A Time of Rest

Wayne Matthews

1st Feast of Tabernacles Sermon - 2010

Well a special welcome to everybody to the Feast of Tabernacles of 2010; and particularly a special welcome to all the overseas visitors. It’s very exciting to have such a large group here in Australia.

If you’d like to turn to Deuteronomy 16:16; this is the command to give an offering. Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Eternal your God in the place which He chooses; so it’s where God places His name.  Now there are many in many locations that can’t actually come to an organized Feast site due to health or other reasons.  Well, they still can appear before God because it’s a command to appear before God and you can do that in your home, or you can do it here where God has actually placed His name so that we come together as an organized group.  ...at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Tabernacles: which is where we are today; and they shall not appear before the Eternal empty-handed: So whether it’s 10¢, 50¢, or a dollar, it’s really about an attitude.  We really can look back and look at our physical blessings, is what it’s about, and also look at our spiritual blessings which are more important at this end-time.

Verse 17 – Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Eternal your God which He has given you. So this actually requires a spiritual attitude; because if we don’t believe that God provides everything we will not consider the blessing that we’ve been given, because we believe that we obtained our job and that we obtained the salary that we obtained, or whatever; we will not be as thankful as we should because we have done it; and we haven’t given God the credit or the recognition, the fact that He has done it.  People in the world cannot see that God provides everything, but once called and have God’s spirit you begin to see that God provides everything; and I mean everything.  And often, even in my life, I’ve looked back and there are times I haven’t been as thankful and haven’t appreciated it; and that’s even on a physical level let alone the spiritual.  The spiritual is beyond!

What God has given to the Church in this last era and this last period that we’re now in since 1335 is... I know people in previous generations are going to look at it and say, “You were given what?!”  They’re going to be shocked at what truth has entered the Church... what truth and how thankful we were, and how thankful we should be.  And I know in general we are; that we understand deep down on a spiritual level that everything comes from God.  All truth does come from God, doesn’t come from our own thinking; and there is a process.

One of the beauties of understanding God’s Church...and often you can tell whether somebody is in God’s Church and where they are in God’s Church in the sense of a spiritual level is...Do they understand government?  Because people have started a calling and at various times have their own ideas and enter the Church with their own ideas which came from the world, from concepts of the world, and have a desire to want to transfer that to the Body of Christ, because they don’t understand how God works.

God the Father gave it all over to Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ is the head of the Church; what enters the Church must come through Jesus Christ and must come through an apostle.  That’s how truth enters the Church; and outside of that our ideas are just that. And when we take ideas and start to run with them it is actually dangerous because we are fighting against the very Government of God.  And often God does give elements of a truth to a person in advance; (that actually has happened), but the responsibility of the individual is even greater.  ZIP!  Because that’s the challenge. It’s like having information in advance and some people have, like Mr. Weinland has said, have been given information in advance about the truths that God is going to reveal to His Church.  He said the pressure and responsibility is greater!  It’s easier not knowing... don’t carry the same responsibility; because the aspect of pride in human nature is to let just a little bit out.  True?  That’s human nature. So truth enters a particular way and God feeds His Church; and how thankful can we be?

So our offering, although it’s physical, actually just simply reflects how we’ve thought about what God has given us and how we value what God is providing for us on a physical...but more importantly, on a spiritual level.  And if a person has 10¢ to give, if that’s all they have... it’s like the widow’s mite - true?  Someone can give a lot of money if they’ve got a lot of money; but if you worked it out, you don’t know their attitude.  Why?  Only God knows the attitude of why people give what they give.  We don’t have to worry about it, it’s not our responsibility; and that’s a great blessing too if you understand that.  The only person we have to worry about is ourselves, nothing else, that’s the responsibility we have.  So I know in each area everyone has taken up offerings or today they will be taking up an offering as commanded.

Moving to the sermon now.  The title of the sermon is; A Time of Rest. There are seven annual Festivals which were given to Old Testament Israel and they were ordained forever.  And the world doesn’t know about these commanded assemblies; and the reason is the truth has been deliberately hidden from them.  But because we’ve been called, God has revealed truth.  So we know the plan of salvation.  We understand what God’s purpose is for us individually.  We don’t see as clearly as what we think we do often...like, we don’t know what’s actually going to happen tomorrow.  We don’t know.  We don’t know what God’s actually got planned for many of us; we really don’t know.  We’re just given a responsibility, we’ve started a journey.  And once we’ve started the journey our responsibility is to continue on the journey.  How long is that journey?  For some it’s going to last 80-90-100 years possibly.  In the Millennium it’s going to be easier of course.  Others?  Their journey might be 35-40-50 years – we just don’t know.  But it doesn’t matter.

Often even within the Body of Christ, in times past, people would look at length of service (a worldly concept), means that they’re spiritual giants.  Length of service doesn’t mean a lot.  In lots of ways length of service doesn’t mean as much as what we might think in a physical level because God’s got a plan for how long He needs to work with that person to get them into a position.  So length of service... we’ve got to be careful it’s not pride that we take it to ourselves and say, “I’ve been in the Church 15 years.”

“I’ve been in the Church 3 years.”

“I’ve been in the Church 20 years.”

What does that really mean?  Well, God allocates all spiritual gifts and if you look at the parable of the talents God says He gave to some 3.  So a person could be in the Body of Christ for 45 years and God allocated that person 3 talents, to use those 3 talents wisely.  Another person could be in the Body of Christ 10 years and have been given 7 talents.  Another person could be 9 years and been given 10 talents.  And that’s why scripture makes it very clear it is unwise to compare one against the other.  And how presumptuous it is for any of us ever compare ourselves one to the other?  Because what you’re really doing is criticizing God.  God gives all spiritual gifts.  Whatever gifts we have, whatever spiritual level we are on is because we’ve dedicated ourselves with what God has given us and God gives the spirit at different levels.  To Jesus Christ it was full; to us it’s all different levels.

But how presumptuous is it really of us to ever look at somebody else and say, “Well, I think I’ve got more than them.”  Well, it isn’t going to last for long because it’s dangerous territory.  We should be just working and focusing on ourselves; that’s what the Bible commands all the way through.  We should work on ourselves, we should allow God’s spirit to flow through and out to others through us.  We can be a vessel for God; a choice has to be made.

The true meaning of these days is hidden as a mystery to everybody other than those that God calls and has revealed the truth to.  These annual Holy Days picture God’s plan of redemption, the divine plan by which God is reproducing Himself.  And we went through that on the Day of Atonement.  These days are called ‘appointed times’.  They are appointments for God’s people.

Leviticus 23:1 - And the Eternal spoke to Moses, saying, (verse 2) Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, the feasts; this word is ‘appointed times’ of the Eternal, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, commanded assemblies before God, these are My Feasts/ these are My appointed times.  These are times appointed by God for God to reveal how He is saving mankind from what he is.

Now, an aspect for us to consider is that we have an appointment with God.  Every Sabbath is an appointment with God, and every Holy Day is an appointment with God.  Now just consider for a moment the presumptuousness and the arrogance and the pride that we would ever cancel an appointment with God!  Unbelievable that we would do that!  Guess what?  We all have that potential because we’ve lost our focus to realize that every Sabbath is an appointment with God, for God to reveal Himself to us so that He can give us His mind, His spirit. And yet in our human weaknesses and our human pride there are times when we cancel an appointment with God.  That’s our potential!  And when you really think about that on a spiritual level, spiritual mind can understand it – that’s pretty sick and perverted that we would cancel an appointment with our Creator.  But mankind in his carnal mind, that’s exactly what they do.  They do not want to have an appointment with God.  They’re virtually saying they do not want God to tell them what to do.

But we’re here to learn.  That’s true?  We’re here because we actually want God to tell us what to do, because God’s spirit enables that of course; and we rejoice when God tells us what to do.  I remember some years ago when I was re-awakened and in the Feast in U.S.A., and I thought about how great it was, and the particular series of sermons were rather corrective to the mind.  And that’s the most exciting time... when you’re told you’re bad, your mind is evil, and you’re excited!  And after eight days of it and you walk away and you almost wish it was longer! I wish there was more...  If you went out into the world and they say, “What happened?”

“Well, I got corrected for eight days!”

The real world’s reply is, “Whoa! What sort of groups that?”

“I’ve been told my mind’s evil!”

“Whoa!  And you enjoyed it?”

“Loved it!”

See, carnal natural mind can’t understand it, cannot understand; but we actually love it.  True?  Because we want to please God, we want to be for God and we know that we are against God.  God reveals that to us. It’s a wonderful, beautiful thing.

So that correction, yes it can be painful, you can twitch a bit when you hear certain things.  I remember in New Zealand in particular giving a particular sermon and it’s happened often where you speak... you hope that God’s in your sermon and you’re giving the sermon and you hit a particular point and for no particular reason you might look at a particular person.  And of course that person thinks you’re talking about them and you can see them go “Whoa...” It’s not intentional at all; it’s just the way that things work out. And then later somebody came up or sent an email and said “I knew that you know...that you were talking about me because it was me.”  And I ... well, I didn’t have a clue, it’s just the way it is.  True?  But that’s God’s spirit, it’s not the speaker per se, it’s God’s spirit convicting the mind, giving truth, correction in the mind.  You need to make an adjustment in the mind.  And it is a beautiful thing to experience.

