Ordinations and Baptisms – Pt. 1

Ron Weinland

Jan. 2, 2010

Today we’re going to follow up on what was covered in last Sabbath’s sermon on the subject of ‘Restoring All Things’.   We’re able to more fully understand that the commission God has given us in this end time is still focused first and foremost upon the Church; and that’s the way it always is because it’s about the Church, because it’s about people coming into the Church, it’s where an individual is able to be begotten of God’s spirit, it’s where the beginning process begins, of the impregnation of God’s spirit until a person can be born into the Family of God and that’s an exciting thing to understand.  So it’s always about the Church, of what God is doing and it has been for a long time now and that is getting greater and greater as we go forward.  So, again, an incredible time that we’re in.

And that which helps to identify that commission that God has given to us, that we’re in right now is really in our name, concerning ‘PKG’ – Preparing for the Kingdom of God, and that’s inspiring to understand that which God inspired a long time ago that’s in names mean a great deal with God and certainly that carries a great deal of meaning to it in ways that we never really fully comprehended.  God is mightily using the Church today to fulfill His purpose in making ready a people, and really, large numbers of people.  I woke up this morning because it is a 3 hour time zone difference from the east coast to here and so instead of waking up at 6:30 or 7:00 in the morning, you wake up between 3:30 and 4:00 in the morning.  It’s harder sometimes out here than it is to go to Europe or to other areas as far as that bit of a time change.  I don’t know why three hours hits us like it does, but it does and anyway... I was going through my mind about a process of baptizing, of what we’re going to be able to do as this continues to come out and what we discuss especially in the February meetings at the end of the month concerning all those who are coming in for those meetings; and thinking about the numbers of people who could be baptized and how this could be done.  I was just going through numbers in my mind about how long it’s going to take and the process and people getting baptized and having hands laid on them and so forth and what it’s going to be and the reality is we are going to have the capacity of baptizing hundreds of thousands of people and if it’s God’s will – into a few million in a very short length of time, and that’s an incredible thing to understand.  So those out there that think about that and wonder how in the world that can be done... it can be done.  So, it will be done if it’s God’s will to accomplish it in that number and that way and I feel fully that’s exactly where He’s leading us.  He’s making ready a people and a large number of people for the return, the coming of His Son; that which God has looked forward to for so long.

We can’t even begin to comprehend that.  Think about it.  Whenever I do, I’m just... I can’t contain, I can’t grasp it all, I can’t conceive of it all – to go back in time, to go back millions of years; billions...? I don’t know how long.  We don’t know, we don’t understand that, we don’t comprehend that.  It’s hard for us to grasp 6,000 years of human history on the earth.  It’s hard for us to grasp a millennial period that’s coming; 1,000 years.  And it’s hard for us to deal with those things as human beings because our lifespan is basically three score and ten – 70 years, and when you’re a teen or in your 20’s, your 30’s, that seems like a long, long time until you get to your 60’s and then it doesn’t seem so long.  All of a sudden your perspective of things begins to change and you realize things are winding down.  And they were from the moment you were born, but we don’t think that way, that life is winding down, it’s beginning a countdown from that point in time.  That’s just the way human life is – physical, temporary human life.  And so to comprehend that God Almighty has had a plan before anything was created – physically or spiritually – before the angelic realm was ever created.  And God created it...that which is in a spirit realm that is described in different places of things you can’t see with the physical eye, God created and made that which can be seen by the spirit world.  I don’t comprehend that because we’ve never been there and so God uses various things to express some of those things to us, to explain some of those things to us but we don’t fully comprehend it.  But to grasp that God has been waiting for so long...because the angelic realm and the creation of the angelic realm was about the Family of God; it’s about everything that’s going to bring to pass a God Family – Elohim.  And we have a hard time grasping those things.  To comprehend that God has been looking forward for so long for the time we’re in right now.  It’s going by like (snap) that with God when you consider eternity, when you consider those kinds of things and so this time is immensely exciting to God and He shares that excitement with us.

God wants to share; He loves to share.  Life, enjoyment of life and the fullness of life really is in the sharing.  It’s in sharing with one another.  And God lets us begin to experience that in life.  It’s the sharing of life that gives life its zest and zing, if you will, the fullness of it.  And so God desires to share with us His plan, His purpose, what He’s working out and those things that are working out at the end- time here, God has looked forward to for a long, long time.  And that’s why such great things are going to take place on this earth – truly great things that God has been preparing for a long, long time; things that there are types of throughout the Bible.  We were talking a little bit about that yesterday; things in the Old Testament, over and over again, that are a type of things that are going to be accomplished and fulfilled in this end-time and all of it zeroing in on this period of time.  It’s absolutely incredible!  ...and then finally the coming of His Son, the beginning, indeed, of the restoring of ALL things as we read last Sabbath in the book of Acts when God begins to restore everything and bring everything into subjection to His Son and then when it’s all said and done, it says ‘everything has been brought into subjection to God’.  It’s an awesome, awesome thing to understand.

And so again here, looking forward to the time of the coming of the Messiah.  The Bible is filled with that message. And then 144,000 to serve in that government that’s coming, to continue in a massive magnification of His (of God’s) work on earth to bring millions and billions into His Family.  And it all begins with the Church – always does; always has; always will in that respect on a spiritual plane.

The sermon today is entitled: Ordinations and Baptism – Pt. 1. ‘Ordinations and Baptism’ because there have been some questions out there and that’s good because God leads us to a point of when we come up to a subject, when He’s leading us into various things, there are questions that naturally come to mind and He stirs up those things within us and sometimes gives us a little bit of a preview in our mind, in our thinking of something He plants/puts into our mind – and then builds upon that and magnifies that and makes it more fulfilling because He’s sharing with us.  And so it becomes more exciting to us. And so we have these little windows of things that come into us and we begin to see, but it’s not all clear.  And then when God gives the sermon, then it starts coming together in a greater way and then that creates more questions and excitement.  And that’s what God does with us; and He’s going to continue to do that.  So this is Part 1, we’ll probably have a couple more sermons in this particular series explaining some of the things we’ve been discussing here of where God’s taking us, of what we’re doing... especially as we go into and talk about some of the things that go back to John the Baptist and what it means to have a baptism unto repentance, and then why God inspired that and what that’s leading to toward the end-time here and a great picture of everything that God’s bringing together.  It’s truly inspiring.  So we’ll go into some more of those things and also some of the things we’ve covered in the last week or so.

I want begin this by backing up a little to consider those things that God has been bringing us to in understanding of His purpose at this time, if you will, as it all fits together in a way that can only be seen and understood through the power and spirit of God in our lives – because it’s a spiritual thing.  We can only understand these things by God’s spirit.  The world and even the church that was scattered hears some of these things and it just becomes more and more foreign to them; it becomes more unreal; it becomes weirder to them because they’re so far removed from time and from what they were left with and these things are so incredible they can’t even begin to comprehend.  What an incredible thing that we see it so clearly as God continues to lead us.

So again, a very great time, very great time indeed; for what God is accomplishing here is indeed great – greater than we can even begin to fully comprehend at this point.

First, let’s consider a great reality about those things that God has already restored in the Church.  We need to back up here and put everything in perspective in this particular series of sermons that we’re going to cover and if you understand the meaning of the words that we covered last week about ‘restoring all things’, because that has specific meaning in the Greek language in how it was used as well and specifically here talking about ‘restoring or making ready, to build or to rebuild’.  All these things that enter into the meaning of what God is doing at this time in leading up to the coming of the Messiah to rule and to reign on the earth and these things that God has been doing over the past several years of rebuilding, of restoring, of giving us those things, of making ready: because it’s all about making ready – ‘PKG’ – Preparing for the Kingdom of God.  That’s what God is doing in a very powerful way, and so all this preparation that is coming, as is coming to us; that God is giving to us because of the coming of His Son as King of kings.

A couple of Sabbaths ago reference was made to 3 truths that were still remaining at the time of the end of Sardis.  We know that history very well; 3 truths that were still in the Church when Mr. Armstrong was called, when he was beginning to be worked with – and then we spoke of how God restored 18 more truths, very foundational, basic, needful truths to the Church during the era of Philadelphia. Then we understand that an additional 29 more truths were added during the last portion of Laodicea, not during the first portion, but the latter portion of Laodicea once the Church had been re-established again as we talk about, really re-established on Pentecost of 1998.  And so again, 29 more truths since that period of time.  That’s an awesome thing to understand: in such a short time what God has poured out upon us – it truly is, and indeed things are accelerating and things have been accelerating for a long time – and all for a purpose.  God giving us the confidence, the boldness, the strength, the inspiration to be thrust into this period of time so we can do it with greater boldness and inspiration – truly!  And to have a confidence that God wants us to have in strong faith.  That gave us a total of 50 Truths.

Now, what do we do with the additional truths that God has given us?  ...because He’s given additional truths now.  Do you know what they are?  We should obviously and I think of a comment I made some time back when I said something to the effect that I believed that 50 Truths was all that God was going to give us – to Laodicea, to the Church, and specifically meaning and talking about that time of Laodicea as well, and referring to those 29 additional truths.  But it’s interesting... do you know when the last truth was given?  While we were still in Laodicea, because I’ve made it very clear God inspired us to understand that Laodicea came to an end.  The era of Laodicea came to an end in God’s Church; and we understand the timing of those things.  We are no longer in Laodicea, as I’ve made comment concerning some time back, once the sealing of the 144,000 took place it was completed.  God’s work for the first 6,000 years of what He was doing in preparing the government of God that would return with Jesus Christ to rule the earth – that was complete and all that God had been doing for 6,000 years was complete.  And then at that point in time a new phase, or an additional phase, or a continuing phase, if you will, concerning the Church continued on obviously because of those whom God is calling and so forth and God had called even before this period of time, but it was sealed.  All that were going to be a part of that government, all that were going to be a part of that structure.  It’s an awesome thing to understand.

