Ordinations & Baptisms – Pt. 2

Ron Weinland

Jan. 9, 2010

We are continuing in the new series we started last Sabbath that’s entitled Ordinations and Baptism, with this being Part 2. As was covered last Sabbath we are being shown more fully what our commission is at this time.  Mr Armstrong talked about the commission he had received, and we understand there are things we have been doing for some time that God has been working with us as far as getting the Church re-established, and the work we’ve been doing, the things that God has been revealing to the Church.  But what we’re getting ready to do is a keener focus on what is in front of us as far as the Church is concerned, it’s exciting, it’s inspiring. And I’m really looking forward to the meetings at the end of February because we have the opportunity to address some things in a very powerful way of what God is getting ready to do. And a lot of this is going to come out in this sermon series. I find it awesomely exciting. This and all these things we have been going through, to me, are exciting what we’re seeing, what God is giving to us.

Anyway, going on about that commission: It is one that mightily involves that of preparing, again the preparation for the return of Jesus Christ as the Messiah that’s contained in the meaning of those things of restoring all things that we’ve talked about.

There are many things that God has already been, in the definition of ‘Restoring All Things’; restoring, making ready, building, rebuilding, for the past several years, all in preparation for God’s Kingdom that’s coming, and especially for His Son being King of kings. So that process is continuing on but God is giving us a unique focus right now, in certain things, of preparing the Church for some work that lies ahead of us.

Last Sabbath’s sermon was an encouragement from God that we all accept and rejoice in this process that He is revealing to the Church which is of the greatest significance when the addition of the ordination of women to ministerial service is in the process of taking place. And that is a focus and very much a part of what God is showing as He’s showing us things about this commission. He’s showing us some other things about women and about that which started, that which began a long time ago with Adam and Eve that was carried on through the history of mankind, through time.  And there is much more we’re going to be learning about that.  God is refining us as we go through this process as well.

I haven’t fully known where all this is leading, just to be real blunt about it. When God shows certain things they come in phases, it’s an organized manner in which God leads, in which God teaches, in which God directs. It’s very much akin to what I have referred to as those who have experienced that process; what took place during the Feast of 2005 when God began to reveal that Yahweh Elohim is the Almighty Eternal God, the Self Existing God that’s existed for all eternity; things that we can’t comprehend.  That Jesus Christ was not the God of the Old Testament.  He did not exist until He was born of Mary. So that was an incredible revelation that God gave.

But one of the things that came along there was a confidence and a calmness because of how God works that I knew that one sermon wouldn’t be given until the Feast. I knew it before we ever went to the Feast - a matter of Melchizedek. And I knew it wasn’t to be prepared until the Feast. And I think a lot of that is for the very purpose of being able to help teach, to show how God works. And so God gave that understanding to me as He did many other things as we’ve gone along that that wouldn’t be given until the Feast and it wasn’t given until the end of the Feast. But I knew it would be there. You know, I wasn’t panicking. I told everybody what it was going to be about, that it was about Melchizedek, and that the sermon would be given, or the information that God would give then would be at the Feast of Tabernacles. And so toward the end of the Feast it all came together. And God has given that through time as a matter of a moulding and fashioning as He leads us.

And so this is the same process here. I haven’t known where I was going with this from the very beginning, going all the way back in some of the awesome things that God has been revealing back in Genesis about a curse, and how that He is using that same time period to show changes that are going to begin to take place going into the millennium and Satan is removed. And a lot of curses begin to be removed from mankind as mankind finally begins to learn, in mass, about the Great Almighty Self Existing God and His Son Jesus Christ, in truth. Not in the garbage we see in the world out here. Not in the fairy tales and the things that are learned in Protestant churches that are false.  All that garbage is removed and the truth is spoken and given. What an awesome thing, and what a time.

I think of the process that we understand around the Days of Unleavened Bread, when God talks about coming out of Egypt. We understand. Just like the children of Israel were taken out of Egypt; that spiritually we are in bondage until God calls us and then spiritually He begins to remove us from that bondage, being in slavery to sin. Human in this world don’t control their lives. They’re being controlled by their own human nature. People aren’t in control of their lives; they think they are... they’re not! And we have to begin to learn how to become free because we learn how to deal with sin; we learn how to fight sin; we receive the strength and the help from God to begin fighting sin. And so we come out from under that bondage; that slavery that enslaves us all. It’s a process that we go through. What an incredible thing though to understand we’re at the verge of the whole world getting to experience what only a few in 6,000 years have had the blessing of experiencing when it comes to the truth of God.

God’s starting to reveal some things at the same time He’s showing a commission that we have about baptisms that we have not known nor understood: also tied together with the Elijah to come, of something greater that God intended a long time ago in those prophesies ...to be accomplished. That begins with understanding things about John the Baptist that we’ll begin to talk about next Sabbath in greater detail in this process. It’s all exciting! It’s incredible! But I haven’t known where all this was going from the beginning of this series and I am in awe how God just continues to give to us as He does. And just as the process I haven’t know where the ordinations, of what it all means yet. I knew I had to get it done and get it started ...but where it’s all going, God is giving a little bit at a time, showing the soundness, the balance, what He wants done, how He wants it done. He didn’t give it to us just in one week’s time. And so I know that all the way up to the end of February here that I’m going to continue to be given things of understanding concerning how God wants things administered in the Church concerning ordinations.

That’s why I’ve sent an email out to everyone, “Don’t practice, don’t participate in anything, even if you have been ordained ahead of time - do not do anything until after those meetings. You don’t have the right or the authority to engage in ministerial service yet.”   ...Even if you’ve been ordained, until after those meetings, because there are more things that God is giving. And so, you have to go through those classes, if you will, those lectures to understand what that job is. I understand that some are anxious but you can sin mightily by being presumptuous, by doing things you shouldn’t do and we don’t want to do that. I think of examples in the Old Testament that should cause us to fear mightily, to never be presumptuous in things in our life in the smallest of things. Because there were things that people did in the Old Testament they thought were small and to God they were not small. Presumptuousness is not small, especially when it comes to serving God. You want to do it exactly the way God says to do it. No more and no less. If you do more you’re presumptuous, if you do less then you haven’t done your job, you haven’t responded, you haven’t obeyed God – see? It’s right down the line; that’s how we are to strive to live our lives.

It’s incredible what God is continuing to reveal here. All these things intertwine, the Elijah to come, Genesis, Adam and Eve, the very beginning, the curse, the ordination of women, baptisms and what we’re focusing upon and what’s getting ready to take place.

I’m in awe, always have been but continue to be more and more. The more we grow the more God gives to us, the more in awe we become of God.  Things you read in this book (the Bible); that’s why I’m amazed and in awe, and I know that even in the God Family there will never be a time where we don’t learn, where God doesn’t continue to reveal; even things in this book through the Millennium, things that are written in this Bible that we don’t yet understand. That throughout the Millennium God is going to reveal more to us that’s already written here that you cannot know, you cannot understand, you cannot see until its God’s time to give it.  There are some things in here that I believe with all my being about the 100 year period that we don’t know and will not know until Jesus Christ begins to give it, because it comes through Jesus Christ to all of us, even to the God Family, the 144,000. It will not be given to us until just prior to that 100 years. Why? Because that’s what we’re preparing for; just like what we’re preparing for right now. We’re just before the period of the Millennium and God is showing us things that He is doing and how He wants it done. And just before that period of time God will begin revealing things by His spirit but they’re not to be revealed, they’re not to be given until then. It’s an incredible thing to understand how God works.

Last Sabbath’s sermon was an encouragement from God that we all accept and rejoice in this process that He’s revealing to the Church; because it puts people to the test. Do we rejoice with every individual with those opportunities that are placed there when God does those things within the Body?

But again, as part of God restoring all things that has now led to us to focus more sharply on baptisms within the next couple of years God is revealing the process of the beginning of the removal of a curse that has been on mankind since the beginning, as I mentioned here earlier, which had everything to do with the deception and the power of Satan on mankind because of sin. And this is about freedom and  liberty being given back to the family because it’s about family. From the very beginning Satan began to attack family. He hates the concept, the idea of family, God’s Family - Elohim. And there are things he understood from the beginning of what God was going to do with mankind. He hated that plan and so he began to attack the family very early on and was very successful in it because of the nature of man anyway; ‘the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life’ the way we are physically. So again, this has much to do with restoring of all things that’s leading up to the coming of Jesus Christ, as I mentioned, the establishment of the millennial period.

Do you grasp the magnitude of what has started in the Church concerning the ordination of women? That’s my first question here today. Do we grasp magnitude of what God is doing? What’s taking place....because I tell you this is going to be a learning curve; it’s going to be a learning process because it is a spiritual matter. And when something is spiritual we don’t learn automatically, right away, instantaneously. There are things that come through a process of time in understanding and perception and especially in practice as we go forward.

I think it’s interesting in the flow of all this that on the first weekend in February we’re going to have a fast. A lot of people have been asking what the focus of the fast is about. And I feel that all the fasts, things that we do in the Church are always inspired by God. The truth we receive is inspired by God, it comes from God or there is no value to it whatsoever. There is no value to speaking if it doesn’t come from God. And so it is with matters of fasting when it’s a Church-wide fast. And so, I knew as we got closer that there would be a time if God wants us to have a specific focus - if not, I knew it would be a very basic fast for the Church as I have been calling out talking about how that we have to fight against a lukewarm spirit, and that as part of that process we as a Church have to fight and resist that. Fasting is good to stir up God’s spirit within us. But God is showing there’s a lot more involved here.

This fast is going to be the first Sabbath of February, a focus of our fast and what it’s going to be, where we’re headed and what we’re striving to accomplish as a part of a process here.  Notice Isaiah 58:1 – Cry aloud and spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet, and show My people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.  And so that’s part of a process, a part of something we’ve always understood in God’s Church – that there are times to make it really clear, to speak up when there are things that are being done wrong, when there are things that are not being addressed properly in our lives or whatever, or if there’s a trend of something that isn’t good in the Church, to address that, or whether it be individually or whatever – it doesn’t matter.  It’s not to be quiet about it; it’s to be clear about it.  What is God’s law?  What does God expect of us?  Require of us?  Desire of us?  And so there’s a process there and there are times that God says that you cry out ‘like a trumpet’, you speak loudly and clearly and plainly.

And it goes on to say, and this is speaking in part in context here about things in ancient Israel but there are lessons in here for the Church, spiritual Israel as well.  It says - Yet they seek Me daily, and delight to know My ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of Me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God. Something unique about human nature is that there’s a constant battle of sin in our life, we have to continually fight against our human nature.  The greatest battle we have is ourselves, it truly is.  It’s not Satan, it’s our own human nature.  With the help of God’s spirit Adam and Eve, if they had yielded to, if they had desired that in the beginning which they were told was in front of them, if that’d been a part of their life and they’d had that particular begettal of God’s spirit, then they would have help to fight and resist that being that came along.  But of and by themselves they didn’t have the capacity and no human being does, of and by themselves have the capacity to fight against that being.  That’s why God makes it very clear in John, that’s why I quote that scripture so often, ‘greater is He that is in you, than he that’s in the world.’  And there is a being that is far greater than what we are that works in the world, but he isn’t greater than God.  God is almighty, all powerful, and gives us the help and ability through the power of His spirit to fight against that spirit, that being.  And the power of that being is in what?  It’s in sin.

