Called to Be a Witness

Wayne Matthews

6th Feast of Tabernacles Sermon - 2009

To begin the sermon I will give you the title.  The title of the sermon is, Called To Be A Witness:  The majority of the religions of the world don't recognise the seventh day Sabbath or the annual Holy Days as commanded from God.  They don't see it as an actual command from God, that God commands the seventh day Sabbath to be kept holy, to be kept separate for holy use.  But God is soon going to open the minds of millions of people; millions of people to come to understand the first part of our calling which is the Sabbath because God feeds through the Sabbath.  It's a day where it’s set aside and God feeds through the Sabbath, so that is the first test for people.  But there are millions that are going to begin to see that at some point of time in what is left of the Tribulation period.  They are going to be called to see the Sabbath.  God will begin to introduce His truth, plan and purpose for mankind to a small percentage of the earth's population.  When you consider the total population that exists today, there's not a big percentage really that are going to come to that end; to understand or begin to understand what God is doing.  So over the last six thousand years of man, God has ensured that there are witnesses to what He is achieving through His plan of salvation.  I want to read that again because that’s the core of what a lot of people's calling is about over time.  So over the last six thousand years of man, God has ensured that there are witnesses to what He is achieving through His plan of salvation.

So have you ever been called to give evidence, to be a witness personally?  I was, when I was in my early thirties, I worked for a department store and we were taught about security.  And if somebody came and stole something, what processes you had to follow.  The first thing that had to happen was that you had to be an eye-witness.  So if you thought somebody stole something, for example, if somebody went up to an item and you’d looked away and then the item disappeared; you cannot assume that they took it even though you could be 99% convinced they did.  But you're not an eye-witness so you’re assuming, so you have to be an eye-witness.

This particular day a young girl came into the department store and I witnessed her pick up a lipstick and actually place it in her pocket and of course adrenaline runs.  All the thing you've so-called been taught...there are a lot of things race through your mind.  “What should I do?”  So I realised I had witnessed somebody stealing something, so the first thing is, that person has to leave the store because unless they leave the store, they haven't stolen it.  Their intent is to steal it, but in department stores a lot of people walk around for long periods, realising they’re caught they get in a lift and drop everything.  So, you know, there’s ways they’ve worked it out.  Anyway, she went out through the front door, so I knew now that there was somebody that had stolen an item and I was an eye-witness to this matter.  So she went up an arcade and I lost sight of her just for a fraction, therefore from that point I couldn't really know whether she still had it on her or not: because she could have dropped it in a rubbish bin, she could have known that I was following her, who knows?  But I followed her to the end and a car pulled up and she got in the car, I wrote down the registration and she drove off.  So I reported it to the police as an eye-witness that she stole and removed it from the store.  So the police then came and we gave it, they went to the house... they got the registration, followed the young guy, found out who the girl was and then they went to her house.  And of course generally with shoplifting, that one item is one because there are only one in a hundred get caught and there were heaps of other things that had been stolen from the department store.  So then they decided that the company would prosecute and the police said, “would I be a witness,” so I was called to give evidence.

So a witness is somebody that can give evidence.  I was an eye-witness to what happened.  Well that's what a witness is: a witness is somebody that can give evidence, give record, testify about a matter.  God through the last six thousand years has called eye-witnesses that can give testimony, bear record of what happened.  For example Noah – he could come in here and all the things that we don't know about that period...but he could come in when he's resurrected and he will be able to bear record, testify, give an eye-witness to what man was like.  To give record to what actually happened, how long it actually took, what it was like in the ark, what it was like to have a family that didn't really believe God... and we would believe what he said.  Why?  He was an eye-witness and it's for myself, I am an eye-witness as well.  I have witnessed certain things that no matter what people come and tell me, it's not going to make any difference because I was there, I know what it was like to be asleep.  I know what it's like to be in an organisation that doesn't have an apostle and a prophet, but I also know what it's like to be in an organisation that had an apostle – Worldwide Church of God.  And has prophets – Church of God-PKG.  I'm an eye-witness; you can't take it from me, and no matter what you say it's not going to make any difference!  Because people in the world, they can't convince me otherwise; I know it, I've seen it, I felt it.  You are all witnesses.  You’re all witnesses to something and we’ll have a look at that; we’re going to look at the things that we’re witness of.  And everyone is a witness for different things and are going through different experiences to fulfil the role of a calling which is also to bear witness.  So a witness is one who testifies to the fact from his own personal knowledge and experience.

God says that He has actually witnessed or 'testified' against the nations, so we‘ll look at that in 2 Kings 17:5 - Now the King of Assyria went throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it for three years.  And in the ninth year of Hosea the King of Assyria took Samaria and carried Israel away to Assyria, so they’re taken captive, and placed them in Halah, I think it’s pronounced, and by the Habor, the river of Gozan, in the cities of the Medes.  So they were removed from the land basically is what's happened.  For so it was that the children of Israel had sinned against the Eternal their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and there they had feared other gods, so we can look at that physically to say what happened, but this is exactly what has happened to God's people.  God called us out of the world, out of Egypt, out of sin; we've been called out of sin.  We have been called out of the bondage of the king of this world, Satan.  God has delivered us into a body, the Church.  We’re delivered from that and placed in here for the purpose of growing and learning and developing spiritual character.  “But because of sin...” God says here, and Israel sinned against God.  The Church sinned and went to sleep spiritually, everybody did, every single person in the body of Christ sinned and went to sleep; there was nobody that didn't go to sleep.  And we feared other gods spiritually; we did not fear the one true God because we went to sleep.  So they were called out of a physical, we were called out of a spiritual.  So we were in captivity.  God says, “Well you’re not going to follow me, you’re not going to obey me, you are going to pollute my Sabbaths; you’re going to have to go back and pay the penalty.  The penalty for sin – you’re going to go into captivity and you’re going to have hardship to learn a lesson.”

Verse 8 - And they had walked in the statutes of the nations, yes they went into other nations.  It's quite amazing what we‘re capable of and I’ve been around long enough to know.  People say, “Well how is it possible that you could leave the body of Christ after being in the truth.  How is it possible? ...and go back to keeping things like Christmas and Easter?  How is it possible with the mind that God gives you?”  I've seen it, it's not as uncommon in times past as what you think because when God withdraws His spirit, you’re going to rely on the thing that God gave you in the beginning – the natural, carnal mind.  We’re going to go back to that and truth no longer dwells in us.  And even though there is an aspect of the truth there, it is not alive, it's ritualistic.  There's no life in it.

So, they walked in the statutes of the nations, whom the Lord had cast out from before the children of Israel.  In other words, they went back.  God says if we leave the truth it's like a dog going back to its vomit.  That's what it's like and we’re called out of that.  The filth of this world and the filth of all that's going on there; all the lies that we have been called out of and just using logic that you can see that so much of it is wrong; just using human logic you can see that it’s wrong.  But we’ve been called out of that and being delivered from it, it's an ongoing process.

They walked in the statutes of the nations, (verse 8), whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel, and the kings of Israel, which they had made.  So Israel followed other gods.  Also the children of Israel secretly did against the Lord their God things that were not right, so how does that apply to us today?  Well what is the most secret thing that goes on within us, those that are called out?  Up in the mind, nobody knows what you’re really thinking: nobody knows what you're really thinking!  Or what I’m really thinking.  So in times past people have come to Sabbath services and can walk in and fellowship and stay with the Church for years; but you’ll never know what they really think.  But when they go home they’re different again because it's in the mind, you can't work it, you can’t see it, God sees it all of course but... so things in the mind, secretly.  But Israel secretly did against the Lord their God things that were not right, and they built for themselves high places in all their cities, from the watchtower to the fortified cities.  Religious buildings of the world basically.  They built things that they wanted to honour their god, physical things.  They set up for themselves sacred pillars and wooden images on high hills, and on every green tree: sound familiar?  On the high hills?  If you drive through Melbourne, on every high hill there's a building which they call a church.  And of course God says the Church are those whom have been called, the name is 'called out ones.'  We are the Church because we are called out.  But man of course makes everything physical and says a church is a building.  No it's not; that's not a church. We are the Church because we are called out and have God's spirit; that's what makes the Church.

