A Call to Remembrance

David Conley

Last Great Day Split Sermon-AM - 2013

I want to say, "Welcome, brethren, to the Feast of Tabernacles 2013." I hope you are finding yourself rejoicing before the Great God of this universe as we are commanded to do.

Well, brethren, I would like to begin reading in the book of Nehemiah, so if you would turn to Nehemiah 8:8 – They read in the book, in the law of God distinctly and they gave the sense so that they understood the reading. Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people – now, they just didn't 'say' to all the people, they were out and amongst the crowd and they were teaching as well as Ezra was. ...they said to all the people, This day is holy to Yahweh, your God, don't mourn nor weep, for all the people wept when they had heard the words of the law. Then he said to them, Go your way, eat the fat of the land and drink of the sweet of the produce, and send portions to him whom have nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord: neither be you grieved; for the joy of Yahweh is your strength.

So the Levites stilled all the people, saying, Hold your peace, for the day is holy; neither be you grieved. All the people went their way to eat and to drink and to send portions and to make great mirth, because they had understood the words that were declared to them.

On the second day they were gathered together, the heads of fathers of all the houses, of all the people, the priests, and the Levites, to Ezra the scribe, even to give attention to the words of the law. They found written in the law how that Yahweh had commanded by Moses that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the Feast of the seventh month, and that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities, and in Jerusalem, saying, Go forth to the mountain and get you olive branches and branches of wild olives, the myrtle branch, and the palm branches, and the branches of the thick trees to make booths, as it is written.

Now, we know and have learned later on, I believe it was the Feast of 2008, that these first branches were actually the fruit of the trees, the olive fruits and the wild olive fruits, and then the later branches were actually the branches of which they built these booths to dwell in.

So the people went forth and brought them and made themselves booths, everyone on the roof of his house or in the courts, and in the courts of the house of God and in the broad place by the water gate, and in the broad place of the gate of Ephraim. All the assembly of those who had come out of the captivity made booths, and they lived in the booths: for since the days of Joshua, the son of Nun, to that day the children of Israel had not done so. And there was great gladness.

Also, day by day, from the first day to the last day, he read in the book of the law. They kept the Feast seven days; and on the eighth day was a solemn assembly, according to the ordinances of God.

After being released from captivity and returning Jerusalem God began restoring His government to His people of the captivity. The children of the captivity had not heard the law of God. Judah had forgotten the ordinances given by God through Moses. Ezra was reading the law of God during the time of the Feast of Tabernacles because they had not known it, they had lost what was given. The older people that knew it had died and a new generation was living. Yahweh was reminding the people that He was King and that His government was to be adminished over Israel.

The Feast, this Feast of Tabernacles, represents a time when God's government will be restored to Jerusalem. Jerusalem, or peace, will begin to be restored to Israel first then to the rest of the earth and the universe.

I want to use the next few minutes to call to remembrance the lessons we have received from these past Feasts since God re-established His Church with a small remnant on Pentecost of 1998; to call us to remembrance where we have come from, what God has cleansed us from, and how God has been restoring government to Israel first, then to the world at Christ's return.

Though we have many forms of government in this world, we sometimes feel like we live in anarchy, and brethren, we certainly do. In some countries anarchy would probably be better than what we are living in. Living in this world, of whatever period of time, does cause a lot of heartburn. We have heard the phrase, "I'm from the government, and I am here to help," and it probably brings cringes to our minds.

Well, the Feast of Tabernacles represents a time in the future that this statement will ring true. Government and a perfect set of laws will begin to ring out over all the earth. Since the Apostasy, God has been restoring His government to the Church in a magnified way. 1994 was a big setback to the Church and all of its members, but not to God, it was just a scheduled 'reboot'.

During the time of Laodicea the whole Church went into a deep coma or sleep, and in 1994 God spewed us out of His presence. Most of us did not even know we were asleep, either before or after the Apostasy, we thought we had it together until such time God began to shake us awake. Some were beginning to be awakened immediately after the Apostasy because God had a plan. He was not going to awake everyone all at once and cause even more mass confusion, He was going to have an infrastructure in place to actually call people back into, to begin teaching them His truths all over again.

By Pentecost of 1998 God re-established His Temple and it was time to start calling back some of those that had fallen asleep out of what we know as the Worldwide Church of God. What happens when you fall asleep? You forget things. Judah, as a whole, was not being taught God's laws nor God's 7,000 year plan while they were in captivity. They had to be reminded, and that's exactly what Ezra was doing at that Feast of Tabernacles where I read before you before, and they were being reminded how He worked through His government.

This Feast of Tabernacles pictures a time very close to us now that many in Israel and Judah will be shaken out of a coma once again, and I quote (a new quote here) – "And the end-time apostle stood up by the wooden pulpit and read from the book of the law to the children of the captivity of the scattering." We are and were reminded of our history and our future, our ability to see God's purpose within His plans. Very few over time have had the greatest of blessings to be able to understand these things. Each year it becomes more clear that we are indeed on the threshold of time.

For those of you who would like a title today, the title of this split sermon is A Call to Remembrance. There is a lot in that name.

Some of you have heard a story about my wife and I being called back into the Church, and I think at this time it bears mentioning again. It's also a good time to recall this event for me because it's very humbling, and it's even more humbling when I hear my wife tell it, of some of the things I did and went through – more so did than went through.

After keeping the Feast of 1998, actually Pentecost of 1998, we kept it in our home as we had many  Sabbaths for the last, hmmm, three years. In our basement we would listen to Mr. Armstrong's tapes and different TV programs, and we both began to develop a yearning to have fellowship with God's people once again. We had been alone for a long, long time. We knew people in United, Philadelphia, and Global, some of the other groups, and we had no desire to attend those groups, so we decided shortly after Pentecost of 1998 to return to the Feast of Tabernacles with, of all places, Worldwide Church of God.

Now I know it bears mentioning that the first Feast that this group, or organization had was in 1998 in Niagara Falls. They had one in '97 but I think they'd gone in different ways and so forth – but in '98 it bears mentioning that that was their first Feast as this group, as God had been re-establishing His Church after Pentecost of 1998.