So it begins by fighting sin in our own life.  Sin is what cuts us off from the flow of God’s spirit.  Sin is what gives Satan and the demon world power over us.  It’s through sin... when we sin we give them power, we become weaker; we don’t have the help we need then to fight the battles.  We hurt ourselves.  With the human mind it’s a paradox because the mind of man can’t reason properly in that.  Hopefully with God’s spirit we can understand and perceive such things and the importance of that, of not yielding to sin.

And so, when we have sin in our life, we deceive ourselves so often... we’ve lived through this in the Church, that we can go before God on the Sabbath, on the Holy Days and go through a routine and we can pay our tithes, we can sing praises to God on the Sabbath like we used to do, we can sit there hearing a sermonette, and sing another song and then hear a sermon.  We can fast during the week, we can fast several times if we wanted to, but because we haven’t repented of certain sins or whatever; we’re still cut off from God.  Those things don’t mean anything and so we can become weak as human beings.  A part of this process here then is God saying, “when there is sin Cry Aloud, let people know, let an individual know, or let the Church know – this is hurting you, this is going to cut you off from the flow of God’s spirit – this false doctrine...”  or whatever it is.  And so a lot of our work in that respect of what we’ve been doing with God re-establishing the Church was addressing a lot of the false things that began to come in.  And so God blessed us in crying out, blessed me in crying out in order that we’d be able to repent of the sin so we could draw closer to God.  But even in that process there, people deceived themselves in approaching God and going to Sabbath services or whatever and as it were, taking delight, as it says here, asking God the ordinances of justice; you know having prayer, seeking God’s will... “What is Your will in this matter?”  And yet God not answering, because that’s made clear in the next chapter.  He says, “My ear isn’t too heavy that I can’t hear you.  I hear you perfectly plain, but it’s your sins that separate you.”  And that’s a part of what it’s talking about here.  Our sins separate us from God.  That’s why we have to constantly examine ourselves before God and continue to repent of sin.

Sometimes, just like it says here, and they take delight in approaching to God, we get in a rut like that if we’re not careful and miss out mightily.  The whole point of this is that there are so often times that there are things right under our nose that we just can’t see.  We just don’t see until God shows it, cry aloud, spare not, and so God shows us, He begins to show us certain things that we haven’t been fully addressing like we should or could or need to.

Verse 6, notice; it goes on talking about a fast then, ‘isn’t this the right kind of fast?’  Because I’ve seen it for years and years and years in the Church – with brethren, with ministers, with organizations, where they fast and they fast in a wrong way and they fast for the wrong purpose - Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, What does that mean?  Just like the bands, it’s like having cuffs on, you’re in bondage, something’s holding you back, something’s hurting you, and so it talks about, the bands of wickedness, that which holds onto us, that which is wrong in our life that binds us.

... to undo the heavy burdens, whether it be in ourselves or trying to help that in others to be released, and to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, I’ll tell you what, if you can understand this in the light of Genesis 1 it’ll help you to understand what God is saying here about many other things in life that hold people down, that hold people back that tend to enslave rather than to free...and that you break every yoke? Everything that burdens, everything that holds down.  He says, Is it not to deal your bread to the hungry, it’s to give.  Bread?  What do you mean bread?  It’s not talking about something physically here.  If we have something to give, something to share, God’s way of life, the greater thing is to understand the bread of life, God’s way of life, the truth of God, the word of God, and if we’re blessed to know that truth then what do we do?  Exactly what we’ve been doing.  A small organization like this is able to print up several hundred thousand books and send them out to countries all over the world, incredible that we’ve been able to do this.  Yes, it’s still small, but it’s large.  When it comes to God and what God can spread around the world quickly, it’s a large thing that God is doing with a small group.  It’s incredible!

And so the attitude of mind here is, to deal your bread to the hungry.  It’s not something that makes people feel good about themselves that people do at times. I think of this time of year that we just went through and people will have these food drives.  The only time of year that we get some food drives going through our community is when it gets around December 25th and people have to feel good about themselves so they go out and do this food drive to give to people who don’t have as much food or where there are people who are needy.  There is a bit of a problem here.  Who’s going to feed them the rest of the year?  If they’re so needy, why aren’t we doing this all the time? Why do you do this just once a year?  I don’t know about you but it aggravates the tar out of me; people that talk about these good works that they might do once or twice a year. If you really believe it, then why don’t you do it all the time throughout the year?  ...support and give, or whatever, not just once a year? To make yourself feel better about yourself? People feel better about what they are doing; they’re lifted up with what they’re doing. It’s not a matter of a sacrifice for the right reasons and the right spirit and the right mind. I get worked up about some of those things because I’ll tell you, I hate hypocrisy. I hate the lying that goes on in this world. But if you believe something that’s truly helping people, that can reach out to help people, then that’s what we do, we support tithes and offerings to give to something we believe in with all of our being. And that’s what we’re doing, that’s what the Church has been doing. It’s what the Church has always been doing to the degree God is doing it in the world.

When the gospel went out into all the world to fulfill a role that Mr. Armstrong had in the commission that God gave to him, it went out very powerfully in that manner – that’s how God supported it, that’s how God did it, that’s His way of doing it – see?  And so it wasn’t a matter of soup kitchens, it wasn’t a matter of that kind of thing, although those things are needed. Those things are good in the world, it’s good that there are people out there who do help people year round, you know?  Obviously!  But the greater thing, Jesus Christ said, ‘the poor will always be with you.’  You can’t eradicate it from the earth.  On the contrary, look at the earth because it’s not God’s yet, in the sense of that which governs.  It’s  Satan’s world.  He is the god of this world.  That’s what Paul says in Corinthians.  Satan is the god of this world – see?  He’s the one in control over governments and peoples as a whole – see?  And so what is the greater thing to share, to give?  The word of life, the truth, the ways of God and if we have that opportunity, what an incredible blessing. That’s why it’s exciting to realize where we are in time, where people are finally going to begin being given the ears to hear.

It’s like on that radio interview I did this past week that I’m not posting because there’s no point in it.  There was no life in it in the sense of questions being asked and the attitude and the response and it was too dull on the other end. Sad, because people are dull of hearing out there and I look forward to the time that their hearing is going to be sharpened up immensely and to be able to help people powerfully so.  God’s been waiting for this time for 6,000 years and we get to share in it.

So, if you deal your bread to the hungry, this whole world is starving and doesn’t even know it.  This whole world has been in famine for 6,000 years and they’re about to be fed for the first time as we enter into a new era, a new period of time, 1,000 year millennial reign of Jesus Christ as King of kings.  We are able to be a part of that and so in whatever part we can yield ourselves to being faithful in the little that’s given to us, then God can give us more, but we have to learn how to do the small and the little to what God gives to us faithfully, zealously with excitement, anticipation and zeal.

So he says, is it not to deal your bread to the hungry, and that you bring the poor that are cast out of your house?   Who are the ‘poor cast out of the house’?  The world looks at these things physically and that’s not what this is about.  This is about God!  This is about the word of God.  This is about the truth of God.  This is about God’s Church even and those who are going to come into God’s Church.  The picture and the focus of God’s Church never ends; it just gets bigger in time.  The things that God addresses in the Bible have always been first and foremost about His Church because that’s where the begettal takes place, that’s where the nurturing takes place that leads into Elohim, leads into His Family.  That’s what it’s about.  God isn’t working with the world!  He hasn’t been for 6,000 years!  Satan has been. God’s not trying to change the world!  That’s why the world can’t understand, that’s why the Protestant world and different religions out here don’t get it!  Because they think God is trying to save the world.  He’s not a very powerful God if He is - is He?  That’s what I would tell them.  What’s your god doing?  Maybe he’s off urinating somewhere.  Maybe he can’t hear your prayers.  That’s what Elijah told those priests; where’s your god?  That’s what you believe in?  It’s foolishness.  What you believe in is not God!  That’s not the true Jesus Christ. God is Almighty and all powerful and He’s going to take control; He’s going to rule.  Sad what the world teaches.

...the poor that are cast, yeah, it’s about the Church.  And we’re at a point in time where the Church is about to be magnified in ways that are just pretty difficult to comprehend.  Awesome!  Awesome, truly is, and we get to be not just a part of it, we’re in the forefront of it.   You are blessed to be in the forefront of this.  The things that are going to be written about this period of time... it already says that in the Bible...shows that in the Bible.  This is the period of time that man’s going to focus upon in the future, of what God did at this time, because everything was about building up to this point in time.  What we get to share in is beyond words.  You can’t describe it in words fully.  It will be an experience, a most awesome experience in time.  Incredible!

...and that you bring the poor that are cast out of your house?  That’s why our focus was for so long, the ‘poor’, those who need help, those who don’t have what they need, ‘that are cast out of our house’.  Who’s cast out of the house?  Those that are cut off from God’s spirit.  See, my heart first and foremost goes out to everyone who was a part of the Body.  Ever since God spewed the Church out of His mouth, because we were lukewarm, that’s where my feelings and my emotions and my heart has been – for them.  I have eagerly anticipated the time God continues and will bring far more back.  I also understand and am at peace with, although it hurts, to understand that the vast majority have to wait 1,000 years, that’s a horrible thing.  And I understand that I would be right there, and so would everyone else who was a part of the scattering if God didn’t have a purpose for a remnant...in continuing on with the Church.  That’s why I know that I am no better than anyone that’s out there and ALL that come along have to understand that.  We are no better, it’s just that God has a purpose and we’re blessed to be a part of that purpose as much as those of you who are new; you’re called out of the world.  Are you any better than anyone in the world? Not at all!  Sometimes that’s why we were called, you know?  God says He doesn’t call the great and the mighty of the world.  He calls us to dumbfound the world, to show what He’s going to do.  He makes it real clear that He’s doing it, we can’t take it to ourselves, we know better.  And so we’re just blessed and we’re thankful and so we respond in gratitude and hopefully with zeal toward it and a desire to continue to fight and work forward to what God is doing and blessing us to be a part of.

...and you bring the poor who are cast out of your house?  You know who fits in that category right now?  Do you get the picture? ...of how women are supposed to be treated and thought about?  Okay? And women have to be careful too then that they don’t use this in a wrong way because we both have problems in this world – men and women.  And there’s a balance in there and God shows us what that balance is – it’s spiritual in nature.  Both sides have sinned mightily – men and women – okay?  But what a blessing it is when men can begin to understand, a portion to be able to serve and to help in a greater way than what they did before, and for women to understand that they can respond and do what they should be doing as well in a better way!  Because both have lessons to learn in all this!  Okay?  To respond in a proper way before God, in a beautiful way before God, and God is opening up that door.  And so we have the blessing of being a part of this ...that you bring the poor that are cast out of your house, in a spiritual sense.

