants to bestow on me, that I might grow, and that I might be a continuing instrument of His grace. And He wants the very same for you and me. Join me, if you would, over in Luke 2, in verse 49 with that intro. In Luke 2.49, the gospel thereof. In Luke 2.49, it's that famous story of where we notice in verse, um, pardon me, I'm going to go up here a second, find where I'm at. In verse 41, just to show you the time sequence, it says, speaking of Jesus, His parents, which would have been Joseph and Mary, His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover. That was the time of one of the pilgrimage festivals. Israel, later on, during this time, the Jews would, and there wasn't an I-5, there wasn't an I-15, there wasn't an I-8, they walked, going the speed of walk, four miles per hour up to Jerusalem, and it was a pilgrimage festival. They were moving towards where God had placed His name, which is what we still strive to do. And His parents went at the feast of the Passover. And this is this very famous story where, you know, what happened was, back in those days, watch this, this is the PowerPoint, back in those days, oh, Jessica, I don't do PowerPoint, so I am the PowerPoint, okay, Jessica, you'll get used to me. And so what they do, you know, and of course, He was in Nazareth, which is up towards Galilee, not Bethlehem, that's where He was born, but now He's up in Nazareth. The whole village went up as a pilgrimage festival. The whole, so, you know, He's going up, and, you know, aunt this, and uncle that, and His two cousins, James and John, they were kind of, like boys will be, kind of out and about, you know, away from the parents. Jesus was a boy, He's a good boy, though, right, and everybody would go up together. And so, and everybody just trust at one another, and so, you know, Joseph and Mary take off, and they think, you know, that Jesus is going back to Nazareth, and that He's in the entourage. Then all of a sudden say, have you seen Yeshua? Hello? You know, kind of took it for granted that He was with the whole family from Nazareth. So they had to go back to Jerusalem. Now we center on what I want to share with you, then, here, and it says there, you know, they're basically, uh, here He is, the Son of Man, the Son of God, but they're giving Him a scolding, you know, kind of like, what are you doing? Are you kidding me? What kind of people do you think people think? What kind of parents are we? And notice this in verse 49, and He said to them, Jesus speaking, why did you seek me?

Did you not know that I was about my father's business?

I was about my father's business. That's what a pilgrim festival is about.

It's not about us. It spills over to us, but every year when we have these annual holy days come upon us, it's not about us. Ultimately, it is, but it springs the love and the energy, the grace, the wisdom, the understanding why we keep these days to keep us into alignment. And we keep them every year, you might say, isn't it once enough to get the point? I'll take a little snapshot out of a past thing today. I was talking to the McCoids, and you know, I haven't been in the past thing for as long. Sometimes the older I get, there's these little snapshots that come to mind of what Mr. Herbert Armstrong used to talk about.

And he said, you know, repetition is the best form of emphasis. Chop that down. Actually, I'm going to send out my notes. Don't tell anybody, because this is important. But repetition is the best form of emphasis. Now, I remember one time when I was at a Bible study, and Mr. Armstrong, he was 91 years old at the time, and said, you know, I've learned more than I've ever learned before this past year. I'm in the back, I'm the pastor of the auditorium. He's up there speaking, thinking, oh, I think I've heard everything. This is going to be interesting. And as you remember, and ought to remember, you know, the last 10 years, almost every sermon that Mr. Armstrong gave was about the two trees. And I thought, you know, out of Genesis 1, Genesis 2, 3, I thought, wow, maybe Mr. Armstrong's on to something. Maybe he's going to share something new. And he was so excited because he said he'd learned more than he'd ever learned before.

And then he proceeded in the next minute, you know, we talked about the next hour, the two trees, because that's where it's at. The very beginning. God doesn't hold back. That's why it's recorded. That God wants to give us everything, but we've got our own way and we detour. We are the ones that cause the separation and not God. And so we take all of this, how important it is to understand what a pilgrimage festival is. Join me if you would in Deuteronomy 16. In Deuteronomy 16.

Uh, yeah, Deuteronomy 16 is what it was. Pardon me.