So my wife and I attended the Worldwide Church of God, I won't say the name of the town, and we showed up that evening...or actually the first Holy Day, and I looked around and I asked people, I said, "Do you know where the Worldwide Church of God is meeting?" and they said, "Oh yeah, that's us, we're here." And I said, "No, no, no, seriously...Can you tell me where the Worldwide Church of God group is meeting?" after looking and observing around. They said, "No, seriously, that's us." Well, let me add a little background. Up on stage was a 20 X 40 banner with a gold cross emboldened in the center of it, a hulking man, 6'4" – 6'5" stood up on stage, had... not a fish hat but one of those beanie caps, rounded caps, and I won't say it's a rosary but it's something that made me think of that, it was beads and a string hanging out of his left pocket and I noticed he kept massaging them or rubbing them through his sermon. And the main point I want to get to here is while we are listening to this, while we are attending the Feast of Tabernacles in 1998 with this group, Worldwide Church of God, this gentleman stands up there and says, "You do not have to keep God's Sabbath! You do not have to keep God's laws! You do not have to keep the Feast of Tabernacles!" Ah, wow!

My wife, being the quiet, calm, introverted person that she is, stood up very quietly and said, "Then WHY are we here?" Obviously we did not go back any more days during that 'Feast of Tabernacles', but the yearning didn't stop. We spent an extended vacation in that state and went back home and kept Sabbath services alone for 2 or 3-4-5 more weeks.

Well, one day a package, a pkg landed on my porch in the mail, a package, and it had an introductory letter in it, some News Watches, and some tapes, and I thought to myself, I said, "Self, what is she getting us into?" ...and I hid them. I placed them in the bottom of a drawer in our pantry right there in our dining room. And I had been pulling out the News Watches and reading them and found some interest in them and they'd been hidden for quite some time, couple-three weeks, and then one evening late (my wife always got home later than I did because she worked downtown and traffic and it was after dark), and she walked in the door crying. Now, let me tell you, I was devastated! She was bawling! ...and she had this little tape in her hand, and I'm kind of curious as to why she's crying, and then she looks at this tape and says, "You... Y-Y-You need...You need to hear this!" I know I'm not very good at mocking her voice, or commenting on her voice, but she was shaking and she was serious and I looked at that tape and said, "Self, you need to hear this!" Well, she continued crying and she looked at me all teary eyed and said, "There's people out there! There's people out there just like us! They're alone! They're afraid! They're scared...and they need God! They feel like God has abandoned them and there is people out there just like us!"

The name of that tape was 'Spiritual Idolatry'. I don't remember which number but there was a couple of them and later on there was a whole series done on it, but it was very awakening and that was an eye-opening situation and that was when my wife and I realized that we were being kicked wide awake! God had used that Feast of Tabernacles to slap us upside the head.

I've always mentioned to different people that I wished I'd been in Niagara Falls when 'Church of God – Toledo' – actually it was 'PKG' then, we just didn't know it – that when they had the Niagara Falls Feast that we had been there, but looking back God had a plan and we were exactly where we were supposed to be in that plan. God used that Feast to slap us awake and then brought my wife to tears delivering her those messages. It just amazes me to look back and bring these things to my mind.

To go back to something that actually bears mentioning again is back when I hid the tapes and I was reading the News Watch, it was like I was going to be able to determine what was best for us to read. Does that sound like a little male ego? ...a little pride stirring in there? Well, let me tell you, it was humbling when God slapped us awake and brought those tapes. When I listened to those tapes I cried as well.

Well, at that time they had what we'd call it, a tape program, and every two or three weeks they'd send out some – maybe even been video tapes at that time – but we got cd's... not cd's, cassette tapes as well and we would listen to those and we stayed on that tape program and we kept the spring Holy Days at home by ourselves, we still hadn't met anybody, we really hadn't talked to anybody, but we heard a familiar voice, we heard a voice of one crying out in the wilderness and we knew – we knew what we knew – we knew we were listening to what we needed to be listening to and being taught what we were needing to be taught. Many things taught in Worldwide prior to this time were not good for our teaching, it was not good for us to be ingesting these things.

You see, before the Apostasy the Church was being lured asleep and things were being allowed to be taught from high places, and this became sin to the people. We were taught many wrong things and many things were just flat out lies and the Church became unrecognizable – even before the Apostasy it was really unrecognizable. The trinity was being taught – 'God is ... ', God is a homeostasis – whatever the (coughs)...whatever that is. I don't know. We ate of this feces, this stuff...this stuff if you want to edit that out, this stuff. And soon we were vomited out of God's mouth! My point is, when we began to be awakened we were still full of this garbage and it would take many years of rehab to be cleansed of it.

And thus begins our journey of the Feast of 1999. A call went out to those who wished to attend that Feast with 'the Church of God – Toledo' I believe it was called then, and we hesitated and we hesitated and we decided to go and we made a phone call and made arrangements and got permission to attend and we showed up there. There were many people there from Worldwide just-like-us who were heartbroken, distressed, wrung out, and drug through the wringer  - as an old timey saying, you know we had these old wringer washing machines, you would drag your clothes through the wringer; sometimes your hand went with them and it was painful – but that's what it was, it was a painful time that we went through, we were hurting, and like I said, sometimes we didn't even know it, we didn't even know we were asleep! But I saw unity there – not from everyone – but I saw unity being taught, I saw God's laws being taught, a voice of one crying out in the wilderness, a voice teaching us what the Feast of Tabernacles was about, what it was for, why we were there and where we were going. It even mentioned some of our history and some of our future. We heard a familiar spirit, God's voice, God's spirit - God demands unity!

Ephesians 4:11 – This is about God's government. The whole chapter of Ephesians 4 could be read at this Feast of Tabernacles because it is all about God's government – and in reality, everything in this book – right here, this book is about God's Government, God's Kingdom, God's way of life, what we are taught and what we believe.

Ephesians 4:11 – He gave some to be apostles, and some, prophets, and some, evangelists, and some, shepherds and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, to the work of serving, to the building of the unity of the Body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a full grown man (and/or woman), to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ: that we may no longer be children tossed back and forth and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men and craftiness, after the wiles of air; and I would include from high places. This deception that we received in Worldwide came from high places, it came from the top, and never before had that been allowed to be done in God's Church.

As I mentioned earlier, brethren, I found unity there, I found good wholesome instruction there, but I did not find complete unity. There were some there that were there not in unity and they should not have been there and it didn't take long after the Feast to find out who they were and God began to cleanse them out. I did not find any tapes from the Feast of '99 or 2000, but I do know from my memory that we were being taught about the government of God, the Kingdom of God, and about the Feast of Tabernacles that we were there to rejoice in. 'Cause trust me, had we not been taught that we would not have returned.

In the Feast of 2001 we had three sermons covering 'The Soon Coming Kingdom of God', and that was awesome. It was a time that we were being reminded what this time was being – history in the Kingdom of God was one of them. And it's not my purpose here to re-give these sermons, for they are on the website, most of them, but to remind you, myself, us, we, of what was given concerning them, and when it was given – during the Feast – and it would be silly for us to not acknowledge our history. Another sermon, 'We See a Kingdom'. God has been... the reason we see this Kingdom is every year we are taught this – Feast by Feast, year by year, that was God's plan, that was God's purpose, and that's why He instilled it in us, He knew how He created us. 'Our Ability to See God's Purpose' was another sermon given that time.