I think of building because I love construction; I love things about building and architecture and I think of the meticulousness, the power of God Almighty when you look at the universe out here and you see what we do in a limited way; and everything is in such order that He creates.  Then you think about God’s Family, and when you build something you can get it down to, if you were to really do a meticulous job on it, down to every nail that goes into a building of what it would require to put every stud in a frame and the kinds of nails and so forth.  And you can become quite meticulous in the inventory, if you will, of a particular building.  How much more God Almighty?  How much more God Almighty when He’s building something, a spiritual temple in the way that He is and He moulds and fashions things within it.

That’s why I become more and more in awe of what God is doing in our lives because... we’re here because of God!  We’re not here because of anything we’ve done.  We have to respond to that, yes, we have to make choices, yes – but even in that God brings us to where we are.  If He didn’t none of us would be here today!  There’s not a one of us that would be here because of how well we’re doing things, or how great our intellect is, or our insight, or our faith, because God gives us that as well.  He moulds and fashions that within us, He brings us to where we are.  We have to yield ourselves to the process, we have to respond and cry out to God for those things, but nevertheless God makes us who we are – meticulously so and we’re going to be in awe one day when we come to find out how long and in what conditions and what situations God continued to work with us to mould and fashion each one of us to fit in the temple.  And that process doesn’t stop.  It doesn’t stop with the 144,000, He’s still doing it.  It’s just getting greater now and it’s going to get much greater because when you start talking about millions coming into the Family, coming into the Church – they’re all going to begin to be moulded and fashioned for a place that God is building.  He’s building it.  God Almighty is building it!  And it’s a small thing for Him in one respect to do those things because of His great power, but it takes years to work with us, to mould and fashion things within us and we become fulfilled in that, in the sharing of that – life...with God.  It is so awesome!  ...and it goes beyond our human understanding, but it’s exciting and it’s awesome to be a part of it – it truly is!

We have talked about how the sealing of 144,000 was complete on Trumpets of September 30, 2008 and the sermon about that 50th Truth, thankfully, was given well before Trumpets.  We go back to the beginning of summer in 2008 and God blessed us by being able to hear that sermon early and not having to wait until Trumpets, but it was still given before the close of Laodicea.  So indeed there were only 50 Truths in a very powerful way that God gave all the way through the period of Laodicea.  I find it immensely inspiring to realize now since we’re well into, when you start talking about 1335 days and 1290 days then on November 14th and then 1260 days that began when we talk about the 1st Trumpet of the 7th Seal that was blown on that 1260 days before and the job of two witnesses actually began at that time when we talk about December the 14th of 2008 and I think of an incredible process here that God’s been taking us through when that Trumpet was blown and this signifying a specific time for the Church.  That’s what’s left in man’s age, a specific time of a job to be done, of something God’s going to accomplish.  It’s not Laodicea, it’s a unique time of and by itself in all of human history – truly is – at the end of 6,000 years – that final 1260 days, that final 3½ years before the return of Jesus Christ.

So, again, do we know what those new truths are?  ...because there are 3 specific truths we’re going to focus on here first today and those having to do, again, with a process of what God is doing that fulfills things in this period of time of restoring, of rebuilding, of fulfilling a commission that God has given to the Church.

1. God revealed the identity of the Elijah to come.

It’s just a reality and that is the same as a spokesman of the two end-time witnesses.  As part of this revelation God made clearer that John the Baptist was a ‘type’ of the Elijah to come and that Herbert W. Armstrong was a ‘type’ also of the Elijah to come, but neither one was the fulfillment of the prophecy of the Elijah to come!  And that may cause some a little bit of concern.  I hope it doesn’t cause too much in the Church.  I hope we’re at a point now spiritually where we’re able to see truth is truth, reality is reality and be able to deal with those things.  It is, indeed, what it is.  That expression that some of us have adopted that is becoming a little stronger as we go forward.

This past week I was asked a really good question about all this.  “How could one person have all these titles?”  A prophet, an apostle, one of the 2 end-time witnesses, the spokesman of both, a Zerubbabel, and an Elijah to come.  And I think of how that the apostle John was both an apostle and a prophet, the apostle John was at the end there; he was an apostle and he was a prophet – uniquely so.  Those are positions and responsibilities in God’s government that are part of His and His Sons ordination to a man to accomplish His purpose in the Church and in the world.  That’s what was given to John and that’s, candidly, what has been given to me.  And the function of an end-time witness is a function, it is a responsibility of a job, and of a Zerubbabel and of an Elijah is a fulfillment of specific roles that God has given to one person to fulfill – not to different people – it’s one of necessity the way God has ordered it, the way God has given it to be fulfilled.  And that just happens to be me and I have to be very comfortable with that and I have become comfortable with it now.  In the beginning I wasn’t.  Each time I’ve had to address each one of these I’ve been very uncomfortable – as some of you have been when you were told about some of your responsibility and some of you women then who’ve been notified that you’re going to be elders.  How uncomfortable was that?  What does that feel like?  My wife makes comment now that when we lay hands upon some individuals to ordain them that it’s uncomfortable, but it’s more uncomfortable laying hands upon a woman, for her, because of what we’ve been taught all these years.  It’s been in our mind!  So it’s more difficult just in thinking, and in time it’ll become that it is just the way it is.  It is what it is.  You know?  God has helped me to accelerate in that, in the sense of becoming comfortable.  The truth is the truth.  What God gives is just what God gives.  It’s just a reality that we live with.  No haughtiness, no pride – it’s not about that, it’s about truth and we have to be able to do whatever God gives to us to do and to accomplish.

A very good question about all of these titles.  And as I said, it just happens to be me.  It was never intended that these be separate people, that was never intended by God.  It reveals, candidly, more of the magnitude of the job and the purpose God has given for the end-time and I have, for some time, understood – especially when that book was written and it hit me very powerfully so – the last book.  There’s a lot more to this job in what God is doing than what we can grasp yet.  We really don’t grasp what God is doing.  It’s because God is doing it, and because this is a big thing for God, this is a gargantuan thing in God’s plan and what He’s bringing together and that’s why as a part of the process there, I love what He says in Revelation – people, individuals clothed in sackcloth.  It’s about humility and God gives that humility.  He brings us to be able to deal with reality for the sake of reality; to deal with truth for the sake of truth, and not being lifted up by it whatsoever within the Church or within the world.  Because there are great things coming, awesome things coming.  See, I’ve made comment on it but I don’t know that we fully grasp it.  Far greater things than what was ever accomplished in Moses; far greater things than what was ever accomplished in and through Elijah.  It’s a combination of so many things throughout the Old Testament that God is bringing to a head now.  That’s why there are such profound and powerful scriptures in the Bible about this and it is just a reality.

You might turn over to Zechariah 4 – And maybe we’ll begin to see that even more deeply and if we can begin to understand this more deeply, then we’ll be able to understand again a little more fully the excitement of what every one of us has to be a part of.  EVERY ONE of us in God’s Church right now have awesome things in front of us because the Church right now is at a point in time in what we’re going through that is being magnified by God mightily so and we ALL get to share in this in profound ways!  It is awesomely inspiring, it truly is.  It is great what God is doing and we each have a part to share in this and it is going to be so awesomely inspiring the farther we go forward.

Zechariah 4:1 - Now the angel who talked with me came back, and awakened me, as a man who is awakened out of his sleep, I made comment on this before.  It’s how I had to begin my time.  That’s a reality of what I had to do when God awakened me out of sleep.  I was asleep.  Every one of us at the end-time fell asleep spiritually – every one of us who were a part of Worldwide when the apostasy took place in December of 1994, every one of us was asleep spiritually.  And you know what God had to do?  He had to come along and wake us up out of sleep and so this is where this begins.  ...the angel who talked with me came back, and awakened me, as a man who is awakened out of his sleep, amazing what is said, it’s prophetic. And he said to me, What do you see?  So I said, I am looking, and there is a lamp stand of solid gold, with a bowl on top of it, and on the stand seven lamps with seven pipes to the seven lamps, amazing, through time in the Church, what has fed the Church, what has been there for the Church and seven eras that God gave to the Church, seven periods of time and those things that God gave to the Church through time – those things that are symbolic of particular time periods and so forth that we’ve gone through.  And then notice what else it says...

And two olive trees are by it, one on the right of the bowl, and the other on the left.  And so I answered and spoke to the angel who talked with me, saying, What are these, my lord? Then the angel who talked with me answered and said to me, Do you not know what these are? And I said, No, my lord.  And as we began we had no idea fully where we were; we had no idea what was yet ahead of us.  We didn’t know where God was taking us.  When the Church was re-established on Pentecost of 1998... didn’t have the foggiest idea.  When I had my heart attack and had to have triple bypass in August of 2005, my wife and I discussed about the strong possibility: if I die, I die, but we know the Church goes on.  And God will give to whomever He will the responsibility of carrying things forward.  And we were ready for that.  If it happens, it happens, and then as soon as everything came through all of a sudden God began to reveal things, began to reveal things in the book that was written, ‘2008-God’s Final Witness’ and began to reveal what my job was.  Amazing!  2005: what did we have in 2005?  Incredible, the Feast of Tabernacles that year... what God gave!  Awesome!  ...About Yahweh Elohim and His Son who had never existed until He was born on earth of a physical woman: the Son of God Almighty. He was the Father.  Awesome to understand those things that God opened up for us sermon after sermon after sermon that made a great chasm between us and the rest of the church that was scattered.  Because anyone now that would be awakened and brought back has to acknowledge that truth, has to acknowledge to whom God gave it.  Powerful what began to take place!  And then right after that Feast God had me announce that I was one of the two witnesses.  Second one wasn’t announced for a while, wasn’t even told who it was and finally God even revealed that – not to the excitement of the second witness but hey, whatever is God’s to give is God’s to give and we fulfill it, we yield to it.