Verse 11 - There they burned incense on all the high places, like the nations whom the Lord had carried away before them; and they did wicked things. So they went back into the things of the pagan or heathen nation.  They began to worship Baal, Ishtar, all of those things, they went back into that.  One of the main things they did of course is that they robbed God of tithes and offerings, that's what they did; they went back into the religions of the world which are Satan's religions.  I remember one time Chris and myself, there were some new people that had come along in the Church and we went for a walk and my wife was directing some things and the lady in particular had come out of what you would call a protestant type environment.  And we were walking along and Chris was about probably thirty metres ahead of me and next minute I see this lady turn around and she comes racing back towards me and Chris is standing up there.  And I thought, “Oh what's happened here?”  She comes back and she says, “Oh Wayne, I want to ask you...Chris is saying that all the religions of the world come from Satan and are satanic in general.”

“Yes, that's right!” ...and that floors them.  You have to work slowly because what you’re saying is that “You don't know God at all.”  That's what you’re really saying, “You don't know God at all and you have been worshipping a false god and that false god really behind it is Satan!”  That's what you're really saying, and it clicked with her that it was what Chris was really saying.

Verse 12 - And they served idols which the Lord their God had said to them, You shall not do these things.  They were breaking the first and second commandment and of course for us an idol is anything we place before God.  And the greatest idol that we place before God, which we learn in time is our own selfish nature because we please ourselves first, that's what we are, we please ourselves first.  So a lot of people think that idolatry is having images and other things; we place ourselves before God, that's what we do, that's the way we are; that's our natural nature.

Verse 13:  Yet the Lord testified, so that word 'testified' there is 'to testify, to witness, to record,' or 'make a record,' or 'protest.'  So here is God saying, Yet God Himself; The Lord, testified against Israel, and against Judah.  How did He do that?  ...by all the prophets, so God over time has sent prophets to the people – to bear record, to give evidence, to testify, to witness to them, “This is the way to walk.”  So God has not abdicated His duty to His creation; He has sent prophets to let people know ...every seer saying, and what's their message?  Turn...  that word 'return' is like 'repent, turn, go the other way, think differently.' Turn from your evil ways... Our natural ways are evil, even though we don't identify those in the beginning and as you go longer  in God's Church we see these things in ourselves.  But it says, Turn from your evil ways, and keep My commandments and My statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by My servants the prophets.  So man is without excuse because God has sent prophets to the nations in different times for the reason of letting them know, of bearing a record, testifying, being a witness to say “here we go.”  And if you get time go through Deuteronomy 28 because Deuteronomy 28 is a witness, a testimony to man about man.  Do this and this is what happens: cause and effect.  But if you do this, that’s what's going to happen.  That's a testimony; a witness to man but man of course won't listen to that.

So God has told us what to avoid; He told them what to avoid.  He has told us what will happen when we sin; He told them what would happen when they sinned.  And God sent the prophets just as a witness to them, but that message has always been the same – “Repent, turn from your evil ways,” that's the message to man.

Verse 14 - Nevertheless they would not hear.  Now, I want to stop there because it's something that we should all be able to relate to and if you can't, you're going to.  When God calls you, this burns in your brain, Nevertheless they would not hear, because when you are converting and baptised and have the holy spirit, God begins to live in you; the mind of God lives in you.  So if you speak godly things, you should have learned by now, Nevertheless they would not hear, and as I said, if you haven't you're going to soon find that out because it's not possible for them to hear.  It's not possible because it requires God's spirit to communicate with God's spirit and a lot of these things are a witness about man of course.  There's a lesson there and that can be emphasized, Nevertheless they would not hear.  The other thing is, for us there is no point trying to convince anybody of the truth because it's not possible; you can't convince anybody of the truth, it's not possible.  God convicts people with the truth, not us, but if asked a question of course you give an answer that fulfils the question, not the plan of God – and that's something else that we learn!

Verse 14 - Nevertheless they would not hear, but stiffened their necks, pride, like the necks of their fathers, and did not believe in the Lord their God.  They refused to believe the prophets.

Verse 15 - And they rejected, that word there is actually 'despised,' His statutes, and His covenants that He had made with their fathers, and His testimonies which He had testified, same thing, it is the same word and it means 'to witness' or 'record,' against them; they followed idols, became idolaters, and went after the nations which were around them, and concerning who the Lord had charged them, that they should not do like them.  So as God's people we should not be like, or do like the religions of the world, we should be separate and of course, the thing that separates God's people is the truth.  And without the truth what have we got?  Nothing.

Of late I have had a few conversations talking about: How can you prove certain things just using human logic.  Well, to a degree if you just follow God's word which nobody really is interested in, they’ll throw it out, but if you just use God's word to prove God's true Church.  Is it actually possible to prove God's true Church?  And ...just walking through logic, so you can actually say, “Well what does God say about His Church?”  Well, the main thing of course is it has to be in God' s name, it's got to be Church of God – something, it's got to be God's Church.  So that's going to get rid of the Roman Catholic Church – why?  Well they are Roman - 'Latin man', Catholic - 'universal', church - don't carry God's name so that gets rid of them.  Then you can go through all the daughters which include the Baptists, you can go through all that - true? ...and get rid of it.  So you might end up with one or two worldly churches that might have the name Church of God.  Then of course you come to the scattered Church of God – five hundred plus, so you come to the next point, so that's easily proven from God's word, that you've got to carry God's name, you’re going to bear His name; that's what we do, we bear His name.

So we’ll go to the next point, God says clearly in His word that truth only enters His Church through apostles and prophets.  So let’s have a look, worldly churches, do they say they have an apostle?  I think they’d take them out and stone them if they said they were an apostle.  A prophet?  Well, yeah, but we've already got rid of them.  So let’s look at the Churches that are scattered.  So, the organisations that I know of, they don't have an apostle or a prophet bar one other group that I'm aware of - okay?  They don't.  And I remember God placed in Chris and myself early on, and I've been very blessed, that for whatever reason God put in us that we knew that God led His Church and would lead His Church through an apostle or a prophet and we wanted one leader.  So when the Church was scattered and the United Church of God formed, we would say “Surely out of all of us one person with God's spirit can lead the Church.  Is that really too hard?”  And of course, well, no, we've got a counsel of twelve, you can't go mucking around and saying things like that.  But that was in our mind, God gave us that mercifully, that we would always looked, “Surely one person with God's spirit can lead! And we’d follow the lead!”  Now, is that hard?  Anyway, so we’re down to two – Church of God – PKG who does have prophets and one other group, Philadelphia who say they have a prophet, so let’s use God's word.

God says that you are not to leave the body under the leadership of God's Church in the truth in rebellion and start up your own group.  And the other group, that's exactly what happened; they left authority in rebellion (following authority) whether it's functioning correctly...and there are always issues that may not totally agree with every single thing the Church does, the way they set up the hall... but you are still under authority.  So that's got rid of that.  So what are you left with?  That's just using logic but there's no point of trying to convince anybody that this is God's true Church, God has to do it, but I'm just using logic.  If you ever get doubts, just go through those processes in your mind to say “Okay, let's work this out.”  So you can actually prove, with God's spirit, prove where God's Church is.

Verse 16 - So they left all the commandments of the Lord their God, made for themselves a molten image of two calves, which we are aware of, we know that story, and made wooden images, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.  So all the host of heaven... today, people that read star signs, people that look up their astrology chart for the day or the week... What are they really doing?  They’re not trusting in God, they are looking to the stars!  And it's interesting when you read those things, if you just break down and use logic again, use logic.  I think there are twelve star-signs and there's six billion people, so if my lucky number was seven and you divide 12 into six billion... it’s insanity isn't it, really?  That means all those other billions of people, five hundred million or whatever, have got the same lucky number!  Oh dear, I will divert for a second.

