A Reasoned Judgment

Ron Weinland

August 11, 2012

We just completed a sermon series last Sabbath, ‘Between the Two Evenings’.  It just struck me here of where we’ve gone.  I marvel sometimes looking back and how God leads us, and there is much that I have learned by just going back sometimes and seeing what God’s been doing, what He’s been giving.  You can learn a lot from that as far as a process because God does the moulding and fashioning and when we are convicted of that and we understand that deeply then we can actually look at those things and say, “Yeah.”  We can actually learn more, “Yes, I get it.  I see what you’re doing.  I see the moulding and fashioning You’re doing and where You’re leading us and where You’ve been leading us.”  It gives you a better vision, a better focus of where we are, where we’re going, and definitely where we’ve been, and if we’ve missed something we can certainly address that again in our lives, our personal lives.

So it’s very powerful when we have the confidence and the boldness to grasp that God’s moulding and fashioning us every step of the way.  He has everything planned out.  He’s had everything planned out in different situations for so long – things don’t just happen with God.  They don’t just go along and all of a sudden God scratching His head like we do, wondering, “What am I going to do next?  Look at what they did!”  or “Look at this situation! How am I going to handle this?”  It’s all mapped out, it’s all planned out. God’s plan for us in our lives, different major events that we must go through, how we respond in some of those things – God’s working with us as we go along because a lot is determined by our response along the way.  Those things aren’t pre-determined.  However, as a whole, God knows things that we will do overall, but He doesn’t choose to know everything, though He could as a whole, as far as just mapping everything out.

He gives us choice and different circumstances in our life, Mr. Armstrong talked about those things in times past – but nevertheless, to understand the awesomeness of how God maps things out for His Church, and for individuals to be moulded and fashioned along the way.  And so different conditions, different circumstances may change at times because God’s doing the moulding.  He knows what we need when we need it, and so much depends upon us then and our response and how we yield and respond to the things that God is giving to us.

I marvel just by going back a little bit, seeing where we’re going, knowing where we are and putting it in that context, the things we can learn from it.  And that’s what we’re going to do today, because in the last sermon series, ‘Between the Two Evenings’, we had five parts to it and from the beginning of that series we had a focus that was repeated throughout the series over and over again as a whole, however last Sabbath you’ll note that - if you were real keen on it - a conclusion wasn’t given.

Most sermons, as a whole, begin by telling you where we’re going, what we’re going to discuss, you go into it, the sermon title is a part of that, the body is given and then there is a conclusion of what we’ve covered, why we’ve covered it, or something leading up to a conclusion for your life that’s a little clearer.  Last Sabbath that wasn’t done, it wasn’t given at the ending of that particular series.

What we are to conclude from that series and the sermons since Pentecost will be covered in this sermon that’s entitled A Reasoned Judgment.  Sounds a little strange maybe, a little hard to get a hold of, ‘A Reasoned Judgment’.  And the reason for that title is because of the word ‘conclusion’, thinking about a conclusion to that last sermon series, that there wasn’t one.  This is the conclusion; this is a part of what we are going to conclude today in ‘A Reasoned Judgment’, because the word ‘conclusion’ has various meanings depending on its usage, but this is the specific definition we’re going to focus upon that is ‘a summation of all the sermons since Pentecost’.  So this is even going back farther, Pentecost and all the way through until the last sermon last Sabbath.

And each of us is to make an individual reasoned judgment.  In other words, we’re to make a judgment or a decision that we have individually reached after careful consideration of all that’s been presented in all these sermons and how these specifically apply to each of us individually at this very moment in time right now.

It is important to understand why we’re looking at this in this fashion, because this is what God wants us to do, to take a look at what we’ve gone through, what we’ve experienced.  Because what we’ve experienced has not been small; it’s been awesome, it’s been great, it’s been powerful, it’s been mighty.  It, in many cases, has forced people to look into their lives in a deeper way.

We go through different things at different times and if we do it God’s way especially in the sense of why He allows us to go through various things – like the apostasy, God allowed it.  He not only allowed it, He determined it.  He determined it.  It was a part of His plan, a part of something like an architect in architecture; He took the plan, He took something that was written out and had it in motion for us in time, of something we were to address when the time came to it – and we came to it in God’s Church for a purpose, for a reason, to teach great lessons, and for the Church to learn through that process as well, to help us actually in maturing.  To help us mature.

There are so many things that have happened through time. I love the example of progressive revelation from the beginning of time with Adam and Eve through 6,000 years and that God has progressively revealed Himself more and more and more.  And so you look at history, you look through time; and I think of the various stages of time where God just gives more and more.  The time Jesus Christ came along, so much more was given, added to everything that had happened 4,000 years before and adding so much understanding to what God was doing and why He was doing it.  And then the past 2,000 years through the Church...  and then toward the end-time here, things that God just continues to add more.  And the Millennium is going to be incredible with what God gives – progressive revelation – so much more is going to be given then when Jesus Christ is actually here on the earth and 144,000 who are here.  And then the Great White Throne – it never ends – it never ends, and God just continues to share more and more of Himself with us as we grow; more of His way, more insight, more understanding, more excitement for what He’s planned and what He’s doing through time.

We can barely comprehend the lifetime of human life let alone a thousand years into the future,  or ten thousand years, or a hundred thousand years, a million years...we can’t go there.  We can’t begin to grasp anything like that.

And so God moulds and fashions our lives and we have responses to it as a transformation in the very thinking takes place.

So the purpose, again, for making the statement that we are to make a reasoned judgment, which has to do with a conclusion, your own personal conclusion after going through all of this and looking at it individually.  In other words, God wants you to take a look at your life and what has happened since Pentecost to now.  It’s not a matter of just having gone through the motion of listening to sermons, it’s a matter of a decision, of choices, of reasoning, of thought that He wants you to go through in examination, if you will, of the circumstances of things that took place and to come to a conclusion.  And that’s what we’re going to go through here today.

So again, the purpose for making the statement that we are to make a reasoned judgment, not applying it to a narrow specific timing like just May 26th or what happened just on the 27th, or maybe later on June 16th, or last Sabbath, but a reasoned judgment that will be assessed by each of us individually, personally between us and God, now at this time.

So what we’re going to do today, we’re going to have a bit of a review of some of those sermons and hit the highlights, if you will, to see what it is that God wants us to focus upon right now at this time and then to move forward from today.  Because by going through this process there is that which we can grow in, in our thinking, in our determination, in where we stand, because so much of the push of this, the purpose of so much of this has been a matter of knowing where you are and knowing where you stand and what you’re doing about it.  It takes action!  It’s not just a matter of something that we think we believe, or whatever; it’s a matter of something that you do and you’re determined to follow through with to stand and what that involves.

The first sermon we had, ‘Pentecost to Pentecost’; I think of how then it ended, ‘between the two evenings’; God’s still having us focus on it, isn’t He.  ‘The day of the Lord’, Pentecost to Pentecost, ‘between the two evenings’; a time that we’re in that is powerful, that is mighty, that God wants us to consider, to think about.  I started by saying in the particular sermon:

‘Pentecost 2012 is here and we’re still here...’

Then I quoted a conversation where I stated:

‘As Willem Henderson said to me yesterday, “We move forward.”’

And followed that by saying:

‘That is true.’

That’s what we do, we continue to move forward.  That’s the way God’s people are, we move forward when it’s time to move forward.  This is time to move forward.  God wants us to address things in our life and move forward.

So again, God has brought us full circle through all the sermons given since this first one on Pentecost until today in which it is His desire for us now that we do exactly that, and to move forward making a reasoned judgment, a sound judgment if you will, of everything that’s been covered.

We went to Joel 2; I want to read that again.  We’re just going to hit some highlights here to consider as a part of this process of what it is that we have looked upon, what it is God has had us focus upon and why.  Obviously one of the big things that God was giving us on that Pentecost weekend was the beginning of understanding of where we were at that moment in time.

Joel 2:30 - And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars/columns of smoke.  Now, this is something that’s also quoted in the book of Acts, that we talked about, as it begins with a different part of a process that leads up to a climax.  This is the climax of it all.  This is the end, toward the end of it all.  This is where it ends and it gets greater and greater as time goes along, and so there’s more quoted here in the book of Joel that’s in the book of Acts and about God’s spirit being poured out and the things that God is doing with mankind and so forth, and where God is leading us.  And then it talks about this particular period of time that so much of the book of Joel is about; it’s about this age we live in and those things that we have not yet experienced.  Things that we looked to, even if it was in an hour, and God then showing us it’s going to be a lot longer than that.  It’s not going to be that easy.  And so we have to rethink for a purpose and for a reason.

Verse 31 - The sun shall be turned into darkness, the moon into blood, in other words, how it appears, the redness.  It doesn’t mean the moon turns to blood; all these things that are figures of speech in the sense of things we can learn from it.  Because of the colouration of things in the atmosphere and what light does when it travels through particles in the atmosphere and the reddish colour that’s there.  This is what it’s talking about.  And the darkness has greater darkness than normal.

The sun shall be turned to darkness, the moon into blood, before the presence of the great and the terrible/fearful day of the LORD come. And again, that’s the culmination of it all, when everything is fulfilled, as it builds up to that.  Joel here summarizes it all, and other scriptures then reveal more about that particular period of time.  But everything is about a build-up through time and a final climax to the very end, to that final day, candidly, the final day at the end of a ‘prophetic day’.

Let’s turn over to Romans 12.  And I would say, and hopefully we can understand that, we have gone through a process over the past couple of months by going through sermons where God is helping us to have a sharper vision, a sharper focus of what has taken place, and time to become more deeply grounded in what is taking place and what He is doing in our life.  Because at first the disappointment, the different things we’ve gone through, whatever it is that people have gone through... some were blessed to charge right through – great!  If some had to address various things and repent along the way – great!  Because that’s what God offers.  There are great things learned through the process of repentance, and if we look back we will have to understand that all of us have had to repent to draw closer to God.  That’s how you draw closer to God.  And so there are things we’re going to have to see in our lives that need to be changed – and that’s a continuing process always, but especially at this period of time, of things that God wants us to focus upon and to look at.