...and when you see the naked, that you cover him; see, naked means that we’re not fully clothed; and I hope we understand that we’re not fully clothed yet.  It’s a process of becoming clothed in white and being fully clothed so ‘the shame of our nakedness doesn’t appear’.  And every once in a while there’s some shame that comes out in our life, it just does; sin brings out shame.  It brings out a wrong reaction,  sometimes we think wrong toward one another – that’s atrocious!  But yet, that’s human nature, our human nature is just atrocious.  It really is sick.  Human nature is so selfish, self-centered, self-motivating, I loathe it with all my being in myself and I have to be careful how I deal with it toward others.  That is why God has shown me it in a big way in me and dealt with me in a certain way that I am learning mercy – see?  I’m learning to give people time.  I’ve learned that through time in the ministry.  And sometimes I have people that get upset at me, I’ve had ministers get upset at me, because I’ve given somebody too much time they think, or too much mercy.  I’m not sure when too much is too much, well, I do... I say that a little facetiously because you learn.  There’s a time when mercy can no longer be given.  You know when that is?  When God’s spirit shows it; when God’s spirit says enough is enough. See, I don’t try to make these decisions on my own of things I do in my life – I don’t.  I ask God for help.  I ask Him for direction, inspiration to know how to deal with every matter.  My wife will tell you that mightily.  I don’t use human reasoning.  I shun human reasoning.  I get away from it and I just look to God to rule my life.  He rules our life, the Church, if we let Him – see?  But we have to yield our self to that process and that is a beautiful thing - truly is.  So I think back at the beginning of some of these things – what happened in the past and people who thought certain ways.

When you see the naked, that you cover him; and that you hide not your face from your own flesh?  See... it’s how we think about one another, how we think toward the Church, the Body of Christ.  Our own flesh – it’s talking in a spiritual plane, a spiritual sense here.  How do we see each other?  How do we think toward one another?  And sometimes that puts us to the test, it truly does and sometimes God allows certain things to exist for a time to try us and test us and how we’re going to respond toward them.

And then He says here if you do it God’s way, if you yield yourself to the process - Then shall your light break forth as the morning, and your health shall spring forth speedily: too many people take this physically.  Spiritual!  Spiritual! Spiritual!  See?  And that which is spiritually healthy to us, yeah, it can have a physical effect too in our lives obviously, the peace of mind, the way we feel toward one another the less stress in life in our relationships and so forth.  Then shall your light break forth as the morning, and your health shall spring forth speedily: and your righteousness shall go before you; it’s God’s, it comes from God, its God’s righteousness; what is right.  If things are being done right it’s because it comes from God...the glory of the Eternal shall be your rereward. Your rear guard.  You know, God is there before and behind and all around us surrounding us.  He is our high tower.

Verse 9 – notice - Then you shall call, when?  As we go through this process of seeking to break the yolk, to remove the yolk, the burdens, the things that bind us, the things that weigh us down, the things that weigh down our relationships with each other, or in the way we treat or think about others.  And now that’s a two way street, please understand.  You can deal with people and talk to people and be right toward others but that doesn’t mean they’re always going to be right toward you; but that never gives excuse to be wrong toward them.  I hope you understand what I’m saying.  We have a high standard of life we’re to live by and we’re not to respond in kind.  That’s why the example of Jesus Christ is so profound.  When He was reviled He didn’t revile again, when He was threatened He didn’t threaten back.  What do we do generally?  You’re threatened?  Somebody threatens you, says something bad about you – you know its like, “Here’s one back!” Pthooom!  Pick it out of your mouth and just throw it right back at them, you know, “You’ve got a few words? I’ve got some words for you too!  I’ve been waiting for this moment!”  And that’s how we are sometimes, just ready to burst rather than doing things the way God says to do it.

Then shall you call and the Eternal shall answer; then we’ll have answers in our life, then we’re going to receive more help in our life, then we’re going to receive more blessings and favour in our life the more we respond to God to live right toward one another.  That’s why I made comments in times past; I loathe when I hear people having disputes in God’s Church, when people do not get along.  I loathe that with the depths of my being because it’s totally FOREIGN to God’s Church and what God says should be lived! And when somebody has a wrong attitude, speaks a wrong word to somebody else, tell you what, that is not God’s Church and that individual has cut themselves off from the flow of God’s spirit when they’ve done that and involved themselves in that and they have to go back and make it right and say, “I’m sorry! I was wrong in what I did.”  And that doesn’t happen all that often in relationships.  So from area to area to area these things still go on from time to time.  Some of you new people, when you come along you get to know each other better and sometimes you get in disputes.  It’s WRONG before God to do that!  To have those things happen in life... it’s contrary to God’s spirit, to have wrong feelings toward somebody else in the body?

I think of I John (4:19-20) always, always, always... We love Him because He first loved us.  If any man say, I love God, and hate his brother, he is a liar.  Say, “Well, I don’t hate my brother.”  What came out of your mouth is hatred, it wasn’t love. Sometimes we can do things in disputes with one another and brethren this is from area to area... I’m not picking on any particular area, believe me, human beings are human beings.  I’m talking about from area to area to area in the Church right now – okay?  Where people meet together regularly on the Sabbath there have been disputes.  I don’t have to go back very far... since the Feast, some people have had disputes, some people have had run ins with each other, some people have said things they shouldn’t have said, and those things happen, but how we respond to them, how we correct them, how we change, how we repent to make sure those things don’t happen again; how we think from that moment on about somebody else is so vitally important before God to be true before God, or else we’re liars before God!  And God doesn’t take kindly to liars!  I loathe lying and when we start lying to God that we can come before Him as though we approach before Him on the Sabbath or the Holy Days or in our prayers or fasting or whatever it is and we take these things before God and we’re still wrong in our actions toward others, or our thinking toward others – jealousy, envying, anger, judgement that’s wrong, in how we’re judging somebody and we still go before God in prayer...  Think God listens to you?  I tell you He does not.  He will not intervene to help you, He pulls away from you.  He will not dwell in you until you repent, until you see your sin.

If any man say, I love God, and hate his brother, if you’re not right with your brother, if you don’t feel right, if you feel some wrong feelings towards somebody else God says you’re a liar and so you’ve got to repent of lying before God, because it’s lying against the spirit, it’s actually, if we really understand it, it’s being anti-Christ because it means we’re fighting and resisting Jesus Christ living in us. ...for he that loves not his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?  That is a giant contradiction in the Church.  If we don’t love our brother, if we don’t feel right toward every brother in the Body, (which includes men and women, that’s just a term).  If we don’t love everyone within the Body something is deeply wrong with us before God, because we think, we can deceive ourselves into thinking that we can have something against others, that we can have words with others and yet we still love God, we go to God, we go to pray to God and we’re still going to services and we’re okay with God and we’re right with God and God just says, “No you’re not, you’re not right with Me if you don’t love mine...”  And this commandment have we from Him, That he who loves God love his brother also.  Must!

Whosoever believes that Jesus is the Christ (5:1) is begotten of God: and everyone who loves Him that begat, did the begetting if you will, loves him also that’s begotten of Him.  Beautiful what’s stated there.  How can we help, if we have God’s spirit within us, but to love everyone else who has God’s spirit in them - see?  Too often though human nature gets in the way, human emotion gets in the way, envy, jealousy, all those kinds of things, anger, resentment, whatever it is sometimes that stirs up feelings about others...and when those feelings get in there we sin.  Now, if someone has done wrong toward you in these things you still have a right response toward them that you must have – love toward them, to seek to reconcile.

I remember one time after the apostasy took place that... it was this large organization that I was a part of and there were some things that came out.  I wrote a letter, that’s when I started writing, got myself into trouble.  Some of you know what I’m talking about and I wrote what was happening, the things of a misuse of 4.5 million dollars that had been misappropriated that if you worked in a corporation you should have gone to prison for it... anyway, nothing was being done in the organization about what this individual had done – the president.  And so I made some noise about it and told them I could not continue to support that if it wasn’t addressed, if it isn’t taken care of.  And so I got a visit from the individual and from some others as well and it wasn’t very long and found out that there were lies going out about me, things that I had supposedly done which I hadn’t.  Matter of fact I’ll share a story with you.  I had one individual one time that called me up during all this who was one of the individuals that was a part of the organizations government. I won’t get real specific on some of this; and he was the head of the ethics committee for the ministers and he called me up one time and talking to me about a matter. I knew what he was doing.  They had a particular way that they would try to build up a case against someone in order to get rid of them, so I knew what was taking place.

But anyway, the individual called me up 2 weeks later – “Ron,” he said, “Want to talk to you again about what I discussed with you a couple weeks ago.”  He said, “You made this statement. This is what you said.”

And I said, “Now wait a minute.”  I said, “I never said any such thing.”  I said, “I don’t believe such things, I don’t think like that, I don’t talk like that, I know how I believe and what I believe and I know I didn’t say anything remotely close to that.”

He said, “Yes, Ron, you did, this is what you said.”

And I stopped him and I said, “Wait a minute.”  I said, “I can tell you word for word what I said and what you said.”

And he paused and he said, “Did you record it?”

Because I’d been forewarned to record anything that came from some of the individuals and I did record it.  Whether it was according to the law or not, I really don’t care, it got the point across and he hung up the phone.  Conversation came to an end because he knew he was a liar.  That’s sad that things like that can happen in the Church and yet I had to have right attitudes and feelings... I don’t toward those kinds of things that take place because I hate that kind of thing when it takes place and some of the things that were coming out at that particular time had to do with some of the lies that were going out and so I called up a couple of the ministers because this is in the Passover season anyway, should be on our minds all the more so.  What do you do?  What should you always do anyway?  Reconcile with others if something isn’t right.  Talk to them, get it out in the open and say, “We’re not right with one another and we should be right before God with each other.”  How much more in the ministry – you know?

And anyway, one individual that I called up...that’s why I’m saying you can strive to do what’s right before God but it doesn’t mean that everybody always responds properly, and this individual lost it.  Minister in God’s Church, probably 30 years plus, and he totally lost it with me and couldn’t control himself; screaming and hollering at the top of his lungs on the telephone.  I was totally in shock from it,  wanting to be right with him, wanting to be right with him toward me as individuals should do.  So you can’t always make other people respond properly to you. There are things that God takes care of and God has in some of these things... 6 months to a year he’s dead, you know?  And there are some other things that happened like that as well, so you know, no one gets by with certain things in the Church and especially within the ministry in the Church.  That’s why I’ve written certain things and things are going to come to pass, but you still have to do your part, what is right, and you better be right before God when you do it.  Not just because you’re going through the routine, or the motions of it, but because you really desire to reconcile.  You really desire to be able to, if you’re able to talk to each other face to face and not over the phone –to be able to literally hug each other when it’s said and done.  But you’re not always going to get that response from other people; but you still must be right toward them in your spirit and in your mind and how you think toward them, if you understand what I’m saying –okay?

So it may be hard and it may be a hard battle but you better be right before God, hate the sin.  I hate the sin when I talk about some of these things that took place... I’m appalled at what we did in God’s Church and what took place – especially within the ministry, but that’s a part of the battle, is fighting the sin in our self and striving to be right and striving to get right with God and then striving to reconcile as a Body and no matter what happens you’ve got to do your part right – just as Jesus Christ did.  When He was reviled He didn’t revile back; He didn’t threaten back, He lived a right way of life that He should have all the way to the point in dying.  And that’s the example for us.  That’s what God says, that’s the example we’re to follow.