So these are appointed times revealed by God about how He is saving us, how He’s saving mankind.  The Day of Atonement and this Feast of Tabernacles are directly connected; one actually enables the other.  The Day of Atonement pictured reconciliation, but also the removal of Satan and his demons from the presence of God and mankind during the Millennium...and then finally for eternity.  Satan must be removed by God so that peace can be given during the thousand years.  And I’m really looking forward to that, and I know you all are as well because it’s going to be different.  Because all the things that are out there are going to be removed, they’re going to be taken away, so life will be simpler and it’ll be like going downstairs last night and meeting, or like today.  It’s going to be a different spirit, a spirit of co-operation, a willingness to take correction, which is a spirit of humility.  The ability to take correction is simply an aspect of humility.  A humble person hasn’t elevated themselves, so a humble person can take correction.  A person without humility cannot take correction.  And the teens of today, outside of God’s Church, if you ever encounter one...just try it.  The reaction can be quite swift; un-teachable.

And I know as having grandchildren one of the most upsetting things that actually happens is that because I know who I am in the sense of what God has made me and what God’s given me I see things that they can’t see and therefore when I see pride or arrogance or a rebellious child I actually see how God the Father sees us; because you see, I twitch.  I twitch when I see a spirit of rebellion in a child of 3; that’s in human nature - true?  But I twitch because I say, “Whoa, Wayne – that’s what you are.”  It’s like a child to a parent, or a child to a grandparent; it’s an ugly thing to see.  And then you realize how ugly human nature is and that we’ve got that same capacity.

This Feast of Tabernacles pictures a time when the Kingdom of God will come to rule mankind.  Man will not be in the Kingdom, but he will be ruled by it.  And it’s a great blessing when we’re going to look at the removal of man’s government.  If you’ve lived in Australia and been through the election process I don’t think there’s anyone in this room that would be desiring for man’s government to continue on as it is under any shape or form.  We just want it removed.

So during the time of this thousand years, salvation will be offered to all mankind as everyone will now have access to God’s spirit. They too can look forward to the dwelling of God in them; the dwelling of God in them in the Family of God in the sense that they are begotten.  They’re begotten, they’re not actually in the Family, but begotten.  But we know there’s 144,000 that are in the Family of God.  And I know that to live through a period and then to live into the Millennium and see 144,000 and even know some of those 144,000 will be so encouraging.  To see the return of Jesus Christ is going to be so encouraging.  For those that are in the Body today, because of the knowledge that God has set us up with and the truth that we have – how exciting is that?  ...to see that?  And the motivation that’s going to be involved in knowing all that happened, and the buzz that will be around knowing that others are being drawn into the Millennium and have God’s spirit, will have access to it yet to be baptized and the laying on of hands; but it’s going to be exciting.  It’s going to be exciting and it will be very motivating... for a period.

I’ve lived through Laodicea; I know exactly what happens to the human condition even with God’s spirit.  And although we have all this truth, we soon take it for granted.  The most basic truth out of the Truths that God has given to the Church – we have a tendency to take it for granted; a basic one like there’s a spirit in man.  Do you know the world knows nothing about that?  Nothing!  They don’t understand that there’s a spirit in man that can think and plan and use logic compared to the ape who can’t.  They have no idea, but we do, we know it and often you watch TV and they’ll say, “This is a great mystery.”  And Chris and I will be sitting there saying, “Well we can tell them.”  Since God’s revealed it – true?  And all these things, and people dedicate their life for 35-40-50 years studying a particular thing to get all this information and yet Chris and myself could walk up and say, “Excuse me, we’ll just give you the answer but you won’t accept it.”  It’s simple, true?  It’s beautiful, it’s simple, it’s logical and practical if you’ve got God’s spirit.  If you haven’t, its not.  Can’t be, because the mind wants to go off in its pride and work other things out.

The Millennium is the thousand year rule of Jesus Christ on the earth with 144,000 born into the Family of God. This Kingdom of God will rule over mankind during this time.  Satan will have no effect on mankind.  Mankind will have a rest from Satan’s deception and influence; and hence the title of the sermon, ‘A Time of Rest’.

So we’re going to get into a little bit in the future that we realize the Sabbath is the time of rest; and each time we rest on the Sabbath and fellowship with God we’re actually celebrating the thousand years of rest, because it’s the 7,000 year plan of God and that last thousand years every Sabbath.  So when we reject the Sabbath we reject what God’s got planned for mankind – a rest from Satan’s influence, a rest from deception and confusion.  The Sabbath is beautiful.  So how we keep the Sabbath is important.  If the Sabbath’s a burden to us there’s an issue – big issue – we’ve lost our way, because the Sabbath, by resting on the Sabbath we are demonstrating what the Millennium’s going to be like.  So those that can come into fellowship each Sabbath, there should be a bond of unity, a bond of cooperation, a bond of peace, because we’re reflecting the Millennium.  People with God’s spirit should be able to come together in a bond of unity, celebrate and rejoice, because the Sabbath reflects it.

So, in some ways everyone in this room has lived an aspect of the Millennium; you’ve already done it, because you do it each Sabbath when you rest before God as commanded.  Satan’s main power is that of deception.  That’s going to be removed.  There’s going to be a time of rest from that bombardment.

Satan is a liar and the father of it.  So, all deception is a lie, which is against God, and pride is self-deception; and it’s something for all of us to note that sometimes things get beyond what they should.  We all have pride. It’s all different degrees, or masqueraded in different degrees; but we all have it.  But pride is a self-deception.  We’ve deceived ourselves into thinking that we’re better than what God says we are, so we’ve deceived ourselves.  But Satan wants to trigger that to make sure that we are deceived by all the other rubbish that’s around.

This Feast period of seven days is followed by an eighth day observance which is also an annual Sabbath.  The last day of the revelation of God’s great plan; it’s called The Last Great Day and we have sermons covering that.

So why are we really here?  We have a particular command to be here today and particularly these seven days, and then the eighth day.  We are here to fellowship with God on a spiritual level.  That’s the main reason.  We’re here to fellowship with God on a spiritual level, and if we didn’t attend any activity, physically, there’d be drama.  We’re here to fellowship on a spiritual level.  And of course to fellowship with God on a spiritual level we fellowship with one another because God and Jesus Christ live in the individuals, therefore we will fellowship.  But the main reason is to come and listen to sermons, to be fed by God, to fellowship with God.  And the fact that we’re willing to sit and listen and be taught by God, we are in fellowship with God.  God is communicating to us and in our prayers we communicate back to Him.

There are two main reasons why we are here.

1. We are here to learn to fear God.

It’s a command.  We are here to learn to fear God; so it’s going to require a level of humility, to be teachable, to learn what God is going to give us.

2. We are here to rejoice and celebrate.

So the only way that a person can rejoice... because there’s rejoicing and there’s rejoicing.  There’s rejoicing, and it can be on a physical level, but if we’re not careful that rejoicing is selfish, because you see we’re getting something out of it.  So some rejoicing in the world is selfishness.  And people say, “I’m happy!  My football team won!”

“Oh, okay.”

But that’s what made them happy.  In other words, they acquired something and guess what they required?  A level of pride cause, “My team won.”  So we’ve got to be very careful.

True rejoicing, which we’re going to look at, true rejoicing on a spiritual level is what it’s about.  So to truly rejoice we have to be thankful and if we’re not thankful for what God provided we cannot rejoice; and to be thankful requires the spirit of humility.

Some time ago... I’ll reveal something to you about my prayer life.  Some time ago when I was awakened I was actually so thankful.  Chris and myself, we used to sit up in bed at night and we couldn’t sleep, we couldn’t believe that all this had happened.  And by the way, those that are listening, and Americans in particular, Australians have a tendency that their humour is to laugh at themselves. Often we jest - true?  Normally we tend to put ourselves down. That’s Australian humour, so hopefully you’ll get the humour as you go along.  But that’s what our culture is, we tend to poke fun at ourselves and put ourselves down as a, “Hey, look I’m an idiot! I’m just confirming it.”

We were just so shocked that we’d been awakened and it was just amazing what the Church, in all that period of time, had gone through. And later on we started to laugh because we realized how difficult it was for Ron and Laura and all the others that were there... they had to...  God revealed truth - true?  And it’s sometimes painful to change the way you think - true?  So you go through all these years and we turn up and after three months we’ve listened to everything that’s out here – it’s all okay, we haven’t been through much – true?  We didn’t have to go through all the pain and extraction of truth and seeing people leave over things.  It was so much easier.  So we laugh at that sometimes, think, “Well, we’re just so thankful.”  But then I realized that the only true way to be thankful for what God has given is that I do pray for one particular thing in my prayers, and that is the spirit of humility.  Because I’ve come to learn that without humility I’m nothing, because if God hasn’t given me the spirit of humility, the way that I truly see myself, what exists?  The opposite – pride.  So without humility, pride exists; it’s for or against.