And so I would say as a whole, if you look at your own life, things you have to acknowledge and admit, you’re far more at peace today then you were back on the 27th.  You are far more resolved in mind and spirit, far more determined, as a whole, in your spirit and in your mind.  And that’s the way it should be.  So as we go back and look at those things, now when we read the same scriptures they’re not as difficult, they become clearer and clearer.  It’s kind of like...well it’s any time anything comes along. I think of the period of time we went through in 2005 when God began to reveal that Jesus Christ has not eternally existed, and as we went through that and we went forward every once in a while different questions would come up because, especially if you’ve been in the Church for a long time and you’ve had a different thinking, it takes a while to see some of the other scriptures.  And then after a while, a year later, you look back and you think, “I don’t really know how I could have seen it differently.”

I was looking at Pentecost the other day here, for a reason, some things we’re going to have at the Feast here this year, looking back and thinking about Monday/Sunday and I look at it now and it kind of blows my mind how we could have ever thought anything differently, but at the time we did because that was in our mind, it’s the way we ‘saw’ things, it’s the way we understood it.  But when God reveals more to you then all that goes away and you’re closer to God; you’re able to see things more clearly.  And so it’s an incredible process that God takes us through; and so it is what we’ve gone through now.

So again, on the following Sabbath, June 2nd, we had a sermon entitled ‘Stand Firm, Stand Fast’.  Do you know that’s still the message?  ‘Stand Firm, Stand Fast’ – all these things we need to drink in and understand what God gave us during this period of time.  I marvel at some of the things we went through in the last series, of warnings, and some of the other sermons of warnings, and then some of the things that now have happened in the Church since that time, of those things we need to be ever on guard, to understand there’s a great war going on.

Well, let’s go on.  So, as stated before, the job of 3½ years that God gave His two witnesses, mentioned that that is now over as far as the witness is concerned.  So what we did during that period of time was reflective of 6,000 years.  God is showing us more about that, we’ll learn more as we go along; we’ll learn more at the Feast this year.  And so we look back through time and we recognize that was God’s purpose for that period of time.  We expected some different things.  Again, I’m going to have battles through some of these sermons because I’m giving Feast sermons in the midst of all this too and I don’t want to touch upon those.  But it’s exciting!  It’s exciting, everything that God gives us year by year by year, and our ability to understand why things turn out the way they did during that 1260 days should be clear to us - and it’s becoming clearer to us - but as we were living it, because of certain expectations and certain ideas of our past, it takes time.

And God has a reason for that, because He leads us continually, and some of that is to see what we’re like.  It’s a moulding and fashioning, whether we will follow Him. When He says, “Turn right,” we turn right.  When He says, “Go forward,” we go forward.  When He says, “Turn Left,” we turn left, and because we are deeply grounded in what He has given to us, we know God, we know where He is, we know how He’s working...and how He has worked throughout our lives!!  And that’s something that can’t be given but it’s something you grow in!  And the trials we go through at times refine that process and give us greater boldness and greater confidence if we yield to the process the way God gives it in the building process.

I’ve had some comments and some questions about this, “How could I say that about the two witnesses if there are other things it says are to be done?”  Just wait.  Wait on God.  The witness part is done, that’s been established, 6,000 years – that’s been done and it’s summed up in a period of 3½ years by messages that have gone out, by a book that went out, and man is still the same as he was in the 6,000 years.  So where is it?  It’s coming and it’s in God’s time.  That’s the way the world is.

We spoke of this particular verse here in Romans 12 because the comment was made that before God will make you to stand before others, to make it plain, to make it clear, the truth, these events that begin to take place, that those are the primary things that are going to take place, that are going to validate you, you are right, you are God’s people, you were right.  But sometimes how we take that...  I’ve seen different things in the Church where if we’re not careful we take that to ourselves, and that’s wrong!  If we take it to ourselves and in something – God tested us in that – if something doesn’t happen at a particular point where we thought it would, or we think that it will, and then sometimes we’re tried as to what we told someone else and how we are made to look.  And that’s not what it’s all about.  It’s about God being right.  It’s not about us being right.  And we have to have the human part, the vanity, the pride... this is about humility and understanding that everything that takes place, that the honour and the glory is to go to God and we’re not to take any of that upon ourselves, but just to be thankful that God has given us what we have, to be thankful to be a part of it, to share in it, but to understand always-always-always, the honour, the glory, it’s because of what God is doing.  It isn’t a matter of whether I am right or wrong, or whether you were right or wrong and you are made right before people – but it is a part of God’s plan to show that, that you are right – because the truth is from God and He gave it to you.  That doesn’t make us better than anyone else, it just means that we are blessed to share in what God has given, and thank God for it; not to take it to ourselves.

That’s why we’ve talked about that humility is so important as we go forward, and some of the very reasons we’ve gone through this period of time is to address some of this and to prepare us so that when we do go through that period of time we don’t take it to ourselves.  That’s a horrible thing if we take it to ourselves and we’re lifted up by it during that period of time when people come to us then and want help and we’re able to give them help.  And if you’re not careful it can go to the head.  Don’t let it.  Be thankful to share the truth but don’t let it go to your head.  And you think, “Well, that will be easy.”  It isn’t.  That’s why we have to be moulded and prepared for that.

And so again, it was stated:

‘Before God will make you to stand before others...’

In other words standing with Him, that you are right – because what God gave was the truth and it will come to pass in His time...

‘...you must be standing firm with Him in His truth.’

And so God tries us in those things; Where are we?  What do we truly believe?  How strong are we in what we believe?  Are we hesitant in any area and if so where is that area?  Do we know?  Are we able to make a sound determination and reasoned judgment in that and be honest with ourselves and truthful with God?  Because God knows!  And so we have to open up before God and ask for the help in those areas where perhaps something isn’t clear, that He help to make it clearer so we can go forward with greater boldness and confidence, and in humility.

Romans 12:2 – Again, this process of what God is doing in our minds.  It says, Do not be conformed to this world: but be you transformed by the renewing, and this is a process of ‘making new’; and that’s what we’re going through, to always keep that in mind, to understand that God is working with our mind, each one of us, and there are things He wants us to look at from time to time to time, just like we’re going to do during the Feast.  There are things we’re going to focus upon, think upon, learn from, very powerfully so, that God is blessing us with.  And we learn from that process.  And so it is here, something that God is doing with the mind, making it more at one with Him, and so there are things we have to go through sometimes to be able to bring that to the surface so we can see it, so we can address it.  This is the time to address it.  This is the time to address many things in our life; God has saw to that, that these things have been at our doorstep so we can address them and be determined more than ever before, with tremendous power, to go forward.

And so it goes on to say ...the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. By experience.  You’ve had an incredible experience!  Every time we go through something major it’s an experience that can’t be taken away from you, and we respond in different ways, we react in different ways, and sometimes, candidly, it might not even be right, at a certain moment, but that’s okay if we repent.  We’re human and God works with us and He gives us opportunity to change, to have this mind change, for the mind to be transformed if we’ll yield to that process.  And so all we have to do is go before God and admit the truth, acknowledge something is true and say, “Father, forgive me.  Help me to do this right.”  And so again, a transforming, a renewing of the mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.  So again, proving it is by testing it through exercising or experience, if you will, by doing it, by living it.

Verse 3 - For I say to you, through the grace given unto me, to every person that is among you, not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think; so again, it’s always this matter of humility and letting God mould and fashion our thinking and yielding to that process.  And when we come to a point where we see something that needs to be changed – fine – we just cry out to God to help us to change, help us to change, help us to be at one, help us to see, help us to understand and He will; He always does.

...not to think more highly of than we ought to think; What does that mean?  In the context of the sermons we’ve gone through it means for this to take place in the mind you have to rely on God all the time.  You can’t rely on this mind because it isn’t right!  That’s the whole purpose for it being transformed, being changed to something different – meaning the thinking has to change.  There are things in our mind that have to change and only God can do that through conviction and the power of His spirit working with the mind.  And so that’s why we cry out to God for help.  How convicted are we that we need God?  How convicted are we that we live in dangerous times?  How convicted are we that we can go by the wayside?  How convicted are we that without God’s help and continually drawing closer to Him and making changes from last year to this year, that we become more zealous?  How convicted are we that we need God’s help?  How convicted are we that there’s a being out there who is so stirred up that his primary objective is to destroy you?  Do you believe that?  Do you understand that?  That’s his primary objective in his life!  It always has been!  To thwart God’s plan...and that means to come after those whom God is working with; always-always-always been that way!  We need help.

And when you are convicted of those things that’s the very reason that we fall on our knees and cry out to God day by day, “Father, help me!  Give me strength!  Live in me!  Help my thinking to be right because I know it has to change!?  What is it that needs to yet be changed in you?  Because there are things that need to change in our thinking!  We’re not perfected yet!  We’re not there yet and we won’t be until our entire body has been changed.  When we’re spirit, then you’re going to know; but until then there’s always a battle, there’s always a war, there’s always change of thinking that must take place in our mind to become more at one in a progressive manner with God.  That’s what we live!  It’s a beautiful thing, it truly is, but we’ve got to yield ourselves to that and understand what God gives us as He gives it to us.  And when He allows us to go through trials...  He could stop all the trials.  He doesn’t choose to do that.

