The Signs – Pt. 1

Wayne Matthews

October 10, 2014 – 3rd FOT Sermon

Welcome, everybody, to the Feast of Tabernacles for 2014. No matter what region you are in or what country you are in, we hope that you're having an enjoyable Feast.

We are here today because of a command from our Creator, Yahweh Elohim, to come together and rejoice before Him, as outlined in Leviticus 23. This is a time when God provides His spirit so that we can grow spiritually in knowledge, in spiritual understanding, all for the purpose of applying it into our life-this knowledge that we gain during the Feast, and the understanding, the “why” of any particular matter so that we can adjust our thinking, so that we can adjust our way of being from selfishness (from a carnal mind) to that of God, to apply God's thinking into our life. And if we do apply God's thinking into our life we will then, in turn, in time, be able to be changed to spirit, to enter Elohim, because we will have developed the thinking, the mind of God. We will have yielded our spirit, the spirit in man, to God's spirit. We will have made those choices because we desire deep down to be like God.

There are things in life that provide signs of what people are, the way people live their life. Now, there are signs of various things in life. And we can ask questions like, "What are the signs of a person being a good employee or employer?" Now, we all have that experience, that if we are an employee we can see signs of what makes a good employer. And if we're an employer we can see what makes a good employee, because of behaviors or conduct or signs that they reveal that they are good in their jobs. What is the evidence that they are a good employee? What can be seen that proves it? What are the signs of a good husband? Or a good wife? What is the evidence that can be seen? What are the signs of a true follower of God? What is the evidence that can be seen?

Now, in the Millennium there will be signs which will declare or provide evidence that will be seen by others of who is a true worshipper, a true follower of God.

The title of today's sermon is The Signs, and this will be Part 1. The purpose of this sermon series is to explore the signs of God and the signs that will be lived by true followers (true worshippers) of God during the Millennium and during the last Hundred-Years, the Last Great Day. The signs of who God's people are will not change during the next 1,100 years because God has established particular signs that should be lived by His true followers, by the true worshippers of God. And we understand that we are to worship God in spirit and in truth.

Now, what are these signs? Well, today we're going to start the process of looking at four particular signs. There are others, but these are four particular signs that someone is a member of the Body of Christ, they are a true worshipper of God (in spirit and truth), and they are following the steps of Jesus Christ. They are living their life as Jesus Chris lived. They are allowing Jesus Christ and God the Father to live in them; hence, they will demonstrate (they will provide evidence) that Jesus Christ is living in them by the way they live, because of the way they talk and of things that they do.

So what are the four signs that we're going to look at? Firstly, a true follower of God (a worshiper of God) will believe God, will believe the truth. They will understand the purpose of life. Because God outlines clearly in His word the true purpose of life, and part of this process is believing, will be believing the truth, because God is truth. God provides truth through His Church to people, to members of the Body of Christ, and people are required (those that are called into this relationship with God), are required to believe God, which is to believe the truth that God places in His Church through Jesus Christ, through an apostle.

Number two, we're going to look at the love of the brethren. One of the signs that we are true followers of God (worshippers of God) is that we will love the brethren.

The third one is obedience to God's word. So once we are called into this relationship with God and we have been baptized (because we've been granted the gift of repentance and we have this baptism), and we have the laying on of hands of a true minister of God, and we are impregnated with God's holy spirit, this ability to think like God and the ability to have God's thoughts in our mind (all for the purpose of us choosing to yield to God's thinking), we will then come into obedience to God's word. Because God in His word provides the way to live. He provides the way of life that should be lived, the evidence that should be revealed in us, and obedience is part of that evidence. For example, obedience to the 10 Commandments. That is a sign of somebody that is a follower of God and Jesus Christ, or a true worshipper of God the Father.

Number four, the main point of all of this is to take personal responsibility for our actions, because in the end, that is something that must take place in everyone's life, that they must take personal responsibility. Nobody can make us do anything. We have to take personal responsibility for our thoughts, our words, and actions, the things that we choose to do. And that is point four.

So the first matter for those in the Millennium is to consider this particular scripture: John 4:23. Now, as people are called into the Body of Christ during the Millennium they will be taught God's way of life. Now, just like we had to, we had to start at a beginning, and that beginning process is one of repentance, of coming to see that we are wrong, that our way of life was wrong. Now, all of those that start in the Millennium, and those that are born into the Millennium, have to be educated, have to be re-educated in a way of life that is contrary to what they understand. As people go longer in the Millennium and they're born into the truth, life will become easier, because they don't have to unlearn much of the garbage that has been taught in this world. They have to actually work on disciplining themselves, and they have to work at not yielding to "the lusts of the flesh, and the pride of life." And those things that are natural within a human, they will all have.

So the first people that are drawn into God's Church at the beginning of the Millennium, they have much to overcome. They have so much to unlearn, which is what we had to do. Well, progressively over time as the thousand years goes through its course (the Millennium), it will be easier for those born into the truth because they don't have to unlearn the garbage that has been taught by Satan.

Now, in the Hundred-Years all of those that are resurrected (the majority) will have to unlearn their past, unlearn the ways of man. And there are some as babies that will be resurrected during that last Hundred-Years where they don't have to unlearn, because they've never had this education in error. So this whole education process is going to take place at the beginning of the Millennium and right through the 1,100 years, which is this education of God's way of life.

So, John 4:23—But the hour is coming, now, that word "hour," it can be "time or season," But the time is coming/But the hour is coming/But the season is coming and now is, which was at that very point there where Jesus Christ was, when the true worshipers will worship the Father, will worship Yahweh Elohim, in spirit and truth… So there's only one way to worship God, and that is in spirit, because it requires God's holy spirit to be able to worship Him, to be able to worship Him in a right motivation or a right attitude. And truth, because we can't worship God in error as the world does today. So they can't worship God in spirit because God has not called them to give them His holy spirit so that they can understand spiritually, and they can't worship in truth because they can't understand the truth because they don't have God's holy spirit. So in the Millennium everyone is going to have to learn to worship God in spirit, which requires the gift of God's holy spirit living and dwelling in them, and truth, what God places in the Church.

...for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. So this is God's purpose for human creation, that people will come to understand (through a calling, through the power of God's holy spirit) that they are to worship God the Father, and that is His desire. That credit should be given to their Creator, because without God the Father, we have nothing. We have nothing. All life would not exist, because it all has come from Yahweh Elohim, the Creator God, and God is seeking such to worship Him, which is this moving from the natural carnal mind of selfishness, and pride, and error, into a spirit, powered by God's holy spirit, that we would yield to God's thinking in our minds and begin to give Him the credit, give Him the praise for the greatness that He has within His plan, which is "bringing many sons to glory."