And so he said, What are these?  I don’t know my lord, what are they? So he answered and said to me, notice it’s about those two lamp stands, but notice some of the things that are said in between the answer, and some of the things that are covered here.  So he answered and said to me, This is the word of the Eternal to Zerubbabel, Not by might, nor by power, but by My spirit, says the Eternal of hosts. Who are you, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel a plain: it says in King James there ‘you shall become a plain’, but you know those things are added.  There are certain words sometimes that people don’t know what’s being said and so they don’t grasp and comprehend.  Everything is flattened out, that’s basically what it’s talking about – it’s flat, and he shall bring forth the capstone with shouts of, Grace, grace to it.  What is it talking about?  What is the capstone?  There is that which leads up to the coming of the Messiah who is the Head of the Church. I think of that great crystal type of boulder that they used to have on the telecast that came out of the sky and hit the statue of Daniel at the feet, and the entire statue just crumbled.  Talking about the return of Jesus Christ, the coming of God’s Kingdom.  And so, there are things that God had John the Baptist fulfill as a type in preparation for the coming of Jesus Christ the first time; but He wasn’t coming as the Messiah to fulfill the job as the Messiah.  He was the Messiah, but He came as a Passover at that point in time to fulfill that portion of God’s plan, as the saviour of all mankind and yet what’s coming now is immensely exciting to God because now, after 2,000 years, now is the time for Him to come as the Messiah, to come and fulfill the prophesies throughout the Bible.  This is an immensely exciting time for God and He’s blessing us to be more and more excited about what’s taking place and He’s going to accomplish and do mighty things during this period of time.  And they are mighty indeed – Awesome!

Verse 8 - Moreover the word of the Eternal came unto me, saying, The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple; his hands shall also finish it;  Now, when it’s all said and done, Jesus Christ fulfills all.  I hope we understand that.  The fullness, the greatest fullness, the total fullness of everything is accomplished in and through Jesus Christ, but there are some things that are fulfilled ahead of time. There are some things in portions in times that God has as prophecy that are going to be fulfilled ahead of time and this is one of those types of things.  And so again here, there are certain things that are going to be finished and accomplished, and it says... then you will know that the Eternal of hosts has sent me to you. For who has despised the day of small things?  Isn’t that amazing? We used to talk about that a long time ago, and what was being done in Worldwide.  And yet those were really big things compared to what is being done today when you talk about 8 million ‘Plain Truths’ going out every month, millions of booklets going out, the telecasts all over the world, broadcasts all over the world for a long period of time of things that were covered and the growth and the size of the Church at that particular time and now look at us – look at where we are.  Incredible!

And it says, who will despise the day of small things?  It should, when you’re converted and have God’s spirit, you’re inspired by it, you’re dumbfounded by it – to say LOOK at what God is doing and others have a horrible time believing anything like that could be done with a small group of people because it’s not in their minds.  They think you have to be larger, they think the Church has to become much, much greater and that the end-time is a long way away yet because the Church isn’t large like that anymore.  No, God’s doing this with a small amount of people to dumbfound the world.   Because there’s not going to be any pride, nor haughtiness, nor egos, nor greatness of anyone involved.  See, God makes it very clear He is doing this in and through His Son Jesus Christ in the world:  ‘Not by might, nor by power, but by My spirit,’ God says.  HE is doing it.  We yield ourselves to the process and God is going to do great things.  For who has despised the day of small things? for these seven rejoice, to see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel; Amazing!  Truly is amazing what’s being said.  ...these are the eyes of the Eternal, which scan to and fro throughout the whole earth.

I want to have you focus a little bit on that plumb line.  Let’s turn over to Revelation.  We’re going to come back here to Zerubbabel but let’s hold on there and notice what God is saying about Zerubbabel and a plumb line and what this means and prophetically for the end-time. Revelation 11 – the rebuilding, the building, the establishing, the making ready – all the things that fit into that which is contained in the term of ‘restoring all things’ to the degree God is doing it.  Revelation 11:1 – notice what it says – then I was given a reed like a measuring rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there.  Incredible!  Look at us today; you know how we’re measured?  You know how God’s people are being measured?  The identity, the thing that identifies who God’s people are and who are not?  Who is asleep and who is awake?  The truth.  53 Truths now.  That’s what separates, that’s what determines, that’s what measures every person’s life.  That’s why over and over and over again God has inspired me to tell the Church to be at one with the Truths that He has given, to seek to be at one, to go back and review and study those things and have them in your being because they are your strength.  If you understand the truths that are there that are so clear and powerful with God’s spirit, then that will give you greater boldness and confidence to do what you must do, to stand up to what you need to stand up to, to continue to forge forward – even at a time when it might seem rather difficult – where others may throw doubt and questions at you, but you can continue on like you are now without horrifying tribulation on this earth, at a time of peace and have great boldness to know that EVERYTHING is coming to pass exactly the way God wants it to and be bold and strong about it and know that with knowing that comes from God.  Power and strength in the truth.

So again, the method for measuring the temple consists of the truths God has given at this end-time and goes on to say… verse 2 – but leave out the court which is outside the Temple and do not measure it; for it is given to the Gentiles: and they shall tread under foot, tread down, the holy city for forty two months. Interesting.  You know how long 42 months is?  It’s the same period of time – starts from December 14, 2008 and leads all the way up to the return of Jesus Christ in May 2012: 42 months, 1260 days, 3½ years: it’s all there: another way of saying something about the Church and a church that was scattered.  It has very much to do with the church that was scattered and what is able to be measured within the Temple and what treads upon them, if you will, that keeps... there are terms like this that’s used like treading down.  The truths that God continues to give also continues to make a great distinction more and more so within the Church.  And in reality what is taking place here is a judgement upon people’s lives, of their unwillingness to accept what God is giving and what God is making clear.  And each truth that comes along, ever more so, treads down upon the church that was scattered and some in time God will bring through.  God will awaken some and they will be right there as well, because they will accept the truths that God has given and their eyes will be open as some of you who were a part before 1994, before the apostasy, who were baptized as a part of the Church, and have been awakened and that awakening will continue on throughout the time period here that God has given.  But these truths separate and make a distinction and indeed tread down upon people because each one that comes along...can you imagine?  Do you know the things that are being said?  Do you know the feelings and emotions that are out there?  “Oh yeah, now it’s the ‘Elijah to come’.  Oh yeah, now it’s about women being ordained in the Church, wow! How far will they go?”  And yet it’s coming from God and it treads upon them – a greater judgement upon them, a condemnation upon them for not receiving what God is giving.  Incredible: and the truth measures the Temple of God.

Verse 3 - And I will give power to My two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, Same period of time.  There’s a time when it begins, there’s a time when things are given and I think of those things that are being given and I want to share something else with you today. There are several things that have been coming out in sermons that have to do with new truths that have come to the other witness first...and discussed it with me and I know it – see?  And I’ve known that’s how God is working right now to reveal, to show something to the Church.  And then I go and look at it and then God just gives it all – things about Genesis that we’ve never seen to the degree we are now – it’s where it came from –okay?  That’s how God is working and has been for some time.  Awesome!  Some want to call her the silent witness.  No, God is working through her, very powerfully so to reveal truth in the Church and I see it and I understand it and I know what God is doing.  Just as much as when God puts something in my mind at any point in time – I know that and I listen – see?  Because God inspires me to know that’s what He wants for the sake of the Church to see and to understand.

So it says, I will give power to My two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.  See – things that come, things that are given, things that have to do with prophecy as well, things that have to do with inspired interpretation of things that are in the Bible.  She was pretty adamant about some of that on Genesis; so much so that I knew – see.  I knew where it was coming from so I went back and looked and God gave it to me then – see?  And I wouldn’t have gone there... well, I would have if God just gave it to me like He did some of the other things but He didn’t work that way this time, or some of the other things He’s given as well – inspiring!

Verse 4 - These are the two olive trees, and the two lamp stands standing before the God of the earth.  Standing before God – to the whole earth, that’s what it’s talking about – to the earth.  Is that a small thing?  Does God give many titles to describe what He’s doing at this time in something so great?  Absolutely!  Because these are not small things at the end-time – you know?  They’re powerful, they’re mighty, they’re incredible things God is going to accomplish and each and every task and each and every description that is given – things about Zerubbabel, things about Elijah – that are powerful and that’s just the way that God is doing it – okay?  It is a reality.

And then verse 5 - it goes on to say - And if anyone wants to harm them, fire proceeds out of their mouth, and devours their enemies: some crackpots out there who can’t see beyond that which is physical like to say, “Well, has fire come out of your mouth yet – you know?!”  They think it’s going to be physical.  I guess they think it’s like a dragon...I don’t know... how insane people can be.  It’s like this star that was supposed to be over Bethlehem.  It’s as bad as that when people in the world think about this star and they put a star at the top of the tree and they talk about the star and it’s like “How dumb can human beings be?”  To think that there’s a star – stars that are really suns and if they get too close to the earth you’re going to be made – well – nothing – you’re going to evaporate and yet this one star was  supposed to get so close that somehow the rays of it are striking down on this one town, not the whole region, but just on this one town.  It’s hard to think about that without thinking “duh” or something of that nature.  And it is same with people who do things like this, ‘fire comes out of their mouth’ and they don’t understand it’s the words that are spoken, it’s the things that are said that carry with it power and judgement.  That’s what it’s about.

...and if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this manner. Not a small thing...so incredible.  These have power to shut heaven, so that no rain falls on the days of their prophecy: and they have power over the waters to turn them to blood, and to strike the earth with all plagues, as often as they desire.  And so there are those through time, just as they did with Christ, just as they’ve done with the prophets of old, different ones – “well if you are who you say you are, then do this or that.”  It’s not about satisfying their sarcasm and their mocking because nothing changes them anyway, they don’t accept the truth no matter what – see?  So, it’s not about those things; it’s about God’s timing when it is right, when it’s for a purpose  and then things will be accomplished and done but not until then and most things aren’t going to happen until toward the very end – candidly.