So the spirit of humility, an extra portion of humility is a great blessing because then God’ll give you the spirit to see, to be thankful for what He provides.  Then when you see that, we can actually truly rejoice on a spiritual level.  They’re connected.  Rejoicing, thankfulness, and humility are all connected and they are all spiritual in nature; not human humility.  When you see human humility in some of the religious groups, that deck on the gowns and the hands clasp in a certain way and the head bowed...that is the greatest expression of pride that you’ve ever seen because, “Look at me!  I’m religious; I’m actually humbled, only you don’t know it.”  That’s what they’re really saying.  They don’t know that, but that’s actually what they’re saying.

True humility is nothing like that.  True humility is understanding that God gives everything and that by the grace of God go we. The only reason we sit here is because God called us here, that’s the only reason; because God placed us in the Body.  God granted us repentance.  The only reason we see the truth and we see ourselves is because God allowed it.  So we can’t elevate ourselves against anybody out in the world.  In actual fact, when we look out there we can actually turn around and say, “Well, you know, I look for God’s mercy to them one day.”  And the responsibility is on us to demonstrate mercy in our life, to demonstrate love to others in our life.  That’s what it’s about, that’s the spirit of humility.  We don’t compare ourselves with them because actually we’ve got nothing to compare with, because we’re just so thankful and merciful that God’s been merciful to us.  It’s a wonderful thing!

Like to turn to Deuteronomy 14.  This goes through an aspect of keeping the Feast, covers some aspects of tithing which has been covered recently not long ago, ‘Tithes and Offerings’.

Deuteronomy 14:22 – You shall truly tithe all the increase of your grain that the field produces year to year. Covering first tithe; and we understand that.

Verse 23 - And you shall eat/consume, now here we need to look not just physically but spiritually, before the Eternal your God, in the place where He chooses to make His name abide, in other words, where God places His name as far as a commanded assembly.  God dwells in His people, so God is here today.  God is here today because He dwells in His people.  ...the tithe of your grain, and new wine, of your oil, the firstborn of your herd and of your flock; that you may learn to fear the Eternal your God always.  So that’s why we’re here.  We have saved our second tithe, we’re here to learn to fear the Eternal always.  And that word actually means ‘continually’.  We’re going to learn to fear God continually.

Now the word ‘learn’ means ‘to be instructed, to be taught’.  The word ‘fear’ means ‘to stand in awe, be in awe, to fear, to reverence, to honour, to respect’.  So because we have been called we respect what God has commanded, so we’re here to be taught, to learn to fear Him more.  That’s what we’re here for, to learn to fear Him more.

Now I’m going to go through a series of Proverbs and Psalms.  They’re short, but they’re to the point, just covering off this word ‘the fear of the Eternal’.

The first one is in Job 28:28 - And to man He said, Behold, the fear of the Eternal, that is wisdom; so it requires a calling. It requires a calling before we can learn to fear God.  And when we learn to start to fear God, show respect to Him, it is actually the beginning of wisdom.  And what is wisdom?  Wisdom is the mind of God.  Wisdom is the way God thinks.  So when someone says, “You’re wise.”  Really they often refer to the world; but true wisdom is the ability to think like God, which requires God to live and dwell in us.  It’s not of us, of our own thinking, it’s God’s thinking.  In other words, we’re for God, we agree with God and it’s what God says about a particular topic.  So it says...that is wisdom; so if we’re here today we’re showing wisdom, we’re demonstrating wisdom because we’re here to learn to fear God more.

...and to depart from evil is understanding. So when we gain this understanding we go, “Oh, hang on a minute...”  We know our human nature, we begin to see it, we begin to understand what God requires, we depart from evil.  We use God’s spirit and we reject sin.  So we depart from evil.  So as we battle, as we fight and we reject evil, we have understanding; we demonstrate understanding, we understand.  We understand our nature, we understand that God must live and dwell in us for us to overcome ourselves.

Psalm 111:10 - The fear of the Eternal is the beginning of wisdom: so when a person begins to see the truth, they begin to stand in awe of God, they begin to show reverence to God, honour and respect to God, it’s the beginning of wisdom; it’s the beginning of the creation of the mind of God in the person.  It’s only the beginning, it’s a start... a good understanding have all those who do His commandments: so really the connection there is we have to fear God, we begin to understand and therefore we do His commandments; obedience.  So the fear of God leads to wisdom; it leads to obedience.  Yes, we’re going to obey God because we respect what God says, we consider what God says as all wise.  True wisdom, true understanding, true knowledge all comes from God.  ALL knowledge, spiritual knowledge, comes from God and that’s the only way we can acquire the mind of God which is wisdom.

Proverbs 1:7 - The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. So, when we reject the instruction that comes from God, when we reject the wisdom of God; in other words, how we should handle matters in life and how we should live and what we should do to live and draw closer to God; we are fools.  We are fools because we’re rejecting the very mind of God.  We’re demonstrating we’re fools.  And if you wanted to ever spend some time and go through the Proverbs, it talks about fools.  And really, it’s somebody that rejects what God says, quite simply.  A person that rejects what God says is a fool in God’s eyes.  We’re being foolish.  And when we’re foolish, pride exists.  So when pride dwells a person is a fool.  And often you will see pride demonstrated openly.  And the main, the most important thing when we see pride in others in the world is not to look at that but to look at ourselves, just to double-check that we don’t demonstrate that exact same pride and if we haven’t looked in the mirror lately, in the spiritual mirror of God’s Word.  Because pride exists in every one of us, it’s a given, that’s what we are, that’s how we function; and all too often with our opinions, the way we have a view on everything.  You know, we’re like that honestly.

If we lined everyone up about an opinion of whether this room’s hot or cold everyone’s got an opinion; and with God’s spirit you won’t complain.   No, I’m only joking.

Proverbs 8:13 – So the fear of God leads to obedience and submission to God; we become for Him.  The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: now to learn to hate evil requires God’s spirit.  In actual fact, pride and our own nature...we actually don’t hate evil.  We do not hate evil with our human nature.  When somebody is criticizing another person and pulling them down, we, by nature, do not hate it.  We do not see the damage, we really don’t.  In actual fact there’s a glee in it, because pride lifts up the self – yes, they’re doing that... and then we elevate ourselves and we compare, “Yep, I’m doing pretty well.  I wouldn’t do that.  I can’t believe they would do that.”  It’s disgusting pride, because that’s what pride does.  Do we learn to hate evil?  And the only way we can learn to hate evil is to see the damage it does, the damage it does to others and to ourselves.

...pride, and arrogance, and the evil way, and the perverse mouth, I hate.  And our tongue is a dangerous thing and the tongue is connected to the brain.  It’s just reality.  Well, maybe not all the time...and that may be some of our problems. We don’t think.  The tongue’s a free moral agent sometimes I’m sure.  But generally, that’s what we are – true?  And it’s about discipline of the self and taking issues to God and apologizing to people.  And if we do the wrong thing or we perceive we might have then let’s rectify it...rectify it before...  The scripture clearly says, ‘rectify it before Me.’ “No use bringing me a gift,” God says, “first, go back over there and sort it all out and then bring your gift, because I’m not going to accept your gift.” God says,  “If you can’t reconcile with the other person, reconcile, be at one... if you can’t do it, you won’t reduce your pride to go and do that – no use coming to Me,” God says, “because you need to go reconcile with your brother first.”

Proverbs 9:10 - The fear of the Eternal is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy one is understanding.  Now that is a great blessing.  The knowledge of the Almighty God is a great blessing beyond understanding in the world.  To actually know God!  And if you were to say to people, “I have a personal relationship with God.” People would be thinking, “You are completely insane!”  But in actual fact you do, you have a private personal relationship with God; and you have access to God because of your baptism and laying of hands and your ongoing repentance.  You can table anything you desire to God. The question is...Will we?  And the problem is us, never God.  The problem’s us.  Will we table it to God?  And that’s a personal decision we all have.  But we have access to the very throne room of God.

Proverbs 14:26 - In the fear of the Eternal there is strong confidence:  So this fear, or this awe of God - we are confident.  We are a confident people!  We are a confident people because if you look at faith which God gives, if you looked at the group prior to maybe about two years ago, and you look at the faith that God’s people have now – it’s impossible to talk to someone in the world.  I see and I know God’s faith is stronger in the Church than I have ever personally ever seen it. And yet, if you were to try to talk to anyone out there, “Nothing’s happened.”  And you say, “Heaps have happened!”  They can’t see - true?  We see.  We see God’s plan.  We see the 7 periods of 140.  We see it!  We see... you know what we see most of all?  God’s mercy. We see God’s mercy and they can’t see it.  So it’s a beautiful blessing.  How thankful can we be in that?  Just for God’s mercy... in fact we can even be here today celebrating an eight day Festival as one, with a spirit and bond of unity.  We can be thankful for that and rejoice in that because it’s spiritual in nature.