I don't know whether I've said this before...  You know the show 'Deal or No Deal,' that type of thing?  'Deal or No Deal' is where you have to guess numbers and suitcases and the amount of money in the suitcase.  Well they actually invited all of people like astrologers and soothsayers and fortune tellers onto 'Deal or No Deal' and one lady was pulled out of the audience and she said, “You've got the million dollar case,” “I’ve got the million dollar case.” Okay?  So they go through and they open it and they say, “What have you got?” and she goes, “I've got fifty dollars.”  Oh that was wrong.  They went through every single one of them down to the last three: not one of them got it right.  Tells you a fair bit.  So they get to the last three I think it was and the lady sitting there says, “I know it's got a five in it.”  And this one that looks at the case... “I know it’s got a five in it,” and you looked up on the board and it had five dollars, fifty dollars, or five hundred dollars.   Okay, you know, one chance in three and you got it right!  Anyway, nobody got it right through the whole show, not one person.  So then the lady with the suitcase who thought she had the million dollars, she had the choice between two – I think it was she was down to fifty dollars and fifty cents and she’s destroyed really, she didn't get the million.  And she said, “I think I’ve got the fifty dollars.”  Open!  Fifty Cents!   I thought that was proof in itself. None of them know anything, let’s be fair, it's just all a guess and now and again they get lucky, just like anything else in life.  Sometimes you pick something and you get it right.  So anybody that's involved in star signs and astrology’s, they’re relying on a false god – Satan-inspired information, it's got nothing to do with God, that's not how God works.

So they, Israel, turned to falsehood and believed the lies of Satan.  They followed the religions of Baal.  So God has developed witnesses over time, witnesses that can live through a period.  For us, brethren, we are witnesses.  Now we may not have ever sat back and really considered that topic, that we are actually witnesses.  We are not the Two Witnesses, although there was an email this morning from the second one. (joking)   A lot of people come through on the email system saying that they want to join up with Mr. Weinland because they are the second witness; that's not an uncommon thing at times.  But we are actually witnesses and we’re going to be used as witnesses.  So who out of the history of mankind can say that they lived through the fulfilment of Trumpets?  Okay?  Just think about it: the fulfilment of Trumpets, the blowing of the First Trumpet to the Seventh Trumpet, who, with God's spirit can actually get up and give a faithful, truthful explanation of what happened?  1260 days, all those thousands of people back that way can't and weren't alive, you know most of them are dead.  After Christ returns, can somebody after that point who is working through, can they say they’ve witnessed the whole 1260 days?  Or live through 1290 or 1335?  Who was around as a witness for 1335?  Can you see where your role as a witness is?  That's only one part of your calling: to be a witness.  I can witness to 1335, not sure whether I am going to witness all of 1260, who knows?  We just don't know; but the majority here have been called for that reason – you’re a witness, a witness for God.

I want to also touch on being faithful.  Jesus Christ is called a 'faithful' witness. In the Bible there are two kinds of witnesses.  There's a false witness and a true witness; we’re called to be true witnesses, not false witnesses.  What is the only way that you and I can be a faithful, true witness?  We have to have God's spirit dwelling in us because 'the natural mind is hostile to God, not subject to the law of God, and neither indeed can be.'   In other words, the natural mind will exaggerate; the natural mind will not be truthful or faithful to what God has given to the Church.  The natural mind will add something or take something away, but that's why you’re called to be a faithful witness.  God is doing that, it's not us; God is providing witnesses through the ages and now in particular, we are witnesses to where we are in time.  You’ll be able to sit down with somebody and explain what it's like to live through this period, what it was really like to be in the Church.  What was it like to observe the Feast in Rye, Victoria in 2009?  They can't, they weren't here, but you are an eye-witness to the fact.  Isn't it incredible what God has called us to be?  Witnesses to certain events.

Most of us are going to be witnesses to the very return of Jesus Christ; we know two who aren’t who are there at the beginning because there’s a period of three days but they’ll see it when the Trumpet blows of course on resurrection.  But, you are going to witness in the main, all of us are going to witness the very return of Jesus Christ.  But prior to that six thousand years, people can't, so they’re not going to be able to get up and say what it was like the way that you will be able to.  They’re not going to have a clue.  Only from what scripture says which is an outline; but to actually experience it, see it... it's an incredible thing to witness.  Then, after that's fulfilled, everybody after that, they can't be an eye-witness to the event, can they?  A faithful witness...they never saw it!  They never experienced it.  So can you see the role of a witness?  Someone who testifies faithfully about God and God's glory, with no human exaggeration or limitation?  But it's God working in us and through us that we witness these things.

I want to turn to Romans 8:7 - You know it well, but this is something that the natural mind can't read and understand, it's only someone with God's spirit who can actually understand this.  Romans 8:7 - the natural mind is hostile to God: so what it's really saying is that the way that we were created, we are not, by our natural mind, lovers of God; we’re actually hostile to Him.  We’re not subject to God's law and if you look at it and expand it, my point here is that the natural mind is selective in what it loves and how it loves.  The natural mind is selective in what it loves and how it loves; in other words, we’re partial in judgement.  Whereas God says He’s not partial in judgement.  We choose who we wish to love more than someone else.  God is not partial, He loves His creation, He’s not partial in judgement; we are.  And even that love we give is expecting something in return because it's human; we’re trying to get something back.  But the natural mind cannot understand that or deal with it, but that's something that we’re called to in time to grow; to examine the motives.

Deuteronomy 4...  The reason I bring up Romans 8:7 is because I and you, we should be able to bear witness, give record, testify that that statement that God has written is true.  We should be able to get up and tell people, “That is true.  That's what I am like.”  And you don't have to quiver about it, every man that's born, bar one, is like it and is going to be like it.  Other than Jesus Christ who was not hostile to God, He was subject to the law of God: had a different mind.  But we should be able to testify with integrity, faithfully, honestly, “That is me!”  We’re all like that and everyone in the future is going to be born with that mind that they’re going to have to overcome, that's the beauty of God's calling.

Deuteronomy 4:26 - I call heaven and earth, and the sky and the land, to witness, or 'testify,' against you this day, that you will soon, or quickly, utterly perish from the land which you cross over the Jordan to possess; you will not prolong your days in it, but you will be utterly destroyed, or 'overthrown.'  So the effects of disobedience will be obvious.  Now the effects of disobedience of mankind today is going to be obvious because this very statement is going to be fulfilled very soon.  The land that God has given us, modern day nations of Israel, God says that you’re going to be quickly, at one point here, taken from it.  There’s going to be a lot of death and destruction and you’re either going to be removed through death or even removed phyiscally.  This land is going to be taken; you will not have the autonomy that we have today to do the things we want to do.  We’re going to be under law, someone else's law, and it won't be God's law, it’ll be someone else's law; but that's what God says will happen for disobedience of mankind.  The effects of our sin is evident and should be evident that God's word is true and all men are liars.  Only God is true and what He says will happen.  That's why I encourage you to go through Deuteronomy 28 because everything written in Deuteronomy 28 is fulfilled and has been fulfilled and is being fulfilled today.  The effects and the causes of sin, why we have the problems we have because of this natural mind that is hostile to God.

Verse 27 - And the Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number, among the nations where the Lord will drive you.  This happened to physical Israel and this happened to spiritual Israel, the Church of God.  The Church of God has been scattered because of sin.; they were scattered - I was part of that scattering.  The evidence can be seen, some of us here can give evidence; there are some that have been awakened can get up and tell you: if you didn't live through that, if you weren't a part of the Church at the time, they can testify faithfully that they went to sleep, admit it, testify, bear record, give evidence what happened to them in their area at that time and what they did.  And only by the mercy of God they can testify to God's great mercy. There’s great mercy in being called, that God calls you, that's merciful.  But to be awakened...it's so humbling because you realise, you admit it, you testify; I bear record that I went to sleep, but I also bear record of God's great mercy: His mercy to me.  Why?  Why?  People ask someone, 'Why?'  God knows what He’s doing.    God knows what He is doing; I can't always see what I am doing, but God knows what He’s doing for a record, a witness of whatever and fulfilling.  I was saying to someone the other day, “if you said to me in 1982 that I would be giving a sermon in Rye, Victoria in 2009, I’d say you’re absolutely a nut!”  We don't know what God has planned for us - true? Really!  And it’s the same for those that are being awakened soon and called now, you here, to live through this period into a Millennial setting - we really don't know how God is going to use... how He’s going to use us, but He will.  We are witnesses and God always uses witnesses to testify, to bear record, to give evidence of the truth of what happened; what happened to mankind, what happened to God's Church.  You know, it's a very exciting thing when you’re called to be a witness for God, a witness for God; that's an amazing blessing, very humbling when you really understand what you’re called to.  We don't take any credit to ourselves – none.  Just in God's mercy He decided that we would be witnesses on His behalf, very humbling to know that and to understand it.