Let’s go back to Zechariah.  I don’t need to expound on these things, we should be able to see them clearly, or should be getting clearer for us to see them.  Going back to Zechariah 4:11 –Then I answered, and said unto him, What are these two olive trees, again, it started that way, it went into Zerubbabel, certain things are going to be done, the plumb line, the measuring device that measures and now it’s coming back to these two olive trees, at the right of the lamp stand and on the left? And I further answered and said to him, again, What are these two olive branches that dip into the receptacles of the two gold pipes, from which the golden oil drains? Then he answered me and said, Do you not know what these are? And I said, No, my lord. And He said, These are the two anointed ones, who stand beside, or as it is, before, the Lord of the whole earth... or to the whole earth.  It’s talking about the two witnesses, those things that fit together in that which God is going to accomplish and is accomplishing on this earth.  Yes, a prophet, an apostle, a Zerubbabel, a witness and Elijah to come – there are great things that God is doing.  It’s because of what God is doing.  As God said, ‘not by might, or by power’.  It’s not by our power, or might, or ability, or intellect at all.  It is about God and what God is doing.

So again, a big job with many names – yes, and as God told the Israelites through Moses. “Who shall I say?” Moses asked God.  And God told him “Tell them I Am who I Am.”  One way of expressing it and that’s what God has given to me. It’s like saying ‘it is what it is’ and God has made me who I am; it’s just a reality.

So of new truths in this final end-time era, the first one that God restored is regarding the Elijah to come – that’s a new truth and it’s given at a time that the commission is given; it’s given at a time when Laodicea’s over and we’re now in the final process and those things that God is doing within that commission.  There are going to be truths unique to this time period of this commission and that’s exciting!  ...and inspiring!  This won’t be all, there’s more coming.  This has been an inspiring and exciting thing about what God has given concerning women and how people have treated women through time, for 6,000 years because of a curse, because of sin of two people.  And it’s not just because of them, it’s because every individual on earth chose the same course of life and it’s a consequence of sin - truly is.  The only way of beginning to break that process has been because of people being drawn into the Church and be given the spirit of God to begin to change, and to get away from that because the curse has to do with sin.  And so only when you’re forgiven of sin and you can begin to change what causes sin and repent of those things... but a lot of those things have NOT been repented of in times past in the Church of God!  That God says to husbands, and that God says as well to wives, but see...so much of it has come because of men; it truly has, because of what they’ve chosen to do – see?  ...things that have led women astray, things that have led women from marriage, things that have caused problems in marriage of pushing people away in marriage – see?  And the battles that people have gone through in those things in their life.

There’ll be sermons coming, I’m sure, on some of this because we need to address this wherever we can in God’s Church – all you new people who are being drawn and called, men and women both, to receive this and begin making great changes in your life in your thinking, in your mind because God is preparing a new world, a new age, NEW thinking for people who are going to live in that age – people who are going to think anew, preparing and making ready a people to live right!  Because it’s about FAMILY!  ...and it begins with family and if families are not right then what can God BUILD upon?  And He’s going to begin changing those things speedily in our lives first within the Church, giving more power to do so and so we’ve only seen through a glass darkly in the past 2,000 years and God is blessing us right now to see a lot better, a lot more clearly because the world is going to be changed and taught differently.  People are going to learn a different way in the family, and thank God Satan who has perpetuated the curse will be restrained… you know what the power of Satan is?  Do you know what it says about the power, what the power of Satan is?  SIN!  Because of the ‘lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life’ of human beings we GIVE him power.  That’s what man has done.  He has that power then of deception and power over human beings.  Human beings don’t control their lives in this world!  ...Truly don’t.  God begins to call us and free us from that slavery.  That’s what He says, “Mankind is deep in slavery, has been for 6,000 years,” and God is blessing us to become free.  He starts with the Church and now He’s magnifying that within the Family that we learn great lessons from.

So again, the second truth is that:

1. God is restoring knowledge concerning the rightful place of women in the Family.

This involves the start of the greater removal of the curse laid upon woman from the beginning which was the result of sin.

The third truth that God is revealing and establishing concerns that of:

1. The ordination of women in the Church

Who would have ever thought?  I have more to say later on about this because there’s more to be said about this and about how it’s going to be organized within the Church, how God is giving it to us and what He’s showing us and this process of the soundness and the balance that we’re going to have in our lives, and the order, and to understand things and to rejoice in all that, to be thankful for what God is giving to us.  It is an awesome thing!  This is being revealed in large part through an apostle because it has to do with doctrine, because you can’t go to any scripture in the Bible... you can see a couple of examples that we’ve talked about, some examples about prophets, but you can’t see a structure within in the Church where it’s ordination to be elders, ministerial service within the Church.  So God is giving that.  What an incredible time that God is giving that.  And there’ll be those who could not begin to accept this, it causes a greater wedge, a greater gulf between us and the scattered body out there and yet when God awakens people they will embrace that one and see it clearly; when they’re brought to that kind of repentance and the kind of humility that needs to be there in order to see it.  What an awesome thing!  And to understand what it says there about treading down the church, the temple that was scattered.  That’s what it’s about – still.

So, with all of these things now being stated, let’s begin today by focusing upon new ordinations.  There’s much to be learned in this process as it will also try and put to test the true spirit of all who are in the Church – truly will.  And we need to learn from this because this is powerful and my hope and desire is that everyone has the spirit of God within them to the fullest – to where we rejoice in a true spirit, in a true mind before God to receive what God is giving to us and that it be no trial or test but it’d be that which is just exciting and inspiring and uplifting and fulfilling to the fullest and that requires a closeness with God and the power of God’s spirit in your life – to deal with anything that might resist that, or resist God’s spirit.

It is important to know that this is a time of great judgement within the Church.  I’ve mentioned that before.  This is a time of measuring and of being measured – even with us.  That never stops.  Where are you spiritually? This sermon today is going to help to test that in a profound way, so much so, that it’s akin to sermons that we give around Passover period about putting ourselves to the test, proving our own selves, where we are spiritually in our relationship with God.  And this is going to put some of that to the test.  How much at one are you with God and Jesus Christ and their apostle at this time?  How some of you who are being ordained respond to ordination will determine your value and effectiveness to the purpose God has given/offered you.  You must seek to be clothed in sackcloth spiritually.  That’s so important that we serve God in sackcloth, in humility, to never, Never, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER EVER in any fashion or form allow yourself to be lifted up by a job, by a responsibility that God gives because when that happens, if that happens, it defeats the entire purpose and much will be taken away.  God will not use that!  It’s repulsive to me!  And I know it’s repulsive to the spirit of God.  We can’t do that.  So you have to measure yourself in those things and make sure that nothing like that ever happens in your life.  I’ll just be real candid with you and open about this...this round of talking to individuals, because everyone’s been contacted that’s going to be ordained to this point, some have been ordained and some haven’t – there’s a lot to be ordained yet, but they’ve been notified...and I’ve been very, very pleased at the spirit of humility I’ve seen.  I’ve seen greater humility this time around then I did the first time.  I’m just being open and honest.  Have seen far greater humility now.  That’s exciting and inspiring and anyway...just to make it clear, you know, sometimes people have allowed themselves to be lifted up at times by their ‘importance’.  We are not important.  I am not important.  God is, Jesus Christ is; their purpose and their plan, and we’re blessed to share in whatever God gives to us, but of ourselves, by ourselves, we are not important; and if we allow anything in what we do to ever give that sense to us, in any fashion or form – to where a human being would look down upon anyone else in any fashion or form...because I have lived through that to the point that God has taught the ugliness of such things as seeing it within the Church.  Many of you who were part of the apostasy, you have seen those things within the Church of God and you know how REPULSIVE it is when deacons or elders or ministers or evangelists are lifted up with pride and they look down upon others and the Church is there TO SERVE THEM RATHER THAN THEM SERVING THE CHURCH!  You know what the spirit of shepherding... and instead had become controlling and sheriffing and being lifted up with self importance!  That is so SICK!  So REPULSIVE!  And I say that with all my heart, with all my being because it is – see!  And I hope we all understand that.  God has blessed me to spot those things miles away.

I loathe pride, I loathe self importance, I loathe when people want to take a limelight or a bit of a limelight and receive it from others.  No, we just do the job that God has given to us with no limelight, with not being lifted up, and the only way to grasp those things fully is through the spirit of God – see?  It’s the way we must be, because if we’re not that way...look what happened to the Church!  That’s why we experienced what we did.  Those things are repulsive to God!  He vomited the Church out of His mouth and much of that had to do with the ministry and what the ministry taught in congregations and what they taught in their little circle of ‘power’ with ‘their elders’ and ‘their deacons’ and then that ‘power’ was perpetuated in the Church, a condescending kind of power at times, a controlling kind of power that so many HUSBANDS in the world have exercised in families as well!  ...over their children and over their wives and don’t even know that it’s sheriffing and not shepherding.  And there’s a WORLD of difference between the two.  So it’s a hideous thing for a minister to do, it’s a hideous thing for a husband to do.  To be controlling!  To be condescending!  To not receive his wife as HIS EQUAL IN EVERYTHING in life and to enjoy the fullness of the sharing in that!  I abhor such things!  And God abhors such things!

So if there are areas of repentance that you have to do, I’ll tell you what, you’re in a period of time right now where you don’t want to mess around fighting against God’s spirit in this because He is changing the Church!  He wants us to respond in a great way, to change, to be giving, to sacrifice – that’s what love is about – sacrifice...and God holds that responsibility first to the husband.  Yes, a wife has to reciprocate, yes a wife needs to respond properly, and it does take two, yes indeed.  But I’ll tell you what, it begins with the husband – always, always, always, always, always – okay?  So, please, please, please everyone, understand what God is doing within the Church in these matters and respond to it.

We’re going to have some sermons on these things.  I know God is going to bring these things along because He wants great change in our lives – He truly does!  Each one of us has to examine ourselves; if we’re ordained, and if we’re not ordained; how we think about others in the Church who are or are not.