And I want you to be able to look at this kind of in a new light. And it says, in verse 12, and you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt and you shall be careful to observe these statutes and you shall observe the feast of Tabernacles seven days. And when you have gathered from your threshing floor and from your winepress and you shall rejoice, and it goes on and on and now I want to go to verse 16 three times in a year, all your males shall appear before the Lord, your God in the place which he chooses the feast of 11 bread, the bread of bread, the feast of weeks, and at the feast of knuckles. And notice what it says, and they shall not appear before the Lord empty handed. So what do we find out here as we're looking at it? Let's break it down, make it very simple, just like cutting a pie. There were three things that were asked of us in Deuteronomy 16. And that is simply this, that number one, the place that God has chosen.

This is not multiple choice, especially back then. Number two, number two, don't come empty handed. Number three, give as you are able. To give as you are able. Now, how many of you have heard this before? Can I ask a show of hands? Oh, we have all these Church of God members have heard this for decades, but we're going to expand upon that today. Because we need to understand that we need to move beyond Deuteronomy 16. And just so I can give this financially, it's spiritual. We are to trust God every day as we appear before Him. He has chosen to be present in our lives.

We also recognize then as we look at all of this, he says, don't give, excuse me, but don't come empty handed. And then it says, give as able. Here's what I want to share with you. The point that I want to make to you four or five weeks ahead of the Feast of Tabernacles, much less the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement that is coming up. We think of this. What I'm going to share with you is this. You want to jot this down. Attending the festivals is not simply a matter of coming empty handed to give an offering to God. It is to come with your heart in your hand and grow, not only as we are able, but because of the guidance of God's Spirit. There's a difference between showing up and growing up in the Lord when it comes to the pilgrimage festivals, that God might interrupt our hearts and our lives. Sure, Susie and I, and some of you perhaps even longer, have been keeping these festivals. But to recognize, if we do not have expectancy, if we do not have anticipation, as much as the lead up to Pentecost, where God had promised something, the disciples weren't quite sure. I don't know if they were ready for everything that happened at Pentecost on that day, but God had promised something and they were leaning forward. They were doing a countdown 50, 49, 48, 47, and they stayed in Jerusalem because that's where Jesus said, you're going to stay. You're going to stay in that hospital. Jerusalem? Are you kidding me? You were just killed here. That's where He wanted them to stay. A Christian, and please hear me, we need to, no matter as long as we have bathed in the juice of God's word, we need to have an expectancy. We need to have a hope for newness of expansion, of not just sending out SOS signals of same old stuff, same old stuff, but something new, building on that foundation of each of the festivals that God does interrupt. He interrupted at the initial Passover in a way that humanity has had to come and understand. He put skin in the game through His Son, Jesus Christ. He interrupted with the days of Unleavened Bread as Israel was released from Egypt, and they were told to remember this, remembering what God has done. Remember the interruption.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread. How would you explain the Feast of Unleavened Bread to people? The interruption is simply, why do we eat Unleavened Bread?

You could probably give 10 reasons. I'm just going to give you one, or this could go to the midnight hour. It's simply this. We remember that when God does something, get ready.

They didn't have seatbelts back then, but at that Passover service, God told them what? Have your staff put a belt around your waist, got some sandals, put them on. Because when God is going to do something, He's going to do it. And He did it so quickly that the bread was not able to rise. And so that's the whole lesson of Unleavened Bread, that we worship a God that's for us, tells us to get ready, to be prepared, always leaning on Him, because He may choose to interrupt. And He will continue to interrupt. We worship a God who interrupts, who's the Master of Timing. Let's take this a step further, then. I'd like you to join me, if you could, to John 4, verse 23.

The Gospel thereof. Okay, let's go to verse, this is a famous story about his conversation with the woman at the well, the Samaritan. Now, notice what it says. He's speaking to the woman. He says, Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the Father, because there's this conflict between Samaria and Judea.

They were divided, not so much in the God, but how they were worshiping that God.