Most of the Feasts in Worldwide were not used for this purpose but were used, at least in my time when I was there, which I think I was called/baptized in '88-'89, just shortly before the Apostasy, but most of the Feast I went to was used to make us forget what this time was for. We did all sorts of things, food drives, Habitat for Humanity's, parties, but we were not given food for the Feast.

Let me continue on reading here: We are commanded to come up year after year to keep the seventh month Feast as a holy convocation. We're taught year by year, Feast by Feast, lest we forget what we are to hope for from afar. I marvel at just how close it was then, how close we thought it was, and how close it is now. I also marvel at how history has taught us how not keeping God's law will lead us to abandonment. A certain king in Israel caused the whole people, most of the nation, ten tribes of it, to not remember God's Feasts. He decided for himself what was right and wrong! He even created his own feasts! And ten tribes of a large nation are oblivious to who they are today. Let's turn there.

1 Kings 12:26 - Now Jeroboam said in his heart (verse 26), Now will the kingdom return to the house of David: He feared. See, he'd been living in Egypt and he had a lot of Egypt living in him. He feared that if he let them go back and remember God's Feasts they would long to be a single nation. If this people go up...

Verse 27 - If this people go up to offer sacrifices to the house of Yahweh at Jerusalem, then will the heart of the people be... turn again to their lord, even to Rehoboam, king of Judah, and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam, king of Judah. Whereupon king Jeroboam, the king, took counsel and made two golden calves and said to them, It is too much for you to go to Jerusalem: See your gods here that I've made, Israel, which brought you out of the land of Egypt. Once again, he had a lot of Egypt in him.

He set the one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. This thing became a sin for the people went to worship before the one, even to Dan. It became a sin for all the people and they were forgotten. He made houses of high places and made priests from among all the people who were not of the sons of Levi. Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like the Feast that is in Judah – well, not really – and he went up to the altar. So did he in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he had made: and he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places that he had made. He went up to the altar which he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart. We just heard a sermon from Mr. Matthew's concerning things of your own heart, deciding for yourself what is right and wrong. What an attitude! ...and he ordained a feast for the children of Israel and went up to the altar to burn incense.

This is a powerful lesson, brethren. We all know the story of how they forgot their identity – these Feasts pictured a time when God's Government was to be implemented on this earth, God's laws being implemented, but they had forgotten them. We all know what happened to those ten tribes – matter of fact, some of us are there. Any of you ever keep the eighth month feast? Oktoberfest. I know some of you think that's a tenth month feast, but I've never seen a ten-sided octagon.

As what the purpose of the Feast was? We were given remembrance to God's Kingdom to come in 2001 and what that means for mankind.

I do want to mention one aspect given some clarity during that Feast, and it had been, like I said, many times in Worldwide things were taught wrong, and some outright lies, and this one was one of them – the Kingdom of God is not the Millennium and the Millennium is not the Kingdom of God! And that was given great clarification there in this Feast and actually mentioned once again in 2004 because it still seemed to be a problem – even though it was written, I think, I want to say page 302 in 'Mystery of the Ages' by Mr. Armstrong, I didn't see it! Many didn't see it! We thought the Kingdom of God, we're going to be in the Kingdom of God! Even though we're physical human beings we're going to be in the Kingdom of God. No! The Kingdom of God is spiritual, it is God's spiritual Family. The earth will be ruled over by the Kingdom of God, and I want to drive this home very much. I know that you know it, brethren, but I want you to remember it, for in the future you can teach others because they do not know this and you're going to have to call into their remembrance.

I want to jump ahead to the Feast of 2003, one of the first Feasts given, 'The Battle for the Kingdom of God'. Brethren, we are to take this fight to Satan, the battle ground is our minds! We are to take the Kingdom of God by force! It is a hard fight! Another sermon, 'Fulfilling the Kingdom of God', and another one is 'At War with the Kingdom of God', just like the battle, a lot of the same scriptures were read... I've gone through these and re-listened to them, and once again it's not for me to re-give them, but the fight is, our fight is our human nature, that's what we were put here to fight over.

It reminds me of one of my favorite movies, Audra Hepburn told – I can't think of his name...the name of the movie... – Humphrey Bogart, African Queen – I can't remember his name in the movie but she looks at him and mentions his name and says, "Human nature is exactly what we're put on this earth to overcome!" That movie come out in 19...late '50's so many of you may not know exactly what I'm talking about there.

'Conquering Pride to Enter the Kingdom of God', 'Overcoming Sin' – remember that pride thing I mentioned over there? I was able to decide for myself what was best for my wife and I. Pride, male ego – we've got to conquer these things, brethren. It is a fight and we have to overcome them.

Just to read through these real quick, 'The Spirit of the Feast of Tabernacles', 'Government and the Kingdom of God', 'Just Before God's Kingdom Comes' – what a name of the sermon. When I was going through that one, re-listening to it, I jotted down 3-4 pages of notes that I wanted to interject into this and I realized, there is no way, I was putting too much information in my mind all at one time and I re-listened to, I guess, 20-some sermons to prepare for this, and there is no way I could give these sermons again in this short period of time, so I just want to bring them to remembrance, cause you to remember that we had them and what they were for and where God was leading us at this particular time.

These six years of Feasts God used as a form of rehab. He was retraining our minds to bring us out of the garbage and swill of the years of sluggishness and wrong teaching that we experienced in Worldwide and to remind us of what God's law was, preparing us for the next set of the Feast of Tabernacles. Because there is no way we could have – I haven't even gotten there and  I'm probably getting ahead of myself here – but the Feast of 2005 – there is no way any of us could have listened to that Feast and remained in this Body had we not spent these years of rehab. You come out of a coma, you have to be rehabilitated. Sometimes you can't walk, you can't read, you can't see, probably can't sleep for days... but there is no way you can just stand up and run and eat full food, you have to be rehabilitated. And brethren, we were sick, we were diseased. When I showed up in '99 I'd had a year of sermons to ingest but I was sick, and actually I'd been listening to the '97 and '98 sermons as well as the '99 sermons. My wife and I, we were pathetic, but we were being awakened. God getting ready to call a people out of this world and He was not going to do it in mass confusion and wrong teachings. Some teachings had to be corrected, there were some errors that we had that we believed, but before that we had to be rehabilitated, reminded of what God's laws were before we could, God's own people, the people of Worldwide, could be given these new truths or expounded upon old truths, for that matter.