Verse 24—God is spirit, so God is spirit. He exists as a spirit being. Now, we are not spirit. We are physical and temporary. But God requires something different from mankind, and that is to worship Him a particular way, because God is spirit, and those who worship him (those who give credit to Him, give respect and honor to Him) must worship Him (must respect Him) in spirit, which is this inner thinking, pure intent. So to be spiritual in thinking is about our purity of intent, the reason why we do what we do. Well, our spirit, if it is yielded to God's spirit, will be pure, because God's spirit is pure. God is holy, separate, pure, and therefore, if we yield to His thinking in our minds, our thoughts, words, and actions will be pure in intent. The motivation of why we do what we do will not be selfish and carnal, but it will be righteousness and holy, pure.

So God requires those to worship Him, must worship Him in spirit, which is pure in intent, which requires God's holy spirit, and truth, which has to be according to the word of God. God can only be worshiped by the way that He has outlined, which He has established. Hence, we are here at the Feast of Tabernacles this year to worship God in spirit (which is our pure intent) and in truth (which is according to the way God has commanded). We shall keep the Feast for seven days and on the eighth day we will set it aside as a holy convocation, a gathering to worship God. So that is worshipping God in truth.

Now, anybody that does not keep the Feast of Tabernacles and celebrate the Last Great Day does not worship God in truth. Now, we understand that the world, because of its deception, because of Satan's broadcasting, cannot worship God in spirit and truth. But we have been given the power to fulfill this. Well, in the Millennium, at the beginning of the Millennium, this is the big transition that will take place. We will have seen the removal of Satan and the demons, the broadcaster of evil into the minds of man that are carnal, and therefore, are receptive to this broadcasting. We're going to see this change. The broadcasting will stop.

Now, this is one of the great rejoicings about the Millennium and the Hundred-Years. The broadcasting of evil will stop and God will pour out His spirit on mankind so that they now can think righteousness and they won't have the same battles against themselves (they have to battle themselves, but it's nowhere near as difficult) because the battle against self (at the moment) is magnified because of this broadcasting of evil, evil thoughts into the mind.

Now, because of our past, depending on how long it was or at what age it was that we were called, will depend on the amount of overcoming we have. Because if we're called early, life in lots of ways can be easier because we haven't learned so much sin; we haven't lived so much sin. But as we've got older, because of the transgression of God's law over a long period of time, to come out of it is much harder because of the pattern of thinking, because of the habits that we have formed. And it's hard to break a habit. Powered by God's holy spirit we can break the habit and we can change the pattern of thinking.

Well, in the Millennium, after a period of time without Satan broadcasting, people will not have learned sin, they won't have a pattern of sin, hence, the choice to yield to God's spirit will be easier because they're not going to have this wrong pattern of thinking that they have established in their life. Because if you're born into God's church, and without Satan broadcasting, and without evil being promoted in the media, in the world, and all different environments, mankind will not have seen sin to the degree that man has today. They will not have experienced sin to the degree they have today. Hence, the Millennium is a time of great rejoicing because of the purity of the power of God's holy spirit being poured out on mankind.

Now, "the spirit of truth" is the holy spirit of God. This spirit of truth that is referred to here is the very power of God's holy spirit because truth can only come from God. It comes from God through the Church to mankind. Now, there is one particular sign that we're going to start to look at that proves that we are of God. It provides evidence that we are of God. It provides evidence that God is working in our life, that God's thinking is being yielded to within our life.

John 13:33. Now, Christ has highlighted this very fact, because this is the evidence, this is the proof we are of God. This is the proof that we have yielded to God's holy spirit. Now, mankind, of and by himself, cannot fulfill this scripture in any shape or form. He can pretend, and he often turns around and says he does this, but the reality is that he does not, because he can't. Because without God's holy spirit it cannot be achieved.

John 13:33—Little children, and it's referring to members of the Body of Christ. And the reason that the words "little children" are used is because we need to be children, we need to be humble, and we need to be teachable. Now, if we're not teachable, we cannot live what is required here. Now, Jesus is going on here to outline what is required of us. The need for humility is the beginning, so Christ is saying, "little children," which we need to be. I (Jesus Christ) shall be with you a little while longer. You will seek Me, you will seek Jesus Christ, and as I said to the Jews, Where I am going, you cannot come, so now I say to you.

Now Jesus Christ is going to outline a new commandment, because He's going to go, He's going to die, and He's going to enter Elohim and be at the right hand of God the Father in authority, and therefore, there is one way now that Jesus Christ is going to outline that will demonstrate this obedience to God that is required. A new commandment, well, a commandment is a way of living life, because the commandments outline the way we should live, but this is saying, A new commandment, I give you, which is Jesus Christ pointing to the disciples, or "disciples," which are "followers of God, students of God," which in the Millennium, that's what people will be called to. They'll be called to be students of God. ...that you love one another, so this is the commandment, to love one another as I have loved you. Well, how did Jesus Christ love the disciples? Well, He laid down His life for the disciples. That's how He demonstrated, that's how He lived love to them, by sacrificing for them… that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples. So by this, by this loving of one another, by this sacrificing our own desires to the benefit of others, this is how we live. This is how we provide the evidence. This is the sign that we are followers or worshippers of God.

So, "by this," by this love, by this sacrificing, "all" (that is everybody) "will know" (they will see, they will see the evidence) "that you," you personally as an individual, "are My (Jesus Christ's) disciple," (that you are My student, that we are here being educated and are willing to sacrifice, to give up the self to be a follower of Jesus Christ). We will demonstrate that we have God's holy spirit living and dwelling in us… if you have love one for another. That is the sign. If we are willing to sacrifice ourselves to the benefit of others (if we have this), we'll demonstrate it by loving one another.

So this is the complete opposite to human nature. Human nature is selfish and will not sacrifice to the benefit of others, because it can't. Now, if human nature sacrifices (or demonstrates that it does), it's motive and intent deep down (although not understood by the natural carnal mind itself, not even understood by most people) that any sacrificing done on a human level using human nature (human reasoning) is selfish. There is a reason why it is doing it. Now, it's doing it for a reason and it's always connected to pride. All human sacrificing is driven by pride—the reason why it does what it does. Its motivation and intent is to get something back for self. Now, it doesn't even understand it. But Godly sacrificing, the sacrificing of one's own desires, powered by God's holy spirit (and that's the secret, has to be powered by God's holy spirit), this outgoing concern for the welfare of others (anybody, irrespective of race, color, age, anything, no bias, it doesn't make any difference), this outgoing concern, this sacrificing love, this denying of selfishness, is the demonstration of love, the demonstration of God's love.