You worship what you do not know. We know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews. Now, notice verse 23. But the hour is coming, and now is when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such to worship him. Now, notice God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth. And that's what I would like to talk about today. The title of this message that will continue in the minutes ahead, worshiping God in spirit and truth at the feast. I know that many of you are very excited about going to the Feast of Tabernacles, and it is a joy, and God wants us to rejoice. And it's not just church, church, church in that sense, because it's family time. God is family. The Father, the Son, he bids us welcome, where he's chosen to place his name. But as then is now. Notice what it says here, and I kind of spotted this. If you read slowly, you'll get the point when it says this.

I'm just I'm looking for it myself in a key. Yeah, but verse 23, the hour is coming, and now is. Our now is because we're going to be worshiping God around the world, aren't we, during the Feast of Tabernacles? We have we have spots in the United Kingdom, in Italy, India, all six continents. I don't think God is calling the penguins down in Antarctica. We don't have anybody down there, but all six continents. And we're all going to be coming together, worshiping in spirit and truth.

Here's the major point. If I can rest this, I could probably sit down after that, but I'm not coming to keep on speaking. It's not a matter of just showing up. You can show up, and it won't count.

It won't count. We need to continue to grow up in the Lord, grow in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, like Peter reminds us. Why is that so important? Join me if you would in Amos 5, 21. Amos 5, verse 21. There's the covenant people. They were Israel, given so much, rescued, as we were rescued, especially when we were baptized and came up a new kind of person with the Holy Spirit, a new kind of creation, a new kind of man, a new kind of woman, as in he write always tends to be thematic in his books, a new creation, a new creation, something different. We are to be different. There has been a covenant people of Israel, and they kept the festivals. They would go up to Jerusalem. They would try to worship God, but notice what it says here in verse 21. I hate and I despise your feast days, and I do not savor your sacred assemblies.

Though you offer me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them, nor will I regret your fat nor will I regard your fat and peace offerings. Take away from me the noise of your songs, for I will not hear the melody of your stringed instruments. God didn't ruin the party. It was the people. They were keeping the feast their way. They were not keeping what God's expectations were. They were showing up. They were bringing offerings. They might have been even today. Of course, back then, you know, lamb, a goat, whatever all the different things were, today we give offerings and envelopes to keep the work of the church moving forward.

But putting money in an envelope is a blessing, and please understand, thank you very, very much.

But there's something beyond that. There's something to show for that beyond that.

And what I'm going to say when you look back to, again, what it says in John 4, allow 2025 to now, now allow this to be your moment. I love that line from the book of Esther. For such a time as now, the kingdom has come. The kingdom of God has come to us to understand it. And through these festivals to recognize that God began with the physical people, taught them. Now we are the Israel of God, as it says in Galatians 6, 16, Bo-chu and Gentile, this new creation that God has merged together. And he has a part and a role for us, just as we were just singing, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord. That's speaking of the future. That's a prophecy. And God wants you and God wants me there. But we've got to make 2025 with God's help and the guidance of God's Spirit to ask God, show me what I'm going to learn during this feast. That I might serve you and to help others. Remember, over the years, I've always shared with you the choice that we have that lies before us. Are we going to be going to have a spiritual vacation or are we going to be a part of a holy vocation? You know, it's amazing. There's only one letter difference between vocation and vacation. You can write it out and cross it out and change it if you want to. It's all the difference in the world. You know, if you're just going to have a spiritual vacation, good on you. You're going to go. You're going to sit in services. But maybe nothing will impact you. You don't feel any interruption. You're not looking for interruptions. You haven't prayed for interruption and you haven't been expected of interruption. I'll hear this. I'll hear that. I'll hear this, just like you're carrying me right now. I've given fast prep sermons before over the years. You know that. But this is different.

Now is your moment. Now is your moment. Perhaps we have this year. I've observed 62 feasts behind me. I don't think I have 62 feasts before me. My middle name is not Methuselah. Here's what I want to share with you. Key point. At times we go to church, we will receive information. At times we will receive inspiration. Can I share something with you? That's not enough.

That's not enough. Getting sparked up for a moment. You've seen people like that. They're excited and the next day they're not. Why we come to the house of the Lord and growing in grace and knowledge. Yes, we need information as the speaker brought out as they search the scriptures. And yes, there can be inspiration. But number three, if you want to jot it down, there needs to be transformation.

Transformation.