Like I said earlier, God used these six years, from 1999 to 2004 to reprogram our minds, to re... to brainwash us, to cleanse our minds. My brain needed washed, and if someone calls me brain-washed, I take that as a compliment because I need to scrape the sludge and the drudge and the...the 'stuff' out of it to cleanse it. ...because He was preparing us for the next set of Feast of Tabernacles, which we will go into now.

The Feast of 2005 was a powerful Feast. I think on the website it is called, 'Christ's nature' or 'The Nature of Christ', but there are many Feast's names inside of it that I want to go through real quick. Never in my time has so much ever been given during a Feast of Tabernacles, that I can remember, that I ever read about or ever had mentioned. This was a momentous time, as Feast's go. God was removing... He was using it to remove one last bit of Protestantism from the Church before He began calling people out of Protestantism.

'The God Named Yahweh', there was two sermons – both caused a stir in people of old and began a cleansing in the Church – not so much of the people but of the traces of the wrong doctrine. See, for years we were taught that Christ had always lived with God the Father in the beginning and then He gave this up – and it's kind of silly going back through it – gave that up to become man so that He could be lifted up to become God again. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense as we go back through it. But as we went through it and read the sermons, I remember him, Mr. Weinland mentioned that in the sermon and I'd say, "That's not right!" and I flipped through my Bible and I came to a verse and I read it and I flipped to another one and read it, and like looked at my wife and I just closed my Bible and said, "Somebody is erasing words out of it, I may as well not even use it." So I sat there and took his advice, I had patience and I listened and I began to receive help and I began to understand what God was teaching us in those two sermons, 'A God Named Yahweh'.

Isaiah 43:11, let's turn over there. Isaiah 43:11 – I, even I, am the LORD; and this is not in my Bible that I originally read because it would have said, 'Yahweh' or 'Self-Existing One'; and apart from Me there is no Saviour. There is only one – and I'm going to actually use this verse in a later scripture that followed in the Feast of Tabernacles next year.

Isaiah 44:6 – This is what Yahweh says, Israel's King and Redeemer, the LORD Almighty, or Yahweh Almighty...actually that should say, 'El Shaddai'; I am the first and I am the last, apart from Me there is no other. Who then is likened to Me, let him proclaim it – let him declare and lay out before me.

Isaiah 45:5 – I am Yahweh, and there is none other, apart from Me there is no Elohim. I will strengthen you. I know, brethren, that you know these things and have heard these things, but we didn't, I didn't – I didn't believe them at first, even as the sermons began. But by the end of the first day's sermon I was within unity, I was in unity with what was being taught. I didn't know it all, had no clue where it was all going.

Isaiah 46:9 – As it was being given I reared up in fear, "Here we go again! What do I do now? He's going off the deep-end!" See, we were taught that Jesus Christ was of the Old Testament. ... I just blew all this. There are too many scriptures to keep mentioning, like Isaiah 48:12 – Listen to Me, O Jacob, and hear My voice, Israel, I am He, I am the first, I also am the last. Jesus Christ was born a human, fully God's mind in Him, the Word, the revelatory Word of God in Jesus Christ – but He was fully mortal.

I do want to mention the rest of the names of the sermons during that Feast because they were very powerful; 'God the Father and His Son' – He was telling us who He was. God the Father had never revealed Himself to mankind like He was at this present time. Maybe to Moses, but He'd certainly not to everyone down through times, and we don't always know exactly what the apostles in Christ's time knew of Him as well. But it had been lost through the era of Sardis and we did not know it, we had to be reminded of who God was and who Jesus Christ was.

'God's Plan for His Family'; we're being reminded every Feast that we are part of that Family and He has a plan for us and He wants us to become part of His Family, Elohim, god-beings to rule with Him as heirs alongside of Jesus Christ. 'Melchizedek' – we always thought Melchizedek was Jesus Christ, just hadn't come in the flesh yet, and we learned differently.

Bottom line to recap the Feast of 2005 – I am the only one and there is none other – the Self-Existing One, the Holy One of Israel.

We come to the Feast of 2006 and the 'King of Kings' and 'Lord of Lords' are the two sermons that I want to focus on and call to remembrance at this time. Brethren, these two sermons could not have been given...if we would have heard the sermon of 'King of Kings' – and I'll explain in a minute – and 'Lord of Lords' in 2004 before we heard the 'Nature of Christ' in 2005, where would we be? Mass confusion. We would have no idea what was going on. We'd have thought, surely another Apostasy.

Anyways, 'King of Kings' and 'Lord of Lords' – Zechariah 14:9 – and I'll read it to you, brethren - Yahweh shall be KING over all the earth: in that day shall Yahweh be one and His name one.

Hosea 13:4 – Yet I am Yahweh, your God, from the land of Egypt, and you shall know no other god but Me, and besides Me there is no Saviour. Who is our Saviour? God, Yahweh. Who is our LORD of Lords? Yahweh, God. Who is our KING of Kings? Yahweh, the Self-Existing One.

I marvel at just the way these sermons were laid out. We couldn't have planned this, you can't make this stuff up. Each one, a foundation is laid, each year a little bit more is given.

Psalms 24:7 – Lift up your heads, you gates, be lifted up you ever lasting doors; the KING of glory will come in. Who is the KING of glory? Yahweh – Strong and Mighty – Yahweh, Mighty in Battle.

Verse 9 – Lift up your heads, you gates; yes, lift them up you everlasting doors; the KING of glory will come in. Who is this KING of glory? Yahweh of hosts, He is the KING of Glory. Amen.

The Feast of 2007 – we had a lot of new people there at the Feast of 2007 in Lexington; it was very exciting. We'd been told about the growth that was coming and then we saw it, a lot of new people that had no affiliation with Worldwide Church of God whatsoever, but nothing as compared to what we were being prepared for in 2008. Couple of the sermons that were given in the Feast in 2007 was, 'The Greatest Enemy of God', and in that sermon something was given that not everyone heard – but it wasn't for everyone to hear. Matter of fact, I'm not sure if I should have heard it, because me, I ran and blabbed my mouth; but the comment was made, "God sustains all things, and nothing exists except that God sustains it." This all comes down while we were reading Ezekiel 28:12-19 – I'm not going to read it there to you but it's one you can jot down for your later reading.... and I think I might even read it again later on towards the end of the sermon.

But I mention it because I heard something mentioned there and it was given, it was given by a prophet, and I began to ask other people, "Did you hear this? Did you hear this?" And everyone I asked looked at me like a deer in the headlight, "No, he didn't say that." I said, "No, no, yes he did, right here he said this." "No, he did not say that." "I didn't hear that, I just don't believe that he said that." "No, I don't believe this." So, worried that I was hearing things and was going to... in need of clarification I went and asked and I was told pretty much basically that it was not to be spoken of yet. So I shut my mouth as though I should have to begin with. This is the point I'm going to bring up a little bit later on – but basically I just want to remind you that that was given by a prophet...it was not yet expounded upon by anyone and therefore I should not have spoken on it even though it was given in that Feast.