And so here, and when it comes to fasting; you’re fasting because why?  It’s a matter of humility.  It’s a matter of your striving to humble yourself before God because human emotion get’s involved in that and you’ve got to be able to separate the sin from the person, the sin from what God is doing with the person’s life.  And you know, I’ll mention in the midst of all this, God lets us experience betrayal.  I’ve experienced it many times from those that I walked to God’s house side by side and council blended sweet within the ministry, people you think you’re really close to and you’re not – and those things cut deep no matter who it is in life, but the people you think you’re the closest to and sometimes you find out when a time of war and battle comes that they don’t feel the same way – it cuts deep.  Nothing pleases me more than the day I look forward to, whether it be at... well, for them I know when it’s going to be, but in that hundred year period at the beginning of it, to be able to embrace them, to let them know, “There’s nothing held against you. On the contrary, I’m glad you’re free now; that you can see what you did.”  Because that’s what has to happen in sin; both people have to see what they’ve done, to repent – see? God has just given us a blessing of starting the process ahead of time.  I had to start repenting when the apostasy took place of things that I’d done wrong.  I had to start repenting way before that of other things I’ve done wrong in the ministry.  You know, God shows us whether it be in our lives in family, or in the ministry or whatever.  And your response before God is what’s important.  And that’s what fasting is about, it’s about humbling yourself before God so that you can be right in your relationships with others and how you think toward them.  That doesn’t always mean they’re going to respond back to you in like kind, but you’ve got to do your part in how you think toward them and it has to be genuine or else it’s not true.

And that’s what this is about in fasting.  And notice verse 9, going on here again – then shall you cry, and the LORD shall answer, you shall cry and He shall say, Here I am. God wants to embrace us.  He’s called us to bless us.  He’s called us to comfort us.  He’s called us to give us more, but sometimes if we resist that and refuse that by sin, because of sin then we just can’t grow and that’s a frustrating thing.  If you take away from the midst of you the yoke, no one else can take it away.  If we wait for the other party to do it before we respond and before we get right with God toward them in our attitude and our thinking... you can hate the sin of other individuals.  You can see certain sin that people commit in their life but you can never hate them.  What a horrible thing if we cross that boundary.  But to have compassion, to strive to have compassion and mercy upon them and to respond like Christ did, ‘Father forgive them, they don’t know what they’re doing.’  And you know when somebody gets caught up in sin they really don’t know what they’re doing and they become imprisoned to something that eats away at them inside and they don’t even know it.  You look forward to the day they can be free of that – see?  As hopefully then you are, or I am – see?  Because we have to be right with God and so you have to dig down deep with God’s spirit to be able to see such things and that’s why fasting’s such a powerful tool.  It helps us, as we humble ourselves before God, to receive what He shows us then about ourselves.  It’s not about other people.  Fasting is not about focusing on other people, it’s about focusing on ourselves because only we have the power over our life of what we do before God, and that can be a little frustrating sometimes can’t it?  Because you don’t have power over anybody else’s life, just like you learn...you can’t give this to anybody else can you?  You can’t give it to people; understanding. You can’t give to them a right response to God, how they’re supposed to act and so forth and it can be frustrating but you have to deal with your frustration in a righteous manner before God.

So it says, if you take away from the midst of you the yolk; the putting forth of the finger, isn’t that what... can you see that finger on your hand and you’re looking out there and you’re pointing?  And we’re so quick to point at other people sometimes, you know, that’s why I like when they’re talking about there’s three others pointing back at you; they don’t think about that.  It’s always pointing that finger out at others, that’s so easy to do.  “This is what you did, you know!” It’s like we can find fault with others.   It’s so easy to see what other people do wrong, it really is!  Something that you wouldn’t do that way, or you wouldn’t have said it that way or I’d have done this... and yet we can’t... we’re blind to ourselves sometimes – to what we’re like, what we’re really like.  And the more we see ourselves, the more merciful we can actually become toward others.  If we really see ourselves in truth and in spirit the more merciful we’re going to be to others, the less likely you are to point that finger out there, you know?  ...the putting forth of the finger, and the speaking of vanity; because that all kind of goes hand in hand.  So often these things happen like this.  We take away the yolk, the burden... what causes the burden?  ...The putting forth of that finger and the speaking of vanity, because we get lifted up with pride and so what comes out of our mouth when we’re dealing with other people, it’s because we’re lifted up with pride because we know better, we know what they’re supposed to do and they better do this and they better do that and I know what’s better for your life – you know?  Well, what about self?  Do I know what’s better for self and how to control the tongue and what I need to say in circumstances and keep it calm and keep it under control and not sin.  And is my attitude and spirit really right then toward someone else?  John 3 and chapter 4 it talks about a right spirit toward God. If our heart condemn us... we ought to know, we ought to understand.  Anyway, powerful, powerful tool – that of fasting.

And so our focus as we approach the fasting has very much to do with both men and women – about how we think, and how we think just in that area alone.  That’s our focus right now.  That’s the focus of the fast, to ask God to help you – men, to think better toward women, to think better of how you think about them – see? When you think there’s nothing wrong in your thinking?  Think again, because you can become more refined, you can do better, you can grow more.  There’s no end of growing and maturing before God.  And in this area here God is going to give more help.  How do you think toward other women, all other women – see?  Men – how do you think toward other women?  Sometimes it’s not very nice.  Sometimes it’s not very good.  Men are different than women in that area, just to speak bluntly.  Are you in control of your mind?  Because I tell you you’re not fully.  There are battles you have to fight.  Any man out there that says he doesn’t – then I’d say something else about you – okay?  If you’re being honest before God and honest with yourself – see?  And that goes back to Genesis as well.  That’s why it’s a beautiful thing in the Song of Solomon that says, ‘and his desire is towards me’.  Genuine love, the way God intended it to be – see?  In how men think... see?  Ask God for help in those things to think right, to be right.  So men, how do you think toward women?  You think you don’t have a battle? If you’re honest with yourself you know you’ve had a battle since the day you were called.  Honesty... before God – see.  Are the pulls out there great in this world?  You better believe it – it’s a sick, filthy, perverted world.  People are broadcast to today in ways that never existed in times past - advertising alone.  Why, why, why in so much advertising do you have to have a woman half clad?  Degrades women, degrades your mind toward women.  You think your mind hasn’t been hurt by those things?  I’ll tell you absolutely with the authority of God Almighty, it has been mightily so!  ...if you’re honest with yourself.  You think that affects your mind because of a spirit and a thinking that’s been there from the beginning?  That’s a part of a curse.  You think part of that curse is in your life as well because of sin, because of human nature?  It’s because of sin, that curse is because of our nature of choosing our way rather than God’s.  That’s what started the beginning!  It’s the result of sin!  It’s what happens because of sin!  And there’s suffering – every human being has done the same thing since! We can’t blame Adam, we have to blame ourselves because we have the same rotten selfish human nature and there is that in men that’s different than women in large part – okay?  It’s just calling a spade a spade, being honest about it – okay?  And yet people like to ignore or like to think that doesn’t exist in life.  If you think it doesn’t you’re a liar!  You’re lying to yourself, you know?

So everybody out there...you know, you drive down the freeway – are there times you have to look away?  There are things I’ve striven to practice in learning to look away.  There are things sometimes my wife will point out that I don’t want to see. Do I do it perfectly?  No.  Do I have to fight?  Yes.  That’s honesty before God. Every man has thinking in his mind and my point to you is that if you go and fast before God, you better be truthful to God and acknowledge the truth in your mind and your thinking – see?  It’s everywhere.  On TV, advertising –see?  It pulls at you.  It doesn’t pull on a woman in the same way.  You don’t see men up there – it’d just turn them off, but it does toward a man and how he thinks.  You think there aren’t battles out there, in advertising, in things that go on and things that are put across out there and what is said and how thing are done?  It’s sick! It’s a sick world and if we don’t grasp that it’s infected our minds and the minds of human beings we deceive ourselves.  So we have battles and we better fight the battle before God in a right way, praying to God to cleanse our minds, to purify our thinking so that we think right toward women.  You think that’s not a tall order?  It is and we better, all of us, yield ourselves to that process of striving to do it far better than what has been done –see?  It’s too easy to sin.  You cannot yield yourself to that process, you’ve got to fight against those things and it’s constantly out there in this world, broadcasting in ways today that’s very powerful.  Over and over again, you turn your head, drive down the highway, you can’t help it, it’s on the stinking signs out there even at times, you know?  Why is the advertising like this?  Do we understand?  Because they understand human nature.  They understand people.

And then sadly sometimes for women they see certain advertising like that and they think that’s the way they’re supposed to be then.  See, they look up to certain things of how another woman’s dressed or how she presents herself and they think they’re supposed to be that way in order to be attractive...in certain advertising. It’s a sick world!  There’s a power behind it that isn’t right and those things aren’t going to exist in the Millennium.  You’re not going to see that kind of advertising and that kind of filth in the Millennium.  This is a part of removing the curse because you’ve got to obey God to make things right, to help clean up the mind!  To make our minds right before God means we’re a part of a process to help clean up this sick world and to make sure there’s not wrong things done like this in the world because it does affect how people think toward one another and how even a man thinks towards his wife!  If you’re honest, and you’re honestly fighting those battles in your mind and you have been, the longer you fight it and the more you yield yourselves to God the richer marriage and life becomes in your relationships and how you think toward another person – truly does!  It’s an awesomely powerful thing.  So you want to talk about fasting and you want to talk about a focus that we need to have in examining ourselves?  Let’s be true before God, very powerfully so and thankful we’re going to be a part of helping change this sick world, in these kinds of things and how things are said and how things are presented, you know.  You think that doesn’t affect people’s attitudes and mind then toward somebody else? There’s a lot here, a lot of yolk to be gotten rid of, a lot of weight that men have placed on women in this area alone and the women have placed upon themselves because of this too, because they’ve succumbed to it – see?  It’s both parties – things to repent of in some of this as a part of this process and I’m just touching the tip of an iceberg here, you know, in an overall picture of things.

And so again here, things that God wants us to do to get rid of the shackles that hold us back, that hold people down, that imprison people, that the heavy burdens are removed and the oppressed go free.  You have a major part, men, in whether you’re oppressing women or not – because you see if you sin in your mind toward oppressing women you will not think right toward women and that’s a shame. And that’s sin, and that’s something to be repented of in asking God to help us to see more fully.  And women, how you respond, how you do things, what you do in your life and how you think – there are things there as well because of that same kind of thing that has taken place that society has responded improperly to, and women have responded improperly to some of these kinds of things that have taken place in life as well.  You know what it does sometimes in women?  Well, there are a lot of things that happen in responses and reactions. It’s caused some to become very hard and hardened.  That’s a hard thing... for a woman to become hardened.  You know, for a man to become hardened is one thing.  There are certain things that because of the way men are, that it may not show as much, but in a woman it just looks bad.  In a man, it’s easier to excuse.  He’s just a blockheaded man. You know?  Hardened; he’ll learn to love, he’ll learn to show emotion later, he’ll learn to grow and we go through a process ourselves.