To become more like Christ and understand that. I want to give you some keys to that and how we can do that. I'm going to give you three keys. Number one, this would be my prayer for myself, for Susie, and for each and every one of our dear brethren, that you may take these three steps and that we will not have in 2025 the best feast ever. I got rid of that phrase a long time ago. It will be the best feast yet, God willing, and me, Robin, getting out of the way.

There's a difference between the best feast ever. That's looking back and thinking, God's done with me. I think sometimes God's just starting.

The best feast yet. Number one, here's how we can have the best feast.

Pray to God, number one, that you will grow in faith. Grow in faith. We come to God in faith. We are saved by His grace, but we come to Him in faith. Faith in your calling from God and that He is performing His works in you. Join me if you would in Ephesians 2 verse 10. Ephesians 2 verse 10.

Love this verse.

Actually, we're going to pick it up in verse 8. Ephesians 2 and verse 8. For by grace, not by our works. Are works important? Yes. Yes. Absolutely. And James makes that clear. But by grace, you have been saved through faith. And that not of yourselves, but it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest anyone should boast.

Yes, we keep the same holy days as Israel did. Yes, we keep the same holy days that Jesus did as God on earth. Yes, we keep the same holy days that the early apostles lived and at times died for. Even until we can read about polycarp. Well, into 12130 A.D. keeping the 14th Passover. We are a new covenant people. We're not an old fossil people.

God's law is written on our hearts, not on stone.

We worship that greater Moses, that second Moses, Jesus Christ. And it is in these festivals that we come to understand his birth, his life, his death, his resurrection and his ascension.

And when all said and done, Revelation 22, the heavenly Jerusalem, no temple, because we will be present with God in his household and eternity. And there will be no sun, there will be no moon.

What we share with others and what we proclaim to the world, but we have to understand ourselves first, is that God's laws and God's ways are not fossils found in Sinai, but are alive and well in scripture and need to be alive and well in us. Notice what it continues to say in Ephesians 2, for we, you can put your name down there, are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared for beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Notice that God has prepared. We are his workmanship. We are his workmanship. And so what he does is, this is the PowerPoint, we can be studying the scriptures, we can be hearing the scriptures I'm sharing with you right now. That's information. Do we need information? You can all raise your hands. This is not, you know, not, you know, yes, we all need information. That's where God starts, it has to kind of get our attention, a knock on our hearts. But then to recognize then, and there'll be times that there's inspiration. Wow. I really understood for the first time. And you go home, and maybe your wife wasn't a church that day and says, well, what got you so fired up?

I don't know. I can't remember now. So there's got to be something besides inspiration. Inspiration is good. It's a push forward. But it is in the transformation of going from the old man to the new man, ladies, the old woman to, I'm not calling any of you old. I know you better than that. Okay. But the new woman, the new creation, the new community, thinking beyond ourselves. This is what the feast is about as we come together on trumpets and hear the word and later on have break bread together. David, tell me, we're not breaking bread. It's a fast day, Jessica. And that we are looking then to the feast of tabernacles where we're going to have brethren all around. I know for you just going to Temecula. It is going to be so much fun to be with 600 people. It's always fun to be in a feast site where you're not hearing yourself sing. There's just this lovely music going up and you know, you've got a crescendo.

But what are you going to learn about yourself? We can learn about that the world that Christ needs to intervene about the world. But what are we going to learn about ourselves over these next four festivals that we continue to need God's intervention in our own lives? One thing I will mention this, having been a Church of God member for over six decades, is sometimes we worry about everybody else so much and concerned about their state that we sometimes skip over our own state and are simplified because, well, I've got the information.

Information is not going to be enough. We are to grow in grace and knowledge. And that's what's important. And we need to have faith that God is going to be working with us. I want to share something with you here. And when it says that I will do a work that it says in verse 10, for we are His workmanship, creating us, Jesus for good works. Are you prepared personally for God to do a good work in you? And you don't have to wait till the feast days. You can start right now after church. Absolutely. And the Sabbath is a weekly holy day as well. But are you prepared for God to do? No, sometimes say, well, you know, Mr. Weber, it's just me. Who? Me?