In the fear of the LORD there is strong confidence: Yeah, we’re a confident people because God’s given us that confidence.  It’s God in us that makes us confident.  We do not rely on ourselves and we don’t mathematically sit down and try to work it all out.  Because God’s given it we accept what God’s given, and now we wait on God – confidently, boldly.  ...and His children will have a place of refuge. Isn’t that a beautiful scripture?  We have a place of refuge.  We can go to God at any time and have a place of refuge, a place of protection spiritually.  It’s just a wonderful blessing and opportunity we have, that we’ve been granted at this particular time.

Proverbs 14:27 - The fear of the Eternal is a fountain of life, it enables life.  We have life, true life dwelling in us, spiritual life.  The physical life is temporary.  Children die one year old, six months old... we have life, we’ve got physical life, but more importantly we’ve got a spiritual life.  A down payment has been given to progress, to grow spiritually so that at some point in time God will use that life to add to His Family for the benefit of others.

You know, the 144,000 take no credit to themselves – they know God did it all.  They didn’t choose God, God chose them.  God worked with them and developed them so that they could serve God in the future and they will have humility; and once made god, of course, into Elohim, will operate with the ability to never sin.  And I know personally I’m looking forward at some point in time that I’m not going to sin.  I think that’s going to be marvellous, to be able to open my mouth and not sin, because you’re not going to have to sit there and worry... “Oh did I say the right thing... or...” you’re just going to function as an Elohim at some point in time and not sin.  It’s going to be upbeat, positive, confident all the time!  Isn’t it going to be brilliant?  Right thoughts are going to be in your mind, no wrong thoughts!  It’s going to be beautiful!  It’s an exciting thing we’re looking forward to at some point in time for all of us.  The fear of the Eternal is the fountain of life: and one turns away from the snares of death. The second death... it requires God’s spirit.

Deuteronomy 14:24 – But if the journey be too long for you, so that you are not able to carry it; the tithe, or if the place where the Eternal your God chooses to put His name is too far away from you, when the Eternal your God has blessed you:

Verse 25 – then you shall exchange it for money, take the money into your hand, and go to the place which the LORD your God chooses: and that’s what we’ve done. And you shall spend the money on whatever your heart desires, within the constraints of God’s word.  So it is a time of rejoicing.  ...the ox and the sheep, now, please don’t go out on a farm out here and start killing off the sheep.  It’s the principle of enjoying the food, the food that we want.  I must say, last night we were joking, Australian humour.  There was a group of people that had a lamb shank, and I reckon that lamb was at least six years old... you know a lamb can only be one year, really.  It was huge, that lamb shank, it was so big, it was... “Hey, this is not a lamb.”   But everyone said they enjoyed it.

...for the ox and the sheep, for the wine, moderation of course, or similar drink, the Jim Beam, the whiskey; something that you don’t normally have.  Its fine to have a drink in moderation, something that you normally would not have or normally afford; to try something.  Yes I know a group that not long ago just tried a Belgian beer and when you looked at the Belgium beer... in Australia, Australian beers are about 4.5, 5.2 I think was the maximum.  Belgium beer is a 9.9 – one of them was 10.  So it’s got a big label on it, ‘standard drink’, like normally a beer’s about 1.1 or 1.5 standard drinks... this says 2.5 WARNING.  Because, hey, one Belgian beer in Australia... you shouldn’t be driving; and maybe a Belgian beer that strong you need to be a bit more cautious, maybe you need to drag it out a little bit.

So again, God says enjoy it, have the Belgian beer in moderation, have the whiskey, enjoy!  Enjoy life!  It’s a time for celebrating and rejoicing and having those things that you normally wouldn’t have.

...or for whatever your heart desires: within the bounds of God’s law; you shall eat there before the Eternal your God, and you shall rejoice, you shall rejoice and give thanks to God for all the things that you have.  Those people that have the things that you want... rejoice before God knowing God provided it...God has provided it.  Last night, I must say, the one thing that I rejoiced in most was the fellowship that I saw.  It’s quite moving because it’s impossible to see anything else other than God at work in a group of people.  Chris and myself were walking up to the room saying, “It’s so uplifting just to see God’s people just talking and communicating.”

We’ve got Americans here that speak some sort of an English...   When you all get together somebody said today that how incredible it was that they met them and after one minute it was like they’d known them for 30 years.  That is God’s spirit!  Because there’s a bond there, isn’t there, a unity; and it is a wonderful thing.  And I won’t comment about South Africans because they’re even harder to understand.  They probably say they’re a truer English than us and that Australians don’t speak English, as long as you understand that... Australians do not confirm that they speak English; we speak Australian.

So to rejoice; and I’ll quickly touch a couple Psalms...

Finishing off verse 26 - ...you shall rejoice, you and your household.  This is the Household; the Church of God is the Household.  We’re to rejoice together, to look after each other and to make sure nobody misses out.  Normally in a Feast site, some Feast sites where there’s a smaller group, yes you can touch base with everyone; and when you go to a restaurant or whatever you can find room for 18, 12, 15, 20, but when you’ve got 60 people we can’t all get into one restaurant, we can’t all be together.  But what God requires of us is to look out from ourselves to make sure others are rejoicing.  So, let’s make sure we pick others up that may be a little bit quieter by disposition.  So just make sure we’re looking out for others and if we go out in groups of 6-8-10 maybe we can get around a lot more, and being the venue that it is here today where we are, it’s not as simple, we have to travel to more restaurants; but we’ve just got to look out for others. It’s really important, and it demonstrates God’s spirit if we’re looking out towards others, not just thinking about ourselves and what we’re going to be eating, but what about others?  What can I do to make others’ Feast’s better?  How can I make sure this is a memorable Feast for others?

So to rejoice, Psalm 5:11 - But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You: so this is about in You.  We rejoice because we put our trust in God.  We know that God has a plan for us and we trust it. The danger is that we be presumptuous and think we know the outcome of what God has planned for us.  Okay?  Now we did have a situation here where a member of the Body of Christ fell ill the other night and deceased; basically has died.  They’re going to turn their ventilator off.  That’s not a time for us to go into mourning, because I can tell you now that that person on that particular night has never ever been more joyous – honestly.  And it was amazing!  Do you know why?  Because she had the truth, she was with members of the Body of Christ, her true Family.  She knew this and she was happy... happy.  So God’s plan for her is different than maybe what we first thought because God’s plan for her is a plan for her and it’s for the benefit of others in the future.  It’s not what we think.  And for us, I rejoice in it because I can’t criticize God’s decision.  Who would I be to criticize God’s decision when somebody dies?  Who am I?  God knows what He’s doing.  God knows what He’s doing, He knows why, He knows what benefit or what plan.  And that applies to all of us.

God knows what He’s doing with us and how He’s going to mould and shape us through a time period, whether it’s a short period and then to be resurrected and continue on... we’ve just all got to continue on.  It’s no different in the Millennium when it starts. There will be death in the Millennium at different times.  We do not know how far in the Millennium everyone will die, because you’re young doesn’t mean to say you’re going to continue all the way through.  True?

But here it says we rejoice – true?  Because we put our trust in God.  That’s what it is.  We trust in God because God is in us and therefore we can go there anytime and say, “God’s will be done.”  ...and no matter what situation we say, “God, Your will be done.”  And it’s about accepting God’s will in our own life, even in the trials.  The trials are the best thing for us, but when we’re in them they don’t seem too good; but that’s the best thing for us because of how much we’re going to turn to God, trust in God in this, to trust in Him.

...let them ever shout for joy, because You defend them: let those also who love Your name be joyful in You.  So it requires God in us to be truly joyful.  We can rejoice in the truth.

Deuteronomy 16:13 - You shall observe the Feast, the whole Festival, of Tabernacles, and that word is ‘booth’.  It’s basically a temporary shelter... seven days, when you shall have gathered from your threshing floor and from your winepress; in other words the collection of your second tithe.

Verse 14 - And you shall rejoice, that word is ‘to be glad’, in your Feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant, and your female servant, and the Levi, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, who are within your gates.  They’re in the spiritual Body.  And obviously we’ve got all of that.  We have people that are better off than others; we’ve got the rich and the poor.  We have the widow and we have everyone in the Church, spiritually.  We have that in the Church; that exists.  So it’s about a Family – within your gates, come and rejoice together.  So we’re commanded to rejoice.

Verse 15 - Seven days you shall keep a sacred Feast, so we’ll celebrate it, to the Eternal your God in the place which the LORD chooses: because the Eternal your God will bless you in all your produce, and in all the work of your hands so that you shall surely rejoice.    Now some people look at it physically and say, “Well, I haven’t been that blessed.”  But we’ve been blessed spiritually.  In actual fact you’ve been more blessed than we can all contemplate – the fact that we can even be here is a blessing beyond realization for most people.