Now, we can only demonstrate this love if we have God's holy spirit. Now this is the glory of the Millennium, where God promises He will pour out His holy spirit on mankind, whereas at the moment He hasn't done that. He has only called a select few for the purpose of educating them. And we know there's a 144,000 that have been sealed because of their willingness to sacrifice, because God called them in the first place and God granted them repentance and God lived and dwelt in them so that they could yield to and choose righteousness. They could choose to love, choose to sacrifice the self to the benefit of others. Well, mankind can't do that.

Well, in the Millennium that is what God is going to do. He's going to pour out His holy spirit which will enable mankind to live this new commandment—which is not a new commandment as John goes on in other scriptures saying it's not a new commandment—it's an old commandment because that's what God required all along. And if we looked at the 10 Commandments, what is it about? It's about love. The 10 Commandments, if you looked at them on physical level, actually outline how to love.

Now, humans could submit or yield to these commandments and they could do it on a physical level, but deep down it's still for selfish reasons, only they can't understand it. But God requires, now, "a new commandment" because it's going to be powered by God's holy spirit, and that's what makes it new. It's a new way of living love to God and living love to our neighbor, and that's why it's a new commandment, a new commandment that Jesus Christ gave "that you love one another as I have loved you." It has to be powered by God's word. It has to be powered by the Logos. It has to be powered by God's holy spirit.

"That you also love one another," that you also agape one another. That you choose to yield yourself to God for the purpose of demonstrating God living and dwelling in us because it's God that does the works. It's God that loves. It's God's spirit that loves. And "by this," living love, by this sacrificing, "all," everybody that we come in contact with, "will know that you are (that we are) My disciples," we are students of Jesus Christ, we are followers of Jesus Christ. And if we're followers of Jesus Christ, we are followers of God if you have love one for another.

So this is the real sign of whether or not we are a true worshipper of God. It's not just simply about physical obedience to God's law, this is about demonstrating God's holy spirit, which is demonstrating God living in us out to the benefit of others. And if we yield to that, we now can say that we are true disciples of Jesus Christ.

John 15:1-17, because this is about bearing fruit or changing the thinking, because of the natural carnal mind, the way it thinks (which is selfish). Now God requires us to think differently. So this is all about how we can bear fruit, how we can provide evidence that we are of God. Now, there's only one way, and that's what Jesus Christ is going to reveal here. I am the true vine, so this is talking about something spiritual. Jesus Christ is using a physical analogy here, which is about a vine or a grape or a vine tree which bears grapes, which bears fruit. I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. So God the Father is the one that is going to provide the direction and the discipline, the pruning that is required, but it's going to be done through Jesus Christ, because God the Father has handed over all authority to Jesus Christ. And that authority is about "bringing many sons to glory." It's about bringing mankind to repentance. It's about bringing mankind into the Church and then being placed into and under the Church of God's authority, which is Jesus Christ's authority. So God the Father does the calling and hands those called over to Jesus Christ so that Jesus Christ can work with them to develop holy righteous character.

Verse 2—Every branch in Me, so it's every branch in Jesus Christ. So we are the branches, brethren, but we have to be in Jesus Christ. We have to be connected to Jesus Christ. ...that does not bear fruit… the important part here is about bearing fruit. If we do not bear fruit, we are no longer in Christ, because if we are in Christ, we will actually bear fruit. If we yield to God's holy spirit, we will bear fruit. Now, if we don't, He (God the Father) takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes (God the Father prunes), that it may bear more fruit. So the reason why we face these tests and trials is about yielding to God's holy spirit so that we can produce fruit, so that we can provide evidence that we love one another, that we are yielding to God's holy spirit. Every branch in Jesus Christ that does not bear fruit He takes away. He actually will prune it for a purpose, but if it doesn't bear any fruit, in the end it's better to be cut off.

Now, when you look at pruning a grape tree or a vine, what happens is the person comes along (the pruner comes along) and there is what's called "dead wood," and from part of the wood, the one year's growth, there is another lot of buds that come up and they produce smaller vines that bear buds that will bear fruit. But the answer to pruning is to cut off the dead wood so that it doesn't take any energy from the vine. So a pruner comes along and he counts along the number of buds and then he prunes, because there's too many buds, it's best to only have two or three buds (it's best to prune at that point) because the ones then that are left will take this energy from the vine (the sap) and yield great fruit, grapes. And the dead wood, which is dead, it is useless. It's best to be cut off. And that's what happens when we prune.

Well, God the Father is saying here, as an example, that that's exactly what happens. That Jesus Christ (we're connected to the branch), that every branch in Jesus Christ—in other words, if we're connected to the vine—and it doesn't bear any fruit (it's dead wood), God the Father will take it away. Why? Well it's useless...it's useless. It's not bearing anything, so there's no point having it. "...and every branch that bears fruit," in other words, it's connected to the vine and it's now budding and starting to bear fruit, He prunes. That's exactly what He does. He will prune it by giving it tests and trials so that it can grow, so that it can use more of the sap that is provided by God's holy spirit. Because that's what needs to happen. God needs to provide His holy spirit so that we can obey Him, and if we yield, if we absorb this sap (symbolically of the holy spirit), we will bear more fruit because we'll be allowing God the Father to live his life in us. We will bear that fruit.

Verse 3—You are already clean, and that is because we are washed by the word, and therefore, we are having the truth in us, because of the word which I have spoken to you. So they are part of the Body of Christ and they're being made clean (they're being washed pure, sin has been forgiven) because of the word, the truth that lives in them, which Jesus Christ has spoken to them. Abide in Me, which is "dwell in Me," dwell in Jesus Christ, dwell in the truth, and I in you, because it's God's thinking in Christ; therefore, it would be Christ in us. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, so if a branch just exists and it's not connected to the vine it can't bear any fruit. It's just dormant. It sits there because it has no sap, unless it abides in the vine, so we have to be connected, the vine has to be connected to be able to absorb the sap, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. So we have to dwell in Christ, which, we have to dwell in the word, we have to dwell in the truth, we have to have the same spirit that Jesus Christ had, the Logos, the Word of God. Now, Jesus Christ had the Word of God living and dwelling in Him. He didn't have it with measure. We have it with measure.