But for a woman to become hardened, to turn hardened...   I think of society.  I see people out here... to me the ‘butch’ look is a response to that.  I hate it because it says something very powerfully so – this is not a woman.  This is not the way God created you to be.  You’re hurting your own mind.  Don’t you understand what you’re doing?  By how you’re responding... and they don’t.  Why?  Because they’re imprisoned and they don’t understand what they’re doing.  It’s their response to something in a wrong way.  Women’s Lib, when it came along, you know, some of those kinds of things – it was a response to something because of the oppression that was there, because of things that were wrong, but there’s a right response and there’s a wrong response and with human nature and in the world – what do we see?  Wrong response.  And when God calls us in the Church He wants to begin to cleanse our minds to free us, to help us to think right: women toward women, women toward men, men toward women and men toward men... that we think right; because the mind is polluted and so there are some things that God is going to begin freeing us from in an accelerated way now as we’re launching into a new period of time.  He’s giving us opportunity to see things, and for ourselves, because if we see them, if we’re able to see them to the nth degree because we’ve been going through a process and responding in a proper way to God’s spirit then how much more are we going to be able to help in a new world?  How much more is God going to be able to help train us, to make the changes for a new world?  ...to be a part of helping to teach, to help, to give, to fulfill these kinds of things that are being spoken of here.

So again, think of these things in the context as you go into the fast then, when you come up to it because some of you in Australia and New Zealand and Europe, you won’t have the sermon of the fast until later, or what’s given then and it may have to do with the fast...eh, it’s going to have to do with the fast.  But your focus is what I’m talking about here today, what you’re going to be praying about, what you’re going to be asking God for, in how we think toward one another and just the one blessing alone – to have the ability to acknowledge in your mind and in your spirit before God that yes, these things have affected the way we think.  It’s a truth.  It’s powerful truth.  They affect the way people have been thinking toward one another and that’s caused a lot of difficulties then in life, in marriage and family and so forth because of the way we think about certain things and how we treat and judge one another in different matters.  It’s an incredible thing.

And so it goes on to say here, verse 10 - And if you draw out your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall your light rise in obscurity, and your darkness as in the noonday: And the Eternal shall guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and make fat your bones: and you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.  So in other words, as we yield to God and do what God says; the more we yield ourselves to this process, seeking to humble ourselves before God – to do everything in a humble spirit.  What a blessing to truly try to strive to in everything we do in God’s Church in a humble spirit.  Not about self, not about being lifted up, not about pride, but in a humility because of a job – to understand how God’s working with us and if we yield ourselves to the process the power that’s involved there to help others.  The more we yield ourselves in humility before God – never being lifted up in any fashion or form, and that’s a part of what this is about.  And then the beautiful verse...

I’m giving you just a capsule here because I could go on in this one area alone for a long time – these verses.  You need to go before God and pray about them and ask God how it applies in your life and in your thinking toward others.

Verse 12 – what a beautiful verse - and they that shall be of you shall build the old waste places: you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; this applies to what we’re able to do now more than any other people in time... and you shall be called, The repairer of the breach, you want to talk about restoring... well, it goes on to say - The restorer of paths to dwell in.  You want to talk about a work... because it’s not just about 1 person... the work of Elijah, the Elijah to come – it’s about a work, it’s about a Church, it’s about what we’re doing, it’s about what God is blessing us to do.  It’s about how God is going from one phase of time into another phase of time, what God is accomplishing and what God’s purpose is and what He’s doing.  The repairer of the breach, going all the way back to Adam and Eve.  We are blessed to be at the forefront of helping to enter into a new age and a new world.  We are the ones with whom God is going to work, to help others in a new age, coming into a new age.  The foundation begins with us, the Church.  There are going to be those who are a part of the 144,000 – God has been working at that for 6,000 years, but for the rest, you’re the foundation and the opportunities are immense – but there’s a grand change that’s taking place and these are the things that it’s being referred as, The repairer of the breach... The restorer of paths to dwell in.  I’ll tell you what; there is so much beauty in that it is awesome!  Awesomely inspiring and exciting.  Let’s go on...

So how important is it that men and that women respond to this change of what God is doing, what is taking place in a very humble, submissive manner?  Because you see, we’d better both be humble and submissive before God in what He’s revealing to us at this time.  The example and response of each member of the Church; the example and response of each man; the example and response of each woman is crucial - it truly is. God is blessing us mightily as we forge forward.  So that which is being addressed concerning women is of profound importance at this stage in human history, it truly is, what God is doing.  And again, just before a great liberation of all mankind that takes place for 1,100 years in front of us.  So the example that each of you now sets, and please grasp this and think about it, the example that each of you now sets is of great spiritual importance to the Church because I’ll tell you what...the spotlight is on us.  Whether you understand it or not, that’s what God is doing – see?  It’s going to be on you, it’s going to be focused upon the changes we’re able to make, what we’re able to do in the next couple of years; it is a spotlight in a very powerful way, it truly is.  It doesn’t take much, if we don’t yield ourselves to the process, for one or two here and there at times to put a damper on it, so much of the good that’s going to be accomplished.  That’s why God desires us to have a greater response in unity and oneness in this.  Every one of us - every one of us – truly, is needed.  It’s a maturing process for the Church at this time.

So how men receive the knowledge that God is now giving and the changes that begin to become far greater in the thinking of men toward women is of crucial importance to helping establish a new mindset for the future.  You get to be a part of helping to establish a better mindset.  Now we understand when we come into the Church that we begin to address these things in our life, but not with the focus and the magnitude that God is blessing us in doing right now.  That’s being intensified in a great way, in a beautiful way right now –truly is.  And great changes are going to come about as a result of what we can be a part of now – truly!  You are the beginning of a great change of rebuilding, or building or establishing and restoring that which God desires for a new age.  We’re at the forefront!  You can’t get a better seat!  You’re a participant in it!  It’s an awesome thing.

And the way women receive the changes, by example, that reflects humility, peace, integrity, by qualities that reflect the best of that which can be seen for a woman who is refined in stature, of feminine character, Godly character is what I’m talking about. Men can learn from women and women can learn from men of qualities about God.  There are qualities that if we can learn from each other that we can actually draw closer to God and learn things that God wants us to learn from each other – truly.  See?  So now is the time to seek to refine the qualities that reflect a woman who is in every respect feminine.  Not brassy, not like the ‘butch’ thing I mentioned. That’s just not a woman, it’s not what God created a woman to be. You have power in a tremendous way when used in a right way in life...and family – powerful!  There is that which is seen in qualities of women that men have to learn, things about tenderness, being able to be tender. Men aren’t too tender, we’re like a bull in a china closet, you know?  And that’s just kind of the way we function and we have to learn how to be tender with people, how we deal with people, how we work with people – qualities that... well, anyway...get into other sermons later on...

I want to go on to an area here: I Corinthians 14:34, I want to hit this one today because this says so much. There are people out here that before people got home from Sabbath services last Sabbath it was rumbling through the scattered church, what had taken place.  Names were already on the internet, you know?!  Amazing!  They’re helping us and they don’t even know it, those who hate us, they’re helping us and they don’t understand what they’re doing.  And I feel for them, I feel sorry for them.  But you see, there is going to be a spotlight and what we’re doing right now is going to become magnified many, many times over as time goes forward here and it’s going to turn into a very beautiful and awesome thing – especially when God begins to help other people who are in the scattered body to begin to see this is right, this is true, this knowledge, this insight is inspiring.  It’s from God.  God’s going to begin opening up some minds on this one area alone.  Incredible what’s going to begin taking place. So the more they spread it, the better it is.  It’s amazing how things work sometimes.

Notice verse 34 - Let your women keep silence in the churches:  that’s what Paul said in Corinthians here, for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also states the law. And if they will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home: for it’s a shame for a woman to speak in the church.  And so people wonder, “Well, how... these verses here, boy what you’ve done; that’s really bad, that’s really wrong.  You are ordaining women now and you know it’s one thing to talk about women and so forth and go back to Adam and Eve but... look at what you’ve done, look what you’re doing.  Doesn’t this contradict what God said?” It’s sad what people read into scripture.  Sad what holds people in bondage sometimes even in those who think that they’re following God and following the truths of God.  So does this state that women should not be ordained to ministerial service in God’s Church?  Is that what it says here?  Or does the law state that a woman cannot teach or speak about the truth of God or be used by God to prophesy? ...have inspired speaking concerning God’s will?  Because that’s how the word is used in the New Testament over and over again.  To prophecy; that’s why I said in the first book, because I was having a difficulty accepting what God was showing me I was supposed to say and do, and I was very specific in the black book, ‘The Prophesied End-Time’ in putting in there that I was a prophet in the sense of a definition that Mr. Armstrong had given when he spoke of the Greek language here of what it means and it’s used in the New Testament – to speak with inspired interpretation of God’s word – okay?  Later on it came out and that’s some of the context of speaking about a prophet here of no, it’s a prophet in the fullest sense.  But in the beginning that’s the definition I was using, the one that’s used primarily throughout the New Testament.

So, asking that...can a woman have prophecy?  ...inspired speaking and so forth?  Well, does I Corinthians 14:34-35 forbid that? No. People don’t think too deeply sometimes and candidly they can’t anyway until God gives it.

But let’s back up here to Acts 21.  Some of this should already be obvious since it’s already been addressed; like Miriam, Moses’ sister whom God made a prophet.  Or Deborah who was both a judge...  She judged Israel!  They looked to her for judgement!  A woman!  YES!  Very powerfully so...  God set an example there of something He recorded in time in history of something He performed in a very powerful way to Israel.  And she was a prophet.  So we’re talking about governing in Israel, judgement in Israel...AND a prophet; and people understood.  They knew what tree to go to in order to hear Deborah and what she had to say because they wanted to hear what God had to say.  They knew!  See?  So does God work in that manner?  Absolutely!  Is it against God’s law?  Absolutely not!  See, comes from God.  God defines, shows what is true.

Acts 21:8 - And the next day, it says, we who were of Paul's company departed, and came unto Caesarea: and we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist,  so here is the evangelist Philip, who was one of the seven; there were seven evangelists here, and abode, and lodged, with him. ...in other words... And the same man had four daughters, virgins, who did prophesy.  Powerful!  So can women...did God use the example in both the Old and New Testament, especially here now in the New Testament... speak with inspiration of God?  Absolutely so!  Powerful!  Very clear!  Can’t be denied!

So what about those verses in I Corinthians 14?  Do they mean that women are not to speak in the Church?  I’ll just tell you right up front the answer is both yes and no.  It depends on the circumstances and the purpose and God makes that clear.

Let’s go back to I Corinthians 2 because there’s some language we’re going to look at in I Corinthians 14 that you’ve got to understand the context of things that Paul was saying in chapter 2 to grasp and comprehend the whole story of what Paul is addressing as he speaks to the Corinthians.  So to understand chapter 14 you really need to understand some of the context here that finally led up to some of the terminology that Paul is using in chapter 14.  I Corinthians 2:1 says - And brethren, when I came to you, I came not with excellent speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. In other words it wasn’t because of his wisdom, his ability to see things, his understanding of things.  He wasn’t looking to himself and it wasn’t because of his great speaking ability!  He said it’s not any of those things when I came to you.