This Feast reveals the coming Messiah and His reign on the earth.  This Festival season is about to usher into the earth in 2012.  It’s only a short time away. We are so close to so much and we’re going to go see so much, and we’re going to experience so much.  And by the grace of God we will fulfill His will.  And why I say that is because God’s plan cannot be thwarted; it can’t be stopped. And God will achieve in you and me individually what is required to be achieved, personally.  Like I sit there and think, “Whoa, am I cut out for this?!”  True?  Well, you know that... “Am I able to do what’s coming?”  And then I learn very quickly.  “Fool Wayne!  It’s not about me!  God will do it!  Relax! ...relax.”  I don’t have the physical capacity to do what I know is coming up – I know that.  My wife knows that.  We do not have that physical capacity.  I don’t have the mind to do it on a physical level.  I can’t do it; to know what to say when you’ve get thousands and thousands of people.  It’s alright when you’re one on one, when you’ve only got one person.  Then you can think about it privately.  We’re going to be in situations we never thought of.  But I soon realized – you know what?  Relax, just relax and let God work through me and He will achieve it.  So now I know it will happen exactly as God’s got planned.  And the words that are needed to be said by you and me will be said as long as we stay close to God in a continual frame of repentance fighting our own human nature.  Because God will achieve it.  It will be exactly so!

There will be 144,000 and there will be a large group that are awakened from the past to come in. Some of them will be ordained into the ministry, others will be part senior people, in the sense of the truth, they’ll be reactivated – just like a disk, you can put it in here and swoosh; reactivate it.  “What happened to me...?” Schloomp... “Whoa!”  You know?  “Where have I been for 10 years?”  It’s going to happen!  But along with that there’s going to be hundreds of thousands of others that are going to be called.  And I think it’s so encouraging, and I’ll use Taryn’s name, not to give her any aspect of pride, but... you know when somebody is called in early 2008 and for all that time to not have a ministry, to only have a voice on a computer, and to endure that time... to me, when I thought about it, that’s what we’re heading into.  There are going to be people in all sorts of locations who will probably never meet a minister. Some may never even meet a member of the Body of Christ, but they’ll be called and they will continue on and then when the Millennium is brought in, eventually at some point in time, a minister will turn up and they’ll be able to be baptized and receive God’s spirit. But God is with that person!  ...working with them, drawing them to a point.

So you can see how easy it can happen.  Millions of people can be in that environment; they don’t necessarily have to have direct contact with a member of the Body of Christ.  The internet is incredible really, when you look at what’s available there, it is absolutely incredible.

This Festival reveals the coming Messiah and His reign. Leviticus 23:33 – Then the Eternal spoke to Moses saying, Speak to the children of Israel, and that’s to us today, spiritual Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be a Feast of Tabernacles for seven days to the Eternal.

Verse 35 – And on the first day there will be a holy convocation: a holy gathering – which we are here today gathered together; you shall do no customary work on it. Not to work.  For seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Eternal: and on the eighth day it shall be a holy convocation and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Eternal: it is a sacred assembly; and you shall do no customary work on it.  And we’ve been through those scriptures and understand them.

Verse 37 - These are the Feasts of the Eternal, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, holy gatherings, to offer an offering made by fire to the Eternal, a burnt offering, and a grain offering, a sacrifice, and a drink offering, everything on its day: Besides the Sabbaths of the Eternal, besides your gifts, besides all your vows, beside all your freewill offerings, which you shall give to the Eternal.  So it’s outside of other offerings that we may choose to give.  These are commanded to be given for a purpose.

Verse 39 - Also on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, you shall have gathered in the fruit of the land, you shall keep the Feast of the LORD seven days: and on the first day there shall be a Sabbath rest, so we’re pointing to the Millennium – this is a time of rest; and on the eighth day there shall be a Sabbath rest.

Verse 40 - And you shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of beautiful trees, branches and palms, and boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before the Eternal your God for seven days.  Now there are sermons covering that and my intent is not to go into that temporary dwelling.  About that temporary dwelling...that they used to make a booth and they would go in and sit in it and meditate for a period of time.  It wasn’t a place to live in.  And there are many a sermon covering that particular aspect.

It was interesting when we came out to go to the airport and we ended up having a Jewish cab driver, and he had his skullcap on, and we were just generally talking and it came up and he said, “Ah, yes, of course I rest one day a week,” and he didn’t mention the word Sabbath.  “I rest one day of the week.”

I said, “Oh that’s good, you’re a Sabbath keeper.”

He said, “Yes.”

“And you’re an orthodox Jew?”

“Yes, I’m an orthodox Jew.”  And he mentioned how he had already built his booth.

But see, that’s not what the Bible says.  It says, ‘on this day... on this day you’re to do it.’  You can’t go and build it weeks in advance.  And of course that community, because they haven’t been called, in actual fact they’ve built them permanently on the side of the house.  But that’s not what the command is.  And it’s for seven days... it’s not for twelve or fifteen.  But it’s inconvenient for them to do it.

And it’s just interesting when you talk to him and we just mentioned a few things and he was trying to avoid the conversation.  He didn’t want to talk about it.

... and he said, “Yes, I’ve built my booth, and that...”

...and I said, “Well, we’re off to the Feast of Tabernacles.”

And of course he just went blank, he just said nothing.  He knew, but he didn’t want to engage us because he didn’t want to engage us.  And that’s fine.  I was hoping that he would engage us, but he didn’t, so we just let it go.  He’s in deception.  Isn’t that incredible?  He’s actually in deception.  I look forward to the day the God shows mercy to him, and he’s going to have an advantage in one way, but a huge disadvantage in another because he already knows the truth... and that’s a huge danger; huge danger when you think you know the truth.

Verse 40 – ...so you shall rejoice before the Eternal your God for seven days.

Verse 41 - You shall keep it as a Feast to the Eternal for seven days in the year. And it shall be a statute forever in your generations: you shall celebrate it in the seventh month. You shall dwell/sit in booths for seven days; all who are native Israel shall dwell in booths:  Why?  That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell/sit in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Eternal your God. So we are temporary dwellings for God...  We are temporary dwellings for God... so God can dwell in us; and we offer ourselves willingly.  That’s what we desire - true?  The greatest desire we have, once called and converted is for God to dwell in us.  We don’t want God to cut Himself off from us because of our sin.  We want to have God in us because when God’s mind dwells in us we can rejoice.  When God’s mind dwells in us we can be at peace.  If God’s mind doesn’t dwell in us, it’s impossible to be at peace; it’s impossible because it’s God that gives peace.  All gifts, all spiritual gifts, all physical things come from God – we take no credit to ourselves.

So the Feast of Tabernacles pictures this last thousand years when everyone will live under one Government on the earth, God’s Government.  The Kingdom of God will rule all nations during that time.

Revelation 20: So we’re going to look at the introduction of this very event, the beginning of the Millennium.  Revelation 20:1 – And I saw an angel come down from heaven having the key to the bottomless pit, a place of restraint, and a great chain in his hand, and he laid hold of the dragon, that old serpent who is the devil and Satan and bound him a thousand years.  So this is part of Atonement.  This removal of a being that is out to destroy you and mankind; but in particular you.  One of the issues for all of God’s people is that prior to any Holy Day...and now I believe personally in this particular time that Satan is very active and the greatest way in God’s people to affect them, to look to destroy them spiritually (not physically – spiritually) is to distract them, to be distracted.  Now, what distracts us?  Physical things!  Work, relationships with others – that’s what distracts us so that our mind is not focused on our calling and before we know it we haven’t had time to pray today.  That’s exactly what happens because we’re just too busy... too busy to call the Almighty God into our lives to help us because we’re trying to do it ourselves.   ...and I’ve got these family issues and work and the phone calls and I’m so tired I’m going to do it tomorrow, okay?

That’s what Satan’s about – cut off that relationship with God. And if we just remember that’s what life’s about for Satan.  He wants to deceive us into thinking that we don’t need God!  But the reality is we need the Almighty God and His spirit in our life!  But it is so easy to be distracted by all types of things, all types of unimaginable things, that a day can go very quickly and we haven’t had a relationship with God or even thought of it – because we’re doing pretty well.  Things are going pretty well and I’m doing well by myself.

Verse 3 - And cast him into the bottomless pit, the abyss or place of restraint, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, that deception will stop, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: in other words, completed; and after that he must be loosened for a little while.  So the beauty of the Day of Atonement really is about the removal of Satan and his demons.  The beauty of the Millennium is the fact that that deception will no longer be broadcast to the mind; and each Sabbath we can celebrate a Millennial feel, what it’s going to be like; because we can get a sense of what it’s like because we’re living each Sabbath, the Millennium in a type.  It’s a type, it points to that.  What will the Family be like?  Very diverse!  Very diverse culturally.  Personality wise, no two people the same.  Looks and appearance?  No two people the same. That’s why people should never compare one with another.  We should never take one aspect of our physical being to ourselves because you personally, and I, have no choice in the way you look, or I look – none, zero, zilch!