Don't limit what God is capable of doing and doing through you and allow you to be doing for Him. No, there's the most marvelous little story of a little person. And I'm seeing this little person here and I just met her. Help me with your daughter's name again, Tim. Phoebe? Phoebe? Oh, hello. She's funny. You're the youngest person here. And you talk about a feast. Jesus was having a feast in the hills of northeast, north, yeah, north, north, I'll say the northern Sea of Galilee. And you know how many people he had in front of them? He had 5,000 people. And you know what? They got hungry. And the disciples are saying, boss, we've got a problem here.

We've got a problem. You've got them all out here. They're tired. They're hungry. And you know what? There is not enough food in that town over there. And one of them grew up in that town, so they knew nothing down. Hey, boss, there's nothing down there. So then you know what happened? There was a person named Andrew. Now, we don't read a lot about Andrew, do we, in the Bible? There's no gospel of Andrew. But Andrew had a gift. And you don't hear about it. You have to kind of look for it. That information's good. But that information can also inspire us and then transform us to be like Andrew, who's like Christ. Andrew had the gift of bringing people over here to meeting Christ. He did it two or three times in the Gospels. That's all you read about Andrew, basically, other than the beginning. He had a way of connecting people with Jesus Christ. So you know what? That story, you want to know more about the story? Okay, yeah. So what happens is, what happens, hey, boss, what's going, so what happens is Andrew introduces Jesus to a little boy. And you know what that little boy does? He gives Jesus his lunch, some fish tacos, no, some fish and some bread.

Just a little bit, not a bakery, just a little bit, you know, like in a paper bag, but they didn't have paper bags. So here you go. And from those two little items and from that little person, history was made and he was able to feed the 5,000. Have you ever heard that story?

You have now. Mom and dad will tell you the rest of it. But what happened then, everybody that said it couldn't be done, this is the best part of the story. Then, after he feeds 5,000 people, you talk about a feast. Is that a feast? Big feast. Feast. He says, now go out and collect the leftovers. So they had to get baskets because there was still so much food left over that they had to pick up the food that they thought to the boss that Jesus Christ could not deliver. They were limiting what Christ could do and limiting the vehicle. That little person that came didn't have much, but the story and all of this and during the feast of Tabernacles, as you are moving and growing and getting inspired and being transformed and looking after your neighbor, God can take your little and make it so very, very much to his glory.

That is one of the most exciting stories in the Bible. Are you ready to do that during the Feast of Tabernacles in faith that God is doing a work in you and that you will be prepared, not to doubt, but to know that you can do all things through Christ in you?

All of us have a gift. Now is your moment. Don't be like the men that were going down the road to Jericho and sidestep. Oh, I don't want to get involved with that. You know, the man that got beaten up. No, no, no. Here's a priest and here's a good luck. And, you know, they skirt it around the issue. It was only the Good Samaritan that comes along. And we don't know his name, but we know what he did. In fact, people that are out in the world that are atheist or agnostic still talk about the Good Samaritan. You read a newspaper article. What do they talk about? There was a what? A Good Samaritan. And the point is that the Samaritan was the person that the Jews would never touch. They thought that they were out there. And yet it was the Samaritan who did the right thing at the right moment and transformed that moment for you and I today to know how to come and interact with people in faith. I think I should stop there, but there's two more points.

Come to God in faith. Pray to him every day at the feast. Pray to him as we're coming up into this whole holy season. Ask him to instruct you. Ask him to inspire you, to motivate you. But most of all, say, help me in the moment to recognize that you're talking to me and not everybody else. Transform me, Father. Yes, I am your child. Yes, you are dwelling in me. But I want to be more than you just being a lodger in my heart. I want to truly have you be my manager. I want you to be my Lord. I want you to be my King. Don't underestimate the power of the festivals, how they can move us forward to one day being teachers in the wonderful world tomorrow. If you're not praying, how are you going to teach a person to pray? You know, how often have you heard the verse in Isaiah also in Micah 5?

Come, just like we sing, come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord.

And he will teach us, and we will go out and teach others. Now is the time that we worship God in spirit and truth.