Feast of 2008 – Ah, and it was a very unique Feast. First time I had ever been a Feast coordinator, first time that I had seen so many new people at the Feast...and one of the first sermons mentioned there was, 'A Unique Feast'. And another sermon given was, 'Remembering God's Blessings', and that's something we should always remember, especially at the Feast of Tabernacles, what He's given us. Then we come to two special sermons; 'Satan's End – Part 1 and 2' – and I got all worked up. See, I remembered something that was given from the previous year in 2007 where a man stood up at the pulpit and said, "God sustains all things..." and I remember his finger being pointed out over the pulpit moving left and right, "God sustains all things..." and I heard the names of these sermons and I looked at my wife and she looked at me because she knew exactly what I was thinking. But you know, it wasn't time; it was not time for Ezekiel 28:19 to be revealed of, to be spoken of. And why? Because the vast number of people listening at that Feast it was their first Feast of Tabernacles – I don't want to say probably most of them, but I don't know the numbers – and it was not time to expound upon those things because people were not ready, they had to have a foundation laid for them. They were given a vast amount of knowledge and information but they had no foundation and it was not time for it to be given.

Would they be here today had it been given? Maybe, maybe not – it would depend on how God planned it – but He chose not to expound upon those things, but He did discuss many things about Satan's end and how he'd be put away and He spoke about the Millennial time, the Feast of Tabernacles and all the things that entailed that we are supposed to be brought to remembrance year by year by Feast by Feast.

I want to interject here, brethren, God's timing is impeccable! God could not have given the sermons of 2005 until the people were recalled... recalled, it's not really recalled, but they were recalled from the manufacturers, (I always joke about), had gone through a time of remembrance, a time about what the Feast was about. We had to have our brains rebooted and reprogrammed. Like I said earlier, the vast majority listening today celebrating their first Feast of Tabernacles in 2008, some came along a year earlier, but God could not start calling new people out of the world until certain teachings were corrected, removing the last fringes of Catholicism and Protestantism from the teachings of God's Church, preparing for the Kingdom of God – the very name, awesomely inspired! God calls you into His Church based on His timing – it's impeccable.

And I mentioned earlier about wanting to be at the Feast in Niagara in 1998 – well, I often hear people, new people saying they wished they'd come along earlier, wish they had listened early. Well, I say be thankful He called you when He did because His timing, is impeccable, He knows when you can handle it and when you can't. You may not have been able to grasp what was given if you'd have been called earlier. The Feast of Tabernacles in 2009, once again, would not fit into the plan until the foundation of 2005-6-and 7 and 8 were firmly established – and you people are part of that establishment of 2007 and 2008; one building on top and complimenting the other.

We have often been reminded that God gives us much in these ten concentrated sermons each year. As I refer to the Feast of 2005, never had one like it. This is a time to remember what God has given in these past Feasts. Some of the information I did not grasp until reading of the posts here recently, because I was not ready, I didn't grasp it, I had not been given it...and this is what that little tidbit is – that which is given by a prophet and later to be spoken on by an apostle, and not in another order. And we'll touch base then [on] that again in a minute.

'God's Purpose in the Millennium – Part 1 and 2', Feast of 2009; it's probably these sermons, these two sermons here I was listening to probably geared me most toward giving this split sermon as it did, but in that timing we... in 2004, in 2001 we learned or were reminded of that God's Feast, or God's Kingdom was not the Millennium. God's Kingdom ruled over people during the Millennium. God's Kingdom was spiritual. The people living in the Millennium are not in God's Kingdom. We were reminded of that both of those years... as well as page 302 or 304 of 'Mystery of the Ages'. But when we got to 'God's Purpose in the Millennium' we had lots of questions, we'd gone through a lot of correction, a lot of new truths, and people had a lot of questions. And that brought us to this one, "When is the second resurrection? ...and who's in it? Will the people living in the Millennium, when they die, will they be immediately resurrected into the Kingdom of God or will they be needful of them to be resurrected in the second resurrection to live the hundred years?"  A lot of these things came up and we were corrected on that.

Revelation 20:5 – And the rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. That right there answers that no one will be resurrected during the Millennium – but that coupled with Daniel 12 – let's just go ahead and start in verse 1 because this is more important stuff here... At that time, Michael the great prince who protects Your people, will stand up: there will be a time of distress such has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time Your people, everyone who's name is found written in the Book, will be delivered. Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens and those who lead many to righteousness like the stars for ever and ever. During these two sermons we found that no one that lives during the Millennium will be resurrected back to life or given eternal life apart from this resurrection – but something else even more important and more inspiring and... Well, there's going to be millions of God beings given eternal life just before the Great White Throne starts. The Millennial period is ruled over by 144,000 spirit beings, but just before some...the estimate is 67 billion people brought back to life during that hundred year period. This is telling us...or during this sermon we learned that there are going to be millions and millions of God beings there to help those, to encourage those, to give them what they need and to help serve them during that period – and that is awe inspiring because how can you serve 67 billion people?

We also learned at that Feast during those two sermons that that's what the Feast time is for, it's a short thousand year period that God is going to use to prepare the world to feed, clothe, but more so, to educate and to correct and to love, show love towards 67 billion people. You think those people are going to need some many, many  years of rehab? God thinks so.

That brings us to the Feast of 2010, and just when you think it can't get any better than 2005 when we learned so much about the nature of God, and then in 2009 about God's Family and the purpose of the Millennium.... I'm just in awe as how each Feast just builds and builds year by year, Feast by Feast, about God at this end-time and telling us more and more.

So let's be turning to Ezekiel 28. The first two sermons, 'Satan's Confinement and His End – Part 1 and 2', the very title stirred me into...it just stirred the whole inside of me again remembering back when 2007... when I first heard those comments. And as I listened to these two sermons I knew it wasn't going to be held back this time. For three years it had been held back and not given, but it was time, it was God's time that this was to be given.

Ezekiel 28:11 – Moreover, the word of Yahweh came to me saying, Son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre and tell him, Thus says the Lord Yahweh, You seal up the sum, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; now, this is not just talking about the physical Garden of Eden here on earth where Satan was later condemned to...or confined to, and where Adam and Eve were dwelling, but this is in the spirit realm, the spiritual Garden of Eden.