I want to go through some scriptures here.  We’re going to begin by going through I Peter 5 here today.  The elders who are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:  we do partake of that glory, the glory of God.  When we receive of God’s spirit in our life, the impregnation of God’s spirit, it’s a beginning, it’s the impregnation and we begin to receive a portion of God living and dwelling within us and we in Him and we receive that portion then until we’re fully of that glory in the God Family.  And so He says, also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: Feed the flock of God which is among you, and so it’s about serving, it’s about giving, it’s about sacrifice, it’s about being there for others – especially for all of us who’ve been around the Church for some time.  It’s the excitement to have when someone new is brought along, to be there to talk to them, to listen to their story.  I’ll tell you what; it’s inspiring when you hear the different stories of how God has called different ones, or awakened different ones, and as soon as they’re there each one of us needs to be there to bring them into the Family, to welcome them into the Family...to not sit back on our laurels, to not sit back and relax, to not sit back and just be an observer, but to be a participant, to be involved, to be excited because that’s a part of being excited.  We have to motivate and to inspire by what God is doing!  See?

Feed the flock of God which is among you, whatever has been given to each to do... we all have different responsibilities, just as with ordinations that are coming and taking place – whether it be a senior elder, whether it be an elder, whether it be an associate – there are responsibilities and things to do and yet all of us when in the body... and I’ve mentioned that those who are older, and that because of health and so forth – there are things that are not going to be required or expected of individuals that otherwise would be fully a part of what we’re doing in this area.  Individuals who have fought the fight are blessed to see these things through for a period of time – however much longer that is that God gives to individuals.  What a blessing!  What an awesome thing; to be able to be a part in that respect and to be able to share with new people that come along.  Every one of us can receive each other, just like at the Feast when I made comment about how we can’t allow any one individual to be there by themselves, to be stranded by themselves, to be out there by themselves.  We must  strive to make our rounds, to talk to each other, to include everyone as a part of the Body.  To do our portion and our part wherever we are.

Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight,  whatever that oversight is, whatever has been given, whatever responsibility, whatever need has been given – to do whatever has been given in a right spirit, not by constraint, but willingly;  Service doesn’t require an ordination for that either, of  being there to give to others, to be hospitable, to be kind, to include, to draw people in, to listen, to include them as a part of the Family, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, not for gain, not for something we get out of it and that’s not just about money!  Some people have done those things – you know?  For gain, for whatever they can get out of it – it’s about being lifted up or for the ability of supposedly being able to maybe have someone now that will “listen to me and I’m going to be their teacher”, you know?  It’s not what it’s about!  ...but of a ready mind;  just to do whatever God gives us, a ready mind...a ready spirit, and that’s what God has brought us to as a whole within the Church and that’s exciting.  Today is a different Church than what it was back in the late 80’s and the early 90’s through the struggles we’ve gone through.  God has brought us a long way, He truly has.  He’s poured out His spirit in a very powerful way upon us to bring us to this point in time, to receive what we have, to do a job that’s ahead of us.

Verse 3 - Neither as being lords over God's heritage, the Church is God’s!  It belongs to God, not to anyone.  Not mine, it’s not anyone else’s, it’s God’s!  Jesus Christ is the head of the Church but it’s God’s Church.  And we’re not ‘lords’ over the Church.  We’re not over people.  We shouldn’t see ourselves like that.  We may have a responsibility in serving people and how we serve and what we do, but it’s not a matter of ever having the concept of mind of being over; because when you think about being ‘over’, if you think of that in a wrong way, then you’re looking down!  And if you look down then you’re disobeying God!  You’re dishonouring God!  You’re breaking God’s law because that’s not the mind of God!  And yet, those of us who’ve been around a long time, we saw that happen over and over and over again – we truly did.  You’ve seen that, you’ve been witness of that in a very powerful way.

Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being examples to the flock.  That’s what we should strive to do.  I’ll tell you...if we could just have that concept in our minds, that what we do is about example; to help others...in other words – we want to yield ourselves to God and ask... and cry out to God that He would work with us so that we could strive to do the best we can to...because if we’ve been around for some time, whatever that is...that we strive to do everything in speech, in dress, in what comes out of our mouth (of speech), and actions (how we conduct ourselves), that we seek to hold the highest levels of honouring God!  Because it’s about God!  Because we, all of us, who have the spirit of God within us, it’s about honouring God – that we not take God’s name in vain.  We carry God’s name – The Church of God.  We are God’s and the longer we’ve been God’s the more then we should strive to raise that level of personal responsibility toward one another – examples to one another.  I can look at things that could happen all over the place of how that solves and resolves so many different difficulties, of simple things like dress.  Why somebody would wear one thing and not another – see?  Men and women; how we dress because we want to set an example to others that come along.  And you know what?  ...people catch up on those things, they see those things, they watch it and say, “Oh, they’ve been around...” doesn’t take very long, someone that comes along, when they first come along they begin to see how we are in the Church, how we conduct ourselves in those things and strive to honour God on the Sabbath day, how we seek to honour God on the Sabbath day.  It’s about honouring God and that’s what’s in our mind, that’s why we do the things we do, why we live the way we live, why we talk the way we talk, why certain words that come out of our mouth, that they’re a good example in what’s being said and how we say it and how we talk about others in the Church that’s not tearing down.  That we seek to speak those things that are positive and good and uplifting, not tearing down.

Over and over again, examples of things within the Church of how we should live toward one another; so important before God.  ...examples to the flock and we can all do that.  We should all do that!  And if we’re not doing that then something’s wrong in our thinking –see?  So, women – how you dress; men – how you dress.  How you speak – all of you... how we talk to one another, words that come out of our mouth...they mean so much, they truly do.

Verse 4 - And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, you shall receive a crown of glory that fades not away.  Beautiful.

Verse 5 - Likewise, you younger, submit yourselves unto the elder.  This is more than just speaking of ordination but it’s still speaking of ordination as well.  There’s that which we should look to, but even as people look to those who’ve been in the Church longer, and we can learn from them.  Younger – submit – learn to yield to what you see by example.  That’s what it’s talking about here.  By those things you see and especially among those who are brought into service within the Body.  Yes, all of you be subject one to another, yield to the purpose that God has given as part of His plan as a Family and how we treat each other, how we think toward each other, and be clothed with humility: it’s beautiful isn’t it?  ...be clothed with humility: because that says more than anything else in that respect.  If it’s a matter of humility, that covers so much  ...for God resists the proud, He just can’t work with that and if we allow ourselves to be lifted up in any fashion or form with any kind of self importance in life, then God just can’t use us because that’s contrary to the spirit of God and how God’s spirit works.  Yes, God resists the proud, and gives grace to the humble.  What a blessing, what an awesome thing to understand; that you can actually receive more favour, more mercy, more pardon, more patience, more love, more of the things of God that constitute what grace is in the first place – that comes from God by a certain mind set, by being of a humble spirit.  That just speaks VOLUMES and it’s powerful, it really is.  What an awesome thing humility is.

Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time:  that’s  what it’s all about, continually humbling ourselves before God so that He can mould us and fashion us.  Because whenever pride gets in the way then we stop the growth process and we work against the spirit of God and actually go backward totally.  Either we’re growing or we’re ceasing to grow and we’re going backward and that’s a dangerous state.

Notice verse 7 - Casting all your care upon Him; for He cares for you.  Our lives are in God’s hands, whatever we do.  Do you feel that way?  Do you think that way in whatever it is you’ve set out to do?  I am God’s; whatever God’s given me, I’m standing up for God.  I don’t care what anyone else thinks or does in relation to that.  I do care, please understand me, but I understand that there are going to be those who think differently, who may oppose, maybe within one’s own family, maybe within one’s own house, maybe within one’s own marriage, maybe within one’s family as far as children, or parents, or grandparents, or grandchildren, and you wish it were another way, but... if it’s not, you do what you have to do before God.  God is first!  God is first in our life!  It doesn’t matter what anybody else does to us.  God is first! Talked to someone who doesn’t like flying.  We had this conversation yesterday about some of that and talking about if it’s for God’s purpose and what God’s doing then you just do it.  And you know what?  If something were to happen, your life’s in God’s hands anyway.  Our lives are in God’s hands and if it’s doing God’s work and something happens in between along the way, because see, we’re looking at a period of time here where some things are going to happen to some people as we go along and that’s just the way it is.  The glory and the honours to God for whatever God’s purpose is.  Our lives are in His hands.  He loves us, He cares for us, and if there’s a purpose in allowing for something, as He’s going to allow in some cases, there’s a purpose in it and what it’s going to teach and what people are going to gain and learn from it.  And it’s still giving, it’s still serving, it’s still in God’s hands.  Our lives are in God’s – see?  But we have to stand too.  We have to have that kind of a mind set to seek to stand firm in whatever God gives – even if it means going against father, or mother, sister or brother, husband or a wife – you do what you have to do and if they don’t like it?  Too bad!  You wish it were different, but you can’t give that to them.  You’ve got to do what is right before God and if that means telling them sayonara, do svidanya, auf weidersehen, all the other words that are involved there – SO BE IT!  Because you serve God first!  What greater thing can be said? ...and nothing less can exist in our life.  If it does then we’re lifting something else up above God.  It’s become our idol and becomes spiritual idolatry.  If we allow something to interfere with our spiritual relationship with God; if we allow someone to interfere with our spiritual relationship with God – I hope you understand what I’m saying – this is not a small thing.  And we live in a period of time right now where we can’t mess around.  We’ve got to move forward honouring God, yielding ourselves to God.