And in all of this, I want to say something about the Feast of Tabernacles. It should be a fun family time. You know, we could go to Deuteronomy 14. We know to have the choicest wine or the best cut of meat, as long as it's not pork, the best cut of meat. Absolutely. And it's a time to rejoice. It's a time to not just be the overall church family, but like the McCoy's here with the daughter today, or you with your children or your grandchildren. Yeah, and there is a time to rejoice.

But one thing I want to share with you for this all over the years, so I'm just going to repeat it, but you can jot it down. It's simply this. First fruits put first things first. First fruits put first things first. And the main thing about the main thing is always that the main thing remains the main thing. Did I get that right? Wendy, you're nodding, so I got that right. Okay.

And what is the main thing? We are appearing before God, where He has placed His name. And we are coming before Him to give Him an offering. But the offering has got to be more than just simply finances. And we say thank you for that, because that is also a testament of your faith. But He wants you. We notice what He said in Amos about the Israelites. You're not going anywhere, folks, the way that you're going. He wants you. He wants all of you. He wants your heart. He wants your prayers. He wants you talking to Him during this upcoming month and into these holy days. Pray to Him for His interruptions, and then expect action. Pray to Him every day in faith that He is going to guide your interactions with who you are going to bump into, and sometimes to recognize that He will put the bump into you, just as much as Jesus is kind of that greater Andrew. He'll make things happen down here below. You know, when Susie and I pray before we come down the I-15 and through the Temecula Junction, which Mary-Ann would understand this, which you will need to pray for to get to church safely. Very crowded up there. Pray that God will utilize you like that little boy as you go into whether Hawaii, Temecula, Skepp—where are you guys going? You're going up to Montana. Help me, Suzanne. Yeah, I know. Glacier National Park. Pray they don't get lost up there, too. But that pray. And then also, not only that He will use you, but that you will be receptive to other people that come into your life, that you don't even know that you need, and that He will open those doors. Jesus defines Himself as a door, as a gateway.

And ask God, as you're rubbing shoulders in Temecula with 600 other people, that you might be able to help them and that there are those that are out there, and probably not the person that you would guess. It's not going to be Mr. guest speaker or Mr. pastor or Mr. this or that, but it may be out of the mouth of babes. It may be out of an infant.

I'll tell you a story.

Remember one time when I was in the Bible, I just, it's a work of faith getting through the minor prophets sometimes, because, you know, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Mike, and Am. Why can't I find it? I keep on going like this. Like counting sheep, and you can't go to sleep. Hosea, Joel, Amos. And one time I'd given a message, and I must have spent, when you're spending two minutes trying to find a verse in the Bible, it seems like hours when you're in front of other people. It's like an eternity. Maybe I'm the only speaker. Matt hits it every time. Okay, sorry, Matt. Bring you up. Is that, and so afterwards, after that sermon I gave a little kid, just like this little one here on the fourth row, came up and he said, Mr. Weber, next time you give that message, write down the page number that you're turning to.

I said, oh, go find your mother. No, I did not say that. I did not say that.

I could tell you another story while I'm at it in Pasadena days. I'd given some message. It's funny. You'll like this for those of you that knew the individual. Because you get it from all sources, young and old. And I'd given a message. It was back in the Imperial A.M. day, so we're probably in 1975, 1976, no, about 1977. And I'm giving a sermon about something saving space. And I'm talking about, have you ever been, I know I'm not the only man that's done this, no garbage day comes, and you want to get more in, so you get in, and you're in the, you're trying to smash it down to get it down because your wife just brought out five baskets of something, so you're going like this and this and this and this. And after that message, Dr. Hay, how many of you remember Dr. Hay? Very unique individual. Love Dr. Hay, family, friends with my folks. And Dr. Hay comes up to me, he said, Mr. Weber, if you please, I think the problem is, is that you need to spend dollars and $10 and buy another garbage can.

I think maybe he was embarrassed that ministers were punching down on the garbage in the garbage can. I'm not sure. Little things like that. Be prepared for it. Know what's coming your way, and they'll probably be much more important and profound than that. Grow in faith. And when, biggest point, drop this down. When you pray about something, anticipate, be expectant, look for it. When Susan and I pray sometimes, whether it's here or when we're traveling, God, open doors. Open the doors. And also, to play it safe, they say, and also close doors that we might think we need to go down, but don't need to go down. Close those doors. I pray always, God, open doors. We're very big on that. In the church, you got open doors. Church to the open door.