Sometimes I think of parents and a child, especially a very young child, and obviously the desire to protect them and desire to be there for them, to keep them out from having something, a hand on a stove, whatever it might be, but there are times in human life, and in adult life as people grow, that you have to let go and you have to let people begin experiencing pain and suffering and what it means to do – because you can’t be there to protect somebody 24 hours a day.  Now, God is, He can protect us all the time from anything that’s ever out there, and He does as a whole if you understand, but He gives us great freedom to experience suffering, to make mistakes, and we do, that’s how we can learn because He’s there to pick us up.  He’s there to lift us up and to show us and to reason with us and to show us what has taken place and what needs to take place in the mind so that that doesn’t happen again, so that we don’t make the same mistake again.

It’s an awesome thing how God works with us.  He doesn’t try to intervene and stop everything from happening.  No, we learned that in a very powerful way during the apostasy... of all the things that hit God’s people at that time is, “This is God’s Church!  I believe it with all of my being!  How can this happen to God’s Church?  ...because there is nothing else out there that is God’s Church - this is it!  So how on earth could this happen to God’s Church?!”  And you know what?  God will eventually lead you to the answer as you keep looking at that.  Because if you know this is God’s Church God leads you to the answer.  He led us to the answers of how this could happen, why it happened.  We began to understand we are why it happened, what we did individually and what we did spiritually and what happened in Laodicea.  It wasn’t God’s fault but He allowed it to happen so that great lessons could be learned from it.  Things that are in me that if I hadn’t of gone through that I couldn’t begin to be where I am today!  I couldn’t be there!  I wouldn’t be spiritually where I am.  And that’s the way it is with all of us.  Horrible things we sometimes go through in life, but it forces us to examine things of what we really believe and what we’re really motivated by and what we really want in life and what is really the most valuable to us.  Those are the things that bring us to those moments in time and those are the moments in time we grow in the greatest character as we yield to God.

Not everybody does.  Ever since I’ve been in God’s Church, and we learn from that too, people go by the wayside.  People do things that I sometimes scratch my head and think, “How could you do that?  How can you go back to believing...?  If you believed something else, how could you go back to believing something that is so obviously wrong?”  And that’s why we need God all the time, because He strengthens us, this mind that changes and transforms, and the reality is if at some point we begin to ignore God, leave God, sin, whatever it is we won’t seek to get rid of and won’t continue to fight against and we allow certain attitudes to come into our life – after a while we can lose what we had, even in the mind...and especially in the mind.

Verse 3 - For I say, through the grace given to me, to every person that is among you, not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think; but to think soberly, soberly...to be sober minded, to understand what we’re like as human beings.  That’s why we’re to be sober and sober minded; to understand our weaknesses, that we’re filled with weaknesses.  We have problems.  We have sins.  We have secrets in our minds.  Human beings, that’s the way we are.  You don’t want everybody to know you fully, completely, entirely in your mind, in your being, and what every thought goes through your mind.  That reveals something about the mind, doesn’t it?  That it’s not all at one with God yet.  Battles you might have with people and things that you think about individuals or circumstances or pulls in life.  We go through trials and we go through battles in life.  It’s a part of our struggle as human beings... at least I hope that’s how we think.  Maybe we don’t care if everybody knows everything about our life and our thinking and don’t care to... I guess in some ways that’s not bad either, in one respect, except that...  anyway.  To be open is a good thing and the more you grow the more open you will be, truly, in life.

...but to think soberly, to realize this mind has to change and continue to change and become more like God, more at one with God. To be able to see, “Yes, there are things in my mind that aren’t right.”  I hope you all see that.  The way you think about someone in the Church, someone, maybe a neighbour, someone in the world, if it’s not right, if it’s not balanced, if it’s not good.  Now sometimes we do have to be able to judge and see things that are wrong, but how we think about them then is another matter.

...but to think soberly, according as God has dealt to every person the measure of faith.  The ability to believe and to see what you see, that we respond to it.

So again, this is exactly what we’re addressing now through this particular sermon, by coming to a sound, a reasoned judgment if you will, of the measure of the faith that God has given us.  Where are we?  Where are you right now?  How do you think right now about where you’re going and what you’re doing?

Deuteronomy 8:1 - All the commandments which I command you this day shall you observe to do, that you may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the Eternal swore unto your fathers.  Because of what we’ve gone through, thinking about this, can’t help but think that we’re at the ultimate of that, of that which God promised, we’re at the ultimate of where we are in time, the time of the first fruits being resurrected, the time of those who are going to go on into God’s Kingdom, the time this very Feast of Tabernacles that we’re approaching pictures, that we’re almost there.

Verse 2 - And you shall remember all the way, all the way which the Eternal your God led you these forty years in the wilderness, and whatever your journey is, whatever your time is, you’re to remember all those things that have happened in your life.  There are times to reflect upon the journey you’ve taken from the very beginning to the very end.  So we’re to consider all of those things in the way God has led us, what we’ve learned as we’ve gone through the various kinds of trials that we have.

And you shall remember all the way which the Eternal your God led you these forty years... to humble you; when you think of the different things you’ve gone through in your life that have been part of a humbling process of the mind so your mind can be transformed and changed, to become something different, the process of humbling, of getting rid of pride.  We just had a meeting here of the different ministers that came in for a meeting that we were able to send out to the rest of the ministry to listen to and have the senior elders and evangelists, at least here in the States, come in and have a meeting here and discuss various things.  And one of the things we have discussed year after year after year is a matter of the difference between pride and humility, because it even becomes that much more important in the lives of leadership that God gives in the Church, that people live by that, that they strive to live by that, that they try to embrace that even more so in their life.  Because to be able to serve more those things must be more deeply in the mind, the matter of humility.

And so again here, there is much that God takes us through to help us grow in humility, and that’s a part of what He’s showing here and revealing here, to humble you.  And so I think of, how much do you cherish that process in your life, of things that have humbled you?  Can you think of things that have happened to you at different moments in time within the Church here, of things we’ve gone through or things you’ve gone through that have helped to humble you?  ...and to prove you, to prove you, where you are, so that you have to address various things.  I feel for individuals when they can’t address various things in their life and I think that’s part of the frustration of, candidly, me giving this sermon today.  I have a little frustration giving this sermon...  I’m going to tell you why.

I read many letters of individuals who went through various things as they came along.  I’ve read some that had battles and they addressed them – and I have high respect for individuals when they go through battles and are able to be open about it, and rather than doing something behind the scenes and being conniving and talking and spreading dissension, instead just going and saying, “This is a battle I’m having.  This is the way I’m thinking.  This is it...”  And then you help them, or you at least tell them the truth of what they’re going through and why.  And what an awesome thing when they’re able to address it and make a great change.  Repentance, it’s a beautiful thing that God gives to us that makes us different than the physical Israelites, and so we’re able to change, repent and change and continue to go forward.

And then I think of all the different ones who have responded and all kinds of attitudes; but one of the primary things that gave me encouragement through that time was the positive attitude and spirit of going forward.  That’s infectious!  It’s inspiring!  It’s exciting when you see how God works with us and brings us to those things...but don’t let that go to your head either.  If you’re able to go through something at a particular time, don’t let pride come in.  Always seek humility and understand there is still a trial, there are still trials we have in front of us.  There are trials of life where you aren’t going to come through it so well – something that you’re weaker in, some facet of something that’s in your being, in your mind.  And so we’re tried at different times.  Some may be able to go through one period at one time successfully and something else more personal, whatever it might be, to an individual in another trial.  But God will see to it that we go through those things because that’s part of the refining process.  That’s why it’s always good to be sober minded and to be humble always before God and not allow anything to ever lift us up – just to be thankful that we’re able to continue to go forward and that God’s been merciful to us.

So He says ...to humble you and to prove you and to know what is in your heart... You know what?  When it’s written like this sometimes we look at this and think, “Well, God’s taken us through this so He can see what’s in our heart.”  God already knows what’s in our heart.  God knows the way we think.  He knows what our responses to various kinds of circumstances will be.  He’s moulding and fashioning us, bringing us to a time where He can say, “Now I know you.”  In other words, you have come to a point in time where you, in every circumstance and with His guidance, His help, His direction in your life are always going to have the same response to God – you’re going to always be yielding to God, you’re always going to put God first in your life.  You’ve come to that point, He’s actually moulded and fashioned that in you.  That’s what God has to do.  So it’s for us to think about.

So many of the things written like this, God knows but He wants us to know it, so to prove you, to know what is in your heart.  In other words, it’s really saying in essence for us to know what’s in our heart.  That’s what God’s doing.  It’s like a mirror.  He brings us to a point in time through being proven in a particular area that we have battle with, and we’re able to look in the mirror and see where we are.  This is that time.  Pentecost to last Sabbath.  Pentecost to last Sabbath...and what God is telling us in our life, that He wants us to listen to and to address and to think about, to mediate upon.  Not just to listen to this sermon today but to be honest with God in prayer, when you’re done, to go before God in prayer, to go through these matters, to reflect upon all this process you’ve gone through and think about when you were coming up to the 26th, what you were at every point along the way to this point in time, and where it is you want to go and how you want to do it and what it is in your life that still needs to be addressed in your thinking before God.  Because there are always things there that we can do better, that we can grow in, that we can become stronger in.

So again, to know what is your heart; in other words, to know, or to make known is really what it’s about, to make known what is in the heart, so we can see it, because if we can’t see it, you know what? We can’t change - we can’t repent.  And so we have to come to the point where we can see something in order to repent of it and make change so we can grow and the mind can be transformed.

...whether you will keep His commandments/His words, or not.  And He humbled you and allowed you to be hungry; I think of how God has humbled us.  You see, God could have told us a long time ago that we had ‘the day of the Lord’ coming.  God could have told us a long time ago that it wasn’t Trumpets, but Pentecost, when Jesus Christ returned.  God could have told us those things, but those were there by design, because those are the things to try us, to see what is in our heart and whether we will follow Him.  And so He allowed us to hunger, meaning He didn’t give us everything that we could have to eat.  He didn’t fill us completely full with everything.  He kept some back, some things back for a purpose for later on.  We’re going to see that in a more powerful way at the Feast of Tabernacles as we go through this in a deeper way, in a stronger way, so we can learn and grow and understand more of the mind of God and how God works with us in our lives and in our minds.