You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering; the sardis, the topaz and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald and gold. The workmanship of your tambourines and of your pipes was in you, in the day that you were created they were prepared. You were the anointed cherub who covers, and I, Yahweh, set you so that you were on the holy mountain of God; you have walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Talking here, this is clearly, clearly talking about Satan and not a mortal man.

You were perfect in all your ways from the day that you were created until unrighteousness was found in you. By the multitude of your merchandise, or your greatness, or by the multitude of your pride, they have filled the midst of you with violence and you sinned. Therefore I will cast you as profane out of the mountain of God and I will destroy you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty, you have corrupted your wisdom by reason of your brightness. I have cast you to the ground; I have laid you before kings, that they may see you; so right now we don't see Satan, but something here is going to change... I have laid you before kings, that they may see you. By the multitude of your iniquities in the unrighteousness of your traffic you have profaned your sanctuaries. Therefore have I brought forth a fire from the midst of you, it has devoured you and have turned you to ashes on the earth in the sight of all of those who see you.

Verse 19 - All those who know you among the peoples shall be astonished at you; you became a terror and you shall nevermore have any being. Satan does not have eternal life. And how it was stated in 2007 – "God sustains all things," and I still remember that finger going back and forth, I think I mentioned that earlier. What is really being said to Satan here is, God's saying, "I will cease to sustain you. Your purpose is finished. That which you were created for has been complete, Satan."

I wanted to bring up this point real quick that came out of a post recently – I think back in May or June – that is relative to this revelation. This was something expounded on in this sermon in the Feast of 2010, but it was given by a prophet in 2007. I think I've briefly mentioned that earlier about my reaction to it, but this time a prophet, or that which was given by a prophet was going to be expounded on in 2010, and rightly so; rightly so because it was done on God's timing. And it's important to refresh that in our minds and keep that in mind.

Brethren, the Kingdom of God is at hand. That which was reflected by this Feast of Tabernacles is at hand. Jesus Christ is close to returning to this earth and we need to renew that sense of urgency and refresh these truths that we learned back in all these Feasts all these past years back in our minds.

The next two sermons were, 'The Spirit Realm', and this one is often, too, referred to as the third heaven, the place where God dwells, and 'The Angelic Realm'. God created all of this, everything, for such an awesome purpose and it's all about Elohim. You know, everything exists out here because of what God is doing with His Family and His purpose in calling each and every one of us, about creating His Family and drawing us into it.

I want to read part of a summary that was given at the end of the sermon entitled, 'The Angelic Realm'; "In these Feast sermons we began by seeing that God has pronounced an end to His adversary, Satan, and in doing so He is revealing more to us about the spirit realm. We have been looking to God from what He has given us as a beginning; in other words, a beginning for us to start from that we could begin to understand – from His eternal self-existence to (a time) when He began to create. And we have a glimpse of a spirit realm that is composed of spirit essence in what we refer to as 'the 3rd heaven'.... that which is God's heaven, that which is spiritual."

"In all that God has created, both in the spirit realm and the physical realm, nothing has eternal life inherent in itself, not even the angels. .... Nothing! Nothing has eternal life inherent in itself. None of the angels have eternal life inherent in themselves, meaning they're not immortal." They're spirit but not immortal. "They're composed of spirit but not that which is in God Almighty, in Yahweh Elohim, that eternal life inherent in Himself and in Him only; and He gives life. Satan can't give life to anything. No angel can give life to anyone else or to anything save God give the ability to do so. Whatever power they have is what God has given them as power. But when we talk about life in the sense of inherent within one's self, the ability to sustain oneself, no one has it but God Almighty alone."

Then jumping down: "We have independent," talking about men and angels, "independent individual minds. The difference is one is created spirit essence and the other is created of physical. But God has given to both minds independence in the sense of individuality and God has made it clear to us that we are sustained by Him, both physical human beings and spirit angels. Both physical life and spirit life, it is sustained by God, life given by God. This is the great truth that's now being expounded upon that God is giving to us these things that He wants us to understand in a clear way because we had misconceptions in times past."

Continuing on: "That's why we started out in this sermon series here about Satan, because he does not have life inherent in himself and he does have an end. And we have not always believed that.... we have believed that they are spirit and they live forever, eternal life. No, they are not eternal and that's what God is making clear to us and to them."

"So it is a great truth that God is giving to us. Satan has sought to deceive the world about such matters and immortality." Even in the Garden of Eden here on this physical earth, I mean, the first thing he tried to do with man, or I guess it was his first contact with man or the first time God allowed him to have contact with man, he tells Eve, "Oh, you won't surely die!" You know, he led her to believe that she had eternal life in her and at the same time, probably with that, if she's got eternal life man automatically thinks that spirit beings have eternal life also.

Jumping down here again: "...he certainly has a distorted understanding or belief of things from God. So only God, again, has immortality dwelling within Himself, inherent within Himself – everything else has a beginning and simply stated is sustained by God for as long as God sustains it and no longer."

New Truth #2 given this Feast: "Angels were created and composed of spirit essence and given spirit life by God... they do not have self-sustaining life inherent in themselves. They are sustained by God and only God has immortal self-sustaining life inherent in them." ...and here is the new part, separate from Truth #1, "It also needs to be understood that at their creation, although the angels were given spirit sustaining life," sustained by God, "they were never given of the holy spirit nor have they ever had access to it."

You know, we think of all the angels, the two-thirds I'm guessing, that have not disobeyed God, have not been swayed by Satan, and it's never really been in their mind to it, and at the time of Satan, this thought of disobeying God was foreign.

Continuing on to Truth #3... You can turn to Proverbs...or I'll read Proverbs 16:4 – Yahweh has made everything for its own end – yes, even the wicked for the day of evil.

And this comes us to Truth #3 and this sermon was entitled, 'The Creation of Evil'. God created both good and evil, and while we're talking be turning to Isaiah, Isaiah 45:7...verse 7 – I, Yahweh, form the light and created darkness; I make peace and create evil. I am Yahweh, who does all these things. 'I make peace and create evil'; when evil was created peace ceased to exist or ceased to be known. God sacrificed peace when evil was created. All existence, all the creation for millions of years knew nothing but peace; it was foreign to them to have anything different than what God had given and the peace that God had given.

"TRUTH #3: God created both good and evil, but to understand "how" is to understand why God gave beings, both human and angelic, independent free choice, apart from Himself, as free moral agents." You know, of all the creation, only the angelic beings and the human beings have ever disobeyed God, and now to understand that God created the angels so that it would take millions and millions of years – they had no idea of anything but peace – millions of years before sin would be found in them and He purposely created humans to do so immediately through human nature, through just our very physical being.