Close doors. Be my shepherd. Protect us. Important. Let's go to point number two.

Point number two. Practice and grow in humility. Practice and grow in humility. The festivals are humility factories. Humility.

Prepare for further assembly when it comes to humility. Humility is the opposite of pride. It is the opposite of pride. And pride comes from a four-letter word, self. S-E-L-F.

The festival experience is a time to divorce ourselves, to get rid of, not to tangle with, not to get mixed up in. Get rid of pride. And that's difficult. Just a few verses to share with you, to make my point. It says in Matthew 20, verse 28, Son of man came to serve and not be served. Are you ready not only to receive during the festivals, but to give wherever you can? It says that he became poor, that we might become rich.

In 2 Corinthians 8-9. And Jesus said, Blessed are the poor in spirit. Here's the bottom line question. How prepared are you to give life to people during the feast?

To humble yourselves, to be there for them, to hear them out, as Covey would say, to first seek to understand before being understood. That's first things first in conversation, in relationships, in showing love, to realize anatomically that God gave us two ears and one mouth for a reason.

This would tell you where the majority of our energy should be going to, hear, to listen before we speak.

And stop, and look, and listen, and give people your undivided attention.

God has, as it says in Proverbs, given us the hearing ear and the seeing eye. And during the feast, these are just little clues, okay, just little, little bitsy bitsies that you can pray about. When people are talking to you, I'm focusing on Rosie right now, look them in the eye. Look them in the eye. Stop, look, and listen. Remember, that's what our parents taught us about going out on the road. Stop, look, and listen, and of course, look both ways. But we don't do that with people sometimes, in conversation or in large groupings. We run right over them, or they run right over us.

What is the power that we find with Peter and John as they went up to the temple in Acts 3?

The most crowded spot in Jerusalem, and they're going up to the temple mount.

And there's a man that's always been there, the lame man, the lame man. He's out there begging, as he has probably for most of his life. See, he wasn't a fake, he wasn't a fraud. God always chose his miracles that everybody knew about. This is the guy. He's not going anywhere, unless he's picked up and hauled off. And it says that Peter and John came up, one of the most powerful verses in scripture, at the very beginning of the preaching of the gospel by the disciples. And they preached not only what they said, but how they dealt with other human beings. And it said, they fastened... Oh, look at my wife. That'll make her nervous. And it says, and they fastened their eyes on that person. And they said, silver and gold have I none, but that which we will give you, we're going to give it to you.

During the feast at services, where you bump into people at a restaurant, maybe an entertainment center on the beach in Kauai, don't mow people down.

You know, over the years, in a rush, over the years, people have come up to me, talked to me about quoids today, and they said, oh, I remember you from auditorium days. They were students. Tell us how old I am. They were students. Not that you're not young, but that I thought when people say that, sometimes they say, which Robin Weber did they run into, or ran into them at that moment? Because I've been an elder for going to be 50 years. On the feast of trumpets, I was ordained 50 years ago. And people say that they don't know this, but this is going in the back of my mind at that time. Which Robin Weber did they meet at that time? Was it the administrator? Was it the guy that had to get things done? As you remember, Pasadena, boom, boom, boom, I'm going down the aisle, this or that, or this or that?

Or is it somebody that just touched me as much as somebody touched Christ? That's where the analogies break down. Please understand. And I stopped, and I sat with that person. I know I had something to do. It's my inner German and Dutch, something to do. But I just sat down with that person. Me and them, Robin and them, and gave them the most precious gift, which is time.

Compassion and concern.

There's a lot to think about there. To stop, to look, to listen. Proverbs 16, verse 3 says, commit your works to God. Here's a biggie. Commit your work. You with me, spring? Good. Commit your works to God.

And it says, He will establish your thoughts. Not just in that moment, but during the day.