Verse 28 - And there in captivity you will serve gods, the works of man's hands, wood and stone which 1`neither see, nor hear, eat, nor smell.  It's incredible, isn't it? What we are actually capable of.

Verse 29 - But from their captivity you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him, if you seek Him with all your heart and all your soul.  Now, to seek God truly and diligently you have to be called or awakened and this is the issue that we have with the Millennium.  In the sense that complacency is a natural state of mind.  And even in God’s Church now I struggle sometimes that people have been called...and often I look at the Parable of the Sower as a classic example.  That God sows the seed but because the person doesn't have any individual strength, they leave the truth this last hour.  How much closer can you get to the return of Jesus Christ?  And yet we can leave the truth.  Is it possible?  Could any of us leave the truth in this room?  I bear witness and record, I've seen it.  People start off and after six months, after twelve months, after two years, leave the truth – it can happen, exactly what happened here to Israel.  You turn to other things, other things take priority; so close you think it’s not possible.  It is possible, brethren, it is possible and it should be a warning to all of us.  The Millennium has the same issue: if you’re the third or fourth generation in God's Church...Sabbath keeping is normal, commandment keeping – normal. To a degree, like... it’s normal.  Studying God's word and hearing the minister up there and you know, “Which one is speaking today?  Oh, not him.”  It's human nature, we've got natural minds; that's what we’re like.  '”What do you mean I've got to travel an hour and a half to go to services?  What do you mean I've got to walk for ten minutes?  ... because that’s our natural state.  We become complacent and God warns us all the way through the Bible about being spiritually awake and that you have to prod yourself.  You’ve got to seek God, that's what that's about: we have to seek God.  And the people in the Millennium are going to have to seek God, it's not just automatically given and everything is easy.  We are going to have to put in effort, humans are going to put in effort to overcome their nature.

Verse 30 - When you are in distress, or in tribulation, all these things will come upon you, in the latter days, the end-time, when you turn to the Lord your God and obey His voice.  The voice that you hear is in the Church of God-PKG, that voice is through God's end-time prophet, one of God's two witnesses; that's the voice!  Some will hear, some won't; the call is to repent, to change directions, you know, to acknowledge God, obey God and we start with the Sabbath, that's where it starts.  The most important thing is to believe God, just believe God.  I think it was in the Church in Melbourne, someone asked me a question.  And I said, “Well look, if you really want to... Let’s really simplify our calling.  God only requires something very basic from you: believe Him and obey Him.  That's all you've got to do – true?”  I hope that didn't go over your head but doesn't that sound simple?  As humans all you have to do is believe God and then just obey Him.  How hard is that?  That's only just two little bits... that's easy.  I know you understand what I am saying, but that's how simplistic it is, that's how easy it is, but we don't of course.

Ezekiel 5 - which we’re not going to turn there.  God's mercy will be revealed because Ezekiel 5 makes it very clear what God is doing and we are going to witness and bear record of God's mercy because Ezekiel 5 will be fulfilled very soon.  Incredible, we’re going to eye-witness that which is amazing.  Those called or awakened during the remainder of this tribulation period, they will become witnesses to the truth of God's word of Ezekiel 5 because soon, they’re going to be able to turn around and say, “Yes, I am a part of the Ezekiel 5 awakening.”  So they’re going to be able to acknowledge, admit it and be a witness to it, bear record of it.  Others are going to be able to turn around and say, “I was called during this particular time of the tribulation, I bear record of it, I know it, I know what happened.”  Isn't it incredible what God does about providing witnesses?  They will be witnesses for the Sabbath.  Now understand, Mr. Terry Wrozak went into the purpose of the Sabbath and what the Sabbath points to.  We’re in the sixth day; the Sabbath points to the seventh day, a one thousand year rest for mankind, the removal of Satan.  Mankind can enter a rest period, a rest from Satan, from the last six thousand years that he has been around.  So the Sabbath is about a time of teaching, a separation where we can learn the truth, the Millennium is the Sabbath rest fulfilled in that period.

People are going to be called as a witness for the Sabbath!  Can you understand what I am saying?  They’re a witness for the Millennium; that they’re going to be able to live through that period, then die, but they’re going to be able to witness that period – the transition in time.  And there will be witnesses through that period.  There will be witnesses on the Last Great Day and if you go back in history, you can look back to different witnesses that were provided.  The angelic realm witnessed the creation of the universe: they can bear record, they can testify to what happened.  But now we have some false witnesses in amongst the angelic realm.  They will not and are not faithful witnesses; they’re actually false witnesses because they would pervert it, you know, they would pervert it because that’s what they want to do.   But the angelic realm... there is a faithful witness of those.  And if you go to Adam and Eve; Adam and Eve are the only two humans that can witness the first Sabbath day.  The first Sabbath day had two physical witnesses – Adam and Eve: because God finished His creation, then He rested... they were the only two humans alive on the earth that can bear record, testify of what that first Sabbath day was like and what God did with them on that Sabbath day.  We don't really know, do we?  But one day Adam and Eve are going to be able to tell us what it was like in the Garden of Eden, exactly what it was like and tell us what God did on that day with them because the Sabbath is for teaching, for spiritual development.  Then you can go through the history of mankind and God has got proof that He’s provided witnesses.

Let’s look at Acts 1:4 - so God has ensured that there are witnesses to the truth through the last six thousand years.  Acts 1:4 - And, being assembled together, this is the disciples, with them, Jesus, it says ‘He’, Jesus, commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, in other words God was going to provide the holy spirit on the day of Pentecost, which, He said, you have heard from Me. So Jesus has explained that He was going to go through a process of death, etc, previously at this point in time; He had now explained to them that they were to gather on the Day of Pentecost because He was going to make sure that they were there so they could receive the gift of the holy spirit from God the Father.

Verse 5 - For John truly baptised with water, immersed with water, but you shall be baptised, or 'immersed', with the holy spirit, not many days from now.  So here is Jesus telling them what was going to happen, of course in saying that, they didn't really grasp, or understand really what that was really all about.  They had a vague understanding, but you need God's spirit to comprehend spiritual matters.  Other than that it's physical information.

Verse 6 - Therefore when they had come together, they asked Him, they asked Jesus, Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?  Of course, they were still thinking about overthrowing the Roman Empire and believed that Jesus was going to do that, that He was going to set up a new government then.  And Jesus said to them, It is not for you to know, 'you' – the disciples at the time, to know the times or the seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.  And of course, we’re almost two thousand years past that.

Verse 8 - But you shall receive power when the holy spirit comes upon you, or 'is coming to you'; it comes upon you, and you shall be witnesses to Me, so this is one of their roles, they are to: be witnesses to Me, to Jesus Christ, in Jerusalem, and all Judea, and Samaria and to the end of the earth.  Now there’s two aspects of that.  So to give evidence about Christ's ways, they were there, so you can't argue with them and say, “Oh I think this meant this.”  They’d say, “No, no, no, I was there, I saw it.  I was there; I was with Jesus; I was there.  I was at the crucifixion. I know that He was on a stake.  No use telling me He was on something else, I can tell you what He was on.  I was there, I saw it, I experienced it.  I know when they rammed the spear in His side; I know what side it went on.”  They were eye-witnesses, they bear record faithfully.  So here it says they can give evidence of the life of Jesus Christ, but more importantly, truthful.  And the reason is because Jesus Christ and God, with the holy spirit, are living in them and therefore now, they can give truthful witness.  There’s no exaggeration to it, it's actually truthful from the mind’s eye, the mind with God's spirit and they also can also bear witness by the way they live.  They live as Christ lived, they were Sabbath keepers, they lived it, so they bear witness in themselves that Jesus Christ and God the Father is living in them by the power of the holy spirit.  They bear record, or testify, or the evidence is by the way they live; we’re the same, we are not faithful witnesses if our lifestyle does not match God's word!  We’re not faithful witnesses.  The evidence other people see is what?  I hope you see what a responsibility we have, brethren.  We have to carry God's name, we carry responsibility to be faithful witnesses by living the life that God and Jesus Christ said we should.  Allowing them to live in us, the holy spirit to flow through us out to the benefit of others; that's how we are faithful witnesses; we bear record by our actions, our words, by what we do, how we live.  And that's why we are called at this time, to bear record, to bear witness that God and Jesus Christ are living in and through us.  That's the record we bear at this end-time.