And my speech (verse 4, notice) - and my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, like the world does it in other words.  You know people get others to listen to them by worldly manners, a worldly way, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power:  in other words, what you saw, what you’ve seen comes from God and it’s a demonstration of God in me, in essence.  That’s what he’s telling them... of the power of God and the spirit in God: because this comes from God; that’s what he’s making clear to them.  So that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, our faith is in God and what God does and how God does it, understanding yes indeed He works through men but there’s a way that God does that, you know?  As it says here, but in the power of God.  We must see God in what is taking place or otherwise everything is vain.

Verse 7 - notice - But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, so Paul uses this term over and over again if we understand what it means.  It’s a mystery because it’s hidden from others.  It’s a mystery because we see it, we understand it but the world can’t and so often, all of you who are new, you comment to me about that, or you get into conversations with that and you talk about that, you learn it doesn’t take too long, after a while you say, “I’ve learned I can’t give this to anybody else.  I can talk about it and it’s like nobodies home.”  Might as well go out here and speak to a brick wall.  You know you’re going to get just the same kind of response – nothing: because they can’t help it and that’s what Paul is explaining here, very basically so.  So he says, we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, we speak, we talk about God and others hear it who have God’s spirit, and anybody else that hears it, nothing – nobody’s home.

...even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world, before anything, candidly, God had a purpose in how He was going to do this before anything was ever brought into being...how everything was going to be done.  God doesn’t just throw something out there and all of a sudden decide He’s going to... “Now how am I going to use this?” or “What am I going to do next?”  It’s all planned out. God is God: all mighty. ...which God ordained before the world unto our glory: In other words, God intended that there was going to be a manner in which we can hear God, we can see things, we can understand and others don’t – to the glory of God, but to ours as well, a glory we share in because it’s of His spirit, we’re blessed to share in, it’s an awesome thing.  Hidden from man and can only be seen by God’s spirit.

Verse 9 - But as it is written, Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has entered into the heart of men, the things which God has prepared for them that love Him.  So in other words, if you look at the world out here, they haven’t got a clue!  It hasn’t entered into their mind; it hasn’t entered into their heart the most basic truths of God, of what He’s got planned.  Until your mind is opened up by the power of God’s spirit, and all of a sudden you start seeing it.  It’s an awesome thing when it happens isn’t it?  You just know it’s true.  You can hear it, you can read it and you just know its true because God gives it to you – He’s opened up your mind.  Incredible how it happens!

Verse 10 - But God has revealed them unto us by His spirit: for the spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.

Verse 11 - For what can man know of the things of man, except by the spirit of man which is in him?  See, we’re physical, dealing with physical things, even so the things of God no man knows, but by the spirit of God.  No one can know the truth unless they have the spirit of God – see?  So sometimes we may throw something out there and people don’t respond.  Now if they start responding then we may be able to tell them more or pass along a book and then we’ll really know.  And if God’s not drawing them then don’t do it.  You know?  It’s available but you can’t give it, you can’t push it down their throat.

Verse 12 - Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; so that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.  God gives them to us freely.  Nothing we did to get it, but for His own purpose...  Which things we also speak, in other words, we can talk about the things of God with one another and we understand each other; but you can go out and talk to your best friend, or who used to be your best friend because usually they don’t turn out to be your best friend anymore, they leave you because you changed, you know?  Or you can go talk to your parents, your family, your children and they don’t see what you see, they don’t have that same excitement at all.  Which things we also speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the holy spirit teaches; that’s why I go back here so often – we must understand this process.  It works in the Church.  There is a process whereby people are drawn and called and it’s very refined today on the internet, on the website – it truly is, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him:  You get that response from people?  Whoooo... do they think it’s foolish. They like to lump you in with cults.  “I can see he’s a cult – this is bad stuff they say and what they do and what they teach – they’re so far out there and they really believe this stuff, you know?!”  Yeah, we do, but in a sound beautiful way.  What an incredible thing.  Not weird, not like these groups out here that are off balance and weird, but they like to lump you in with that because that’s how they deal with it.

But the natural man does not receive the things of the spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.  There are people that just can’t wait for me to say I’m a false prophet.  They’re just out there waiting to the moment... they just feel its coming and, “He’s got to say it someday, he’s got to just... admit it.”  I think, “Can’t you just wait a little longer, can’t you just hold on a little longer and wait and see?  Because if it does happen what are you going to do?  But they don’t think to that possibility.  Sadly it’s going to happen and then they’re going to have to address it.  Incredible!  So they just get stirred up more and more.  Sad.

Let’s go to I Corinthians 14:1 - notice the context - Follow after charity, Godly love; agape, and desire the spiritual, that’s the way we should be, to be of a spiritual mindset, to think in those terms, not just physically as we so often do when we read things or hear things and we want to understand how God’s doing it and what He’s doing and what is the spirit of the matters?  And especially agape because that has to do with our relationships, doesn’t it?  Follow after charity, that means that there’s work to be done, a right way in dealing with people and thinking toward people and that takes work.  For human beings we have to cry out to God for help to do that, to do and think in right ways because, you see, the actions don’t mean anything if the mind isn’t right.  You can say something to someone, you can basically do something toward someone and not mean it at all and not be genuine in any fashion.  It must be because it’s coming out of the inside through God’s spirit and it’s genuine.

...and desire the spiritual, notice, but rather, it’s very awkward how it says this in the King James in English here, but it means, ‘and moreover’ or ‘and more so’, it’s like saying, desire the spiritual, yes, but even more so that you may prophesy.  That’s what’s being told here.  Yes, it’s great to understand, to be of a spiritual mindset in that respect of being able to see things more on a spiritual plane but how much more if when you speak God’s involved in your life, that it’s not just coming out of you, but it’s because of God’s spirit that you’re able to speak to others and talk to others on a spiritual plane, you know, spiritually strengthened  by that kind of conversation, not trying to work it up, thinking you have to talk in a certain way to be ‘religious’.  That’s where Protestantism comes in.  When you push something, when you try to talk in a religious manner and it’s not of God’s spirit then it comes across in a fake way, in a wrong way.  But because it’s true and genuine, because you’re able to talk about this way of life with someone else and you’re inspired by it; you’re inspired by a sermon and you’re talking to someone else... you realize that you can actually be participating in this kind of thing in your conversation with one another?  ...inspired conversation?  It’s a beautiful thing.

But the moment self gets in there the inspiration stops, it’s like putting on the brakes ...screeeeeech! and everything comes to a screeching halt and you can’t go forward anymore and we just ruin it.  That’s the tough part isn’t it?  Self wants to get in the way sometimes and those things happen in the Church.  Sometimes when God is blessing you with something you’ve got to be content with how much that has been given and not to try to do it more, but to be content with that moment in time, whatever that moment is, when God has inspired.  Have you ever been in a conversation and all of a sudden you remember the scriptures and things are coming to you right and left and for the life of you, if you were called upon you couldn’t do that?  That’s God.  That’s God’s spirit helping you.  See?  But there’s a delicate thing that happens.  Do you know what it is? ...when that occurs in your life?  If you’re not careful you’ll take it to yourself.

See, that’s what happened to Philadelphia, that’s what happened in the ministry – people took it to themselves.  They experienced something of God working in them, because there was a job to do, it’s the Church and individuals went out to serve in the church areas and they experienced these things when they’d be giving a sermon and they were given inspiration to speak for the sake of the congregation and God was working in that; but the horrifying thing that takes place in life that so often happened is when that individual begins to be lifted up with that experience as though it came from them and their intellect, because of them, how good they are, or how good they see things.  Boy, don’t ever let that happen in your life.  You want to talk about a smack-down, that’s when it happens – okay?  I think of these wrestlers out there having smack-downs.  I don’t watch it, but I think that’s the expression they use isn’t it?  You want a smack-down?  That’s when you’re going to have it.  It’s like being lifted up in the air and smacked down to the floor, a body slam if you let self get in the way when God’s working in you.  I’ve had a few smack-downs.  I know, had to learn.  You better honour God, you better in your thinking, in your mind know and know that you know where it’s all coming from and never, never, never take it to yourself because that’s pride and you get cut off and God can’t use you then.

Going on in what it’s saying… Follow after these things; desire these things, but more so that you may have inspired speech in speaking when you talk.  Now, that doesn’t mean that your life has to be that way all the time and you don’t want to push those things and force those things because then it becomes Protestant.  But if it’s natural because of the time and yet there’s a natural excitement about something and God gives you something at a particular time – enjoy the opportunity in the moment and don’t make more of it and don’t take it to yourself.

Verse 2 - For he who speaks, and boy is the world confused over this one here, it says, in an unknown tongue, that’s not what the word means at all in the sense of how people look at it when they talk about speaking in tongues.  I hate that in the Protestant world, this thing of speaking in tongues.  They don’t have the simplest understanding of what this is talking about and just looking at a couple words in a ‘Strong’s Concordance’ you’d understand it’s just talking about a different language, speaking in a different language. In Europe it’s very common for young people, that by the time they’re out of school, to be able to speak three languages.  I’m in awe of that, but they get to practice it a lot too because there are a lot of people and different languages around them. If you live in Belgium, you have that opportunity. If you live in Germany you have that opportunity.  If you’re in Europe, you have the opportunity of speaking in different languages so the doors are open there for people to have opportunity to do these things.  And that’s what it’s talking about here because in that world they didn’t have the kind of travel we have today.  Different areas, there were a lot of different languages.  When you go back to Acts and you see what happened there at the very beginning when the holy spirit was poured out, it lists several different peoples of different languages and they were in a close little vicinity of the country.

For he who speaks, I’m going to translate it as it truly is here, in another language speaks not, it says here, of men, is what it’s talking about, in other words the things of man.  So, he who speaks in another language speaks not of man but of God: it says ‘unto’, it’s like it’s not talking about talking to God.  This is talking about that in the environment of the Church there are people who are speaking in another language and he’s saying there’s a right way to deal with things here in the Church. The environment is the Church; more specifically it’s actually church services. Their services were a lot different than our services today – okay?  And through time some of that’s changed.  At different times, God has spoken in different ways – even there within the Church and Paul is addressing something that’s happening in the Church, that’s taking place in the Church.  He’s showing what you should first and foremost do in everything you do is through agape, is about God’s love, to understand things on a spiritual plane, but even more so that when you speak there are certain things that come from God – that you may prophecy with inspired speaking.  He’s talking about, even for us, we have those opportunities even amongst ourselves, but especially in those that speak.  In this occasion there would be many who would be together in an area and different ones would speak.  It’s not like we do today.  There would be different people in a room and men in a room that would start talking about certain things here and discussing various things out loud.  It was a little bit different.  Some things were read out of the Bible, right out of scripture, but then they would discuss and talk about some of those things, it was a different format totally than what we use today.  Now God is using another manner in that respect, frankly a maturing matter, that’s used within the Church in a very powerful way.  And so it’s discussing then these things and it’s talking about here that when you’re in an area, because of the regions and so forth and some areas being... Ephesus, you had people coming in there from different parts of the country that would travel there and they would be of different languages, a common type of thing.  So what do you do when people have come from a different area and they’re there listening or whatever and learning about God’s way of life?  So he’s addressing these things.