Going on...Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.  Casting all your care upon Him for He cares for you: God loves us, immensely so!  Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour:  Still that way.  He’s still that way.  I am so tickled to have a part of my job consist of telling him what’s coming.  I truly do!  I enjoy that part of my job!  ...because he can’t touch me – okay?  And he can’t touch my wife and there are things he’s restricted from touching in the Church of God.  You yield yourself to God – he can’t be around you.  He can have no effect upon your life and I am so pleased to let him know his days are numbered.  His sickness, his perversion, the sickness he’s caused mankind is fast coming to an end and I’m so thankful to have, as a part of my job, the honour, the blessing of being able to tell him so: you’re days are numbered.  You’re in a countdown.  Go do what you have to do.  ...because you don’t have much time left.  You don’t have much time left!  Amazing!  Thankfully so.  Has caused so much heartache, so much pain, so much hurt in the angelic realm...has caused so much pain, so much heartache, so much that is horrifying upon this earth.  God has allowed it to be so because it’s through this process that mankind can learn what must be learned that can be learned in no other way.  It is God’s perfect plan to mould and fashion in His time holy righteous character within us and sometimes that’s a very hard and difficult thing for human beings who have God’s spirit in them to understand why and how He’s doing it...but it’s a beautiful plan.  To be able to shed human nature, to be able to shed pride, to be able to get away from that and have a mind that is as God with unity and oneness fully with God – how awesome is that?  And that’s what God offers us.

Verse 9 - Whom resist steadfast in the faith, that’s how you resist that being and stand firm and stand strong.  You don’t give any leeway to him because you stand firm in the faith, putting God first, believing and yielding yourself to those truths that God gives to you in life and you become stronger and stronger and that being become weaker and weaker until he’s taken out of the way.  Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. 6,000 years – all who’ve been called to be a part of God’s Family who have gone through what they’ve gone through and those of you who are being called now to continue on into a new age as the foundation of the Church of God –see!  What an awesome blessing and honour that God is pouring out upon you in this period of time, at the end-time, to go into a new age, a new world.  And yet all have had to suffer.  Some of you haven’t had to work too long, some have had to work for a long time to get to this point, some of you had to work for a year, 6 months, year and a half, two years and you’ve got a little bit more time to work through a bad age, a difficult time, a difficult age, but you’re working in order to get into an age where mankind is freed...freed from slavery!  Freed from the atrocities of a perverted, sick, distorted spiritual mind that has plagued this earth for 6,000 years, and more frankly.

But the God of all grace, who has called us unto His eternal glory through Christ Jesus, after that you have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.  It’s a process we go through.  That’s what God does with us through time.  It’s a process we live through, through suffering in human life with human nature – especially now in this world because we also are in a world with Satan and with demons, which is soon coming to a close.  But we still have a big portion of that old human nature that’s just a part of our minds and we have to fight that fight: but what an incredible thing here.  We have to suffer for a time in this physical life...and it’s a short time.  It seems like a long time sometimes to us.  Some of us have truly cried out in our hearts and our spirit, like it says back there during the 5th Seal, “How long? How long Eternal...?  How much more?”  And now we know, it’s not much more, but that’s the way it’s been for 6,000 years – how much longer?

God is the one that strengthens us, settles us, establishes us, perfects us.  What a beautiful thing to understand, to be a part of.

James 4 – so how we live toward one another – immensely important – awesomely important; it’s about what we live.  It’s not about just being baptized, being forgiven of our sins; it’s what we do afterwards.  It’s how we live toward others that counts; the changes we seek to make, the repentance in our life.  James 4:5 – the question is asked - Do you think that the scripture says in vain, The spirit that dwells in us lusts to envy?  It’s a part of life; it’s a part of human nature.  ...lusts to envy...I think of the scriptures that we read last week regarding the scripture about Cain and Abel when it talks about that story and the offerings that were offered up and what God told Cain, “if you do well you’ll be blessed.  And if you don’t do well, sin lies at the door and its desire is for you, but you are to control it.”  See?  And yet we can’t without God’s help, without God’s spirit.  Man can’t control the mind, selfishness, without help from God because it’s a spiritual thing; it has to do with the way we think.  And yet there is this within us as well that is very clear here... The spirit that dwells in us lusts to envy... There is a battle there that begins when you’re first called and you have to fight against those things – matters of envy, jealousy, toward one another; how we judge, how we think toward each other...and to be cleared of those things, to have those things out of your mind – what an awesome blessing...to just get that garbage out of the mind, because there’s no place for it, but it’s a part of the human struggle and as we grow then God just removes more and more, we’re able to grow spiritually and have more of a right mind toward one another.

But there are things that happen...that’s why we’re having this sermon today.  We have to be careful how we think toward one another – see?  How we think about ourselves.  ...lusts to envy... see?  It’s not just desiring sometimes what other have, in our minds, or having a kind of envy or jealously toward someone else, because it’s like... ”Oh, I don’t know why they...blah, whatever...”  You know; all the things that come out of the human mind, the human mouth sometimes and how we think; the garbage that rolls out of our minds sometimes towards others and sometimes those things put us to the test, “Oh I don’t agree with that one.  I don’t agree...I don’t agree with that one either.”  Who asked you?  Who asked you if you are in agreement with God?  And if you’re not in agreement with God then what does that say about you?  If you’re not in full agreement and rejoicing with what God gives then who are we?  And yet some of those things can happen in our minds sometimes when things happen.  I have seen it over and over and over again in the Church.  Sometimes ordinations brings it out in the Church... I think of how people who were being ordained in times past were told “Your friends are going to change.”  I remember when I was ordained.  I lost a lot of friends that I thought I had... I lost friends because of envy.  I didn’t change toward them, I loved them the same but they changed toward me.  Amazing what can happen and those things hurt because you think someone’s a friend and then finally you find out something else is in their heart.  What a horrible thing to exist in the Church of God and yet those things exist in human life and that’s why James is saying what he’s saying here because God wants us to address those things in our heart if they exist, or toward what degree they exist – because they exist.  We have to fight those things and grow and seek God’s help to grow spiritually in how we think.  I’ve seen this in the Church of God over and over and over again...as much as I’ve seen individuals that begin to change once those things happen and they begin to allow themselves to be lifted up in a wrong way too.  There are so many things to be learned when events like this take place in the Church of God.

Verse 6 - But He gives more grace. Wherefore He says, God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.  Over and over again, it’s when we humble ourselves before God and how we think about ourselves and how we think about others – see?  ...that’s so important because when pride is there, and to what degree it is, the stronger jealousy and envy will be there in life.  It’s just a reality of life.  The more resistance there will be to God’s spirit and God’s purpose and God’s will in our life.  Pride is a horrible, sick, perverted mindset.  That’s why Mr. Armstrong always took us back to the angelic realm, to the very beginning when pride first raised it’s ugly, sick, perverted head in the form of Lucifer who was so lifted up by what God made him that he began to look upon himself with a greatness that God had given to him and took it to himself.  What an incredible thing!  Rather than giving God the thanks and the glory and being of a humble spirit and recognizing the awesomeness of sharing in that place that God had placed him in.  But he didn’t, he took it to himself and it’s caused such horrifying problems through time because of that.  His days are short now – very, very short.

Verse 7 - Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, don’t give him power.  Sin is his power over mankind, don’t give him that!  Pray to God, seek God’s help, seek repentance, seek a right mind, fight against that spirit when you see it raise its ugly head and seek to step on its neck and get it back down under the water – see?!  If you see your head coming up out of the water get a cowboy boot and just kick it at the top and knock it back under.  A little bit of hurt will feel good later because it’s the right thing to do.  Will there be some hurt?  Yeah!  Fine, so be it!

Verse 7 - Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. He cannot stand the mind of God, and we are blessed with the mind of God.  That’s why it’s so important to understand He dwells in us and we’re blessed to dwell in Him, unless we’re cut off from the flow of His holy spirit because of sin, and then that ceases to be the case and we just give him more power and he can be around us more and then he can have more influence around our lives – see?  That’s why as new people grow in the Church and if they’ve ever had those things around them – the more that they will yield themselves to the truth, the more they will yield themselves to growth, the more spirit beings – those demons and Satan himself cannot stand to be around that and they’ll flee.  Amazing!

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.  There are times when we just have to get on our knees and cry out to God, “Save me from self!  Save me from wrong thoughts!  Save me from sin!  Help me to repent!”  Crying out like that is not just a thing where God’s going to, like in some of these fairy tales, like coming along with this big magic wand and “Whew... so be it!”   ‘Poof’ and it’s gone.  No, now you’ve got work to do.  You pray about it, you ask for the help so that God can help you to have that strength and reinforce in your mind of the right things to do, of the things that are wrong, to repent of, and then to seek to do the right things.  That means you’ve got to change things in your life to do them, to do what’s right, to live what’s right.  That’s what God expects!  That’s what it’s all about!  He doesn’t do it for us!  He doesn’t just remove something away from us so we’re no longer tempted, so we no longer have a problem and no longer have to pray about it, no longer have to repent!  What a simple way that would be!  You know, “Cleanse me, make we white.”  “Yeah, here’s some bleach!”  And all of a sudden we’re white.  God doesn’t work that way.  We’ve got to yield ourselves to the changing process – fighting against self, seeing what it is we are, loathing it, hating it, crying out to God to hate it more and the more you hate it the more you’ll seek to flee from it and the more you’ll seek to run toward that which is right – see?  And that might happen for a long, long time, but you keep doing what is right.  Amazing!

Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double minded.  There’s those battles we fight in the mind – see?  And God wants us to repent!  ...and seek to draw closer to Him and seek to be cleansed.  Be afflicted, and mourn, there are times to afflict our souls before God when we have battles to fight – indeed fast, to cry out to God for help to change because we see what we are and we want to be something different – and so we cry out for help.  But after we’ve done that crying out then we’ve got to go out and start practicing something that’s right and we ask for help to do that.  Be afflicted and mourn, and weep:  there are times to do that in life.  You know, I loathe human nature.  I loathe my human nature.  I am so thankful I don’t have to be in this body twice.  I can’t tell you how happy I am!  I mean it with all my being – to think I’d have to be in this twice?  I’m so thankful!  What an incredible blessing God’s given us that we don’t have to be in it twice.