So for us to yield spiritual fruit requires us to be connected to Jesus Christ and God the Father, because it is by the power of God's holy spirit that we can yield fruit. By the power of God's holy spirit we can live love. We can provide the evidence. We can provide the sign that we are connected to the vine.

Verse 5—I am the vine, and you are the branches. He who abides in Me, we abide in Jesus Christ, therefore, we'll abide in the word, we'll abide in the truth, we'll dwell in it, and I (Jesus Christ) in him, which is the same spirit, bears much fruit, because we'll be living righteousness, we'll be developing holy righteous character, which is all powered by God's holy spirit, for without Me (for without Jesus Christ) you can do nothing. So of and by ourselves we can only yield selfishness. Although it can have a demonstration or provide some physical evidence that looks like we are living love, the reality is it's falsehood. It's actually false evidence. It's a false witness because we're demonstrating something that is not powered by God's holy spirit.

So without Jesus Christ, without God's holy spirit living and dwelling in us, we can do nothing, nothing spiritual. We can do no righteousness. Now, the natural carnal mind has the ability to give the appearance of righteousness, but the truth is that of and by itself it cannot live righteousness, it cannot obey God, it cannot yield to God, because it requires God's holy spirit to do it. It requires God's thinking to come into the spirit of man so that man can then choose a different way of life—not to the one of selfishness that is carnal (pride, lust of the flesh), but to righteousness, to think like God. It's a wonderful picture if we can just "see" the choices that we have, that God places His thoughts into our mind, which are righteousness, which are pure, which is being connected to the vine. And therefore, we can yield to that, we will bear much fruit, we will bear spiritual fruit, we will bear God's character, God's way of being out to the benefit of others, hence, we will be loving one another. Because it's only by the power of God's holy spirit that we can love one another.

Verse 6—If anyone does not abide in Me, dwell in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered, because without God's holy spirit we will wither up spiritually because we're only alive if we're connected to the branch, if we're connected to Jesus Christ and God the Father. And if we're not connected, we will wither up and die. We will go back to our own carnal selfish ways. ...and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. Well, that's the outcome of unrepented sin, that a person that was once connected to the vine and was bearing fruit, if they become dead wood, they need to be cut off, they need to be pruned, because they are going to wither up and die. The fruit will die; it will bear no good fruit. Well, they need to be gathered up (this analogy of the grape vine), need to be gathered up (which they are, a pruner goes through the vineyard), and the pruner goes through and cuts off the dead wood and they are gathered up and they are burned. Well, this is pointing to a second death, that if we do not, by not yielding to God's holy spirit, if we choose to go our own selfish carnal ways and not live love to our neighbor, well, what's the good of it? God can't live in us, God can't work in us, God and Jesus Christ can't abide in us; therefore, we are of no value because we're not yielding to God, because we've rejected God. And this willful rejection will lead to death.

If you abide in Me, and this is an IF. The word "if" is, well, there is a choice here because "IF you abide in Me," through a choice after we have been called and received an impregnation of God's holy spirit, and My words abide in you, now this is the key, "IF My words…" Now, we've looked at previous sermons, about the Word of God, that the Word of God is truth, the Word of God is the Logos, which is the thinking of God. If you abide in Me, and my words abide in you, through the power of God's holy spirit, you will ask what you desire, which is according to God's will. What do we desire? We desire holy, righteous character. We desire to be like God. That's what we desire. We desire to bear fruit. We desire to be able to love one another. ...it shall be done for you, which is this Godly character.

Now, we desire to live love to others. That's our motivation. So the evidence, the sign in the Millennium of somebody that is a true worshipper of God means they'll be connected to the vine. They'll be living love out to the benefit of others. They will be bearing fruit. And this is the sign of whether or not we are a true worshipper of God the Father and a follower of Jesus Christ.

Now, to live love to another person is impossible on a human level. Now, when we love on a human level it's still selfish by nature. It's about us, about what we get out of it. Now, people can say that they love somebody. Well, they do because they have their thoughts directed towards that person, but if that person doesn't love them back it doesn't take long for them to change their love towards that person, because love is about acquiring. On a human level it acquires things. It still gets something back. But Godly love isn't. Godly love is about that sacrificing.

Verse 8—If we are willing to live this love...By this, if we love the brethren, By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples ("you'll be My students"), because of this change of thinking that has taken place, because we remain in the Word, we remain in God the Father, we're connected to the vine, and we're now living this love out to the benefit of others.

Verse 9—As the Father loved Me, which was this sacrificing that God the Father did. God the Father sacrificed peace, which is a demonstration of His love for mankind and for Jesus Christ. As the Father loved Me, I (Jesus Christ) also have loved you. I have sacrificed. ...abide in My love. We are to dwell in agape because that's the only way that we can demonstrate the same love that God the Father has demonstrated and the same love that Jesus Christ has demonstrated, which is this sacrificing love.

So if we "abide in My love" (in Jesus Christ's love), we will be sacrificing ourselves to the benefit of others. Now, this is hard. This is easy to talk about in some ways, but it's very hard to do because it requires a choice. We have to yield and sacrifice the self. Now, sacrificing the self and choosing to sacrifice the self doesn't come natural. This is hard! But it does require a free moral choice to yield to God's holy spirit. But it doesn't come easy and we don't always do it. We don't always demonstrate it.

God's spirit flows into us, and often we choose not to yield to it because of the pattern of thinking, because of our natural carnal selfishness. But if we choose to yield to God there will be a fruit out to the benefit of others.

Verse 10—If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love. It now requires this obedience, which we covered in the third point, which is "If you keep My commandments," because the commandments point to this ongoing repentance that is in our life, but it also points to love for God and love of one another, love of the brethren."...you will abide in My love," so this keeping of God's Commandments (all ten of them) in spirit and truth will point to our love, our sacrificing towards our neighbor. ...just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. So this genuine concern for others can only be motivated by the power of God's holy spirit.

And this all is talking about relationships because we understand it is about a relationship with God the Father and a relationship with one another. Now, we can't do one lot without the other. The first four point to the love of God. Well, if we say we love God and keep the first four commandments and don't keep the last six of the commandments, the reality is, we're not keeping the first four at all—we're deceived—because they're all connected. It's all about love towards someone else. It's about God's spirit living and dwelling in us so that we can love God and that we can love our neighbor.