For he who speaks in another language speaks not of men, or the ‘things of man’ is what it’s talking about, not of man, but of God: in other words, when they come together it’s about God, it’s about the truths of God, it’s about God’s word.  ...for no man understands him; howbeit in the spirit he speaks mysteries.  What mysteries?  It’s talking about what we’re able to do in the Church; it’s what I’m doing today.  You’re able to understand it; it’s a mystery in the world, they don’t understand it, but you can see it because it’s of God – that’s the point here.  So we’re talking about a gathering of people who come together in a kind of church service if you will, a church environment and they’re told that there’s a certain way of doing it, especially when there are other people of other languages; that the whole purpose of it is to still preach the truth, the mysteries of God.

But he that prophesies, in other words, speaks with inspiration from God, speaks unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort. In other words, when someone is blessed by God to be able to be inspired and moved and motivated by God’s spirit for what is given, then what is the purpose of it?  It’s for the purpose of edification, exhortation, and comfort, the truth, God’s way of life, that’s how we grow.

Verse 4 - He who speaks in another language edifies himself; in other words, if you happen to know another language, then that’s a good thing and you yourself are going to be edified and helped by it if you’re able to communicate to other people in another language. I can only handle English and I haven’t done a great job of that, but there are other people, if you’re talking about being in Europe, when we’re over there I wish I could speak in Dutch.  I wish I were able to do something like that.  I don’t have the ability to do that.  But if I were in the business world over there, I would have to have that in order to do business, if that was my purpose, and so it helps... self edification. If you know another language there are a lot of pluses to that, there are opportunities there that don’t exist if you just know one, you know you’re limited to one then.  So that’s why I stay around here mostly.

He who speaks another language edifies himself, but he who prophesies, he who has inspired speech, edifies the Church.  See?  So if you’re able to communicate with others that’s a great thing within the Church even, in the church environment, and you just talk to them about certain things in a different language; that’s a great thing, but the greater thing of all is he who prophesies is able to edify the Church.  Not just yourself now, with another language.  That’s what Paul is addressing here – how to use another language in a church environment when it’s needed.

I would that you could all speak in other languages, see? I dab, not very much because I lost most of it, of Russian.  I can’t say too much, but I’ve enjoyed what I learned, I’ve enjoyed the language when I learned it, I enjoy the alphabet.  I think there are 33 letters if I remember rightly, that are different from ours, more letters and I was thoroughly fascinated by it.  I tried to learn German and I wasn’t too wimpy at it you know, but it does edify; another language does when you’re able to learn something and able to communicate with somebody else just a little bit, it helps self, you know, in that respect of a type of edification.  It’s a rewarding... in other words it’s a rewarding thing, that’s what he’s saying here.  And so he says, I wish that you all could speak in other languages, especially in that region of the world because what a tremendous benefit then, to be able to converse with more people than just of your own.

... but rather, that same word again, but more so even, how much better you prophesy: have inspired speech in other words.  How much better is that if you’re able to do that in another language – see?  It’s one thing to be in another language, but what an incredible thing when God gives you the ability to do so with inspired interpretation.  ...for he is greater who prophesies than he who speaks in another language, except he interpret, in other words, unless of course he’s able to interpret.  I think of what I do when I go over to The Netherlands, and one individual over there, Mieke, when I’m speaking, she’s back there typing the sermon so that some individuals who speak Dutch can understand what I’m saying because they don’t understand the English as well. She’s able to type it into Dutch as I’m speaking, a basic outline of certain things and then the scriptures that are being used and that way they can look up the scriptures and so forth at the same time I’m speaking and that helps them tremendously.  She knows in her language what I’m saying. When they translated the book over there in Dutch there was some great lessons in that because you can’t just translate it word for word.  You lose meaning.  It has to be by the intent of what is said.  To translate something in another language you have to know what is there and there’s a gift in that as well that we possess in the Church.  We have understanding that is akin to this thing of prophesying, speaking with inspired...which comes from God and God dwells in us all. He gives us the ability then, even in our conversations to speak about, to talk about the things we’re learning.  And so this is a part of that, it just happens in varying degrees, but especially in the church environment, in a church service far more so.  I receive far more at this period of time than what I do through the rest of the week when I’m conversing, when I’m talking, because there’s a point to it right now in communicating to the Church what God is giving! See? And he’s talking about this as well, in other languages –see? So you really have to understand another language well to be able to translate something that is given; or something that God gives because it’s not just a matter of words, it’s the intent, the spirit of it.

Verse 6 - Now, brethren, if I come unto you speaking in another language, what shall I profit you, except I speak to you either by revelation, or by knowledge, or by prophesying, or by doctrine?  In other words, if I come to you and you understand this language, what good is it going to do to you unless I’m able to speak by revelation, by knowledge, by prophesying, or by doctrine.  In other words, that’s the only way it’s going to have meaning to you and benefit you.

Jumping on down to verse 12 he says, Even so forasmuch as you are zealous in being spiritual, in other words in how you live, seek that you may excel to the edifying of the Church. It helps the Church!  Isn’t it exciting when you’re inspired by the sermons you hear and you’re able to discuss some of those things that come out or whatever during the week or in conversation after services and you’re excited by what you hear and you talk about some of those things amongst yourselves.  You know I hear it all the time.  Now, does it happen all the time?  Not all the time.  You know, you can’t expect to have the same experience every week, every time, every moment, but there are times where maybe there’s a certain sermon that hits you in a stronger way than another and is more personal to you and more exciting to you than another.  It’d be nice if it was like that every time, and in a lot, it is, we’re inspired by what we hear, but there’s some that move us more when we talk about it; and that means you understand the things you’re able to understand; you’re able to share with each other – there’s sharing in that that’s exciting, that benefits one another.

Going on...verse 18 - I thank my God that I speak in other languages more than you all: so he’s making it known here, “I speak more languages than you so don’t get puffed up.” In other words, he’s always trying to help them be of a humble mind. Yet in the Church I would rather speak five words with understanding, that I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in another tongue.  So it’s in balance.  He’s showing here the soundness of mind. So all through this instruction Paul is giving, the context is about how things are to be done in an orderly fashion within the Church. That’s what he’s talking about, things are to be done not in confusion, especially in the environs of a church service.  Because this is truly the full focus of what he’s discussing here; their service, which is totally different from ours today and it is talking about when they all come together.  And when do they do that?  On the Sabbath; it’s talking about on the Sabbath, it’s not just talking about some kind of a potluck.

Again, their services were much different than today as it states in verse 29, notice - Let the prophets, in other words, inspired speakers, and in this case here, not always of ordination in the way they were set up at that time.  But there were certain leaders that were noted as leaders who were a part of that and obviously as time went on and the Church grew there was more of that which was a matter of ordination, first and foremost that would lead and guide and direct the process here.  And Paul is showing here the way it’s to be done; let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge. In other words, those who speak with inspired teaching in a service.  It’s kind of hard if you don’t, because of our service and the way it is today, you hear a sermon, and we don’t discuss the things, we don’t have the same process today. See? Because through time some of the problems the Church was experiencing the Church grew in a way of addressing some things that was a better way as time went along, candidly, as the Church grew and became established.  This was a beginning, this was the establishing of an area and there was much work and it wasn’t like Paul could be there every week, or Timothy and different ones that were out there, sent out to different areas, could be there all the time and it took time to build up an area, to work with an area, to get an area established.

Going on... If anything be revealed to another who sits by, let the first hold his peace.  Now it’s hard for us to grasp this environment.  Here you have three individuals, as an example, and a group of people who are listening, and they’re discussing, they’re noted to be leaders of the Church because of how God is using them and so forth.  As time went along people became ordained in those areas as well, but not always.  So it was a mixed group of individuals here but generally those who are looked up to be the leadership of a church and we’re talking about a beginning here, until things were fully established.  But the individuals would be talking and then something would come to someone as they were discussing certain things, just like conversations you sometimes have, and all of a sudden you’re talking about something and something exciting comes in your mind and you want to share that and give that and you’ve got to be careful – when it comes to God – even about the truth of God.

Verse 31 - For you may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted.  Paul is going through showing there’s an orderly way to do this and if one individual hears, something comes to them as you’re discussing a verse, a scripture, as God is inspiring them, then obviously the others have to stop to let the other speak to be a part of this.  And again, thank God this has been refined through time and we do things differently today.

Verse 32 - And the spirit of the prophets are subject to the prophets.  In other words, those individuals are in control.  That’s why you think about people that speak in tongues, they’re not in control, there’s something else controlling them. This shows that when God’s working with you you’re under control, you’re in control, there’s an orderly way of doing things. For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, in all the churches of the saints.  So please understand this is the primary backdrop of what Paul was saying.

Verse 34 - it’s about the Church in the environment of the church service...Let your women keep silent in the churches:  that doesn’t mean, by the example we read in Acts of the four daughters who obviously had the inspiration of God, that they were speaking with inspiration – that was very clear to everyone what they were saying was in unity and order of understanding inspired by God.  It was coming from God.  They were able to speak because they knew it was because of understanding they had that came from God.  That’s what we share with each other so often.  We’re able to share things that the world can’t and so our speech with each other, when we talk about God’s truth and God’s way of life, we’re not adding to it, we’re not teaching something new, but we’re sharing what God has given us to UNDERSTAND, which is a beautiful thing when you understand what’s been given and you’re able to talk about that.  That’s a beautiful thing and that’s what we’re discussing here.

And going on here...Let the women keep silent in the churches, in other words in the context of a formal period of the Sabbath service  ...for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also states the law. And if any will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home: for it’s a shame for a woman to speak in the church. I want you to notice something that follows here.  T is something here that Paul addresses quickly that if you don’t understand why he’s doing this you’ll totally miss what’s being said in the rest of the chapter here.  Paul starts immediately by addressing the men.  Now why did he switch gears like that so quickly?  Why, all of a sudden, did he start addressing men about something when he was addressing something about women?  It’s because of their response to what Paul was saying here – see?  It goes back to this same attitude and spirit that started in Genesis 1. And so Paul is addressing something here about their attitude toward women and he’s making it clear to them that what he is speaking and what he’s giving to them is from God, inspired by God’s spirit.

He’s giving an order of things, but notice, he goes on to say... He says What!? Does the word of God just come out from you?  Because something he said in the previous verses caused some men to react in a wrong way, they responded in a wrong way to something that Paul was saying here and he said, What?!  In other words, there was some attitude that was a little bit condescending here, candidly, of men toward women: just tell you what happened here. And that’s why Paul comes back and responds like this. It’s like they’re being told to do something at home and there are some men who didn’t think they had to do that at home.  That was their response... in the way they were being told.  See, they understood something from Paul that as a whole you’re not going to catch and understand what was being told in verse 34-35. He says Does the word of God just come out from you? ...does it come unto you only? He’s chastising them a little bit.  “Don’t you understand it comes out of your wife as well?  Don’t you understand that she has the spirit of God in her and its coming out of her as well?  Okay?”  See? “She’s not beneath you!”  See?  “And there’s a way you better handle this!”  That’s what he’s telling them and he adds some teeth to this.  He says, If any man, he’s talking to the men, think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, see, because we’re getting back to manly pride sometimes – men and their pride. Women have pride?  Yes, but men express it in a different way when it comes to matters like this and it’s like ‘keeping down, beneath, below’ and God is making it clear that is not the purpose, that is not what God orders, that is not what God commands, that is not God’s way.  They are not beneath, they’re not lower and yet men can tend to think that way sometimes; have in society in the world, and sometimes if we’re not careful we bring some of that garbage into the Church.  We think we shed it all, trust me, it doesn’t all get shed – see?  God is blessing us to shed a lot more of it.  If any man think himself to be a prophet, did they? Did they think that God’s spirit worked through them and they had inspired conversation in Sabbath services?  Not just the individuals that were up there talking, but the rest in the group, that they could talk amongst themselves in a Sabbath service or if they were a part of that, but especially the ones who were up there?