Continuing on...For His purpose of creating Elohim, this is what God is revealing at this Feast and we are recalling it to our memory. "God's way and the way of all right living that produces the only true peace that exists in right relationships, and by revealing "this way – the way of peace," evil was created. This happened because "in" those created, there existed a choice to live a different way than the way that was revealed by God." ...which is peace. "When any being in God's creation chooses a different way of living than the way of peace, the way that God has shown us  then "evil" is created." Verse 7 means exactly what it says; it was necessary to create evil for the purpose of creating Elohim.

"TRUTH #4: Almighty God will "dwell" IN His Family, in each member of His Family, and they will dwell in Him. This will be accomplished through the power of the holy spirit that emanates from God," ...which is the revelatory thought of God, "and IN the lives of all who are in God's Family, and this will be a perpetual and continuing process into everlasting life." God will sustain them forever.

As stated in that sermon this was something that we knew, or thought we knew, but really, we're just now beginning to see dimly, or just get a glimpse or understanding of it. Going back and listening to them I realized just how much I didn't understand it at that Feast.

Revelation 21:3 - I heard a loud voice out of heaven saying, Behold, Yahweh's tent is with men and He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God. Not just with them but in them and they in Him. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, death will be no more, neither will there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore. The first things have passed away. And it's not talking about this world will pass away but the first process. He who sits on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.... Ah, 'all things new.' Evil will no longer exist. And we can start on the journey out of bondage that leads us to the next years Feast.

This next year's whole Feast theme is about freedom, freedom from the bonds that have been placed upon mankind through the process of creating Elohim, both physical bonds and spiritual bondage.

Let's continue on. 'The Truth about Israel'; this sermon addressed the issue of Israel being spiritual in nature and not referring to the twelve physical tribes. Physical Israel had its purpose but we're talking about a spiritual Israel on a spiritual plane that God was going to call His own.

John 3:16: You can be turning there while I go on. The word 'Israel' or 'to prevail with God' – that's the meaning of the word 'Israel', 'to prevail with God'. The physical nation did not prevail with God, they could  not do so; had they been able to do so they would have had no need of a Saviour. They were created that way, incomplete, without God's holy spirit, again, so that they would learn that they need God, that they cannot live without Him, Yahweh, sustaining him, man, physical Israel served a purpose but it was never the end product that God intended.

We are on the edge of time that God is getting ready to end mankind's bondage and lead him into that end product that He has been planning and working towards for millions of years – spiritual Israel, God's Israel, to prevail with God.

John 3:16 - God so loved the world, this is not talking about the physical world but the people that He had put there, that He had created, full of human nature in bondage to evil. You know, God created us the way we are with the full capacity to sin and He knew this, and He said...after creating us He said 'It was very good.' And that was back in Genesis 1. God knew what He was creating when He created us physical human beings, mortal and with full capacity to sin and disobey Him; it was part of creating Elohim.

John 3:16 – God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. That's God's purpose. The purpose of mankind is to become Elohim, and God loved that purpose. He loved that purpose. And this is who is being spoken of when we're talking about Israel, those who prevail with God. And who are they? God's Family!

The next set of sermons during the Feast of 2011 were concerning the bondage of all mankind. All mankind is, indeed, under bondage, all have sinned, all have misguided teachings passed down from generation to generation. Men have a different set of chains or forms of bondage than women do. Mankind has a different type of bondage than the angelic being, or the angelic realm, and so forth. But to understand some of these differences can give us a starting point to help people as they are being drawn out of bondage. It also helps us to dwell in the world with understanding, knowing that our neighbour that has wronged us is in bondage. Your boss is in bondage and reacts by putting more bonds on you. He or she can't help it. So let's recall some of the understanding given during this Feast concerning the bondage of just some of the groups out there.

The first one I want to address is the bondage of Abraham. Let's begin in John 8:31 – and here in this sermon we learned about the different people that were of the seed of Abraham and the different struggles or the type of bondage that they were under. The Jewish people, full of pride claimed to be Abraham's seed, and yet they denied the very one that was foretold thousands of years before by all the prophets of the God of Abraham. They denied Christ being the Messiah and they even denied being in physical bondage yet they were in physical bondage at the very moment, not alone spiritual bondage.

John 8:31 and let's read – Jesus therefore said to those Jews who had believed Him, If you remain in My word, then you are truly My disciples; you will know the truth and the truth will make you free, free from the bonds, free from bondage of sin. And they answered Him, We are Abraham's seed and have never yet been in bondage to anyone; how do You say, You will be made free? Well, let's stop there for a second. They were in bondage, they had been in bondage for hundreds and hundreds of years and they had the audacity to act like Jesus at that time didn't know that they had been in bondage, even as the learned man He was. Even as a young man He spoke to them and put them in awe of His teachings and speaking, yet they want to tell Him, "Well, we're not in bondage!"

Verse 34 - Jesus answered them, Most assuredly I tell you, Everyone who commits sin is the bondservant of sin. And you know the rest of the story there, I won't read it all. But they were trying to get Him to admit that He was the Son of God so they could crucify Him and kill Him, and you can read that story on your own.

Says, (we'll continue on here...) another half brother, Abraham's seed also, twisting the story ever so slightly claiming Ishmael was the son that God provided a sacrifice for instead of Isaac - the father of the Islamic people. They acknowledge Christ was a prophet but Mohammad was the next prophet so 'he was greater'.  They acknowledge Christ was a prophet but they deny He was crucified or ever resurrected. Both groups claiming ownership of the God of Abraham, both living in deep spiritual bondage to their own religious beliefs. And where do all these lies come from? Who was the father of these lies? This just mildly touches on some of the differences here.

Let's continue on. 'The Bondage of Christianity' was the next sermon; said, "And although a large part of professing Christianity is direct descendents of Abraham, Christianity separates itself from any physical bonds of Abraham. Although they claim a Jewish Messiah as their deity and acknowledge His death and resurrection, they deny or place themselves in bondage concerning the truth Jesus Christ taught about Himself and God the Father." Satan sure pulled a number on them as well too, switching Easter for Passover, cramming three days and three nights into a day and a half in the grave. Oh, then he pulled Him out of the grave and put them in purgatory, put Him in purgatory teaching 'lost souls'. Whatever! Changing the Sabbath to Sunday and completely doing away with God's plan for salvation – what a number, what a piece of work he is, but he can't help it, he too is in bondage.

Again here, by identifying these issues or some of these issues, these different points of bondage, we will greatly be able to help God's people, giving them a starting point to help them when God begins to draw them out of bondage. And God has to do that drawing. Jews, Muslims, and Christians alike, all being drawn out of bondage, and that's what this Feast of Tabernacles represents.