Verse 9 - And when He had spoken these things while they watched, He was taken up and the cloud received Him out of their sight.  Who can say that they saw the ascension of Jesus Christ?  There’s record, there’s proof, there are witnesses.  We believe what God says in the word, but there are people who will actually be resurrected into spirit being, that will be able to manifest and actually tell you exactly what it was like, that they saw it.  And nothing you could say will change their mind!  Because they were there and who would we be to argue with them?  No point, they were there, they saw it.

Just like us, there's no point in people coming along and telling us that during this time of Tribulation, they think this is what happened.  “No, no, no, no, I was there!”  You were there.  We’ll be able to sit down and say, “No, no, no, it wasn’t like that. It wasn’t like that. There was unity in God's Church, incredible unity.”  God in the last period of time developed faith in people that is outstanding if you can see it – the faith that exists in God's Church is remarkable.  To be through what God has put us through since February of 2008; it's staggering if you can see the faith that God has developed in you by God living in you – living faith.  It's amazing, it's incredible, and no one can take that from me or from you because I can bear record of the faith of God's people. I can bear record.  And you can say whatever you like, you will never take that from me because I have seen it, I have lived it, I know it, I've spoken to you.  I can bear record to the 50 Truths of God; you can't take it from me, I've lived it, I've known it, I've lived through part of Philadelphia when Mr. Armstrong was around, for three years or so, I was there so I know what happened.  I saw brotherly love, I can explain to you brotherly love because I experienced it, but I also understand what it’s like when you lose God's spirit.  I understand pride because God revealed it in me; it's not me that saw it, God revealed it to me – that what I am like and what we’re all like.  No one's better than anyone else, we all have it, just at different levels and the beauty of a calling is the ability to see one's own pride.  One's own pride, not the pride in others because it’s a natural thing to look at the pride of others and to make judgements; that in itself is pride if you do that, if you can understand what I just said.  That's exactly what it is.

Acts 1:21 - This is the replacement of Judas, where Judas had sinned in betraying Jesus Christ.  Now of course he had a natural carnal mind and he had to exist to achieve God's will in that purpose, it had to happen.  Acts 1:21 -Therefore of these men, there was one hundred and twenty, who have accompanied us all the time that Jesus Christ went in and out among us, so there was one hundred and twenty that witnessed, can bear record, can give evidence of what happened.

Verse 22 - Beginning from the baptism of John, to that day when He was taken up from us, one of these must become a witness of His resurrection.  So God was ensuring that there were twelve at that time, a perfect structure of apostles that were to bear witness from John, the baptism of John, right through to the very resurrection of Jesus Christ.  That they could in the future, manifest, and go through the Millennium and the Great White Throne judgement and say exactly, faithfully what actually happened.  Isn't it incredible?  Now we, brethren, have that same potential and opportunity.  Same; it's only in the future a little bit for some and not so long for others, it's just different timing but there’s a purpose.  God called you and me for a purpose and that purpose is to be a witness for God – a faithful witness for God. And of course they went on then and chose somebody else.

2 Peter 1:16 - For we, this is Peter, did not follow cunningly devised fables, when we made known to you the power of the coming of our Lord Jesus, but were eye-witnesses to His majesty.  So they were eye-witnesses to His majesty.  What is that really saying?  Now the word 'glory' in the Bible, there are two aspects to it.  When we hear the word 'glory' the first thing that enters our mind is a manifestation of glory, lights, glory.  See?  You say, 'The glory of God.' The first thing that normally enter our minds will be that the glory of God is a manifestation, the glory of God's throne, the glory of God, the glory of Jesus Christ is a bright light...and the glory, you know as bright as the sun, can't see it.  But there’s two parts to it.  The deeper understanding of the 'glory' or the 'majesty' and you’re an eye-witness to something to a 'majesty' or a 'glory'; the glory God has is His character.  The glory God has is His character, His nature, that’s the glory of God.  We are being offered the glory of God, we can be partakers of God's glory now.  Isn't it incredible?  So to see the glory of God...when Jesus Christ walked around, how could you see the glory of God in Jesus Christ when He was a man?  Well He wasn’t...He hadn't been changed to spirit but you could see the glory of God because you could see the character of Jesus Christ; the way that He acted, the way that He talked, the way that He did things.  He reflected the mind of God, the glory of God, through His being; so we too can take on the glory of God.  So our future resurrection to spirit is not just simply a glorification to that of a glorified spirit being; it's to take on the mind of God, the character of God – that is the glory of God.  His personality, His mercy is glorious - isn't it incredible?  His mercy is His glory.  Just because something’s bright, you can look at the sun and blind yourself, that's bright, true? But that's just a physical glory that you see; God's glory is much more, God's glory radiates from Him, it's His spirit, it's His character, it's His love towards us; that is glorious.  How can you love somebody that hates you?  That's glory, we should know that.  Someone hates your guts that much and you can still think positively, outgoing concern and have good desires for them; that's pretty glorious.  Well only God can do that of course, we can't do that.  We will think revenge – natural carnal mind.  Someone really hates you and has a go at you, it's pretty hard to switch it off, you know, hope the bus hits him - true?  It's hard.  But God in His mercy, patience, kindness and gentleness knows He's got a perfect plan and that's the way it is at the moment, but God will offer mercy, give them a calling: that's glory.  So when you often read scriptures, when you come across the word 'glory' just remember there's more to just the physical manifestation of glory.  The true glory of God is His personality, His character, the way that He thinks which is love; it's just continually out-flowing concern for His creation.

2 Peter 1:17 - For He received from God the Father honour and glory, when such a voice came to Him from the excellent glory, This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.  So here is God affirming something positive.  Verse 18 - And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.  So there were witnesses to this because they heard it, they actually heard this voice and this of course was at the transfiguration; with the manifestation they saw a vision, they heard a voice.

We often think of Mr. Armstrong as an apostle of God, which is correct of course – one sent forth to preach the gospel of the Kingdom of God.  God worked through His Church to tell the world why man was placed on the earth and the purpose for his existence through Mr. Armstrong.  The reality and the true witness, the evidence, the record is that people did not choose to believe what they heard.  Now ‘the Plain Truth' went out to millions of people, but to really believe something, you have to put it into action, you have to be a doer.  That requires faith. Faith is living what you believe; you've got to hear it, believe it, now you have to live it.  It takes character, it takes the mind of God to begin to implement those things.  They refused to believe the good news of the future government of God, but soon God will use that information that was given to them – a great blessing they had.  They may not have been called at that time, but the information is there and God will use that.  So Mr. Armstrong as an apostle of God is a witness to an era because that era lasted the lifespan of Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong.  He is a witness to the whole era, he’s the only one, other than his wife, that can tell you what it was like in 1933 when God started to work with him more and the years he went through.  You know, I think it might have been even a little earlier than that.  But he can tell you all those things, he can bear witness, give record of what it was like to have a group of men around you that were called and had God's spirit, that turned away.  He is going to be able to tell you what it was like.  We know roughly what it was like, but he’s going to be able to get up and tell you.  And what it's like to have an organisation so big, with so many ministers, what it's like, what’s the witness/the testimony, what’s the evidence; he is going to be able to get up and tell that.  And people are going to listen because he lived it and he saw it all.  We haven't been through that; some have been through parts of that, but he went through all of that whole era, he went through that era, it's incredible.