And He humbled you, and allowed you to be hungry, and fed you with manna, something different!  Something a little different, a different focus...and then when it came time, more manna, but in His time.  ...which you did not know, neither did your fathers know; you know, there are things we come to, and especially in the end-time, that God reveals things to us that no one has ever known before.  Mr. Armstrong didn’t know.  Mr. Armstrong knew things that Peter and Paul and James never knew, and John never knew.  It’s progressive.  And that doesn’t mean that he was better than them or anything, it just means that the truth is progressive and God just gives more and more and more, and we grow more and more.  He gives us opportunity to grow more through these periods of time ourselves.  Not more than someone else, but meaning we can grow more and accelerate because of what God has given and the ease of even doing it.

It says ...which you did not know; and so in time God will give us those things so that we can know.  ...and He might make you to know that man does not live by bread alone, Jesus Christ coming and showing that, talking by every word of God and so forth.  So it’s something that God gives, and even that is in God’s timing, and especially in the Church and what He gives to us.  ...but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Eternal does man live.

So, by whatever God says and whenever He says it, it’s in God’s control, it’s in His timing, and there are reasons for that because we’re tried by those things and we’re able to look into a mirror and see where we are at various stages of life because of how God reveals truth to us.  Every truth we’ve been given...  I’ll tell you what, the truth about Adam and Eve, the truth given at the Feast of Tabernacles about various things having to do with men and women and about bondage and the way of this world – that is a big one for God’s Church – that’s a big one for the world – it truly is.  But it’s something God has brought us to and it’s not perfectly understood by any measure in the Church yet – not by a long shot!  Because there are things that are so deeply imbedded in our minds in the way we think that you don’t just change your thinking overnight – it takes time.

And it takes time through a process of sermons and growth and things we’re going to experience in our life to help us to become more convicted of what God is doing, that there’s a curse that took place at the beginning of the life of mankind on this earth, in the first two people on this earth – a curse!  It isn’t God’s purpose that man be cursed!  It isn’t God’s purpose that we have those things in our life, that we have things that we have to suffer through in life!  But because of sin it was there!  And there are things that God allowed to exist then for 6,000 years, to work with man in the best state possible with carnal, selfish, human nature that existed.  And so God worked with mankind in a very unique way.  And the more you grow in understanding this the more you’re going to grow in understanding the awesomeness and the beauty of how God has worked with mankind!  You grow in that and you become more in awe of what God did and how He did it and why He did it.

And so I think about that one truth alone and I recognize we have battles in God’s Church.  I have dealt with many battles in God’s Church, with people who are still battling those things – okay?  I’m not talking about one or two or three or four, I’m talking about a lot of people who have battles in this area and some who don’t even know that that’s their battle – but it is!  It is!  And as you’re able to address it you’re going to become freer, and those around you are going to become freer.  The more free you are, the more you’re freed up in your mind, the freer others are going to be too, because that’s the way it works.  The more we’re at one with God and that can live through us the more opportunity, ability others have to experience that reflected through our life.

So, sometimes we believe we understand everything along the way.  We have knowledge.  Knowledge is not understanding!  Knowledge is not wisdom!  That’s a beautiful thing to understand!  God gives us knowledge, the ability to know things.  He gives us so much knowledge!

I think of the 57 Truths and there is a lot of knowledge there but we’re at various stages of understanding.  To understand it means you understand the process of why God has given something and to see it through, to understand how it works in our life, in people’s lives...and then once you understand it you make choices as to whether you’re going to live it.  That’s wisdom.  Once it becomes you.  You know, that’s the awesome part of becoming at one with God; once it’s you, once it’s your mind it’s just the way you are, the way you think, because you knew it, then you understood it, then you chose to live by it because you were in agreement with it and it’s just the way you are – which is more like God, more at one with God because you do understand the process.

And that’s something we live through in everything we address in our life.  That’s why that lesson has been so magnified in my life with one truth alone in God’s Church...It’s the fourth truth in all, after the three from Sardis.  Do you know what it is? Government!  Government-government-government – it was one of the strongest things that God gave to Mr. Armstrong. It was the first truth mentioned that reflected the work that God did through him, because of everything that was given as a matter of understanding things about government.  That’s why when I hear him I hear at the Feast going back to things about Satan and Lucifer and coming up into Adam and Eve and coming up to Israel and then the Church and to the present time, and I marvel – things that sometimes people thought they knew that they didn’t really know and weren’t in agreement with.  And you know what?  It came out later on that not many in God’s Church have ever been in agreement with God’s government.

When it was all said and done, by the time we got to the end of Laodicea there wasn’t much there!  We became so weak that we had to go back and get re-grounded in it....because I lost matters of government in my own thinking, in my own mind.  Got a double whammy then because you can begin to lose it.  Had a stronger sense of certain things before that, then went through Laodicea and it began to get watered down, went through the apostasy and it really got messed up because of trust and things that had been so shattered in the Church.  And so God had to reground us, if you will, in the truth and help us to become strong again because without that we can’t grow, we can’t function, we can’t do and operate as God’s Church, which we finally came to in Pentecost of ’98, unless we go through these things.

So I guess the point I’m bringing out here is that I have some frustration in giving some of this because I know there are some, and I know it’s few, I believe that with all my being...but it’s always the few as a whole that I strive to speak to in a stronger way.  Because if you’re going through things and you’ve been responding and your following God in that respect and you’ve addressed these things already in your life then it’s kind of like the sheep – the 90 and 9 – and if they’re doing well you’re not as concerned there and they’re going to continue to learn and take to heart the things that are given, but if it’s just the one that can be helped.  If it’s just the one that can be turned around.  If it’s just the one out there, wherever the one is, and ever how many the ‘ones’ are.  One, two, five, ten, whatever they are – because they’re out there.  I receive no greater joy, truly, in exactly what God gave and what God shows, than those individuals can turn around and get it together again, that are with us listening today.  I’m not even talking about some who have had some other battles and will come to various points here to see things and have opportunity, prayerfully, to see and understand and repent and get right again.  God has given that to us, and throughout the Church He’s going to give that to 63,000 soon.  What an awesome thing; and God has the power to do it!

I think of some who have left and I think of what they’re following and they don’t know what they’re following and it’s going to be like the quail that comes out their nostrils, to have such horrible lessons to have to learn because of what they’ve done, and they have no idea.  Because I know what they’re following...  I know who.  I feel sorry for them, I truly do.  And then I think of others who are struggling out here, that if we don’t address various things in our life right now and make some greater changes, to become more sober minded – that means to be fearful, that means to have worry as well, and not in a way that’s not normal or right but in a sound way in the sense of recognizing what we’re capable of doing and why we need God.  That’s the very reason we drop to our knees, is because we’re so convicted of that, “I need God’s help.”  It doesn’t take very long to go sin, does it?  But if you can drop to your knees and ask God for forgiveness and keep fighting the fight and know what you’re fighting, then there’s tremendous power in that.

And so my frustration is that sometimes things can be given and it’s going in one ear and out the other and we can sit in Sabbath services and we don’t do what we’re encouraged to do, which is to examine our self, and especially if there is a need to examine certain things right now, to make change so we can continue on, to be zealous and be on fire and be determined and indeed stand strong for God, to stand up to people, to stand up to individuals, to stand up for God’s way of life...then what are we going to go through?

See, everything we thought we’d escaped, we haven’t escaped it.  Everything we thought was going to be shoved into a shorter period of time; it’s not going to happen that way.  We’re going to go through some hard, difficult times, and our ability to go through them well, and our ability to handle those things, we really have no comprehension of how hard, how difficult some battles are going to be, but God will be there to take care of us and God will use us during that period of time to help others as we yield and respond to what He’s giving us.

Continuing on...  II Chronicles 20:17 – this was in that sermon as well.  It says, You shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, so we’re going to have battles, we’re going to have things in front of us, but if we go through this well, the way that God desires us to, and we become...we can become stronger now – that is what God is offering  us – through looking at various things, through focusing, we can actually become more determined, stronger than ever before in determination of what we’re going to do and how we’re going to do it in how we go forward, and what we’re going to do in various kinds of circumstances and situations.  And be determined that you’re going to be praying more often to God!  That’s an easy thing to let kind of go by the wayside!  That you’re going to be determined that you’re going to have a stronger prayer life with God – from today – be determined that you’re going to have a stronger prayer life with God – a stronger relationship with God – that you’re going to pour out your heart more to God.  Be determined to do that, to ask God for help because you know the times we live in.  Be determined to make that kind of a change!  Be determined to honour God more in your life in how you live and by things that come out of your mouth and things you say and what you think!  Be determined if there are certain things that you’re battling that you’re going to fight against those things with greater determination than ever before!

Don’t just let life continue on!  Be determined to do more right now, because this is an important phase, an important time in God’s work, in God’s Church, in the world as well.  This is an awesome time, ‘the day of the Lord’, and God wants us to have that vision of where we are in time and to take it far more seriously than we’ve ever taken it before.  That’s why certain things were repeated in this last sermon series over and over and over again – that which is going to define us.  And how do you want to be defined?

You have opportunity right now to respond mightily before God.  He has a desire to pour more out upon you, to give you more, no matter how you came through what you came through here over the last few weeks.  But if our heart and our spirit and our desire is rejuvenated and made stronger with a greater determination, His desire is to pour out more upon you.  And when He makes you to stand, how much you’re going to be able to be given then, how much you’re going to be able to accomplish then, depends so much upon what we do right now and how we’ll respond right now.  Because there is much work to be done!  There is much to be done ahead of us, there truly is, in a transition in what’s going to take place in this world during this period of time.