Why would we ever look at someone else and pull them down?  ...or lift them up?  True?  You had no choice the way you are, you are the way you are.  Where you were born?  Your mother and father... you had no choice.  So what stupidity of mind we have when we look at others in the movie world or even in politics or anywhere and say, “I wish I was like that.”  That’s shocking!  We should be happy with what God has made us because we’re to be careful that we’re not saying to God, “I disagree with the way You’ve created me.”  No, God knows what’s best, He’s got a plan – it will be fulfilled and therefore we should be content the way we are because it’s what God desired; that’s the outcome and God’ll work with it.  God’s after the mind.  God’s after the mind; He wants to see the spirit, what we are.  The body is irrelevant to it all – whether we’re short, tall, big... makes no difference.  It’s the mind, its God’s spirit flowing out towards others that is the most important.  So this business of comparing is a dangerous area and we all do it.  We all do it!  It’s human nature!  That’s what we do, we always do it; we lift ourselves up, and we lift ourselves up by pulling others down – that’s what happens.

So the Millennium is an appointed time of rest.  It’s been appointed, it’s been set down, it’s planned, it will happen and it’s going to be exact as God said.  A rest from Satan’s deception; a rest from Satan’s rule over mankind.  The beginning of the thousand years pictures the beginning of a much greater harvest in God’s plan of salvation.  So we have the first harvest completed in the 144,000; now the majority of us are going to be going into a Millennial period for another harvest, to live a period and die and by the grace of God and His mercy be resurrected.  There is no guarantee that when we live into a thousand year period, that we die, that we will be resurrected at another resurrection to spirit.  We may get resurrected to continue for a hundred year period because we are free moral agents, we can choose.  We can choose!  There is no guarantee everybody in this room will be in the Millennium for a period and then automatically at the end of that Millennium period be resurrected to spirit.  It’s not a given.  God’s desire, has a plan, but we have choices and the biggest danger during that period of living into the Millennium and going 10-20-30 years is exactly what happened to the Church.  And personally, I don’t think it’s going to take long in some peoples live; and in actual fact would you believe that actually it’s happened in the Church in the last two years?  Sometimes it’s unimaginable that with all this that God has given that people can go to sleep and leave the Body of Christ and disfellowship themselves.  But it actually happens!  People I’ve known personally – that’s what happened.  So there’s no given; it’s not a magic wand that we’re in the Millennium and everything’s fine now, we can all go back to sleep. Human nature wants to take the easiest path of resistance, just go with the flow.

One beautiful advantage I think in the Millennium is there’s a positive peer pressure.  I think that’s going to be very exciting because there is a positive pressure that’s in the Church.  Because when you’re with a group of people, there’s a pressure that comes that you see peoples growth.  I see people growing spiritually and that’s a pressure in itself because things happen in the Church... and I think, “I’ve got to work harder at that!  I can see God bearing fruit in that particular person!  I can see the change of their thinking, the way that they say things and that...”  And I think, “I’ve got to get better at that.  I’ve got to ask God to help me in this because I’m not really fighting that one!  I’m a bit asleep on it!”  Because there’s so much to fight that in the end you can get disorientated.  So you fight certain things and then later on you think, “Oh, I’ve let that slip!”...and whether it’s the word, bit of blasphemy after 10 years in the Church, and all of a sudden under a little bit of pressure we use foul language. What that reveals is we’ve let it slip.  No one makes us do anything – we choose!  We’ve let it slip; it slipped out and sometimes you catch it, other times someone’s got to come up and say, “Excuse me, I don’t know whether you’re aware, but in that group there you just... you used God’s name in vain.”  And then... if we’ve slipped a little bit too far how do we take that?  ...cause it’s called correction.  And then in pride we go, “Well... yeah, well, I work with people that swear all the time!”  What’s that?  Justification!  “Don’t blame me – it’s them – they made me do it!”  Human nature justifies; that’s what we are.  So... we can let it slip no matter how long we’ve been in God’s Church; we let things slip because that’s what we are.  We’ve got to keep fighting to the very end.

So this process of God’s way of life will be made available to everybody during that period.  Then, of course, there’s a hundred year period where it’ll be made available again.  All the billions of people that have died up until that period (now we’re at the end of the Millennium) will be resurrected to be part, or will have an opportunity to be part of God’s Family.  They will become begotten Sons of God.

Verse 6 - ...Blessed and holy is he who is part of the first resurrection: on such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and Christ, so they’re going to be servants of God.  And the role of service is to bring, to assist, to support, to encourage spiritually to people to be for God, to come into the Family of God...on such the second death has no power; so God has given them eternal life, which is a beautiful gift...which we all are aiming for.  We desire that gift from God, we want to never sin, to have a life where we can’t sin.  And you know God’s plan beyond that is something that sometimes we in the Church think we know aspects and we know a lot, we know the truth.  Well, we know little to nothing about at the end once God has a Family... what then?  You know what we know?  And on a percentage of 100?  .000000000000001 – reality!  God’s existed for eternity.  He’s all mighty!  So for Him to transfer what He is and what He knows on a progressive basis as a spirit being (because we’re not going to know everything once we’re spirit – a lot we don’t know, God’ll reveal it progressively), it can never happen – true?  Because He’s always been there and is all mighty, so to transfer it to things that were created... it’s going to take... never-ending, never going to stop because you can never catch up to the Almighty God who knows everything.  He knows what’s best for us in every situation.

So it’s a wonderful plan, a continual revelation, and this Feast is about that, another aspect of a revelation.  And in the spirit of humility we accept it and it’s a part of a truth.  But how much more truth after that is there do you think?  ...in the Millennium?  It’s going to be an exciting time, an absolutely exciting time because God gives as He needs to give it.  He doesn’t give everything all at once, it’s a progressive situation.  So a wonderful exciting time!  Spiritual growth never stops. Even as a spirit being knowledge doesn’t stop.  It’s going to be so exciting!

Finally peace will be issued onto the earth when Jesus Christ returns and there will be a worldwide Government, and many of you will know some of them; many of you will know many of them.  So many of you have read about David. Many of you have read about Noah.  And we had a conversation not long ago talking about Noah and about how Noah... you think, what endurance, what faith – all those years building, building, building, building... and people laughing, laughing, laughing, laughing; idiot, idiot, idiot... you can just see it – true?  Human nature has never changed!  And people mocking and you know, “Hey, look at that weird family... You see that weird family?  They’re a real weird lot, all that lot! And they’ve built this thing and do you know what, there’s no water. It hasn’t rained here in ages – sort of like a mist on the ground; there’s no rain... and he thinks it’s going to flood.”  All those years people coming, dying, whatnot, but he continues on.  And then when it’s finished he had to live by faith.

Then the faith is tweaked a little bit because then the animals start arriving. “Ah, okay...”  But still hasn’t rained; but the animals start arriving after storing all this food.  Then the animals arrive so your faith is then you go inside and then God seals the outside... but you still have to wait.  Then it rains; and then I’m sure when the ark moved and it got higher and it started to move; after like a day or two [snap] you can believe God.  Noah believed God the whole time, but the rest of the family thought, “Yeah, yeah...”  True?  Faith is living what you believe.  But once it happens, once Christ returns it’s going to require something different.  It’s different – true?  Because we’re heading for another situation, we’re moving forward.  That’s happened! You believe it because it’s happened, you’ve seen it, you’ve witnessed it, you’re part of it therefore you don’t need to be reassured that it happened, you were there.  Now it requires a different faith, something else that will be revealed to the Church that lives into the Millennium.

So once this peace comes, a particular event will happen prior to it and this is the exciting part of this time, an appointed time of rest that’s coming.  So Jesus Christ returning on Pentecost, an appointed time, we’re going to enter into an appointed time of rest.

And this I know brethren is something that we all have a desire for.  And I know, I can honestly say to you, it’s something I desire. I do! I can use the word; I desire it with a passion.  Because the beauty of this for my children, potentially at some point...pray that it could happen, may not – that they get this soon.  But if not, I know they’ll be resurrected and this is what’s going to happen at the beginning of the hundred years – the same thing.

Joel 2:28 - And it shall come to pass afterward, after the day of the Lord; that I will pour out My spirit on all flesh;  So God’s spirit will be available to all flesh, all mankind will have access to God; and I look forward to those callings.  It’s a very exciting thing and I know you rejoice every time someone is baptized, because the only way it can happen is that God does it.  We know that God at some point decided, “I will call this person.”  And He poured out His spirit on that person and brought them to repentance – gave them the gift of repentance, to be baptized and receive His holy spirit so that God could live and Jesus Christ could live and dwell in them, so that God’s spirit can outflow to the benefit of others. It actually has to flow out from us to the benefit of others.  That’s the purpose of God’s spirit.  We’re a dwelling place for God to give out to others and we in the Body should see it.  We should see it in ourselves going out to others in a way that we cooperate; the spirit of cooperation rather than the spirit of competition.  And that’s really what God’s spirit is a lot about, spirit of cooperation which is unselfish versus the spirit of competition which is selfish.