Matthew 24:14 - And this gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in all the world, as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.  So we entered the end once that role that Mr. Armstrong was in was fulfilled, that God lived through him, that God did the work; it wasn't the work of Mr. Armstrong, it was the work of God on earth: to bear witness, to give a record to all the world that the Kingdom of God is coming, that Jesus Christ is coming back; God is sending His Son to rule this earth for a thousand years with 144,000. That record, that witness has gone out, but of course the world didn't want to hear it.  And of course to a degree they can't.  Unless you are called, you can't fully understand.  The evidence is that man will not listen to the truth.  Now as I said before, we can bear record, testify that that’s true because I am sure you've had friends and other people where you've shared the truth and they’re not going to listen, they’re not able to.  The evidence is man is still the same for the last six thousand years, that's man’s nature.   And in the Millennium, man, woman and child will have the same nature as Romans 8:7.  It's going to be easier because you're not going to have Satan with all the filth that's broadcast to the mind, so it's somewhat easier, but there’s still a battle that is going to go on because selfishness is our base nature.  We love ourselves more than anything else, more than God; we love ourselves more than God, that's what a calling is about.  The evidence is that man hates and refuses to obey God and we are now witnesses to that fact; we have lived it, we've experience it with friends, people, family - true?  We can give faithful witness to that very fact, but in doing so we bear record and give evidence of what we are like in our natural state.  We don't condemn them or judge them, we know they can't hear, but we should also be humbled to know that, “Hey, we’re just like them.”  In actual fact, going back in time – worse: worse in some areas.

Let’s look at John the Baptist – John 1:6 - There was a man sent from God, so John the Baptist came for a purpose, it was planned, it was in God's plan, whose name was John.  Talking about John the Baptist.  This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through Him might believe.  So John the Baptist was sent to bear record, to testify of the light – of Jesus Christ who was that light.  Verse 8:  He, John, was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness, which is 'to testify', of that Light.  That was the true Light from the Father, it came from God the Father, which gives light to every man, over a time period, coming into the world.  So over time there is only one process that everyone’s got to through.

Verse 10 - He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, or 'by' Him, and the world did not know Him. Talking of God because Jesus Christ had God's mind, so when you relate it to Jesus Christ, you are relating to a being that had the mind of God: that could only think a certain way and could not sin in the sense that God, and the mind and the capacity of God doesn't think that way.  Christ did not have the natural, carnal mind that is hostile to God and not subject to the law; He had the opposite.  He had God's mind which is none of what we just talked about.

Verse 9 - That was the true Light from the Father which gives light to every man, in time that is, coming into the world.

Drop down to verse 11 - He came to His own, talking about the Jewish nation, and His own did not receive Him.  But as many as receive Him, now to receive Jesus Christ, firstly you just don't believe that He existed, you believe what He said, which the world refuses.  They’ll tell you the story about His existence, but will refuse to believe what He said.  One thing He said, “If you believe me, you will keep the commandments, keep my Father's commandments.”  Well – logic: it's so frustrating sometimes, isn't it?  But then, we’re so blessed just to have that understanding.

Verse 12 -  For as many as receive Him, which is 'believe' Him once they are called is the only way that you can, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:  in other words we believe what He said, we believe He was the anointed Messiah.  Who were born, or 'begotten' not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, or our own efforts, nor of the will of man, but of God.  And, John 6:44 – No one can come to God unless they are called.  No one can come to Jesus Christ except unless they’re called.

Verse 14:  And the word, the 'logos', became flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory,  so we've beheld God's glory, well Jesus Christ wasn't bright you know, in the sense of light, was He?  But we beheld God's glory because it was the mind of God that you could see, you could see God because of the way Jesus Christ was; that's how you can behold His glory, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as the only Begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.   So if you want people to behold your glory, just going ahead, if you want people to see your glory, which is not your glory, which is really the glory of God in you; we are going to have to have God and Jesus Christ living His life in us.  Because they will see love, gentleness, meekness, mercy; that's what they’ll see; faith, they will see it.  They will see that you don't get upset when somebody says you’re a nut and you’re a lunatic; that you’ll be calm, you won't justify yourself.  “No I'm going to the Sabbath, that's right, yeah.  I'm going to the Sabbath today, it's God's day.”  They’ll see it and they’ll remember it.

I remember going back in times past, Chris and myself, we used to laugh often because every morning you would get up and get in your suit.  Well of course, where we were from, you get in a suit, you're either doing two things:  You're probably going to work or you’re going to the races.  And because it was Saturday every time we'd get in the car, we used to joke and say, “Hey, we're going to the races,” because the neighbours used to think, “Oh, they go to the races every week!”  Not knowing what we were really doing.

The glory Christ had was the very mind of God.  That is the glory that Jesus Christ had, it was the very mind of God.  The glory that He has came from the Father, it was God's mind.  The glory we can show is one mind, unity; we can show glory to others here at this venue by being of one mind.  The way we behave ourselves to others that don't understand the way we are but we can demonstrate the glory of God in us by the way we act.  His glory was that He was full of grace, favour, true grace and truth.  So the way we can reflect glory to others is God living in us because we believe the truth and we carry the truth; the glory we have is the truth dwelling in us, God living in us.

Verse 15 - John bore witness to Him, Christ, and cried out, saying, This was He of whom I said, He who comes to me is preferred before me: pointing to Jesus Christ, for He was before me.  He was before John as far as the plan of salvation was concerned.  Jesus Christ is the foundation of God's plan; that's how God knew that He would take a physical man and give them the opportunity for salvation.  The problem with man is that man doesn't think he needs saving, that's the problem with man.  Man's mind, he doesn't think he needs saving, “I'm doing pretty well as I am, really, I don't need saving.  What are you going to save me from?” We’re going to be saved from ourselves, from our own mind, the way we think.

A couple of more scriptures.  Revelation 1:5 - So we know that John the Baptist bore witness, can give evidence, testify of Jesus Christ and that's why God sent him to do that.  Revelation 1:5 - This is part of the introduction.  And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, so Jesus Christ was a faithful witness, He testified, He bore record of His Father; exactly of what His Father was like.  He reflected His Father in everything that He did, so that's how He bore witness; the evidence was obvious, you could see it – if you were called and had God's spirit you could see it.  So Jesus Christ is, the faithful witness, the first born from the dead, well we know that Jesus Christ is the first born, he is the first to enter Elohim and soon 144,000 will follow.  But Jesus Christ in God's plan was always going to be the first, He was going to be the head of the Church and it's through His sacrifice that God created the plan, so that we could be saved – going to have salvation.  But it's all through God's plan of salvation, through the Sabbath and the Holy Days, but it's all through Passover.  It’s all through Passover, and without Passover you can't be saved, it's impossible.  And that's another proof that if you want to look at the world's churches...do they keep Passover?  Can't be saved, it's impossible; you can only be saved through Jesus Christ, you can only be saved through Passover.  And accepting that sacrifice and understanding it and keeping it and believing what He said about how you would keep the New Testament Passover.  We have to do what it says in Corinthians, you've got to do that.  If you don't, well then it’s a lie and no lie is of the truth, so it's all pointless.

Revelation 3:14 - To the angel of the church of Laodicea, so it's talking to us, brethren, Laodiceans, that's what we are.  Our disposition, as all mankind is, but in us in particular is Laodicean; it's a lukewarmness that can overtake us quite easily.  Complacency with the truth is a good way to put it – to become complacent with the truth, complacent with the Sabbath, “Oh no, we got another Sabbath service.”  Terrible to think we could get in that state of mind, but it is very possible and I know because I have been there; so I can testify that that is what it's like.  That you can get into that frame of mind at different times and when I was in United, you'd have to say, ”Oh, its tough work going to Church today.”  Only because we knew we were going to get into a debate about the truth and come out more stressed than when you went there.  It wasn't restful, put it that way, there wasn't any unity.

To the angel of the church of Laodicea write; These things says the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, so Jesus Christ is a faithful witness... in other words, it's exactly as given, it's the truth.  And a true witness – there's no exaggeration, no to the left; no to the right.  What God has given to the Church is what we should be faithful with; we shouldn't add our opinions to what we think.  Now there's a tendency, myself included, that you have to guard certain things – assuming, maybe, possibly.  Just deal with what we’ve got – we’ve got 50 Truths and in those 50 Truths, some of them are so detailed that we’ll never learn them in a lifetime.  It's called the Sabbath and the Holy Days; to understand them alone and their full meaning is going to take a lifetime.  Now often after six months in God's Church we think we know the 50 Truths; I can guarantee you we don't.  I've been around twenty seven years and I don't.  I know them academically, but do I live them?  Do I really know them?  I could go into one Truth and you could go on and on and on, just the Sabbath; you could speak for weeks just on the Sabbath.  To truly understand the Sabbath, the beauty of the Sabbath and what God is really doing, it's unbelievable.  So we grow in that, that's what it's about; different levels, growth, growth, growth.  And we become a mature person at some point, at some point in time we'll become mature in where it is that God can turn around and say; “Now I know you.  I know this is where I needed to get you.”  And everyone’s at different levels.  No two people are necessarily at exactly the same level because everybody has been created for a purpose; to fit into a spiritual temple.