He’s saying, If any man think himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.  See, what I just told you in verses 34-35 (well, they didn’t have verses); what I just told you about women, you better believe this comes from God.  “If you think yourself a prophet...If you think yourself inspired by God... Do you get it?  Do you understand the spirit of it because that will show right there if you have inspired understanding.”  Because inspired speech can’t come out unless there’s some inspired understanding that goes with it. The ability to see the mysteries of God, the prophecy, the prophesied has inspired speech – it’s from God’s spirit, the ability to see, to be able to discuss it with one another anyway.  We do it all the time in the Church to varying levels, we truly do.

So he says, Let him acknowledge that what I write to you are the commandments of the Lord. But if any man be ignorant, I’ll tell you what, this is some pretty strong language here, but you’d read over this if you didn’t know what was being said and think, “Why is he going on like this?  It’s like it’s not even joined together here.”  It’s like some proverbs.  You read in one Proverb and all of a sudden you read another one.  No, these are all joined together really close.  But if any man be ignorant, in other words choose to be ignorant – he’s really hitting them hard.  He says, let him be ignorant. This is a smack-down – okay?  ...from Paul to the men who just responded to him and he knew.  Why did he write it like this?  He’s writing!  Why did he write like this? Because he knows!  Why does he know?  Because God gave him His holy spirit to know exactly how some would receive this, knowing men.

Wherefore, brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy, to have inspired speech, and forbid not speaking in other languages. Let all things be done decently and in order.  So it’s a beautiful thing that’s being said here if we understand the context. He’s showing that there’s a right way of doing things in the Church and how things should be done in a Church service and the like and this thing about languages and how people speak and when they should speak and so forth.  He was dealing with some unique problems.

Let’s go back here to verse 34 - Let your women keep silent in the church: Again, please understand this is the context of the formal period of Sabbath services – okay? Women will not speak in the church.  They will not give sermons.  They will not give Sermonettes.  They will not give opening and closing prayers.  God is very clear about that – see?  My wife is very thankful for that as are some other women out there.  Now I’ll tell you what, there are some other women out there who would, who aren’t maybe as happy to receive this understanding.  You need to examine yourself of why.  Because it’s the way God orders it in the environment of the church service – see?  There’s a reason for that and he’s going to explain part of that if we understand.  ...for it is not permitted unto them to speak; in other words in the context of the formal service when it’s to come to the subject of ‘to prophecy with inspired speaking’, which is inspired speaking of God through the power of His holy spirit, but they, and this, ‘they are commanded’, that’s added, that’s not in the Greek language – see?  It’s all in italics there.  But it basically saying that they’re not permitted to speak, but under obedience, and that’s very awkward.  It means ‘to be subject’, there’s a certain way of order that God has said and given in a church service, in an environment of a church service, as also states the law.  And this is referring back to that which is contained in the book of Moses, all the way back to Genesis –see?  When it’s talking about part of the curse of what began to take place and God said, ‘that he would rule over you’.  There is an order of things but it wasn’t to be done as man has received it.  Man has taken it as power to rule, under, as the Church did, as the ministry did in the Church, to control, under thumb.  I’m putting my thumb on the table and turning it around here – okay?  God never intended government to be that way – at all!  And it becomes very clear as we go on here.

So again, this is not a matter that gives the right or authority to abuse the government which is how man has taken it.  Verse 35 – and if they will learn anything let them ask their husbands at home for it’s a shame for a woman to speak in the church.  Powerful words if you understand the entire context and know what these words mean.  A lot is lost here in the English language.  A lot is lost because people don’t understand how Sabbath services were set up and established there and what took place, and how things were done.  I want you to look at the word ‘shame’.

Let’s go back to I Corinthians 11:1 - I’m going to go through this a little more rapidly.  It says, Be you followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.  See?  He says, “Follow me as I follow Christ.”  Something that we’re to do because there’s a certain way that God works in the Church.  Now I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I’ve delivered them to you. But I would have you know, the head of the man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; there is an order to things when it comes to a matter of family and how things are ordered, and there is in the church as well. ...and the head of Christ is God.  And so there is a way that God works, but people can take this in a wrong way just as the ministry did.  It is not an authority to control.  It is not a thing of being lifted up by that others are under you.  How many of old? I know you know. Other of you are new, you don’t know this, but if you’d known people in the past, ministers that were out there – they were lifted up by their positions and people were below them.  They talked down to people – okay?  That isn’t of God, but those things happen.  Men do the same thing, so often to women – talk down to them like, “you’re not quite on the same plane as me.”  It still happens in the Church – okay?  It still happens to Church, it happened last week in the Church.  I saw an email; that it came through on an email to someone because men don’t realize how they come across sometimes.  They really don’t understand their own minds sometimes, but anyway...

Every man praying or prophesying, inspired speech – okay? ...having his head covered, dishonours his head. It gets down to showing something as simple as something physical here and that goes along with that which is spiritual.  Physical things affect our lives and how we think and how we are – even before God – how we present ourselves.  But notice here, But every woman who prays or prophesies; that’s right! That’s right... okay?  See?  I’m saying that in a certain way so you men, all you men can understand what I’m saying.  Don’t think that you don’t think in a wrong way, some of you, toward women, because you do.  Okay?  God has given the ability through the power of His spirit for both men and women – everyone – to see the truth, to know the truth, to prophesy on equal terms – okay.  Understanding!  Do some excel others?  Yes, and so much of that is because of the jobs God has given – see?

But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonours her head: her husband.  See, there’s things in a family that bring order that aren’t shameful. There are things in a family that can happen that can bring shame to a family and it says here if the woman in essence cuts off her hair – makes it too short, she dishonours her head, her husband.  You’re a family but there’s an order to things.  Should it be done in a controlling manner?  No! Does Jesus Christ deal with us; does He deal with me in a controlling manner?  No.  Great freedom, great blessings, great liberty, great patience, great love – sacrificing love!  Okay?  Incredible!  God’s government is not mans government and we have to rule out and get out the garbage out of our mind when it comes to wrong government.

...for that is even of one as if she were shaven.  In other words if it’s too short, if it gets too short might as well just shave it off, just get it right down to the scalp because that’s what it looks like.  It just doesn’t look right.  That’s why I mentioned a while ago about that ‘butch’ look, you know?  It’s just a shameful thing because a person’s not doing something that God gave to adorn somebody... it’s just unnatural.  But this world is so screwed up it doesn’t even know what’s natural, what’s right, the way God created it to be, and the beauty and the confidence a person should have in who they are and what they reflect.  Mixed up world!

Verse 6 - For if a woman be not covered, let her also be shorn: in other words shaven off; shave it all off, take it all off, for it’s a shame, in other words a shameful thing, for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered.  In other words if you don’t get the point, if it gets too short, just to shave it off – if that doesn’t reflect... and yet we see today outside in today’s world, Does a woman really look beautiful that way?  Is it something that looks nice and... some people out there might think it does and if you do, it just shows how messed up your mind is – see?  Shows what happens.

Verse 14 –notice, Does not even nature itself teach you, that if a man have long hair, it’s a shame, it’s a different word; it’s stronger.  It’s shameful, but it’s vile, dishonourable, reproachful – it’s a stronger word than the word used toward a woman to have her head shaven.  If a man has long hair God says it’s reproachful, it’s vile, it brings dishonour, to himself?  He doesn’t even understand it – see?  To look like having hair that’s as long as what you’d look at and say... you look from the side or back view... If I didn’t know better, you know, it looks like a woman.  Everybody should be able to look from the back view as an example, side view and say – that’s a woman; that’s a man – see?  Because even women sometimes... and people have read things wrong – like the next verse... But if a woman have long hair, it is to her glory: for her hair is given to her for a covering.  So there are people who read that verse – women - and think they have to have real long hair in order to fulfill this.  That’s not what its saying.  It’s just to be longer because I’ve seen people who look like they  just got off a broom that consider themselves to be religious in this world, you know?  No, women, keep your hair looking good and combed and cut and clean and you know what I’m talking about.  You’ve seen both sides – men and women who’ve done things that are goofy out there but even in the religious world you see some women who think that it is religious to have super long hair.  That’s not what its saying.  If you have long hair – great!  If you have longer hair – great, fine, but be careful when it gets too short.  That’s what God says. But don’t think that someone’s religious by going extra long.  There’s a balance in everything, isn’t there.

Going back to I Corinthians 14:35 - And if they will learn anything, let them ask, in other words it means to discuss and question in order to learn and understand.  It’s a very open discussion – see?  Just like anyone’s able to have.  Now we’re able to do this as soon as Sabbath services are over because I am the one through whom God is working with inspired speaking that teaches the Church.  When that’s done it’s done.  From that point on, it’s not the Sabbath service environment anymore and men and women are both free to discuss openly with one another these things.  Before, it was not so in the church service – okay?  And society was different as well.  Things have changed because of society and time as well and a lot of it has to do with men again.  But anyway... the word, ‘ask’.  I want you to think just about the word ‘ask’ because it’s used differently and there’s a word that just means ‘to ask’ in scripture that’s used over and over again.

I can go on and explain some of these words and what they are but I don’t remember all the verses and stuff where they are, to be used but I’ll tell you what – this is exciting and maybe this is good, because in this respect you can go back and you can think about some of these things this week and think about these two verses in I Corinthians and consider what Paul is saying, because I’ll tell you what, we’re going to go into some things here about the different words that gives a greater understanding of what’s being discussed here and it’s inspiring, it’s exciting to understand the full context of what Paul is discussing here and why and to understand a process of order that God has given within the Church.  And so I wanted to go through part of this today to show that there’s a balance, there’s an order to things that God gives and one of the things out here, so that everyone understands, to dispel any idea that before long that... you know some comments have been made at different times that maybe Laura is going to be ordained to be an apostle or whatever.  No, it’s not going to happen.  Why?  Because that would mean she is going to be up here preaching, and trust me –she doesn’t want that.  She said she was tickled when it came out about me being an apostle.  It makes a distinction there.  There’s a reason why I’m referred to as the spokesman of the two witnesses when it comes to teaching in a formal environment and setting, when it comes to teaching about the ways of God to the world or to a congregation – those are different settings and there’s a way that God works in that –okay?  It’s just an order of how things are done in government as far as God is concerned; as much as... well, I’ll go into that next Sabbath.

Think about that and ask questions why.  Why is it ordered this way?  Why does God have it this way?  Because in all that we’re going into right now there is balance and there is order.  It’s all about government – see?  And we’ll talk about that more next Sabbath.

~~~end

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