This isn’t normal times!  This isn’t like the last 3½ years – which weren’t normal either, but it’s not like the last 3½ years – this is more intense, this is more meaningful, this is more powerful.  This is it!

You shall not need to fight in this battle; set yourselves, stand still, stand fast in what God has given you, and see the salvation of the Eternal with you... with you.  That which God delivers... He’s with us! O Judah and Jerusalem: do not fear nor be dismayed; in other words, of that which is going to come to pass and happen.  But we do need to be fearful of what we’re capable of doing, that’s why we draw closer to God.  So there’s balance, there’s soundness of mind in how we see and understand these things that God is telling us.  So He says, tomorrow go out against them and the Eternal will be with you.  So God is always with us!  What kind of confidence and boldness do we have?  Like we came up to the 26th, to know that God is with us.  How much more do we know that now? God is with us, He always has been, He was with you when He first called you.  What did He call you to?  What did He give you since then?  Has He ever abandoned you?  That’s not God.  God will not forsake us.  Human beings forsake God.  Human beings will turn against God.  Human beings will resist God.  They’ll come to a certain point in time and say, “Oh... women be ordained in the Church?  You’ve got to be kidding me!  You’ve got to be kidding me!  You have really lost it now!”  Come from God or not?

Did God all of a sudden just quit working in the Church when that was given? Did all of a sudden God go someplace else and now He’s going to have to work someplace else to get something going and bring people up to speed and so everything has to be postponed in the world and everything that’s happening in Syria and Russia has got to pull back a little bit right now?  And the Middle East?  And Iran?  Doesn’t work that way.

Then we came to the third sermon entitled ‘Day of the Lord’, and again, God by this point in time – I marvel at looking back and seeing how these things are dealt with, and then by the time we came to this how much stronger it became in our minds, how much more settled we were beginning to be and still various things going on as some of these things were being addressed.  God gave us time to adjust our thinking and become a little more settled where we were so that we could move forward.  And even now – and that was at that time – but even now we’re even more settled in what He’s given to us.  He helped us to adjust to the understanding of what’s taking place, and even about the Trumpets and things that are taking place there.  But I’ll come back to that in a moment.

We looked at some particular scriptures here in the book of Isaiah, Isaiah 13.  Again, it’s amazing how many certain things, certain kinds of messages pop up, just a reminder of... it talks about the burden of Babylon, time God’s going to bring down Babylon, Egypt, whatever focus you want to have, but a system that’s...  I think of what it says in Revelation, “Babylon, Babylon has fallen.”

Isaiah 13:3 - I have commanded My sanctified ones; You know, there are things having to do with those whom God has set apart for a holy use.  We’re set apart for holy use and there are certain things that apply to us in a part of this, but even those that God has set apart – Russia, China, 10 nations in Europe, different things that God is doing – set apart for a holy use and purpose, to bring an end to Babylon.  It doesn’t mean they’re ‘holy’, but there are certain things that God gives at different times in life, even to nations and to peoples to be able to accomplish and do various things in order to bring about His purpose, which is where we are, and that’s the end of this period of time when it comes in Pentecost, that God’s Kingdom can come to this earth, that God will intervene.

I have also called My mighty ones for My anger, even those who rejoice in My majesty and excellency. The voice of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people/in great number; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of the nations gathered: the Eternal of hosts inspecting the host of the battle. They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even the Eternal and the weapons of His indignation, to destroy the whole land. There are things that man is going to do regardless.  Man’s going to come to a certain time, but God is bringing it together at a time even with technology, everything is perfectly timed to bring everything together to a head because God knows the mind of man.  Leave man to himself with what we have out there, eventually we’re going to destroy ourselves, one way or another, in many ways just because of technology.  And God isn’t going to allow that so instead God has a plan to bring everything up to a point in time to help accelerate various events to get it through, to be able to show what man would do if God didn’t intervene, but He’s still in control of those things, mightily so.  And as time goes on we’re going to rejoice and be thankful for that ever more so and understand it far more clearly than we do now.

And so again, talking about these things, that He’s bringing it together, weapons of His indignation to destroy the whole land. It’s not God wanting to destroy.  It’s not God’s desire to see the earth suffer, to see His creation suffer, let alone mankind in it, which is the purpose of that creation in the first place, to suffer.  But because of man and because of what man is, God’s going to bring it to a head.  Man has always suffered because of the selfishness.  I get so sick sometimes when I see some of these things about war and all the things that happen.  And people go to war and then they come back and they’re forgotten.

You know, we have so many soldiers who just wander the streets.  They come back from war and who takes care of them.  If it’s so glorious and such a good thing and such a noble thing why are they abandoned?  Why are hospitals the way they are?  With technology like we have, why are they taken care of like that, or sadly, not taken care of?  And forgotten?  Treated the way they are?  Mental problems that they can’t deal with because of what they’ve been exposed to in the world - and just forgotten - candidly, willingly so.  Society forgets them, government forgets them, others forget them because it’s easier not to think about them, because we don’t want our conscience, our mind, to be hurt by them.  I am so sickened by this world!  I hope you’re sickened by the world and the things you see and how man treats each other, how people are even in their own nation... people who are homeless, and so many of them...

I don’t know if you’ve seen any numbers, statistics, there are so many people out there who are  veterans who are homeless, they can’t function with life because of what they’ve gone through and they’re just forgotten.  Sick, sick, filthy perversion of mankind in order to have his own glory in his own way, and God’s going to end that.  God has seen that for 6,000 years; people just going off to war and slaughtering each other. I can’t comprehend, hundred thousand on one side, a hundred thousand on another side, and they come together and they just cut each other up – that was before the weapons that could get rid of you a little faster.  I’d rather be gotten rid of a little bit faster if I have to go.  To have your leg cut off, to have your arm cut off, to have both legs cut off – it’s still happening though - but I’m just talking about some of the bloody things that took place just with weapons of spears and swords, and people just butchering each other on the field.   So thankful we’re almost there.

And so God has had His fill of this, brethren; He’s had it a long time ago but He’s allowed man to do it because He has a great purpose for our existence.  But this part, just as much in a similar sort of fashion, a desire to finally see it come to a time when Satan can be put away, and what he’s done, and then the end of this age and the evil of man.

So again ...even the Eternal, weapons of His indignation, God is righteous in what He’s done and is going to do.  He’s held off, in large part, for 6,000 years, but this is it, to destroy the whole land. In other words, man’s land, the land of mankind, their ways.  It doesn’t mean a desire to see things destroyed out here, but it’s destroying that which the earth relies upon and depends upon and looks to for salvation, whether it be nations or religions or economies.  That’s why it’s all going to come down, crashing down.  Babylon, Babylon...

Cry out, for the day of the Eternal is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. Because God’s going to allow it.  God’s very much involved in it – from beginning to end. Therefore shall all hands be/become faint, and every man's heart shall melt: Think your heart’s going to melt a little bit?  Think you’re going to become a little faint? I’m just going to tell you, you will.  You will too.  Did your heart sink a little bit on 9/11?  I remember that day and I remember I had a hard time talking to anyone that entire day.  I did not want to talk to anybody because of what I saw, knowing what we know about the end of an age, knowing what’s going to come that’s going to be so much worse than that and seeing that small amount of people die in the way that they died.  I was sickened inside.  I was sick!  And I know some wanted to talk – you know, different people have different ways of dealing with things and some maybe like to talk things out, others just like to, “I can’t talk right now.  I’m digesting this myself and my emotions with it...” and I just was sick the entire day.  That’s nothing compared to what is to come.

...therefore shall all hands become faint, and every man’s heart shall melt.  There are things that are going to happen that’s going to humble this world, and it’s also going to affect us because we’re in the world. God gives us understanding of why and so forth, but you know, sometimes we think we understand, we can do certain things, but until we’re there we don’t know what it’s like, and then we have to address, perhaps, other things in our life.

I think of every week now, it’s just getting a little bit closer, a little bit louder.  Things in Europe – things are quieted down a little bit, especially in the United States.  It’s hard to find certain things about Europe right now.  You know why?  Well, we ought to know why, we ought to understand why...  Europe is still having talks behind the scenes; they know what they’ve got a hold of.  Italy talking about leaving, different ones talking, the rumblings going on and yet we know it’s going to happen; there are going to be ten before this is over with and an agreement they’re going to make, but a continuing process here of things just getting worse and worse.

I’m not going to even read the headlines...things of the economy in Europe going on.  They’re out there; you might have to dig a little bit.  A lot of you share different articles; that’s good.  I do want to read a little bit here about some of the countries though...

Here’s one on the 3rd.  Says, “Russia reportedly sending warships with marines to Syrian waters.” Well, like we didn’t know that was going on. Those articles came out a long time ago, some of their intentions and sabre rattling that’s been going on, and quite a few ships now in the Mediterranean.

“Khamenei warns Iran’s top leaders...”  This was on the 3rd as well, Friday, about a week ago.  “War in weeks.”  Now, he has said various things at different times, but generally when he says something, you know what?  The Iranians listen.  They listen.  The Shia, they listen, that religion, they listen to him.  And it’s amazing their thinking, and if we understand what they’re going through and what they’re thinking – that Iran, specifically Iran, believes they’re the ones that are going to lead the rest into what has to happen to bring along the 12th imam, whatever they call it there, Mahdi’s army and all the things that are taking place in their thinking, in their prophecies.  (I take this back, this was more than two weeks ago.)

The article says “Ayatollah Ali Khamenei summoned top Iranian military chiefs for what he called ‘their last war council.’”  Do you believe him or not?  Is he just blowing smoke?  Does he mean what he says or is there something going on behind the scenes?  Do they think they’re getting really, really close?  Are they getting close?  What are they going to do because of what’s going on in Syria?  Do you think that they’re a little concerned because of what happened in all the different ‘Arab Spring’ revolutions and all the different countries in through there and now it’s in Syria and it’s knocking on their doorstep?  What do you think is going on over there?  Do you think that there are things going on with their lives and how they’re dealing with things, of a fear that their own people could start uprising amongst themselves and maybe they’re going to take action ahead of time?  Amazing the world we live in. He says, “We’ll be at war within weeks.”