...let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. There are times like that because we see certain things in ourselves and the struggle that’s there.  Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up.  When God lifts you up, when you yield yourself to humility, to that process, there is nothing richer or fuller in life because it’s a matter of sharing because you see God... God’s the one.  It’s all God’s in and through His Son Jesus Christ to us –and then we just are blessed to share in it.  Incredible!

Let’s turn over to II Corinthians 10:12 - For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves:  this is a matter of something that’s spiritual that’s coming out of what is being revealed and it says, but they measuring themselves by themselves, comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.  In other words, there are things we can look at in life and there are just times in life where it’s not smart for us to compare ourselves with others.  Why compare ourselves to others?  Compare yourselves to God, then you can see how small we are.  Compare yourselves to God’s way of life and what God requires and what God wants us to live and what we’re like in our human nature and that’s what it’s about.  This thing of looking at others and judging and measuring ourselves by each other is not a smart thing in life to do.  And I want to interject something here.  When it comes to matters of ordination – sometimes we just don’t think of some of these things when we say things.  I know that there have been some things said, and I want people to guard against that, whether it be this round of ordinations or another time of ordinations that will come later on, it shouldn’t be a matter of ever speaking of those things.  It’s a private thing like prayer and  fasting.  That’s a private thing between you and God and so as a matter of something if God gives it within the Body then God just gives it within the Body and it’s not a matter of someone getting together in a group of people and saying, “Well, I think you’re going to be a minister.  I think you’re going to be an elder.  I think that’s what you’re here for.”  I’ve heard things like that.  I’ve heard elders tell other people that.  “I think you’re called to become a minister.”  Why do that to somebody!  That may not be why God’s called them.  God may have a different plan for them somewhere else in the Body that they’re going to be more fulfilled and have a greater responsibility.  There are going to be people prepared for all kinds of things in the millennium.  But I’ve heard that kind of thing.  Something like that should never, never, never... that is plum foolish to say something like that!  See?  ...to another person in the body.  We have enough battles as human beings without someone piling them on and maybe planting something in our mind that isn’t healthy for us spiritually.  What if you’re causing your brother to stumble by planting something there that God never intended in the first place?  Who are you to tell what God has given to them?  We have to be careful what we say and not to mention someone else’s name in that context.  That’s not what this is about.  It’s a private thing.  When God gives it, He just gives it, it’s not something to be discussed, it’s not something to bring out in conversation, to talk about within an congregation, you know?  To measure people in that respect... leave that to God and yield yourself to God.

Verse 13 - But we will not boast of things without our measure, he’s saying it in another way of what I said earlier; “It is what it is.”  Wherever we are in the Body, that’s where we’re the most fulfilled and able to give the most and serve the most.  We’re not all placed in the same part of the Body because that’s not God’s purpose.  There are many functions in the Body, and God has gone through that in times, and yet sometimes we begin to look at things in a wrong way and an unsound way and it’s not healthy.  It says, but according to the measure of the rule which God has distributed to us, a measure to reach even unto you.  Paul is saying here, very clearly so, that there are things that are given to them and it is what it is and they’re not going to shirk away from any of that; just as I mentioned earlier about my job and the things that God has given to me.  It is what it is – I’m seeking to yield myself to the process and yet it doesn’t matter where we are in the Body, what God has given to us, we are so awesomely blessed!  It’s like new people who are coming along right now and I know sometimes maybe those things will enter into a persons mind, but I hope everyone understands that there are things that God has called everybody to someplace in the Body, as I mentioned earlier, some place in the Temple.  There are things of governing, there are things of priesthood, there are other things that God gives in terms of functions within serving and it all has to do with what God is doing, it all has to do with the Temple and Family.  And if we yield ourselves to the process God will take us to that which is the most fulfilling and the most rewarding in life.  I think about human nature and about the two disciples...  to think somebody could get in a bit of an argument in the Family and say... “Who’s going to be greatest in the Kingdom of God?  ...or maybe God’ll give that to us and maybe it’d be good if two could be put up here beside Jesus Christ and...what a great thing!”  And that’s not what it’s about.  That kind of pride defeats the purpose of anything anyway, of everything, candidly.  It’s good sometimes for us to go back and realize that’s just human nature to sometimes have certain thoughts come through our mind that shouldn’t be there because that’s not what it’s about in the Family of God, it truly isn’t.

Those things are there sometimes that try and test us as human beings to see how we respond, to see how we think, to see to what degree we really understand the Family of God, what God has given us, how much we treasure what we have... You should be dumbfounded!  If you’ve been here for a month; you should be dumbfounded to think of all the billions who’ve died through time who have not known what you... and frankly, no one through time has known to the scale and degree that you can know right now – because so much more has been given now at this end-time.  How blessed is that?  How awesome is that?  ...in God’s plan and in God’s Family.  Are we happy with what God gives to us?  Are we fulfilled with what God gives to us?  Amazing!

I want to make comment and to let people know for sure – absolutely, that if any thought crosses an individual’s mind out there that is new within the last year or two or three that you’re going to be ordained...forget it!  It’s not going to happen in this age of 1260 days –see?  And if that’s God’s purpose in the future, then God’ll make it known in time, but that’s not what it’s all about.  There are going to be awesomely exciting things in the future that you can’t even begin to comprehend of service, of giving, of things within God’s Family, God’s Plan and what He’s going to be doing within the Church and the world that’s going to be filled with millions and millions and eventually billions of people who are all a part of the Church of God.  And to think that you are in on the ground floor of it all...how incredibly awesome is it?  You can’t even begin to comprehend what God has already called you to and given you and yet sometimes as human beings, we want more, something we’re not happy with, we see something we think is greater, better and that’s not what it’s about at all and we miss the mark if that’s the case.

Romans 12:9 - Let love be without dissimulation.  Meaning, let love be without hypocrisy. It’s what it’s talking about here, love should be love because by its very definition of what it is, it’s not going to have hypocrisy in it, it’s going to be genuine.  It’s not going to be fake, it’s not going to be worked up.  You can’t work up love.  That’s why I hate the sounds of the protestant world.  When someone tries to be religious or tries to sound religious... it’s a putrid thing.  I’m sorry, it’s just like sticking my finger down in my throat and gagging when I hear certain things out there in the protestant world and this kind of language that’s supposed to be ‘religious’ sounding.  And sometimes because of human nature, sometimes some of us have some of those things that we have to fight and battle until what we have is fully genuine before God and our love toward one another is genuine.  That it is natural and comes natural and comes out of us, that’s the way it should be; not trying to pretend or be something we’re not or think we have to do something... no, just yield our self to God, love each other, care for each other... whatever’s there.  If you’re trying to force something, it just doesn’t work.  I hope you understand what I’m saying and I know you can with God’s spirit and we can to the degree of God’s spirit.  That’s what’s awesome about this.

Abhor that which is evil; that should be in all of us: abhor that which hurts.  Sometimes we don’t abhor it enough – that which hurts.  I hate to see people hurt, I hate to see someone else suffering in the body and there are times I have to stand back and just watch it.  At times I have to watch individuals suffer because they have to learn something through what they’re suffering.  I could give them the answers, I could tell them what they need to do, but that won’t do any good because I’ve already done it in sermons.  It’s what we live.  Sometimes you can tell people what their main battles are, what it is they’re addressing right at a particular moment in time, but you can’t give that to people.  There are times you just have to stand back and pray for them, but see and watch people go through some of the things.  There are times you watch somebody beat their heads against the wall and you can’t go back there and stop it, you just have to let them beat their head against the wall for a little while, because if you stop it and maybe give them an answer to their solution... maybe solves their problem for a little while, it maybe enables them and causes them to have a harder time conquering and overcoming what they need to conquer.  That’s another sermon in itself, I guess I’m getting off on a particular tangent here – could get pretty deep.  But there are times, a matter of love, that’s there in life... we’ve got to abhor what is evil – ourselves – to abhor things we see out there that are evil, abhor things that we do that are evil within the Church because those things still happen from time to time of how people say something to someone else that’s cutting.  Why say something to someone that’s cutting?  Why say something that hurts someone else?  And so to see someone hurt... again, I abhor that when I see someone suffering and hurting within the body, I truly do, and I hope you do.  And the more you abhor that which would hurt somebody else, the more careful you’re going to be to guard what comes out of your mouth that you might say to someone else, that you don’t want to say something that’s catty, or cutting.  Let love be without hypocrisy, let love be genuine and true and that which we say to one another should be based on love and giving and serving and helping and to want to see the pain, the hurt removed.

...cleave to that which is good.  ...‘cleave to that which is good’... hold on tight to what is good. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; that’s what God requires of each one of us within the body, within the Church.  We’re small.  See, I mention these things because I think of a time when we were large, when different areas like Portland and Seattle and other areas had hundreds and hundreds of people.  Cincinnati had 1,500 people there at one time.  Major cities around the country had several hundred people in them and yet through time with human nature and how people treated  each other… There were a lot of people who treated each other right and good, but as time went on that love began to grow cold and we saw terrible things happen within the Church that should never have been that way.  Be kindly affectioned – kindness.  If we can’t think kindly toward one another something’s wrong with us spiritually.  If we can’t think kind thoughts toward one another – something is wrong spiritually with us, not with them, with us.  Our ability to rejoice with others when they rejoice and to weep when they weep, to love everyone within the Body – that’s an awesome thing.  To be able to look at every individual in the Body and say, “I love you, you are God’s, I love you.”  See?  An incredible thing and if we can’t do that something’s wrong with us; we haven’t grown perhaps to that point of being able to say that genuinely so and that’s fine, God’ll give that in time.