Soon the 144,000, but others into another part of the temple, but it's a different purpose to be fulfilled: because Noah didn't know what the apostle Peter knew or Paul.  But he’ll fit in to that temple perfectly and God will give him what he needs to fulfil in that, to know what he has to do, what his role is.  But boy, he is going to be a brilliant witness, isn't he?  Noah.  And we'll go up and say, “Oh Noah, I know what it was like when people turned against you and mocked you.”  And he can say, “You reckon?  You reckon you know?  You got a couple of hours?  Let me tell you...everybody, yeah I know how it was.  Do you know what it is like to build a boat in the middle of nowhere? Do you know what that's really like?”  We haven't got a clue really, have we?  But he can testify, he can bear record; we can call on him in the future and say, “I think you need to go there and explain what it was really like.”  And people will say, “Ah, that’s Noah.  Yep, he's the one, we know he's telling the truth.  He’s a faithful witness because he was there and he saw it all.”  That's our role, brethren, as well, that's what we’re leading to.  So Jesus Christ is the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God, or the beginner of the act or cause of the creation, first to enter Elohim - what the promise of God is to us, to enter Elohim.

The apostle Peter is also called a faithful witness and I will just turn to that one.  That's 1 Peter 5:1 - I hope you’re seeing the potential of your role.  Now the reason I said 'potential' is because we have to be faithful witnesses, we have the potential to turn back, to be a false witness; but we have the potential to be a faithful true witness as well and that choice is ours to make on a daily basis.  So the potential that we one day will be faithful witnesses for God, that’s what we are called to; but whether we want to fulfil it is our choice. God is not going to force us into that.  In 1 Peter 5:1 - The elders who are among  you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Jesus, and also the partakers of the glory that will be revealed.  Isn't that a beautiful scripture?  That he knew that he was there for a witness of the sufferings of Jesus Christ.  We know that Peter is going to be able to one day manifest, to be able to tell people what it was like.  And you know one of the things that has burned in Peter's brain?  What is it like to deny your Saviour three times?  What was it like to go through that experience?  And then to hear that cock crow... whew...It happened to one person where that hurt!  Well, brethren, as you go further in the Church, you will come to understand that we deny Christ more than three times.  We deny Christ often but we don't recognise it; we don't recognise it.  When we fail to love, we deny Christ living, dwelling in us live.  When we sin we deny Christ, we cut Him off and God the Father from living and dwelling in us.  So we think, “Oh, look at Peter!  You know, whew...look at Peter!”  Hey, want to look at the grief in Laodicea!  Whew!  Can you understand what I am saying?  We can bear record of these things, I know what it’s like to sin; I sin.  I know what it's like to have to go to repent to say, “I'm here again, I've done the same thing, I'm doing it right now, it's a mess.”

We know that, so we can testify to people in the future about these things.  What it's like to be called, what it's like to have Satan as an influence because soon there’s going to be a group of people that are not going to know in a certain age period, what it's like to be bombarded by satanic thoughts and satanic images.  So that nowadays someone says a word out of the blue, reasonably meaningless, but to you, because of past sins that we've done through different things that we’ve looked at, or heard, or done; it burned something and your thoughts start racing off to the left.  You think, “What am I doing thinking about this?”  And the person just said one simple word and another person sitting there doesn't know that you’re having this massive battle.  They think everything's normal.  So we are witness to that, we know, but soon, people are not going to know what it's like to have a spirit being in the bombardment of all the filth; they are not going to know.  We can testify, give record, tell them what it was like and they’ll get a bit of an understanding of what it’s like.  So Peter can give evidence of Christ upbringing because he was there, he saw it, he witnessed it.  He can testify to the truth of the matter.  He's going to be able to tell you exactly what it was like.  Exactly.  Paul can also testify that Jesus Christ worked with him, he is going to tell us what happened exactly and how it happened.  He can bear record to it truthfully, faithfully and we will get an exact account of that at some point in time.

There's also aspects of scripture, in 1 John 5:9 that I want to cover before continuing much further here. In 1 John 5:9 - If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which He has testified of His Son.  Verse 10 - He who believes in the Son of God has witness in himself.  I'll read that again.  He who believes in the Son of God, and what He says through the Church, has witness, or has 'evidence', in himself.   So it's in us, so that's how we can tell whether God is with us, or God is in somebody because they bear the truth in them.  They live the truth and the only way to live the truth is if God is in you.  And often people have said, “When you meet someone new, how do you know whether God’s there?”  The easy answer is they begin to believe, they don't always believe because they haven't heard everything, but they believe what I believe – pretty straight forward formula really, isn't it?  Because this scripture is fulfilled.  He who believes in the Son of God, or believes what He says as well, everything about God's plan, has witness the evidence is in him.  So I know that God is working with that person, drawing that person because they believe what I believe.  But if they throw up an argument and want to debate something, obviously they don't believe what I believe; therefore we might as well stop here and give them a bit more time.  So a reasonably easy formula to use, in time you see it because you see God living in them.  How do you see God living in somebody?  Because they believe the truth and they live the truth – the evidence is obvious that God is with that person.  The evidence is obvious that you here are called and converting and have God's spirit, otherwise you wouldn't probably be here.  You'd be somewhere else, more than likely; that's the evidence, the proof, the witness.  You know, when people pack up and travel for two days to come to a Feast site or travel four thousand kilometres to come to a Feast site and people ask the question, “Who are they?”  I can tell you they are God's people because the length that people go to worship God on a commanded assembly is amazing and it is only God's spirit that does that.  It's God's spirit, the conviction, the belief, God living in them; that's how it is, you can see it.  You can see God in people by the way they are, the way they act, their love for God.

So we believe that Jesus Christ is our Passover.  We believe when Christ said you are to love Him and the way you show love to Him and to God is by keeping His commandments.  It's like love for the brethren, scripture is very, very clear that we've got to be careful that we’re not liars because scripture clearly says and God says that, ‘If you love me, you’ll love the brethren.'  So you can't turn around and say, “Well, I love God, but boy, you know (I’ll say Peter because there’s so many of them)... but Peter's a real problem, you know?  I've got a real issue with Peter.”  And you say you love God?  But God says that, “You’ll love Peter because I’m dwelling in him, he is Mine!  You shouldn't be judging and criticising My servant!  What right do you have to judge My servant.  He's not your servant, he's Mine!” Shame on Wayne to judge Peter.  Shame on Wayne!  Who do I think I am to pull down God's servant?  God knows what He’s doing with His people; He knows what level they’re at and where He’s trying to mould them and what lessons they have to learn.  We need to be careful we don't judge God's servants – the commandment is that we are to love each other.  Outgoing concern to the benefit of others, sacrifice the self to have unity; we don't agree on every single thing in the world, but we all believe the 50 Truths.  So that's how you can tell whether God’s dwelling in someone in God's Church because they love the brethren.  Isn't it beautiful?  They love the brethren.  That's how you can tell God's with them.  That's their glory because God's living and dwelling in them.  Their minds are changing, that's their glory, it's the very mind of God.  So we have to believe God and the evidence should be obvious in us.

Verse 11 - And this is the testimony that God has given us, eternal life and this life is in His Son. With God in Christ.  So this is the evidence, this is the record that God has given us of a down-payment on eternal life, isn't that beautiful?  God has given us a down-payment.  Some may ask, “Why Two Witnesses at the end?  Why not one?” Why two?  Well, from man's point of view we're going to look at Deuteronomy 17:6 because God does everything in perfect order and there’s reasons behind everything, always is.  God does nothing without deep spiritual meaning.