Here is one from August 7th , on Tuesday.  Says, “New Intelligence reveals Iranian military nuclear program advancing faster than previously thought.”  Wouldn’t that be a shock.  Says, “The Western diplomat who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to discuss intelligence information with the United States, Britain, France, Germany and Israel, said all these nations agree on the assessment.”  There’s a lot of that been going on for several weeks now.

And then by the 10th, a few days later, three days later from when this was taking place on Tuesday, then by Friday here, this Friday, this is from some things that defence minister Ehud Barak said in Israel, “The Defence Minister said that the U.S. and Israel intelligence essentially see eye to eye on the matter, and so do he and the Prime Minister.  Barak referred to the new U.S. National Intelligence estimate on Iran as confirming that both capitals understand that not much time is left for making decisions on whether or not to go to the offensive against the Iranian nuclear facility and when, because, he said, a nuclear Iran is taking shape right before our very eyes.”

So how long will it be before Israel does something?  How long before the United States does anything?  We don’t know, but it’s there in front of us – we’re there.  I had a lot more articles but I’m not going to take time to read them; they’re out there, sabre rattling.

Isaiah 13:8 - And they shall be/become afraid: ‘pangs’, it’s not a good word that’s translated here in English.  It comes from a word that means literally ‘to lay siege’, but adds to it the idea of ‘opening the way’, and that’s why it’s used in talking about the battle of birth, in a sense, with a woman.  There’s the term there about ‘opening the way’ and ‘making way for a child’ and the pain and the suffering that goes with that, and so that’s why even partially that term in the Hebrew is used here.  So it’s a word that’s commonly used about ‘laying siege’ then, translated that way throughout the Old Testament – depends on the usage of it and how it’s applied, to what it’s applied to.  If it’s applied to pregnancy it’s obvious what it’s talking about and the labour and what takes place.  And sometimes, again, ‘opening the way’, or ‘sending a message’ and so forth, this thing of laying siege.

Going on...they shall be/become afraid as the way of siege is opened, is literally what it means here, is how it’s used in the Hebrew, and sorrows shall take hold on them; they shall be in pain as a woman who is in labour: they shall be ‘amazed’, a word that means ‘stunned’, ‘dumbfounded’ as toward one another, in other words, and their faces as flames of fire/flames because of what they see being devoured in front of them.

Verse 9 - Behold, the day of the LORD comes and is fierce both with wrath and  - the word meaning ‘burning’ here – burning anger, to lay the land desolate:  So again, all the things we’ve ever believed; they’re all before us, they’re all there. Sometimes, well, not a pretty story here all the way through.

Verse 11 - And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogance of the proud to cease, it’s amazing how often this comes up, and I will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible, or the word means ‘the dreadful’ or ‘the oppressor’.  That’s why it’s so important for us to understand the importance of being of a humble spirit before God, of understanding what pride does, how it hurts, and that which God seeks to get rid of and that which God seeks to destroy.

These things are a matter of what do we see?  What do we see on the horizon?

Isaiah 61:1 - The spirit of the Eternal is upon us, because the Eternal has anointed Me to preach the good news unto the meek; and so this example of Jesus Christ, the prophecy that’s about Him and what He was to do and what He’s been doing ever since for the past 2,000 years.  ...to preach the good news; He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prisons to those who are bound; all this is taking place leading up to a time that God is so looking forward to because of His Kingdom coming.  And again, these prophecies about Christ and where He leads the Church and where He leads us to the end of this age, to when He comes back a second time.

To proclaim the acceptable, meaning, ‘just accepted as according to God’s will’ year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; It doesn’t mean it has to take place for an entire year!  Another trap that some have fallen into, or can fall into.  It doesn’t mean that something has to happen for an entire year but it climaxes in time.  That’s why we’re doing what we’re doing with the Feast sermons.  I don’t know when these things begin; God has never given that, never told us when it’s going to begin, when the 2nd Trumpet blows, when the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th.  We just know the first and the last.

Verse 3 - To appoint unto them who mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes and oil for joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Eternal, that He might be glorified. Again, this attitude of mind that it’s about God and it’s about sharing with God.  The focus is upon God.  We are blessed with what we’re able to receive from being a part of this – that’s what this is talking about, to appoint unto them who mourn in Zion; talking about to give unto them the beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.  And the ‘garment of praise’ has to do with response of those around us in the world, of what’s going to come.  God comforts us, He takes care of us, He gives us more of His holy spirit to be able to deal with those things that are around us – but this ‘garment of praise for a spirit of heaviness’ is something He’s preparing us for.  This is a part of making us to stand and how we’re able to wear it.  Can we wear, if you will, ‘a garment of praise’, the adoration, the admiration of others?  Because of what you’ve gone through it will be out there; those who want to know more about what you have, of what you’ve gone through, and you can’t take it to yourself, you can’t let individuals give you more than who you are and what you are.  And you have to let them know that.  Because the tendency is sometimes for human beings to receive that to the self and take it and feel lifted up by it.

That they might be called the trees of righteousness, the planting of the Eternal that He might be glorified. Again, always about God, focus on God, glorifying God, serving God, honouring God, and we share in the part of the process.

And they shall build the old wastes, they will raise up the former desolations and they shall repair the waste cities and the desolations of many generations.  Things that we have awaiting for us that we’re able to be a part of.

And then we came to ‘The Day of the Lord’; next sermon.  And this is a powerful one – truly is. Mentioned we are at war, this is a ‘day’ of war.  Its spiritual war and its physical war and it’s not going to get easier.  And there are going to be things that will come your way – I don’t know what’s coming your way – but you’re going to have things come your way.  You’re going to have battles come your way and there has to be that determination, that desire, that need to be ever so close to God.  You know, Satan’s not going to go out easily.  The demonic world is not going to go out easily.  They’ve been trying in every way they can to stir things up within the Church.  They truly have...and they just continue in different areas, in different times, in different situations, in family life.  You know, if your family life is screwed up you’ve got to unscrew it!  If you’re not living God’s way of life you’ve got to repent!  I can’t give you peace!  ...only God can.  There are situations out here where you have to repent and change your life and obey God.  This is the time to do it!  You don’t have much time to do it in!

Do we grasp where we are?  We get so confused sometimes, into arguments and disputations and fighting with [one another].  That’s what Satan wants!  And you just yield to his hand!  That’s what demons want, when you sin and you fight in your own families sometimes – what are you doing?  You’re giving them power!  It’s like opening the door and saying, “Come on in.  Come on in, have at me.  Have at us; tear us apart.”  You’ve got to stand fast and obey God.  You’ve got to apply the things!  You’ve got to seek love!  You’ve got to seek God’s love.  If we can’t love within our own lives, within the Body, within the Church, within our own families sometimes, what on earth... how can we deceive ourselves into thinking we have the love of God and we can live God’s life and be blessed by God and grow in God’s spirit?

And the reason I mention this is because these things are happening out there in different areas, at a time when I am trying to focus on sermons.  I know why they’re coming; this is the way it works, this is the way Satan works.  He tries to get at us all the way through the Body...all the way through the Body.  If he can draw you into an argument somewhere, a fight and disputation somewhere with somebody in the Body and be at odds with somebody in the Body He just loves it.  He loves it; he relishes in it because you’re made weaker in the process unless you stand firm and stand tall and are forgiving and loving and caring.  It doesn’t mean you don’t have to address things – sometimes you do.  That’s a part of love.  But not in a vengeful way; not in an angry way.  Those are emotions that we shouldn’t have.  Not in a judgmental way, a way of condemning someone, of condemnation, but of mercy and of patience and of love.  And sometimes things have to be addressed – yes – there are things there sometimes that are wrong and they have to be addressed, yes.  But how you carry them after that and how you feel about it afterwards, that’s between you and God.  And you have to do it right; you have to love. Your motivations have to be because it’s a matter of love and exercising love.  Don’t open the door for Satan and demons by sinning, because those are the areas...  He knows our weaknesses.  Be careful in these battles!  Fight against them!  Ask God for help to handle things in a right way in relationships, in and out of the Church, it doesn’t matter.  Be careful that you do it God’s way!

Sometimes of going to a brother alone... or seeking help in a matter.  But be careful about dragging everybody else around you into the dispute so it spreads out there and makes it even worse for more out there to have to battle with things.

...a day of war, a day of battling; little did I know some of the battling that was going on – got blind-sided.  It’s crazy!  Amazing!  Lied to for a long time!  I’m dumbfounded by things that come out at times in life.  But you know what?  God brings them to the surface.  I haven’t experienced something like this, quite like this, since back in Toledo when we had a great big split up there.  But thankfully it’s less and less.  God, more and more has helped us to grow in such a way that we’re stronger as far as a Body, stronger as a Church, and some of these battles aren’t nearly as devastating as they have been in times past.  And the reason for that is because we are becoming stronger – but we’ve got to be determined to become ever stronger.  We’ve got to be determined to understand that we’re going to go in this battle even more determined than ever before and know that we need God.

This is a time of war!  That’s what is mentioned in that particular sermon; this is a ‘day’ of war!  There’s great battling physically and spiritually at this end-time.  Now, we’re not quite thrust into it fully yet and yet we’ve been warring.  There have been wars going on.  There have been battles going on and God’s been preparing us and helping us so we could react and respond to them.  But we have to be sobered by this, brethren, to realize where the world is after 6,000 years, and after 1260 days and being thrust into one more ‘day’, one long ‘day’.  It’s a time of tremendous war and fighting.

