PRESENTER'S NOTES

Just ahead of us and very, very soon are the final KOG Seminar for the year and the Holy Fall Festivals of God. We will most certainly set our minds on Christ as King and a world at peace. But, what do our seminars and those days portray for our future, specifically, current-day Christians, the inheritors of God’s coming kingdom?

Let me ask you who have been baptized and had hands laid on you, “What state of mind and behavior do you recall being in when that happened?” Were you not in a state of repentance and submission to the will of God? Did you not go through some sort of internal conflict previous to that point of repentant and submitted will?

As a quick reminder, you and I started out as enemies of God with minds contrary to His way (Romans 5:10; Romans 8:7), even if we had not previously heard of Him. We had to become aware of sin as He defines it. We had to become aware that we could not overcome sin on our own. At some point we acknowledged and accepted the sacrifice of Christ, we began a journey out of practicing sin, then we made a contract with God, defining how we would give our lives entirely over to Him, and He, in return, would grant us His Holy Spirit, an earnest, molding and shaping us into a new creation throughout the rest of our lives.

Interestingly, the process of offered salvation, repentance and acceptance of that salvation is given to us in order through the Spring Holy Days.

But, what about the fall festivals? Christ has not returned to earth. The evil one has not been bound, and there is no millennial kingdom or time of judgment for mankind, yet.

Nevertheless, when you and I became Christian, our journey did not end. We might even say that it had only just begun. If you think about it, we, in part or in shadow, participated and do participate in the meanings of the fall festivals. It might be argued that it took the symbols found in the fall festivals to bring us to the spring festivals.

And we know that, in the fulfillment of the fall festivals, the story for Christians diverges for a time from the story for mankind beginning with Christ’s return, and the reason is that we have already been through some version of it. We know that we will be changed, fully delivered children of our God at Jesus’ return. We know that we will be at that point completely at one with the Lord and our Father, never to be separated. And as Christ rules in the Millennium, so will we rule under Him.

Is there any lesson we can take from that understanding? Something we can focus on as we witness the kingdom of God and participate in God’s fall festivals?

Most of us are probably quite familiar with the promise of what we will become as children of God in Christ’s kingdom.

Revelation 1: 4 John to the seven churches in Asia: Grace to you, and peace, from the One who is, and who was, and who is coming, and from the seven spirits which are before His throne;
5 even from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the First-born out of the dead, and the Ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him loving us and washing us from our sins by His blood,
6 and made us kings and priests to God, even His Father. To Him is the glory and the might forever and ever. Amen.

Does that sound familiar? But, what does it mean to be a “king and priest”? In I Peter 2:9, we are called a royal priesthood and a holy nation. If we are not careful, we might not meditate on what that really means RIGHT NOW. How do we reflect a proper example right now concerning authority and dedicated service to the Lord?

Today, I would like to take a peek into something specific, as kings and priests, you and I will be doing.

So, Please turn with me to Isaiah 30, so that we may get a glimpse into our role as born children of God under Jesus Christ’s Millennial rule.

Isaiah 30: 19 For the people shall live in Zion, at Jerusalem; you shall surely cry no more. He surely will be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. When He hears, He will answer you.
20 And the Lord gives you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction; but your teachers shall not be hidden any more; but your eyes shall be to see your teachers.
21 And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, this is the way, walk in it, when you go right, or when you go left.

One of our roles will be to teach, and another will be in the practical application of that instruction through guidance. Have we considered the devotion of time that will be necessary for helping people along at every single turn?

We can easily understand and appreciate as human beings the instruction in how to participate in human prosperity as we do, for instance, at the Feast of Tabernacles. There, specifically, we get to practice a foretaste of the abundance and peace God will provide Israel and all of mankind through the rulership of Jesus Christ here on earth.

But, where you and I have the greatest opportunity for peace and prosperity RIGHT NOW and every day for the rest of our physical existence, is in Christ; in the ways of God. For us, prosperity should be to hunger and thirst for righteousness as is expressed in Matthew 5:6.

In John 6: 35 Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

So, how can we apply that understanding as we observe God’s fall festivals this year, as we preach the kingdom of God to our children and other prospectives? The Feasts of the Lord provide a very effective, tangible way to teach our children God’s ways; to teach also those who are curious about God’s ways. In our conversation and activities with one another, we are able to provide instruction to one another without actually setting ourselves up as instructors. (Romans 15:14)

Romans 15:14 But, my brothers, I myself also am persuaded concerning you, that you yourselves also are full of goodness, being filled with all knowledge, being able to warn one another.

Please turn to…

Romans 12: 4 For even as we have many members in one body, but all members do not have the same function,
5 so we the many are one body in Christ, and each one members of one another,
6 but having different gifts according to the grace given to us, whether prophecy, according to the proportion of faith;
7 or ministry, in the ministry; or the one teaching, in the teaching;
8 or the one exhorting, in the encouragement; the one sharing, in simplicity; the one taking the lead, in diligence; the one showing mercy, in cheerfulness.

As we soon participate in God’s festivals and what those festivals mean for the future of mankind, let us not forget, even let us grow in understanding, what it will mean for fully delivered sons and daughters of the living God. You see, our walk right now emulates all of God’s plan for man. In truth, we have to experience the conquering power of Christ, the promise to help us withstand Satan through a direct relationship with God. We have to be able to foresee, even if only in shadow at first the prosperity of God’s way, and we must choose to follow God before we can accept all that the spring Holy Days mean. Now is the time to participate in the meaning of God’s Holy Days, so that when Christ does return, we can serve in His goal to offer salvation to all of mankind.