I was discussing with my wife concerning the great gulf between where we are now and where we were at the Feast of 1999 when we first started with PKG, or Church of God – Toledo, United Church of God – Toledo, and going through these Feasts year by year for the last couple of months – and yes, it took me that long to prepare for this – has shed tremendous light upon that gulf, and I can't help but wonder about all of those on the other side of that gulf, the Church that was once scattered. How she and I both long for them to be, for the process for them to be... to begin, to begin to be drawn out of that bondage.

The next sermon we'll address was called, 'True Freedom', and I want to...some of the points that Mr. Weinland brought up in that was about the 'Mystery of the Ages'. The pinnacle of Mr. Armstrong's work was culminated in the writing of the 'Mystery of the Ages'. 50 years of living God's way, obeying His commandments and gathering wisdom, and putting it into practice, correcting errors, and then at the end putting it all together in one book; this may very well become the greatest book of all times or of that period anyways ever written. "Yet the fullness of its spiritual meaning," quoting Mr. Weinland again, "Yet the fullness of its spiritual meaning is yet to be understood. True freedom is indeed a mystery."

1 Corinthians 2:7 – You might as well turn over there, we're going to read some. 1 Corinthians 2:7 – But we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the wisdom that has been hidden; Why? God's spirit had to be in it, that's why He hid it. We had to learn that we needed God. When we decide for ourselves we say to God...and Wayne recently covered this in one of his sermons, "I don't need You." When we sin we tell God, "I don't need You." When we ask for forgiveness and ask for repentance we acknowledge to God that we are wrong. God wanted us to know that we needed Him; we needed Him as a Savior, we needed Him as a Creator, and we needed Him to sustain our lives.

Continuing on...But we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the wisdom that has been hidden, which God foreordained before the world to our glory – his words – To. Our. Glory. God's process of creating Elohim, that's our glory. Take some time this afternoon and dwell on that one, 'to our glory', God's process of creating Elohim.

Verse 8 – Which none of the rulers of this world had known; for had they known it they would [not] have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, things which eye didn't see and ear didn't hear, it's because we couldn't, we were made that way, we were in bondage and could not receive them. ...things which eye didn't see and ear didn't hear, which didn't enter the heart of man, whatever things God prepared for those who loved Him. If you didn't love God you can't...you still can't hear it, and if you stop loving God, obeying God, obeying His commandments, keeping His holy days, then you will lose what you have been given.

Verse 10 – But to us, God revealed them through the spirit, for the spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For who among man knows the things of a man except the spirit of a man which is in him; you can't know what I'm thinking unless I tell you, and then you can't be sure. You can only know what's in you. You can't know what's in your mate, you can't know what's in the person next to you. Even so no one knows the things of God except God's spirit. God's spirit has to reveal these things to you. But we receive not the spirit of the world but the spirit which is from God that we might know the things that were freely given to us by God. We in the Church, the Church of God – PKG, can know these things. The scattered Church has not been woken up, the scattered Church has not begun the process of being drawn out of bondage...and I long for that day, I really do. ...which things also we speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the holy spirit teaches.

"The ability to understand why mankind has been in bondage and slavery and captivity to spiritual Egypt is indeed a matter of great spiritual understanding," I'm quoting Mr. Weinland here or quoting from this sermon, "And God's deliverance of freedom gets to the heart and core of one of the greatest mysteries of all times."

It's no wonder the law came on Pentecost, you know, had when Moses pulled the people up – or actually when God led the people to Sinai and gave them the law, had they been able to keep the law, had they been able to... had they just kept the law they would have had true freedom. But they couldn't, it was not in them. 'The carnal mind is not subject to the law, nor can be', and we are created that way, we are created in bondage.

You know, the law came on Pentecost. Is it any wonder that the spirit, the holy spirit was given on Pentecost to the Church? ...thus the law being written on the hearts of man? Jesus Christ returning on Pentecost – another truth – true freedom. This is true freedom. It is spiritual and it is coming from God. We need God, we need the Family of God. Oh, and by the way, did I mention Christ is coming on Pentecost and that freedom is coming on Pentecost?

I often hear people talking about freedom, especially here in the United States, about 'true freedom and liberty' and their 'rights'. But true freedom is the liberty to do what is right, and mankind has not had that, mankind has not had the ability to obey God – and that is going to change. That is almost over, that time is about to pass; and until it does mankind will not have true liberty. American's don't have it. Christians don't have it. Abraham's seed, Ishmael, Israel, they don't have it. We are in bondage. Those in God's Church who have His holy spirit dwelling in them have only just begun on a path to true freedom. We have been learning the truth and it will set us free, it is setting us free, we are embryo's not yet born in the Family of God. And there is still pain, there is still jealousy, there is still wrath, there is still murder – some of it in the Church – hopefully not too much, but there is a lot of it out in the world and people getting ready to be drawn out of that. And by us knowing these things and by recalling these sermons and going back and listening to them again, recalling them to memory...in this particular sermon we were given starting points on where to work with Christians, starting points of where to work with the Islamic people, starting points to work...to where to begin with Jewish people. And yes, birth pains are still present too – and unfortunately that was even brought up.

Freedom is a  process and we are not there yet. Ring any bells? Mine are ringing.

Well the next...the next sermon given that season, or that Feast season was 'Freeing Men and Women', and the last one I'm going to address here at this time. I, as a man, cannot do it justice; I am in bondage. I don't understand women. I don't see things like my wife sees things, and together we see things and we try to explain different perspectives to each other and we grow in that way, and thankfully so, because we've grown very close over the years and I'm glad that she is here with me and believes the same things I do. But, thankfully, as I cannot do it justice I don't have to. God knew I was in bondage and He showed mercy because while I was preparing this early on Mr. Weinland had began a series of posts concerning family and bondage, leaving bondage...and I suggest you go back and re-read them because if you've only read them two or three times you don't have a full just meaning of them. I don't have a full just and clear meaning of them and I'm going to go back and re-read them again.

In closing, I want to look ahead to the first Feast of Tabernacles of the Millennium. God's Son and the 144,000 have been dwelling on the earth for a couple or three months, and they returned at Pentecost, a Trumpet has been blown to call a great assembly, Satan has been put away and Atonement has been made. Great preparation has gone into the preparation for this Feast, and those given charge to speak will stand just as Ezra did to the people of the captivity coming out of Babylon and begin to cause Israel to remember the law of Yahweh. Who knows, it might even be Ezra, I don't know, but as with those in the Church today God will begin to write these laws on the tablets of man's hearts.

The purpose of the Feast of Tabernacles will be spoken of to all that dwell in the land and they will stand up after hearing the law and understanding and with one accord say, "As you have spoken, so shall we do."

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