That’s why we went to Ephesians 6:10 - Finally, my brethren, be/become strong in the Lord, above everything else.  And the ability to go through this entire process is to understand how we’re strong – by being in God and God in us.  And if there is sin and if there is dispute and other kinds of sins in life going on and they’re not resolved and we don’t have a spirit of forgiveness or try to reconcile various matters or whatever it might be.  If we don’t acknowledge certain things or try to make things right by sometimes just saying, “I’m sorry,” and trying to make things right if we’re not doing the things God says to do, or going to a brother alone or whatever it might be.  If we’re not doing what we should or if we’re allowing sin to go on and exist in the Body somewhere and we’re not addressing it because it’s just a little too hard because they’re my friend – that’s just wrong!!  This is a time of war!  And even those things, out of love, you’ve got to go to a brother alone and explain to them this is just wrong, you’re hurting yourself spiritually and I don’t want to see you get pulled aside and hurt.  You know, we can lose people because we don’t do the things we need to do.

At some point here we are going to have a sermon about going to our brother alone.  Maybe it’ll be next week, I don’t know, but it’s powerfully needed, it’s mightily needed in the Church, and knowing how to handle these matters and knowing how to deal with matters and dealing with it God’s way – because it’s a way of resolving relationships so that we have love, God’s love, in our relationships.  Sometimes there are things that are not pleasant to do but we have to do them for the sake of the other person – because sometimes people can be destroying themselves and hurting themselves and getting farther from the trunk of the tree.

Finally, my brethren, be/become strong in the Eternal/in the Lord, and in the power of His might.  We’re not strong, we’re weak.  We’re weak as human beings!  That’s the very thing that should drop you to your knees, to be convicted of that, that without God, being cut off from God because of sin and if there is sin, whenever there is sin, You Are Cut Off until it’s resolved, repented of.  And sometimes just going before God and asking for forgiveness is not enough, sometimes you have to go through and do something else, you have to go through another person and seek to make things right, because that’s a part of doing it God’s way; it’s obeying Him then.  It’s a matter of living in a state of care, love, for each other.  In or out of the Body, it doesn’t matter, there is just a way to live toward other people.

Put on the whole armour of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles/the strategies of the devil.  And that’s it, because he is stirred up!  He is stirred up!  He doesn’t want to go out lightly. He’s going to do everything within his power, one last hurrah.  That’s where he is, that’s the way of his mind, that’s the way of his thinking, and if he can take you with him...  He knows your weaknesses and you’re only strong in God and God in you.  That’s why I love that scripture in 1st John where it says, “Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.”  And that’s our hope.  That’s our strength, because if that isn’t there, if because of sin we deceive ourselves and we’re vulnerable, he’s going to attack.  You can just take it to the bank he’s going to attack you.

So there is a respect, an awe, and a fear that we should have there in a right sort of way toward God and toward other power that is greater than what we are, to understand our vulnerabilities as a human being – not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought to.

Revelation 12:17 - And the dragon was angry/enraged with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed:  You’re that remnant.  You’re a part of that remnant.  You joined in with the remnant if you’ve come along in the last few years.  Not much there but there’s a remnant and this is where his focus is.  First and foremost, this is where his focus is.  ...who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony/the witness of Jesus Christ.  That evidence that Christ is in the Church; and that evidence, very powerfully in truths...all 57 Truths.  This is where God is.  This is God’s Church!

I mentioned then, “Not only are the Thunders becoming extremely loud, but for this country the physical phase of the 1st Trumpet is just getting stronger and stronger out there.”  This is the time for it.  Not that some of these things haven’t happened before – but it’s just getting worse and worse and it’s going to get worse and worse and worse because of where we are and what has to happen as a result of some of these things that take place.

Then we went into the sermon series about ‘Between the Two Evenings’.  I’m not going to spend the time of going through all that today; it should be fresh in our minds.  But it is a time to look at our lives, to see what we’ve gone through, to thank God for what we’ve gone through.  To thank God that He’s worked with us in the way that He has, to help us to address things in our life – not to just drift along and go along but to be shaken, to be sobered, to help us to be sober minded.  That’s a part of the blessing of all this that we’re going through – to help us to be shaken a little bit, maybe a lot in some cases, so that we can look more deeply at ourselves and where we are and what do we believe and how deeply do we believe it?  And if we know that we’re in a final ‘day of the Lord’ and there are things coming our way how much more are we going to apply ourselves in drawing closer to God?  How much more serious are we going to be in working on relationships?  Because that’s really what it all boils down to – a spiritual way of life to live toward each other and toward those... it doesn’t matter whether it’s on the job, whether it’s in the community, whether it’s in family, whether it’s in this Family or a physical family, it’s how we think toward each other and what comes out of our mouth toward each other.

We are supposed to be different than the world – truly!

So, a reasoned judgment, sound judgment, honest judgment before God – being truthful before God and being able to examine ourselves and understand what it is we need now to move forward.  God has given us a good phase of time here to become established, to be able to focus on these things, to recognize the power that’s contained here in the messages He’s given to us, of what it is we need to focus upon – just like the one about a war.  We have to understand that we are in a war, and if we don’t understand that...  The more we believe that, the more you’re going to get on your knees and pray to God and ask for help, because the war is real to you.  Not something physical that’s coming, but something spiritual that exists already right now in the world, that’s being broadcast very powerfully so out there.  And if you know those things then you’re going to have awe of that and fear of that and desire God to live in you more fully because.... because people go by the wayside, people let down, people suffer.  And the more we let down the more we’re going to suffer, and God doesn’t want us to suffer, He wants to share with us the awesomeness of what He’s going to do in this final ‘day’.

His great desire for us is to make us stand, and to be able to handle it...to be able to handle it before others, that it not go to our heads, that we not misuse the power, because there’s power in that.  God will give you more power.  You’re going to experience that.  The more you yield yourself to God in this period of time...  I don’t think we can grasp or maybe we need to think about it a little bit more clearly – if we comprehend what’s getting ready to take place in this world there comes a point in time...  Some of you, maybe a few, grew up in the Church, but for most of you, you were drawn out of the world, you had to make certain changes in your life.  There is that abrupt change that began to take place when God began to call you.  He began to pour out His spirit upon you and you began to see things that you never saw before and He drew you to the truth, He began to reveal things to you.

How powerful is that when God does that in a massive way throughout the whole world?  How much more of His life and His spirit is He getting ready to pour out upon the whole world?  Do we comprehend what that means in a world, in a spirit world?  ...meaning the mind, as He begins to shut down the powers of beings out there, because He’s going to do...that’s a part of the process too.  The stronger these things become toward the end the more power He begins to take away from those beings that have tormented mankind since Adam and Eve.  Now, that’s an awesome thing to grasp the process of what takes place; that the closer we get to the end, that the greater that events that take place, the more power that’s taken away from them.  They’ve already had power being taking away from them, but they’re going to have a lot more in an accelerated fashion take place until it’s just finally totally taken away, until finally their end has come, in the sense of their ability to torment human beings any longer, to able to communicate and broadcast.

So the stronger God’s spirit is poured out upon the earth, the more that people can see various things and come to acknowledge various things in their life, the less power those beings have.  It’s a spiritual thing.  There are some awesome things we have to learn in this that God’s going to show us as we go along, of what He’s doing and what it means, when He begins to pour out more spirit upon the world, on human beings, and they’re able to receive of that from God in their own minds and how that diminishes the power of a specific being – because it does.  Because so much of his power, it comes from that, it’s spirit.  He feeds off of it.  Incredible!

So understand; the point of that being, understand that you have opportunity of receiving...  Think of the highlight, think of the...  I think of the Feast of Tabernacles.  To me there is no other time as powerful as the Feast of Tabernacles, year by year, because it’s at that time we’re able to get away from the world and we have eight days – sermon after sermon, day after day, in constant fellowship with people in the Church, as a whole.  Now, sometimes not everybody can have that all the time because of health issues; we have different people in the country this year...we’re not getting younger; people are getting older, their ability to get around.  So I think of the mid-west, some other areas, brethren I’ve known since my beginning, of individuals who can’t travel and so they’re going to be behind.  But they’ll still have that ability to hear the sermons day by day.  And so as a whole though God’s people come together and we’re able to experience that.

To me, there is no other higher time spiritually in the sense of being lifted up.  You don’t have to rub shoulders with the world, you’re not involved with the world at that time, you don’t have to fight the battles out there.  It’s a time of peace, in that respect, that we are able to receive like no other.  There’s no other time like it!  And you’re able to be stirred up spiritually more, you’re able to have more strength.  I have more strength at that time than any other time of the year – more power that I’m able to experience.  That’s the way it is for us!

What about being able to experience that individually in God’s Church, drawing closer to God, having a stronger mind, having a closer oneness with God the closer we get to the end of this age as God pours out His spirit more and more in this world and upon you?  Because that’s His desire – to give us more and more!

Hebrews 13:12 - Wherefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us go therefore unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach. Now, the reason we’re going through this is because we really did this in a very powerful way in the past 3½ years – that’s what the 1260 days were largely about.  It was about things we experienced because of what we believed and what we represented as a matter of, candidly, ‘2008 – God’s Final Witness’.  And I can’t help but think about the book of Ezekiel when I think about this, because Ezekiel was mocked in his time and he was mocked ever since his death by people in the world.  And the reason being is because he wrote about the captivity of Israel after they were already captive; and it’s like, easy to write after they’re already captive.  Sure you can write different things about what’s going to happen to them and so forth.  A prophet to the house of Israel; it was about Israel.  And so again here, it was long after their captivity.  So here he is, he’s written, and so scholars through time, even so called ‘biblical scholars’ have made fun of or – I don’t know how you describe it – but ridiculed in some ways or haven’t fully believed the things about Ezekiel, not grasping that it’s something for the future, it’s something for our time, candidly.