So in Deuteronomy 17:6 - Whoever is deserving/worthy of death shall be put to death, now we are all worthy of death, all of mankind is worthy of death because of sin.  We sin, and the penalty we deserve  because of our actions, is death; we deserve death, God owes us nothing.  If we want to sin because of our selfishness, we deserve death.  So, Whoever is deserving of death, that's the whole world out there that is in ignorance, okay?  We are worthy of death until baptism and when we sin, we are worthy of death again, but we can go to God the Father through Jesus Christ to have our sins forgiven; to have the death penalty removed from us, that's the process God put in place.  Whoever is worthy of death, or deserving of death, shall be put to death on the testimony of two or three witnesses; so it required the evidence or the record of two or three witnesses. People that could truthfully testify to a matter.  I hope that helps you answer the question of why we have Two Witnesses that came through a period of time of Philadelphia and the era of Laodicea because they can testify to the world; lots of things can be testified.  And through it all mankind  doesn't change.  And the best way that you can testify about a matter is you've got to live through it - true?  So we should be able to testify about how bad man is and the mind of man is because we see it because we have that same potential.  So I can testify to them that mankind is sick.

“You can't say that!”

“Yes I can.”

“How can you say that?”

“I'm a man.”

We can bear record only through God's power, the power of God's spirit.  All mankind is worthy of death because of sin.

God has provided Two Witnesses at the end-time; they can testify, give evidence, bear record of what man is like and that God is true to His word.  That's what we testify, we testify that God is true to His word.  Deuteronomy 28, that is exactly true and what is written in the book of Revelation; God is true, all men are liars, but God is true.  The witness is God is true to His word.  Mankind has been warned and there will be witnesses to the warning, we are that witness.  I can bear record of the warning.  The book '2008 – God's Final Witness' is true.  In 2008 there was a final witness by God, '2008 – God's Final Witness.'  It's finished, that witness was finished there, God presented the facts like He did when we went to Deuteronomy in the beginning, I testify, bring heaven and earth against you today.  Well that’s what the book is about, “I testify, this is what’s going to happen.  You need to repent!  The religions of the world are false.  No lie is of the truth.  You need to start keeping the Sabbath, obeying God.  You need to repent, you need to change, you need to seek God.”  That's the witness, it's already gone out, it's there.  So someone can't come up to God and say, “Yeah, but you didn't tell me.”  No, from the beginning God has told us; it started with Adam and Eve.  Adam and Eve failed to teach their children.  From the flood, Noah, it was a witness; “This is the way to walk, walk you in it.”  Man is without excuse, you can't bring up an excuse.  There’s witnesses to what God has done and the power of God throughout the history of man and we’re so blessed at this end-time to have been called to witness a certain period of time for God.  Nothing that we do, just that we are doing it for God because God chose us to do that.

Death and destruction is coming, just as God stated in the book '2008 – God's Final Witness.'  It's stated, it's on record, it's there for those that want to respond, that God calls to see and even those that don’t...that aren't called will see it, but may not respond to that aspect of it.  It is time for people to repent, to turn and obey God's voice.  God's word will be proven to be true by a multitude of witnesses and we are those witnesses.  We’re going to see it fulfilled; that God is true and all men are liars.  We’re going to see that fact.  So we are witnesses today.

Do we see the importance of being a faithful witness?  And I add the word 'faithful' because we can be witnesses, but not be faithful; we need to be faithful.  And the only way to be faithful, to have faith is that  God has to give it, God's got to live in us, it's got to be God doing it.  It's got to be God's mind in us that bears record, tells the truth, faithful witness.  Do we see the importance of being called at this time to be witnesses for God?  So it's a huge responsibility really, if understood.  Some of us have been a witness for Philadelphia, some of us actually have been a witness in Philadelphia, can talk about those things.  Some are a witness of the apostasy and the falling away, others aren't witnesses for that, weren't called for that purpose.  But there are some in this room that can tell you what it was like to go through the apostasy.  I'm not sure whether you know, but God provided a witness on the day the 1st Seal was opened when Mr Tkach gave that sermon.  There is a member of the body of Christ, the true Church of God, the Church of God – PKG at this time organisationally; there was somebody in that audience.  Isn't that staggering?  That God would provide faithful witnesses to that exact day?  There were two witnesses there, people in God's Church.  I find that quite astounding when I realise what God is doing with us, we are to bear witness.

So someone can come along and say, “Oh no, people didn't get up and walk out on that day when he gave that sermon.  That third didn't leave...”

“Oh yes they did.”

“Oh no, no, they didn't doctor the film later, they didn't edit it all so that they could change it because it was too strong and people got upset.  Oh no, no, no, they didn't do that.”

“Yes they did.”

We have two people as eye-witnesses who heard and saw what happened; that is all to God's glory, not to those people, to God's glory!  So anybody in the future wants to come along and say, “What happened on that day?”

“Excuse me, there they are over there.  You want to get a faithful true record of what happened?”

And maybe one day some of you might get that opportunity to ask them.  I find that quite astounding myself, I am quite moved by that, that God has provided that – on that day, it is amazing.  That's just to God's power - true? ...God's glory and we are without excuse in the end.  People are going to be without excuse.  Some are a witness of living in Laodicea and soon we’re going to enter a new period and they’ll be witnesses to that.  Some are a witness of being called in a set period of time and being awakened.  We've got people in this room that can bear witness:  Peter, myself, Ron and Laura, Chris and Peter Kay, there's a few.  If you want to know what it's like to be asleep...Derek...to be awakened after being asleep.  You may not fully understand what that’s all about, well, there‘s people here who will give you faithful witness to what it was really like.  And they’ll tell you humbly because it was a very humbling experience; it was, so you take no credit to yourself, that's what you learn out of it.  And it's to God's power, the glory is to God's power.  And you do get to the point where you say, “You know if God can do that with me... what can God do?  He can do anything!”  The power of God.

We are now a witness of living in Trumpets.  We are a witness of living in Trumpets and I hope you see that.  We are going to live in Trumpets because when it is finished, people aren't going to be able to live in it; people that are born in the future – it’s fulfilled, it's done, a witness to the return of Jesus Christ.  Millions will be called to be a witness of the reality of the Sabbath, the thousand year period; it's a reality of the Sabbath and what the Sabbath’s all about.  They are going to live it, they are going to witness it, they are going to live through it.  We too can give evidence, testify that God and Jesus Christ live in us and the way we do that is the way we live, the way we act, the way we function.

I'll wind up here and just get you to turn to one scripture in 2 Thessalonians 2:13 - But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation,  you know, we were called for the purpose of salvation.  The gift of life itself is a marvellous gift, but to be called at this time for the purpose of salvation: God chose you individually and personally, God thought on you.  God thought on you personally – to want to have a relationship with you.  And the only way that He can do it is to drag you, drag me so that He can then start to communicate with the mind, so that He can live and dwell in us, so that we can have a relationship with Him.  ...through the sanctification by the spirit, so you’re set aside by the spirit; the very power of God living in you separates you from the world, it separates us from the Church that was scattered because God's spirit does not dwell there because they don't have the truth.

So if you say... people say, “I've got God's spirit.”

And I say, “Do you believe the 50 Truths?”

“No.”

God's not there.  Logic.  You've got to be set aside by the truth, by God's spirit, God's spirit gives you truth, dwells in the mind; that's how you get it.  And belief in the truth:  Isn't that a beautiful scripture?  Belief in the truth.  So you can hear the truth, but you've got to believe it and then you've got to implement it ...to which He called you by our gospel, the good news, salvation, the return of Christ, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.  So we are called to obtain the glory that God the Father has given to Jesus Christ.  Two parts – spiritual glory, but also the glory of having God and Jesus Christ live and dwell in us, that's the true glory of any human.  If they have God's spirit, that is the glory, nothing of our selves; just the mind of God is the glory of God.

So brethren, I hope you see the importance of your calling.  There's a scripture in the Bible that says, 'Do you see your calling, brethren?'   And if we’re not careful, it can be seen as almost selfish, shallow – but it's not.  We are called for many a reason and the main reason is that God can live in us to the benefit of others; it's not just about our saving our so-called necks.  It's about God living and dwelling in us to the benefit of others; to build others up, to encourage, to love, to nurture.  That's the beauty, that's the glory that we can portray.  So do we see our calling?  We’re called to be witnesses, witnesses for God, not of ourselves, but witnesses for God.  It is only by God's mercy that we have actually been called to be witnesses, witnesses for a future Sabbath are going to be called, people are going to be called for that.  But we have been called now to be faithful witnesses but in the end the decision to be a faithful witness requires effort and zeal.  It requires believing God and then acting on faith.

~~~end

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