But I will pour out My spirit on all flesh; now it’s God’s spirit that does it, it’s God’s spirit in us that does it; we have to just submit, yield to God’s spirit so that God can live through us; your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions: People will now be able to see God’s plan of salvation, see what God is doing, see the purpose of life, see the Sabbath, the beauty of the Sabbath, an appointed time of rest and what it actually pictures.

Verse 29 - And also your men servants and your maid servants I will pour out My spirit on those days.  So we can begin to see and understand the Millennium by the Sabbath.  Firstly, we can learn from God’s calendar with regards to the 6th day which is the preparation day.

So the first 6,000 years is preparation, it’s a time of preparing.  Two aspects – man could populate the earth; and a child coming into existence is a beautiful thing.  Any child!  Because it’s a potential son of God and that’s the way we should see other humans – potential sons of God.  To exist – that’s a wonderful blessing.  So God said populate the earth, be fruitful and multiply for a purpose.  For a purpose of 6,000 years to come to a certain point.  But in that time, in the first period, God developed the beginning of a Family, 144,000; then appointed Jesus Christ to fulfill that work of Pentecost so that at 1335 the 144,000 to be the Government of God in the future for the purposes of supporting other would be complete.

Then we go into a thousand years where ‘be fruitful and multiply’ will have a totally different meaning!  Totally different meaning!  There’s a member in Worldwide days when there was a particular Psalm, and it was a Psalm we used to sing, and it’s a Psalm David wrote about, ‘and your quivers full’ – talking about arrows, lots of arrows; really referring to children.  “Hope your quivers are full.”  Say, you’ve got lots of children.  Well you see, today children are seen as a burden, a burden, because you see they affect you financially and therefore it’s better to be really quite like make sure you’ve got the house and the dishwasher and the car and all those... then well maybe we’ll plan one.  See that thinking?  Because we’ve lost the vision of God.  God said, ‘be fruitful and multiply’ because denial of the child and I know some people God doesn’t grant access to children, or to have children – purpose in life’s different.  But there’s a purpose for having children.

The purpose in having children is they are God’s.  I look on the grandchildren as God’s.  We say to our daughter-in-law who’s not in the Church (so she thinks we’ve got strange ideas at times) but see, I look at the children as potential sons of God and I look forward to... whatever happens, doesn’t matter – whatever happens I know God’s got a plan for them.  I look forward to the day they’re changed to Elohim, I really do, because see, that’s their potential!  But if you look at children the other way then they’re an inconvenience; they get sick, they take money, there’s school, you can’t get in a car if you’ve got more than four... it’s a disaster.  Because why?  Satan’s system’s been built against God!  But to have your quivers full...it’s stressful because parenting requires self-discipline.  We say to our daughter-in-law, “Did you know there’s no such thing as a naughty child?”  And she goes...??  “There’s only bad parents.”  You see because if you let the child be naughty, the parent’s not doing their job...and she gets that electric shock; Grandpa’s turned up, no actually there’s no bad child, there’s bad parenting.  Well, she understands.  Because really, it’s self... to work with a child requires the sacrifice of the self, because often it’s inconvenient to get up and correct the child. “It’s inconvenient to me! I’m actually happy here sitting having my coffee...and now I’ve got to discipline myself, go over there and talk to the child, try to explain what’s going on and that you have to do this.”  And then they react the wrong way.

Now it requires more of me and I’ve not got to take control.  It’s the 50 year old fighting against a 3 year old.  How hard a battle would that be?  Well, do you know what?  It’s horrendous!  It’s actually horrendous!  It shouldn’t be!  And we often say... “Do you think the 3 year old should win?”  Because parents let the 3 year old win!  ...because that’s society.  That’s society.  So, having your quivers full is a beautiful and wonderful thing because you now have the opportunity to nurture the offspring of God.  You know when people say, “These are my children...”  I don’t look at it like that.  I look at them as these are God’s heritage.  That’s what the scripture says; these are God’s heritage because He’s going to live in them, dwell in them, going to call them and they’re going to enter Elohim.  That’s the potential of a child as it is with us.  So that’s the beauty of children.

So I can see children born in the Millennium... there’s going to be a different view because transport won’t allow just to have two or three... no, family!  We’re a family!  We’ll support!  And I know today...and I can say, my wife can say, if a child came in here today and they had a young baby and they said, “Would someone take it?”  We’d be the first up because we view it differently!  See, we don’t see it as a burden, we see it as an opportunity to teach a child God’s ways.  That’s the beauty!  True?  Isn’t that incredible?  How exciting is that to be able to teach somebody else, to nurture them in God’s ways because they’ll be happy?  They’ll be happy, fulfilled and they will learn God’s ways, the way of life – peace.  What a beautiful thing to have children.  So if there’s a baby missing from the hall today... my wife’s got it. 

So, at the end of this 6,000 year period, this time of preparation, we’re going to move into a new time.

The first group, the 144,000 have been selected and sealed.  The second group are those who God calls to live into the Millennium and that’s the majority of us - that’s the purpose of life, that’s what God has allocated to us.  We are about to see millions called by God; that they will be able to fulfill their roles in life.  Now, people haven’t been called because its God’s plan, it’s not because of anything, it’s just that that’s God’s plan and that’s the thankfulness we’ve been called.  And we should rejoice in our calling.  And I know that we do, I know that we view it.  And a lot of people say, “Why me?”  And all I say is, “God doesn’t make mistakes.”  God does not make mistakes!  Why you?  God’s got a plan and a purpose exactly with what it is – the end result of that plan and purpose is that God desires you in His Family...that’s what He desires.  But in the middle, lots of things can happen.

But God’ll work with you and your thinking and my thinking because we’re all different culturally, all different backgrounds; but God’ll know how to work us through.  We’ll work through and God’ll allow you to walk into your own trials, and often we think God’s giving me this trial; no, we chose it because of our stupid decisions or things against God that we don’t see at the time.  We walk head first into them, but God will work in that environment and if we make right decisions and went another way, God’ll still work with us.  Whatever it is that God needs to change in our thinking... the environment will happen so that it will enable it, whatever it is.  And everyone’s trials are different.

Some people’s trials are beyond what I personally have felt that I could actually endure, and I am so thankful that I actually haven’t had to go through that particular trial.  I am just so thankful, because I’m not too sure how I would handle it.  I’ve been fortunate that Chris and myself were called at the same time, so to have a wife that is in the Church is a blessing that I see; but I know the men and the women that have relationships in a marriage that the wife or husband is not being called or drawn by God.  That is difficult!  That is difficult, that is a test and trial on the individual and it’s not about the unconverted mate, it’s about the converting one.  And often we look out at the other and say, “They‘re just not... they just don’t believe... they... they... they... they...”  No, me... me... me...me...  I need to be better, I need to be more loving, I need to be a better loving husband.  I need to love my wife even if she hates my guts on certain days.  That’s true isn’t it?  Because it’s about us and what we think and the way we think – let God’s spirit flow out mercifully to others.

Now it doesn’t always work out and there is times where there is a separation needed and that can’t be reconciled.  Well, that’s a part of the process.  We all learn different things at different times for different reasons because God has a place for you and me that is perfectly positioned – perfect.  So we should never try to be that building block because God’s developing that building block to fit into the temple there; but God’s developing you over here.  But we have a tendency with human nature to look at the other block and say, “Oh, I wouldn’t mind being that other block...”  That’s what we are.... but we shouldn’t.  We should focus on our calling, our relationship with God; the only thing that matters, our relationship with God.

And people often talk about marriage environments.  The beauty of a marriage to some in the Church - in the end, there’s a greater responsibility because we individually have to challenge ourselves to live God’s way.  And having an unconverted mate requires even greater care and concern.  It’s harder!  It is much harder!  But there is a beauty in having somebody in the Church or with God living in them, because there’s a positive peer pressure, the ability to talk.  And often I do feel for many of the brethren because they can’t communicate on a spiritual level.  You get excited about what you hear and you’re bursting with it!  “Oh this is...it’s unbelievable!”  And you start to tell somebody that’s unconverted and then you realize this is a waste of time... “I know they can’t hear anything I’m saying, but I’m so excited!!”  Whereas when you’re with somebody that’s converted you can share, share God with each other and it is a wonderful uplifting thing because it settles you.

So there’s blessings to be had by many of God’s people, yet to come for many in different ways.  Can’t even comprehend it – there’s blessings coming for many of us.

So the seven day week is a constant sign of God’s complete plan for man.  Every time we keep the Sabbath it’s a constant sign.  The first six days, the first 6,000 years, were allotted to man to work and pursue his own ways; but the seventh day is God’s.  And we stop for God.  It is His time to teach His ways and to reveal Himself to man.  The seventh day Sabbath pictures the next thousand years of God’s reign through Jesus Christ; and Jesus Christ will return as King of kings and Lord of lords.  Now we know that God the Father is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, but He’s bestowed and appointed Jesus Christ as King of kings, a representation of God, representative of God – King of kings.  Who are the other kings?  Well if you look at scripture, 144,000 are kings and priests.