And I think of things that we represent sometimes because they don’t happen the way maybe we even think they are at the timing we think they are – which we’ll be given more at the Feast this year as well, to understand that even more clearly, to understand the process of why we went through what we did – but to go through these things and then to receive this from the world...it’s a hard thing.  That’s what he said, “Look at what Jesus Christ did.... ‘You are the Messiah?’  ...and now He’s dead?”  He went without the camp, a shameful death.  That’s what it was, it was a shameful death.  It’s a shameful thing to be impaled on a pole.  It was a shameful thing in society that that would happen to you – and yet He did that for all mankind, willing to have His blood spill out to the earth.  And that’s the example that’s given here.  He’s taken outside the city, outside the walls, outside the confines of normal Jerusalem there, and killed.  And it says we have to be willing to do the same thing.

That’s what it’s talking about here. Let us go forth therefore unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach. There are different scriptures that talk about, ‘entering into Christ’s sufferings’.  That means we’re to experience, which is what being a witness is all about, some of the very same things that have gone on through time that God has allowed, that magnify the attitude of this world, that magnify the carnal human mind and the depths it will go in hatred toward God and toward what God has given to His people through time.  Because the bottom line is it’s not about individuals, it’s about God.  It’s that man hates God’s way, by nature, and God has a plan, obviously, He did with us and He does with the world, of changing that attitude – and it doesn’t come easy – but He’s talking about our attitude then and our willingness then to enter into Christ’s sufferings in order to take this.

It hasn’t been easy!  And then when you came up to the 26th, all those who ever gave you any static, now they have their evidence, “You definitely are stark raving mad because you’re still going that direction!  What is wrong with you?!”  And so the reality is you continue to bear that reproach, you continue to receive those things.  But you know what?  You should be stronger now.  Can you look at your life and feel and believe that you’re stronger now?  ...or is there something else where...Have you become weaker because of that?  Or... do you really feel stronger?  Have you grown in character to where you’re more emboldened than ever before just to continue going forward?  That’s why we’re here – I know it as a whole – but we need to ask these things in ourselves.  Do you feel much stronger than what you were before?  ...because God is offering that.

Let us go forth therefore...without the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come. In other words, we just keep moving forward wherever God leads us.  Because this is what it’s always been about, a city whose builder and maker is God.  And for us we’re almost there.  Others through time never received it,  they’re dead and they never received it.  But we’re actually going to be the ones to even see it.

By Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, being thankful for how God works with us.  Being thankful for how God moulds and fashions us.  Being thankful for the trials we go through, the hardships we go through, because if you didn’t go through those you couldn’t be made stronger, you couldn’t be made a better person, you couldn’t be made a stronger part of the Body of Christ.  There is no other way to grow!  ...that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name. Upholding Him, upholding His name, upholding.  You know how to do that?  You uphold His word... and candidly, a lot of that for us is still ‘2008-God’s Final Witness’; that’s what it is, that’s what you’re upholding, that which God has given to the very end that He says He’s going to do, just like He did to Ezekiel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, anyone through time.  It will come to pass.  It will take place.  The events will happen.

But to do good and to communicate, it’s how we conduct our lives.  He says, don’t forget: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.  How we live is so important as a part of this process, and that too, obviously, honours and glorifies God – how we act and how we talk and what comes out of our mouth about others or about one another, and we have to be ever so careful, ever on guard.

Backing up just a little bit here: Hebrews 11:6 - But without faith it is impossible to please Him: that means always that we believe God, in everything He’s given to us, and we live by it.  We live it; that’s what we’re living.  And so we are to live this all the way with greater determination, to stand in it stronger than ever before.  For he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them who diligently seek Him.  It’s not going to just happen because we go through the motions.  You’ve got to put effort into it.  And that’s what God is having us address here, that we look through these things, we address these things and we seek to have a greater determination than ever before of where we’re going and ask God for the help to accomplish it, and what needs to change, what needs to be addressed in our lives.

Because every one of us has things that need to be addressed.  I have been amazed at how many people have written and let me know that they realize they had started coasting, that we kind of were in that mode of kind of just waiting it out because then God’s going to solve our difficulties and our problems and then we can focus on a different world and a different age and not worry about this one.  Well, we can’t do that yet, you know.  You can’t do that yet.  And candidly, rather than allowing some things slide, which I have had to deal with some of that, because my thoughts were, as we got closer, “Well, we’re not going to address that right now, we’ll wait until we get there.”  Well, there are things that God wants us to address and deal with all along the way, and that moulds and fashions a way of thinking in us that needs to be in us – not postponing things that need to be addressed, not putting them off, not coasting...because Laodicea did that.

Matter of fact, let’s just turn over there, to Revelation.  That’s what Laodicea did, began to coast, didn’t apply self to this way of life, wasn’t zealous.  If we’re not zealous, if we’re not drawing closer to God, if we’re just going through the motions through time here it gets into this attitude here of kind of being lukewarm.  That’s the crux of it all.  And we can’t have that because that’s not that far from being cold, candidly.  And some can go backwards very quickly, especially because of where we are in time.  Now is the time to be hot, and ask God for help to be hot and on fire for His way of life.  You’ve got to want this with all of your being.  You’ve got to fight for it with all of your being – all the way to the end – because we are in war and this is a time of fighting as never before.  I hope we really get that part of the message in what we’re going into.  This is a time of a spiritual war as we have never known it.  Just as there is great physical war, there is great spiritual war stirred up around us in this world.  And you’re, candidly, no match for it!  I’m no match for it!  That power is greater than we are, and the more it’s exerted toward us, toward you, the more indeed you must understand that there is a battle here to fight and God is your strength...and then there will be no power over you whatsoever.

But please understand, that conniving being, he’s conniving about you right now.  Don’t let him.  Don’t let him have his way.  Don’t let him have a door in.  Look at it this next week, various things around you and what you do and how you do it.  Think about that.  Think about certain things, if it comes out of your mouth or you react in a wrong way, it’s like opening a door inviting him in.  Think about the fight; you’ve got to bar the door, stand on guard.  You’ve got to stay close to God and understand that being and how he works and how he wants to get at you.  Think about that when different things happen this week and things don’t go smoothly – about how easy it is sometimes to be attacked and to give in and to give him room and give him power.  You don’t want that; that’s why you have to stay close to God. That’s why we need God all the time. That’s why you can’t go a day without God!

You know, when we fast, you know one of the primary lessons in all that is?  You can’t go too long without food.  How did you like that two day fast?  It hurts!  Well, actually sometimes it actually gets a little easier until you don’t have any strength at all.  It depends on the individual; it depends on what your body is going through at that particular time.  But the point being is fasting is not fun... and it’s to teach us a powerful spiritual lesson too – if you’re without food, what about without spiritual food?  If God’s not feeding us, if God’s not living in us, we get weak and we may not even recognize it.  I think of that in fasting.  There have been different periods of time that have gone a little past the 24 hours and sometimes it’s like you kind of get in that mode and sometimes you really don’t miss the food as much if you don’t think about it.  The water, maybe, is a little harder, but the food, sometimes...  I don’t know if you’ve ever had that situation, that can happen spiritually to you, and that’s what happens spiritually sometimes is you don’t have it and then after a while you kind of get used to that mode, if you’re not careful, and after a while you’re very, very weak and you don’t even know it.  We can’t let that happen.

That’s what happened to Laodicea.  That’s what happened to tens of thousands of people across the board.  And so it talks about those things that have to be addressed and attitudes and so forth and the ability to see what we are.  That’s why I love these verses here when it talks about some of this, of things we need to be mindful of.  It’s a healthy thing to understand.

He says, Revelation 3:17 - ...and know not that you are wretched... Paul said, “Oh wretched man that I am...”  If he can say that after twenty-five years of serving God as he did, an apostle of God for so long and he can say, “Oh wretched man that I am...” do you think we can say that?  Absolutely!  We better be able to!  Apart from God, to know our human nature...  The more you grow the more you should loath human nature, the more you should loathe selfishness, and when it creeps up inside of you and you see it, it should be repulsive too, indeed.   ...wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: the problem is sometimes in the Church, the more we’re given, which is what happened during the period of Laodicea after leaving Philadelphia, we had so much, we thought, knowledge.  We had twenty-one truths.  Look how much more God’s given us since then.  Look how much more we have now that we didn’t have then.  And there is so much more we still don’t have.  A desire to constantly grow and draw closer to God.

So He says, I counsel you to buy of Me gold tried in the fire: you know what that means?  To cherish the trials.  To be thankful for the trials.  To use them wisely.  To be thankful when God stirs up and heats up the gold so that the impurities come to the surface; then is the time to address it.

Verse 19 is the one that we’re going to conclude on - As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: God loves us, so there are times that He is very straight with us, because He loves us, and tell us, “Focus!  Look at yourself!  See what it is you need to change! ...be zealous therefore, and repent.” And that’s something we always have to do in our life.  You have to be zealous to repent.  You have to be zealous for God’s way of life, to want God’s way of life, and to realize there are always going to be things in your mind and in your life that you’ve got to get rid of.  It’s always a refining process; and to cherish those refining things that take place in your life and to seek to draw closer and closer to God throughout this period of time.

So anyway, again, a candid desire here that God has for us, of taking the time individually to come before Him this following week, to think about the things He’s led us in, to think about how it applies to our life individually of what He’s told us, to examine where we are and to be determined to stand in God’s way of life, to be determined to go forward in a better way, in a stronger way than you ever have in your spiritual life.

I don’t care how long you’ve been in God’s Church.  You know, you can’t be concerned about whether you might be one of the 144,000.  It’d sometimes be just a little bit healthier to think that maybe, just maybe not, probably...  whatever.  “I’m going to go into the Millennium and don’t worry about the rest of that but look at it in the focus of mind here that I have things to work on and I have things to change and I have things to grow in” – and ask God for the help to do it and to press forward this following year more zealous than ever before, and God will make you stand and God will pour out upon you awesome blessings.

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