Now, we have to demonstrate this love to our neighbor, and this is the sign in the Millennium of somebody that is actually converting, someone that is actually transforming their thinking from one way of thinking to this genuine concern, desiring no ill will, desiring the best for others. Not by bias. Not by discrimination. Not by judgements from a human mind. Not by human reasoning. It's all powered by God's holy spirit, and therefore, as Jesus Christ, He sacrificed for all mankind. It wasn't just for Jews. It was for everybody because that is God's love for His creation.

Verse 11—These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. So this is about having a full relationship that is valuable to God and valuable to others, because it is Jesus Christ explaining here that He has spoken these things to the disciples that His joy may remain in you, in them, because it's the same joy. This living love out to the benefit of others provides a joy, and it can only come from God's holy spirit. And God's holy spirit will provide the true value of a relationship because relationships can only be founded genuinely and honestly and in purity of intent powered by God's holy spirit.

Verse 12—This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Well, we've gone through that. It is about a sacrificing love. Greater love has no one than this, than they lay down one’s life for his friends. So this is about this sacrificing, the giving up of self, the serving of others at the expense of self. And that's the important part to understand about sacrificing love. It is at an expense. It is at an expense of self. It's not about self-desires. It's not about pleasing the self. It's about the desires of others. It's about pleasing others, and it may mean putting down the self. The things that we want out of a particular situation, well, we have to be able to sacrifice by the power of God's holy spirit and lay down our life (lay down our choices, our desires) for his friends.

Now, there have been times when people lay down their life physically. Well, we lay down our lives physically in the sense of putting down the natural carnal mind, because that is the only way to demonstrate this greater love that we have to have for our brother.

Verse 14—You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. So this goes back to this point about this obedience to God. We have to be obedient to God, which was point three. We are to take personal responsibility for everything that we do. And if we say we are a friend of God, a friend of Jesus Christ, or a friend of anybody, we will be in submission to God, we'll be yielding to God, we'll be obedient to God.

Verse 15—No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing, but we understand, we know what our Master is doing. He is creating Elohim! What a great sacrifice this is of God. God, in His great love for His creation, has decided to create a family of spirit beings, and He's creating them from a natural state of humans who are selfish, who are contrary, who are opposite to God. Now, how great is God that He would create something that is the complete opposite to Him but with the potential to change...with the potential of change. Now, this is an incredible work of God that He has set out to change the thinking of mankind. And the important part of it all is that mankind must yield, must choose to change! And that's our part in it, brethren. Our part in loving one another is our desire to change from being selfish to one of loving, and it takes a choice, a personal choice that we all have. We are free moral agents and we do take personal responsibility for our thoughts, words, and actions. And because of that, we then have gone before God (because of a calling, because of baptism, because of God's holy spirit) and we tell God we choose to change. We do not want to be this way anymore. We don't want to be selfish and we don't want to hurt others.

Continuing on in that verse... but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father, by the power of God's holy spirit in His mind, I have made known to you. So what was to be told to the disciples, Jesus Christ did, because it was God's spirit in Him.

Verse 16—You did not choose Me. Well, that's true. None of us chose Jesus Christ. None of us chose God. Because it required a calling first. God chose us. God called us first which enabled us to be able to choose God's way of life. It has to be powered by God's holy spirit. No one can come to God the Father of and by himself. God must call a person. Well, in the Millennium it's exactly the same. No one can just come to God. God has to open up a mind to be able to receive God's thinking and then by choice man has to yield to it.

Now, this whole process that we have gone through is the future for mankind for 1,100 years. It's about this yielding the natural carnal mind to God's holy spirit. The choice that has to be made, the fighting against self, the fighting against selfishness all for the purpose of learning to live love out to the benefit of others. Incredible process that God is fulfilling. And if we are able to achieve this by the power of God's holy spirit, we then can be changed to live love for life-everlasting, for eternity. Isn't that incredible? That one day we can live love without this whole battle of the mind. We will just yield to God's holy spirit. We will just live love. That'll be our nature. We will be like God in our thinking. We look forward to that day.

Continuing on verse 16... You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, which is that spiritual growth. So the reason we are called is to bear fruit. The reason we are called is spiritual growth. The reason we are called is this transformation, this conversion from one way of thinking to another way of thinking—bearing fruit, spiritual fruit, the thinking of God. ...and that your fruit should remain, which should stay permanently in us, that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give you. All talking about spiritual fruit. These things I command you, that you love one another. We are willing to suffer, willing to sacrifice to the benefit of others.

So brethren, this is the point about this very command, that the sign of whether or not we are a true worshipper of God (we're a follower of Jesus Christ), is whether or not we love the brethren, whether we love one another. Now, if we hold ill will to somebody there is that opportunity (by the power of God's holy spirit) to repent, to change. Our fight is to learn to love one another and the natural carnal mind doesn't. The natural carnal mind will always have biases and it will always have different views of human reasoning of why we would dislike somebody, why we would not sacrifice for somebody else. And normally the human natural carnal mind says we don't want to sacrifice for someone else because they're not worthy of our sacrifice. Well, that's not how God thinks. God's spirit is one of love no matter what, to sacrifice no matter what, to always be giving no matter what is given back in return. Because God is willing to sacrifice for us, which He has done. Jesus Christ has sacrificed for us. Now we have to learn to be like them and learn to sacrifice to the benefit of others no matter what, no matter what comes back to us.

Romans 13:8—Just this one scripture here. Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. Isn't that an incredible statement? If we understand it, if we have (by the power of God's holy spirit) yielded to, and chosen to yield to, to sacrifice the self, to have no ill will, desire the best for others, we have fulfilled the law...we have fulfilled God's law.  And verse 9 continues on and outlines aspects or parts of the law.

Exodus 20. The law points to loving one another. Now, this sign in the Millennium will be obvious because people will learn to come to see, to understand, to be educated in the 10 Commandments. Now, the 10 Commandments today have become null and void in many people's lives in many societies, and man has established his own reasoning behind these laws, and he just doesn't understand them. He tries to apply them in part on a physical level, but God requires us to apply it in spirit and truth. Now, the truth is these are the Commandments, and they can be seen on the physical level, but they are also spiritual. It's about motive and intent.