I’ve made comment in times past that it wasn’t until I was ordained that I could tell God, “I love you.”  I was in the Church for many, many years, went through Ambassador College, went back out on my own in time there and it wasn’t until I was ordained after 1982 (I was ordained in ’81) that I was finally able to tell God, genuinely so, because I wasn’t going to say it until it was true in the most perfected way, if you understand what I’m saying.  “I love you.”  My mind was that messed up.  Took me that long to get to a point in time where my mind was sound enough spiritually to be able to say that in spirit and in truth before God, you know – amazing.  And some people think, “How on earth could that be?  You were ordained... and you weren’t able to tell God yet that you loved Him?”  Yep, and God knew it.  God also knew how I felt about Him, what He was doing, His plan and His purpose – see?  Amazing!  We have to learn to love each other – genuinely so, not fake, not put on, but from in here and I should say from up here in our mind because it must be as a result of God’s spirit in our minds – truly must be.

Be kindly affectioned on to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;  the Church is first, preferring one another – isn’t that the way it should be within the body?  We prefer one another within the body – far more than what we prefer in this world, far more than the fellowship we prefer out there.  If some of you, if any of you have any desire to have fellowship in the WORLD still as much as, or MORE than anybody in the body – SOMETHING’s WRONG!!  Something’s out of place!  Something is really screwed up spiritually in your life – okay?  ...To put it plainly.  I hope you understand that.  God’s Church is God’s Family that He’s called OUT of the world, and we should be drawn to it first and foremost above ALL things – truly.  And if we hold up family, if we hold up job, if we hold up community, if we hold up anything above and beyond what God has given us within this Family, something’s wrong with us spiritually – there’s some battle we need to address and fight in our lives, mightily so.  God comes first in our life!  And we look forward to the time then that the community, that others around us can be brought into it.  But sometimes people enjoy that environment that’s out there.  Young people, do you still enjoy some of that environment?  Does it pull at you?  It pulled at me when I first came in the Church.  I had to get away from all my friends in college in Kansas.  I knew it, I knew as soon as I got there I had to get out of that environment or I knew I couldn’t change.  I knew I had to flee.  That’s what God says – flee idolatry, flee fornication – spiritually those things in our lives, in our minds and I knew all the friends I had there... I would go right back into the same lifestyle I had, I wouldn’t be able to fight that battle of the kind of lifestyle I was living in College.  Most colleges, that one there as well, it’s party time.  Party, party, party, party –that’s what life is like.  Grades?  Well, we tried to do our best... no, we really didn’t.  And that’s the world and sometimes people are drawn into the Church and it’s like, are we still fighting that fight?  Are we fleeing then, getting away from whatever we have to get away from to be made right with God and to be made right with His Family.  ...preferring one another; see, because I hurt inside sometimes when I see people that are anxious to get out into the world; after Sabbath services, people that are anxious after sundown to get out into the world.  You think it still happens in the Church?  Still happens; anxious to get back to the world.  Something’s wrong!  We’re not receiving the fullness of life and the enjoyment of life of fellowship with one another.  Our desire should be toward one another, the desire to be able to come to services, to be able to be around people, to stay longer, to go out to eat or whatever it might be with someone, to be with them first and foremost should be so much in our minds.  And if it’s not then we’ve got to address something in self, something’s wrong with us – spiritually.

Going on...Not slothful in business; in serving God; that’s what this is about.  It’s not talking about your business per se; it’s talking about how you live toward one another.  Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; it’s about how we serve God, it’s about how we function and give within the Church to one another and so forth.  We can’t, as I said earlier, sit back on our laurels and get  comfortable.  We’ve got to get in there, we’ve got to mix with people, we’ve got to seek to do that and sometimes that may not be our personality.  I think sometimes people think that’s just easy for you to say.  No, I’ve had to fight, I’ve had to learn, I’ve had to learn to go and mix with people.  I’ve had to fight against my human nature; to ask God for help and drive and so forth and to seek to mingle with all, to be with all, to try to do that, to strive to do that.  That’s what we should strive to do and not to leave  anyone unattended in that respect.

Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation;  and the things we go through, continuing instant in prayer;  that means you continue to fight the fight, to look to God, to keep communication with God in the things you do.  Your life is in His hands.  Distributing to the necessity of the saints; being there to encourage when you see someone down, when you see someone alone, when you see someone that might be smarting from something and if you’re able to help then you seek to help, you seek to maybe call someone up on the phone.  Someone that’s stranded out here by themselves somewhere?  On occasion, think about them.  If you have the means and you’re close to an area, to an individual, or you know someone that you’ve come in contact with out there somewhere, to ring them up on occasion and be there for them, to share with them because there are people out there that don’t have what some of us have.  Some of you are able to come together every Sabbath.  What an awesome blessing! There are so many who are scattered who don’t have those blessings and they’re by themselves and that’s a lifeline to be able to have someone in the Church love them, to share with them, and just to call up and share, you know?  What kind of a price can you pay for that, for someone in the Body who could be encouraged by that?  That you don’t know what their week was like and how much that strengthens and encourages them, you know?  When we hear from each other... Little things!  Life is made up of a lot of little things: husbands and wives, a lot of little things that add up, that make a marriage, that give to life, that enhance life, that make a rejoicing in life, see?

...given to hospitality.  It’s about spending time with others, whatever that entails.  Bless them who persecute you: bless and curse not.  Even within the Body at times there’s someone who speaks out, says something about you, you’ve got to be of a mind to seek to forgive, to seek to do the right thing toward them, to seek to reconcile within the Body.  One of my best friends in college was an individual who had the guts to come up to me and tell me when I first met him, that I offended him, with something I said.  It was over in Bricketwood.  I made fun of his accent.  I didn’t mean to make fun of him, but I was just joking around, I thought I was joking around, I didn’t realize it was offensive.  We’re introducing ourselves  and saying where we’re from and he gave his name and said, “I’m from Kentucky.”  I said, “You’re from Kentucky?!”  I was stupid, not thoughtful, you know?  My sense of humour wasn’t too good.  He came up afterwards and told me “You know what you said there about, you know, the twang I have here, people have given me some difficulty over that being in the South like this.”  There were speech clubs at Ambassador College and everybody had to speak ‘proper’ English and  there were people who had to change the way they spoke; people from the South couldn’t speak like they were from the South... if they were going to be sent out in the ministry, going to Ambassador College, that was a training ground and people knew it; and so they actually changed the way they spoke and people took the South out of themselves, people in New York took some of the New Yorker out of them, and they started trying to copy the type of language that was used on newscasts and such – supposedly better able to be better received... and you think, what a shame!  Anyway, he became my best friend after that.  He had the guts to come up and tell me something like that.  I told him how sorry I was.  It was dumb and I learned from that – see?  I learned you don’t do stupid things like that about people.  You don’t know what might be a sensitivity to people or why and you be careful what you say to people and how you say it –see?  Not able to share with him today in what we’re doing now because he died during the same period of time that Mr. Tkach did what he did in the apostasy.  Amazing, things that take place in life.

Bless them who persecute you: bless, and curse not.  ‘Bless and curse not.’ Rejoice with them who do rejoice, isn’t that the way it should be?  This is a time of great rejoicing in the Church.  I rejoice!  I can’t tell you, spiritually, how much I’m rejoicing with all the women in God’s Church, about what God’s revealed.  It is such a blessing; it is such a gift in time that God has given.  It’s awesome.  Awesome!  If you understand the changes that God is going to bring about in this world and what He started – see?  Rejoice with them who do rejoice, and weep with them who do weep.  If we can’t be touched by one another, by things that people go through, to share in the happiness of others, when they’re happy, when they’re rejoicing over whatever it might be...and today we’re talking about ordinations.  If we can’t fully rejoice with every individual who is being given the opportunity of a special and a unique service at this time because of something that’s coming then something is wrong with us spiritually.  There’s sin in our life and in our mind that we need to see and address.

Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, amazing what it’s saying here.  Don’t be high minded, in other words, don’t be lifted up.  There are two ways of the mind here: don’t be lifted up by certain things, or don’t be high and looking down upon others or let it interfere with judgement, or don’t let yourself become high minded over certain things in life about yourself and don’t become high minded and looking down upon others.  Don’t allow those things to be in the Body – you know – love each other with Godly love.  ...but condescend to men of low estate.  I hate the way that’s said in the Greek language there, or in English from the Greek translation because it’s not talking about condescend in the way we think of the word, how that’s used, but it’s just basically saying, be of a humble spirit.  Be of a humble spirit in the way you think, in the things you think and how you think about yourself and how you think about others.  To see them according to each individual, according to God’s plan.  Be not wise in your own conceits.

And so again here, it’s an exciting time for God’s Church.  I can’t wait to give the rest of this series of because of things about John the Baptist, things about what God is preparing us for, that God is giving us a better ability to have a vision of something of what He’s doing at the end-time here that I had no concept of a few weeks ago.  I had no concept of how great some of this was, of where we are and what we’re doing and where we’re going with some of this, and what God had there all the time – it’s just that we didn’t see it.  It’s like, “Why couldn’t I see that?”  Well, we know why, we can’t see it until God gives it and then when He gives it, it’s an awesome thing – truly is.

In what little bit of time that I have left in this sermon I want to mention that I’ve notified everyone that will be in this first round of ordinations and all that will be coming to Cincinnati at the end of February for a minister’s meeting to discuss this new process of service in the Church and where we’re headed in the Church.  It’s exciting; it’s inspiring.  Before it’s all over with we have great opportunity...every one of us in the Church, to be a part of this incredible commission to fulfill something here that God has given, in different ways but it’s all to accomplish the same great things that God is a part of.  It is beyond your wildest imagination and as we go forward you’re going to see and you’re going to experience things that are going to just totally dumbfound you.

There are currently three levels of elders: senior, and then elders and then associate elders as far as the structure is concerned for the sake of government and of organization.  All are ministerial elders but there’s different responsibilities that God gives as a part of that process to be accomplished and to be performed and I’m going to be mentioning some of that as we go along here.

There are 31 women and 26 men who are now being added as elders in God’s Church. This makes a total addition of 57 elders who are being added as elders in the Church at this time.  It is incredible, exciting and inspiring.

In conclusion:  I hope all of you are able to rejoice along with me, Jesus Christ and God our Father who has placed all these people into the positions of ministerial service to Him and His Son.

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