So there is a structure, which the sermons not about, but there’s a structure.  We know that David’s going to be king over Israel.  So there’s structure and that’s why government is so important for all of us.  God appointed David king over Israel; he didn’t make himself king over Israel, God appointed it, that’s why we need to learn to be content in the environment or the situation spiritually we’re in.  God’s working with you individually to fit into a location.  It’s not a competition!  ...which is what is actually satanic – not happy with what God appointed; presumptuousness, pride.  Government is so important to understand.

Now, there’s an understanding of government and there’s an understanding of government.  But to truly understand government, God’s Government is always operating in an environment and a spirit that is to benefit the person, to benefit, it’s out flowing, it’s a benefit; but we at the other end often don’t see that benefit because we just don’t see it.  So to be under government is so important.  The 144,000 are going to be under government.  They will know their role and their position and they will know what God has made them. And that’s the secret to life – it’s what God is making you.

The seventh day pictures the next thousand years of God’s reign that will come to the earth when Jesus Christ returns as King of kings.  The Sabbath is a foreshadow of the Millennium.  This Feast is a foretaste of the Millennium.  You’re actually living spiritually this Millennium period that we’re facing; a group of people called by God, granted repentance, that are in a spirit, God’s spirit, a spirit of cooperation.  It’s a wonderful thing!  It’s a foretaste, and every Sabbath should be exactly that.  We see that the seventh day Sabbath reveals a time of rest.

Hebrews 4:9 - often people say you can’t prove the Sabbath in the Bible. Well, you can; but people can’t see it.  You actually can. Hebrews 4:9 proves there is a Sabbath.  Different translation but the correct way that it would be... There remains therefore a rest, a Sabbath, to the people of God. Now the original Greek word there is ‘rest’ and it comes from the word ‘Sabbatismos’ – which means ‘a literal Sabbath observance’, a literal rest.  And therefore it clearly says there remains a Sabbatismos for God’s people. Well, only God’s people, those baptized into the Body of Christ keep it.  It denotes a literal cessation from labour as a type of a far more important meaning of the Sabbath, what it really pictures, the Sabbath.

So we go up to Hebrews 4:1 – Therefore since a promise remains of entering His rest, this is about a spiritual rest in the Family of God, eternal life, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it.  So there should be a healthy fear on the Sabbath, that we observe the Sabbath correctly. It’s a spiritual matter, it’s about an attitude.  For indeed the gospel/good news was preached to us as well as to them, Israel, but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.  Now they couldn’t hear it, they couldn’t understand the meaning of the Sabbath because God hadn’t given them a calling. Without God’s spirit you can’t understand this.

Verse 3 - For we who have believed, those called of God and have God dwelling in them, do enter a rest, a spiritual rest, as He said, So I, talking about God the Father, swore in My wrath, they shall not enter My rest: now, it’s talking about a spiritual rest in the Kingdom of God.  They will not enter this rest, the door was not opened to them at that point; although the works were finished on the sixth day from the foundation of the world.  So God created the Sabbath by resting; that’s how it was created.

Verse 4 - For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way, And God rested on the seventh day from all His works.  So from that we know that God created the Sabbath by resting; that’s how it was created.  We are commanded to keep the Sabbath by resting; and it’s a spiritual rest.

Verse 5 - And again, in this place, they shall not enter My rest. The Old Testament people were not offered the holy spirit so they couldn’t.  In addition to the Sabbath service; and this word literally means ‘the act of giving rest, a state of settlement, or a final rest’; and it’s talking about the true rest we’re to enter.  So we enter a rest on a physical level and of a spiritual level to a degree; but the final rest that we are looking for is the gift of eternal life; and we will rest.  We’ll have a rest from Satan and we’ll have a rest from the natural carnal mind – that’s the rest we look forward to; and we truly look forward to it.

So in closing there are certain principles of Sabbath keeping which we’re just going to quickly look at as we close.  Now, there’s scriptures that say the Sabbath was created for man.  So in other words, God created the Sabbath FOR us, for a benefit, but man rejects it.  Man does not want the Sabbath, but that’s why God created it.  It’s an appointed time; it’s an appointment with Him so that we can rest.  Well, the Millennium is the same.  It’s an appointed time of a thousand years so that man can have a rest from Satan and that they can grow, that they can learn to fear God... is the purpose of the Millennium; learn to fear God.

Isaiah 58:13 - If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure/your desires on My Holy Day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the Holy Day of the Eternal, honourable; and you shall honour Him, and we honour Him by resting; not doing your own ways,  in other words your own selfish ways, your own selfish entertainment, what you want to do for self gratification...nor finding/attending to your own pleasures, nor speaking your own words: in other words we’re looking for spiritual food on this day, we seek spiritual food.  We seek!  We come to Sabbath services to hear what God has got for us - that’s why we go there.  We take the time to complete the appointment with God, we don’t rush it, it’ll last from sunset to sunset; it’s an appointment allocated, we’re called to that appointment.  How we observe it then is a decision we have to make.

Verse 14 - Then you shall delight yourself in the Eternal; and I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, in other words, God will dwell in us, He will be our provider spiritually.  God will work with us, we’ve just got to submit our own will, yield to God; and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father: the mouth of the Eternal has spoken it.

So the Sabbath was made for man. The seventh day Sabbath points to the Millennial rest, this appointed time that we’re soon to enter.  The seventh day Sabbath is a sign.  A sign points to something.  When you look at a sign post it tells you a direction – ‘this way’... ‘this way, walk in it’.  Well the Sabbath is a sign post, ‘this way, walk in it’.  It’s a Sabbath sign.  It’s a sign.  When we keep the Sabbath it’s a sign to the world that we are God’s people because that’s what God says; and people that don’t keep the Sabbath do not have a relationship with God, it’s impossible because they refuse to listen to God, the refuse to keep the appointment that He made at creation.  They refuse it!   But we yield to God once called so that we’re going to keep this appointment.

So going forward during the Feast and then as we go forward, the Sabbath will still be God’s sign; it’ll be still God’s sign of who we are - God’s people.  It’ll still be a sign pointing to something; so that’s why the Sabbath is so important, that’s why Sabbath keeping is so important.  Often have been asked, “Well, when new people come, where do you start?”  Whether you start with all... all that you know?  True?  Where do you start with a new person?  The Sabbath!  Because if they refuse to rest on the Sabbath, God is not in it.  If they are not willing to yield to God, to hear God or to be instructed by God, to keep an appointment with God... everything else is a waste of time.  It’s pointless telling them Christ is going to return 2012, going to live in the Millennium, there’s 144,000...  that’s just insane!  God’s not there!  But people say, “You know, what’s your religion?”

“We’re Sabbath keepers!”

People want to know who am I?  I’m a Sabbath keeper. They say, “What’s the Sabbath?”  Well, maybe the door has opened a little bit.  “The Sabbath is a sign of God’s people and we have to keep the Sabbath as commanded; Hebrews makes it very clear it’s a commanded assembly... Leviticus...”

If they say, “Oh no... I’m going to keep going with sun worship...”

Why would you continue?  Why would you even begin to reveal any other type of truth?  Because God’s not in it!  And one way you can always tell whether God’s drawing a person is they’re willing to sacrifice to keep the Sabbath.  They’re willing to lose their job, they’re willing to... they’re willing to be for God.

So everything starts with the Sabbath; everything starts with the Sabbath.

The seventh day Sabbath is a sign, a sign that points to something.  The Sabbath points to the fact that we have entered into a relationship with God.  In other words, this sign tells us we have an appointment with God and willing to be taught by God.  And if people aren’t willing to keep the Sabbath they can’t have a relationship; they cut themselves off.

The Millennium is a time when all mankind can enter into a spiritual relationship with God.  They’re going to start to keep the Sabbath.  The Sabbath is going to be taught as the key point... keeping a Sabbath during the Millennium.  The Sabbath is a time of rest; the Millennium is a time of rest from Satan’s deception.  The Sabbath is a time for us to rest from Satan’s deception.  We get together in fellowship, those who can, if not, it’s a fellowship with God to listen to a sermon, God teaching us.

The Sabbath is a time to rejoice!  We are here to rejoice during these seven days, in actual fact, on eight days.  We can rejoice at what God has given us!

The Millennium will be a time to rejoice because once Satan’s removed there is a rejoicing.  It’s going to be fantastic!  It’s going to be so exciting!  Every event, no matter who has a child... now, we think somebody’s had a child in the Church we rejoice; but you know in the future a child born in Africa – REJOICE!  It’s going to be a different mindset, a mindset that we sometimes can’t grasp about these things.

The Sabbath is a time to learn to fear God.  That’s what this day is about, that’s what the Feast of Tabernacles is about – time to fear God, learn to fear God.  We’re here to learn to fear God, that’s the purpose.  And the Millennium is simply that: a time to learn to fear God.

~~~end