Exodus 20:12 is the beginning of learning to love one another, the demonstration. So the sign in the Millennium of somebody who is part of the fellowship of God and God's Church and is yielding to God's holy spirit will be outlined by Exodus 20:12—Honor your father and mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you. We've seen that in a previous sermon that you can look at that physically, but you can look at it spiritually. "Honor your Father," God the Father, "and your Mother," the Church, "that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you." God desires to give us a future in Elohim. So, if we are to honor God, respect God, fear God, and the Church, which God teaches His people in the Church, "that our days may be long." Well, they'll be both physically in length made longer because we're living righteousness, we're respecting the authority of God in our life (God's word), and we're respecting the Church. The binding on earth is bound in heaven. We're respecting the rulings made within God's Church. We'll respect the ministry. If we do that our days will be long because we'll be leading happier lives. But also, if we look at this on a spiritual level, their days will be long in the Millennium, but also in Elohim, that at some point in time we will enter life-everlasting, because it is God that is giving it to us. He desires us to have it. He wants to give it to us! The choice is ours. We have to learn to yield to God, the righteousness of God.

Verse 13—You shall not murder. Well, this Commandment sounds straightforward, just don't kill anyone. Well, we know that Jesus Christ came and magnified the law. He revealed the intent of this Commandment. It's not just, "You shall not murder." This is about a motive and intent which comes from the inner thinking, what we yield to. We're to have no ill will. We're to have no ill will to anybody. So the opposite to this is, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." The complete opposite. "You shall not murder," but "You shall love your neighbour as yourself." You shall love one another. You shall love the brethren. "This is the sign that you are of Me, that you are worshipping Me in spirit and in truth...is because you don't murder but you love one another."

Verse 14—You shall not commit adultery. So the sign here is that we're in obedience to God. We will not commit adultery on a physical level. We will not commit adultery by having a false relationship, a relationship with anything outside of God, God's family, which is all spiritual in nature. We'll be obeying what God says in His word about the way to live life. To have a relationship between a man and a woman after marriage. We're to be married before any sexual relationship was to take place, and it's only between a man and woman. There is no other sexual relationship that can take place.

"You shall not commit adultery," but "You will follow My word and have a relationship with Me—a true relationship in spirit and truth." No other relationship is acceptable, only one which is spiritual in nature, a true worshipper of God. Any physical relationship has to be according to God's word, the way that He outlines it—all for a purpose of entering Elohim. Marriage, the love between a man and a woman, is all leading to one thing. Although it's often seen as physical, it's actually spiritual in nature because within family (between a husband and a wife, and then if there are children, if God has blessed a marriage with children, there is the ability to learn love, to live relationships, to live love with one another. Now, this is the real testing of any relationship within marriage, to learn to love one another. This is not physical. This is spiritual! To be able to sacrifice within a family, to be able to sacrifice within relationships, that is the living of God's love, love to one another. And it all sounds simple, but it's not that simple. The reality is, the closer the relationship, the more difficult it can be to live love to one another, because familiarity makes us relax and become over-familiar so that our behaviors are no longer disciplined. We no longer yield to God's holy spirit in that relationship because we're familiar with another person. Rather than working on ourselves and always sacrificing, learning to live love, to demonstrate it in thoughts, words, and actions, we tend to relax and go back to the natural carnal mind. We go back to our own selfishness, what pleases us in the marriage.

Now, this whole aspect of marriage and family is ordained by God because within a family (within these relationships) we learn so much on a physical level, but it's all pointing to something spiritual. And in past sermons we have looked at that relationship, about honoring a mother and father, which is about children learning to respect, learning to understand God's ways from within a family.

Verse 15—You shall not steal. It all sounds simple, not to take. But God says in His word it's not just about not stealing, it's about giving, learning to give.

I know that someone had said they couldn't necessarily "see" it is more blessed to give than receive. Well, the truth is, it's more blessed to give because we're demonstrating, we're living God's way of life because God gives. God doesn't take. God gives. So that every time that we give we are more blessed because we're learning to live God's way of being, which is what we're going to live when we are changed to Elohim.

So, "You shall not steal," is a demonstration of our love towards our neighbor, because taking from our neighbor is selfishness but the opposite to that is learning to give, which is this learning to love our neighbor. Because by not stealing, and giving to our neighbour, is living this love, having this concern for the welfare of others.

It also came up at one point about this aspect—I know it was mentioned in a sermon—that if anyone was to give to another member of the Body of Christ that it would be wise to check with the ministry first. Now, some people haven't fully understood that statement. Well, the reality is that we can see what we perceive and need within the Body of Christ. We can see the need of another person.

Now, looking at it physically we can see that somebody may not have something, and we may have the motivation and the desire (maybe led by God's holy spirit) to give to that person. Now, just going and giving is not necessarily the wise thing to do. And the reason is, is that we can see something and use our reasoning and think, "Well, I'm going to go and I want to give this, and I'm going to do it in secret," and that is all wise to do that in secret, but the way this world is at the moment, it would be far better to check with the ministry. Why? Because the person that we're wanting to give to, we don't know what they're really like, but the ministry have certain things that they are aware of. For example, if we are to go and give to a brother, do we know, really, that they're in obedience to God? Or do we think we know them? Do we know whether they are stealing from God or not?

So here we are, we're wanting to go and give to them, yet here they are breaking God's law by stealing from God! And this Commandment says, "You shall not steal," and there we are thinking we're being more righteous by going and giving them something when we're really not helping at all. Because the best thing for them would be not to have this gift of generosity from another member of the Body because they're robbing God in tithes and offerings. "Will you rob Me? How have we robbed You? Well, you've robbed Me in tithes and offerings."

Now, the ministry know (or would find out) whether or not a person is being faithful to God in tithes and offerings. Now, when a person asks, "Would it be wise to give this person this amount of money?" the ministry would be able to say, "Well, I think it would be wise and it's good because this person is a faithful servant."

So why would we want to give money to an unfaithful servant? Well, we wouldn't, because they're being unfaithful to God! So why would we want to give them something because the best thing would be that they go without and learn obedience. Because God says, "Prove Me (test Me)! Do tithes and offerings and see and wait for God," because He would pour out a hundredfold. Well, they're not even willing to do that. They're not being faithful in tithes and offerings.

Verse 16—You shall not be a witness against your neighbor. Well, this is another demonstration (a sign) of whether or not we are loving one another. Because if we are to bear a false witness, if we're to give false evidence, error against somebody else, well, that's not living love. We want to be truthful. But this "bearing false witness," which is providing false evidence against somebody, the purpose of it is to pull them down or to humble them.

So we, brethren, need to be careful about the words that we speak and how we demonstrate our love for one another, which means we desire no ill will, so why would we speak against a member of the Body of Christ? Why would we bring a false accusation against them? We need to be on guard. We need to demonstrate our love for one another.