Have the milk of human love and godly love to make yourself available to people during the feast. Don't make your schedule so tight that you don't have time for the schedule of people that God is going to put in your life and going to make a difference.

Can you do that? Can you do that for God? Are you ready to grow during this feast? Or is it just going to be same old, same old?

In Scripture, in our way of life, the word is important. But the word is important in this sense that there are a lot of rules in this book called the Bible.

And we can keep the rules almost humanly perfect, perhaps. But the Bible is more than about rules. It's about relationships.

It's about relationships. And I want to share a verse with you here in 1 John. We're almost done here. 1 John. Come with me to 1 John.

All of this that I'm talking about is important here.

We are of God, and he who knows God hears us. He who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the Spirit of error. 1 John 4, verse 6. Beloved of the United Church of God, San Diego, Let us love one another, for love is of God. And everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested towards us that God sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him. In this is love. Not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought to love one another.

Now there's a Spirit full.

Might jot that down on a cue card, going to the Feast of Unleavened Bread. As we have been loved, first by God, we are to love others to make ourselves open.

This is what will make the best feast yet.

I'll finish just simply with this.

Point three, going to be very short. Be prepared to experience God's joy. Be prepared to experience.

Experience. It's not theory. It is an interruption. Joy is the fruit of the Spirit. God plants the Spirit in us that has seeds. We don't have all of that joy all at once. It is to grow in us as we do the things that I've been talking about.

To do the spiritual labor. I know a lot of you are going to be working with your muscles, your arms, you're going to be behind desks, you're going to be doing this, you're going to be doing that. And the organization, you're talking to a guy that knows about festival organization, been doing that for 50 years, you know, a quarter. That's important. But the greatest service that we can give during the feast, jot this down, please. Spiritual service. Spiritual service. Setting up tables is important. Giving meals is important. Absolutely.

But giving the water of the Word, giving juice to people that have dried up that you're going to meet during the feast. You know, it's interesting what it says in the 23rd Psalm. It says, The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want.

He places me in green pastures. The festival experience is a green pasture. It's something we all look forward to. But there's something else that follows us. And it says, And he leads us beside the still waters. I love, you know, David being a shepherd, and I love the term water, having pastored in the Central Valley. And if you've ever gone up the 99 or the 99 or the 5, you'll see these big signs because it's all ranches and farms. It says, Where water flows, plants grow. That's it. Where water flows, plants grow. Can you think of yourself as God's agent during this Feast of Tabernacles? And you might say, Hey, Weber, you're talking about everybody else. I need it. Okay. I'm lonely. Got it. But you know what? The cure for being lonely is to find somebody that's even lonelier and to recognize to reach out to them.

That you can be that still water that is going to look at an individual, be locked in, not be so busy that they feel like just one more leftover article on the shelf of humanity, but that you give yourself. You will never know. You will never know what people take away when they are in an audience. And maybe you will have never spoken to them, but they are witnessing your body language. They are witnessing your spirit language of how you come across to people, how you're dealing with other people. And they say, I want to be like that. I want to be like that. God, help me.

You can be that instrument to fill their joy.

In Galatians 6 and verse 9 of familiar scripture, it simply says, don't grow weary of well-doing.

And we can. It's natural.

We can feel underappreciated.

It's not the title that we carry, whether pastor or elder or deacon or festival coordinator or over this department, over this department. In one thing, there is full equality. We are all children of God. We are all saints set apart for a purpose. Never underestimate what you can do. I'm going to share something. She wasn't here the day that I did it. I see Elsie down here. Hello, Elsie. I think she's going to speak German. It's high. Just high. Okay. Showing up.

Showing up. Paul in the back. Our elder. Showing up. Even with what he's going on in life.

Judy, third row here. Showing up, even at this point alone. And we do miss your husband. But that didn't derail her. She keeps showing up.

I think about these people a whole lot more than maybe somebody that has a gift of morality and talks on a stage. These are the people that I look to as my role models.

Be that role model. Ask God to guide your heart steps, your footsteps, how you plan your schedule. Be available to him. Don't get so wrapped up in self that you're not available to God during this time to maybe make a difference in a person's life that will last forever. And with that thought, I think that's a good way to end a message.