Verse 17—You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, not his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbours. So love is the desire of no ill will to anyone, therefore, we wouldn't be desiring to take from our neighbor. We would be demonstrating thankfulness to God. Because this wanting or desire to take is an expression of unthankfulness for what God has given us. We desire more for self.

So the warning here that God is saying, is that we should not have these desires, this ill will towards our neighbor, because if we were to covet or desire our neighbor's house, or our neighbor's wife, or any of the servants they have, or any of the machinery they may have, or animals they may have, or anything that is our neighbors...and our neighbour is everybody! It's not somebody that just lives next door. It's anybody, any other human. So we should have no ill will, no desire against them, or no desire to take from them. Because this is about stealing.

And these Commandments are all interconnected because they all are about putting something else—selfishness—before God. We desire to put something else, we desire to raise something else up before God, which is this idolatry, which can enter our minds quite quickly because it's yielding to our own human reasoning. It's what pleases us! And pleasing the self is idolatry, because we're putting something else before God. We're yielding to self rather than yielding to God's holy spirit. So every time we yield to self we're raising up the idol of self before God. We're committing idolatry.

1 John 4:1—Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God. Now, we can always work this out, brethren, because it has to be of God. It has to be of God's word, the way God states it should be, because God's word is truth and God is righteous. God's word is pure. And therefore, we have to test to see whether or not something is of God or from God, because many false prophets/many false teachers come into the Body of Christ. By this (by this) you will know the spirit of God. So this is the test now of whether something is of God. "By this you know the spirit of God." How? Every spirit that confesses (provides evidence) that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, living and dwelling in a person, is of God. This is not about Jesus Christ's return, but by the way a person lives. So every spirit (every individual) that is yielding to God's holy spirit, that confesses that Jesus Christ is living and dwelling in them/has come in the flesh, is dwelling in the temple of God, that they're living the word of God in their life, is of God. Now, this is the evidence. This is the proof of the spirit of God, whether a person is of God. This is the sign that they are of God. This is the sign that will be available in the Millennium, because everybody will be confessing or have the opportunity to confess (provide the evidence) that Jesus Christ is living and dwelling in them—because of? The way they live. They are living God's way (the way that God has stated in His word). They're providing evidence by loving one another, by being in obedience to God. So this evidence is the fact that God the Father is living and dwelling in them.

They will now be living the four aspects that we covered before. They will be believing God. They will believe the truth. That's the evidence of the spirit of God living in them because they will be providing the evidence. They will be confessing that Jesus Christ is in them, that God is living in them, that God is living in their minds. They will (number two) love the brethren. They'll have love for the brethren. They will be living obedience to God's word, and they'll be taking personal responsibility for every thought, word, and action. That is the evidence of the spirit of God living and dwelling in them.

Verse 3—And every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. So "every spirit" (every human) that does not confess," does not provide evidence—the way they are living, "that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh," that God the Father and Jesus Christ is living and dwelling in them, "is not of God," because they're not living obedience. They're not living love. They're not taking personal responsibility. They're not believing God. They're not believing the truth that God is placing in the Church. That's the evidence. That's the evidence they are not of God, because they're not living love out to the benefit of others. This is the spirit of anti-Christ. They're against Christ by not yielding to God's spirit and not allowing God and Christ to dwell in them. That is the evidence because they have become anti-Christ. They are now against Christ.

Now, when we become "against Christ," it is that we have had the opportunity to receive God's holy spirit, so that God's spirit and Jesus Christ can live in us (which is the Word, the Logos, living and dwelling in us). Now, when a person becomes anti-Christ they then provide the evidence they are not of God, because they are now fighting against God, because "anti" means "against" Christ. So they're against Christ because God the Father and Jesus Christ can no longer live love in them out to the benefit of others. They are no longer yielding to God's holy spirit. ...which you have heard was coming, and now is already in the world. So this spirit about "living against Christ," about fighting against Christ by not yielding to God's holy spirit "has now come" had come in the time of John when he was writing this, "and is in the world already." Now, we can become anti-Christ by not yielding to God's holy spirit, by refusing to allow Jesus Christ to live His life in us out to the benefit of others, by refusing to love.

So we will have to come into unity of spirit, becoming at-one with God.

Verse 4—You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He (God the Father) who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. Because by the power of God's holy spirit we can overcome the enticing to sin, which we covered in previous sermons sometime back. So this "enticing to sin" is what Satan did. Well, in the Millennium the "enticing to sin" will be stopped. The only "enticing to sin" will be from our own human reasoning or the natural carnal mind of selfishness. But that real enticing, that broadcasting will have stopped, therefore, the "enticing to sin" will not exist anywhere near the degree it does today. So in the Millennium, brethren (those called into the Body of Christ) will be able to overcome themselves because God the Father will dwell in them, and He is greater than the natural carnal mind of selfishness.

Verse 5—They are of the world. Therefore, they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. Because things that are natural, things that are carnal, that are preached by the world, things of selfishness, things of error are preached and people of that mind will follow them. We are of God. So the proof is "we are of God," is because of God's holy spirit. We will be in unity of spirit. We will not be in disunity of doctrine; we will be in unity of doctrine. He who knows God hears us, because they were preaching the truth. They were preaching using the Logos, the Word of God (God living and dwelling in them), therefore, a follower of God, someone that is in unity of God, unity with God and will demonstrate the signs they are in unity by hearing God's ministry. ...he who is not of God does not hear us. So that's the same today, and that'll be the same in the Millennium. Anybody that will not hear the preaching of God (the words of God, the Logos of God) is not of God, because they're using the natural carnal mind. By this, by this hearing and obeying God—By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. It's either someone has God's holy spirit and hears God's holy spirit, hears God, hears God's word, yields to it—because the way that it works is that God (through the power of His holy spirit) puts His thoughts into our mind, and if we yield to it, we hear God, we hear the Logos, we hear the mind of God, we hear Jesus Christ, and then we become followers of God, followers of Jesus Christ. We demonstrate the signs that we are followers of God in spirit and truth. But if we don't yield to this, if we don't yield to God's thinking in our minds, we yield to the spirit of error, which is we yield to the selfish carnal mind, the natural mind. We yield to the lusts, which are all errors.

So this is the sign of whether or not we are of God. We either hear God and follow in obedience to God, or we don't. We follow error which is from our own human reasoning. We've worked it out for ourselves. We've worked on the doctrines of man, from human reasoning. We've rejected God's way of life and we're not choosing to yield to our own selfish desires.

Now, this is the sign. We're either hearing God and loving one another or we're not hearing God and desiring ill will to our brother. And these are signs of whether or not we are of God.

Now, these signs are exactly the same for us today, and they'll be the sign in the Millennium and in the Hundred-years. We're either going to be hearing God or we're not going to be hearing God.

Verse 7—Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, it is powered by God's holy spirit. We'll have the same mind as God. ...and everyone who loves is born/begotten of God and knows God. The only way to know God is to be begotten of God, begotten of God's holy spirit. So it requires a calling. It requires the gift of repentance. It requires baptism for the forgiveness of sin, and it requires the impregnation of God's holy spirit in a person. And by that, by this begettal of God's holy spirit, it will empower the knowing of God, the knowing of God's way of life, the knowing of the thinking of God, which we are demonstrating today. The reason we are here at the Feast is to come to know God, to worship God, to come to know more of God, the way God is. And therefore, this begettal of God's holy spirit is the love of God living and dwelling in us.

And the demonstration? The evidence? The sign of it? "Let us love one others, for love is of God." This pure love, this pure motive and intent towards others is the demonstration, is the evidence, is the sign we are of God.

Verse 8—He who does not love does not know God... Well, it's impossible, because without God's holy spirit we can't come to know God. Now, if we don't love, we're not of the mind of God. If we don't show mercy and concern, and sacrifice the self for the benefit of others, we do not know God. Because if we knew God, we would know that this is how God is...this is how God is. This is how God lives. This is how God thinks. ...for God is love. God is a God of sacrificing. He sacrifices for the benefit of His creation.

Verse 9—In this the love of God was manifested towards us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, so God has now demonstrated His love. He has provided a sign of His love for us. How? Because He has provided us Jesus Christ as a sacrifice for sin. He has provided His only begotten—because Jesus Christ is the only begotten of God. He has God's spirit without measure. He's the only one that has been begotten this way. ...the only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him, live through Jesus Christ. Because without the death and sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and the death for sin—because "the wages of sin is death"—unless that sin is covered (unless it is paid for), we cannot have life. But because of Passover we can have life through Jesus Christ, by the acceptance of Jesus Christ as our Passover sacrifice, as Jesus Christ has died once for all.

Verse 10—In this is love, so this is the demonstration of love that God the Father has demonstrated for us and that Jesus Christ has demonstrated for us. So this is love, not that we loved God, we didn't love God first, but that He (God the Father) loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. So it's by His death, by this atoning sacrifice, by this covering of our sins, is the demonstration (is the sign) from God that He loves us. Now, God has demonstrated, God has shown us a sign that He loves us by providing Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ has provided a sign that He loves us, that He is willing to sacrifice (lay down His life) for us. So they have both demonstrated their real pure love for us. Well, we, brethren, can demonstrate our love to God and our love to our neighbor by living love to them.

Verse 11—Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. So we ought to sacrifice the same as God the Father and Jesus Christ sacrificed. We should be willing to lay down our desires, lay down our life for one another.

Verse 12—No one has seen God (in His glory) at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, so this is the evidence—if we love one another this is the evidence, this is the sign that God is in us, and His love has been perfected in us. And that word is, "is being perfected" in us. Because this is the purpose of life. The purpose of life is to learn to love one another. Now, if we can't learn (by the power of God's holy spirit) to love one another, we're not going to be able to enter Elohim. Because the purpose of life is to learn to love, to learn to sacrifice the self to the benefit of others. So this demonstration of God in us and His love is being perfected in us, is if we are living love.

Verse 13—By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us—How? How do we know that God the Father is living in us and that He dwells in us and that we dwell in Him?—because He has given us His spirit. So it's only by the power of God's holy spirit. This ability to live love is powered by God's holy spirit.

Verse 14—And we have seen and testify (and witness and provide evidence) that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. Whoever confesses, by the way they live (not by words, but by demonstrating it), by providing signs and evidence, that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we are at-one with God. We confess God. We confess love by living it, by demonstrating it, by desiring the best for others and by sacrificing our own selfishness to the advantage of somebody else, putting down the self to benefit somebody else.

Verse 16—And we have known and believed that the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. So there is only one way of thinking and it's God's way and it has to be powered by God's holy spirit. We can't work this up. It's not something that is false and something from human reasoning or human logic or a demonstration of selfishness (selfish love). It has to be God's love. It has to be powered by God's holy spirit. And when we get those thoughts to sacrifice, we have to yield to them, and that is the living of love living out to the benefit of others.

And often people in the world will have this false concept. And in the Protestant churches and in the churches they have a false concept of loving one another. The true love of somebody else is the desire towards them. We desire the best for them at all times...the best for them at all times. We desire nothing ill or no ill will towards them in any shape or form. Nothing in the way of ill thoughts, ill will towards them, but we desire the best for them. The best for somebody is that God grant them repentance, that they actually have the opportunity to have God live and dwell in them, that they yield to God's holy spirit. That is what is best for them. So we desire the best for them. We desire the best for mankind.

And in the Millennium that is God's desire, is the best for mankind, that God live and dwell in them to transform their thinking so that they can be converting, changing, thinking differently for the purpose of entering Elohim.

Verse 17—Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He (the Word, the Word of God) is (God is), so are we in this world, by the way we live. So that's the evidence, the way God is. We're living it now. We're of the same Word, the same Logos, the same thinking.

Verse 18—There is no fear in love. So there is no fear within love because God does not fear, and if we're living love we don't fear, but perfect love casts out fear, because God is living and dwelling in us, because fear involves torment, which is this anxiety. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. Because we're not using God's holy spirit, we're using the natural carnal mind.

So it requires this unity of purpose, this unity with God. We are to put everything into perspective—no fear of sin, because we can repent of that sin. Because if we sin, we can repent. So if we're living love we don't sin, but if we have this fear (which means we're not living love) because we've got this penalty, this anxiety of the penalty of sin; unrepented sin is death. So we should not have this fear living in us because we have God's holy spirit and we know we can repent. If we do sin, we can repent, which is a beautiful thing that God has provided.

Love is not payment for payment. Love is not giving to get. Love is sacrificing the self. Love expects nothing in return. That is true love. That is Godly love. Love is living the truth because we're living the Word of God.

Verse 19—We love Him (God the Father) because He (God the Father) first loved us.

Verse 20—If anyone says, "I love God," so if anyone says they do love God (with words), and hates his brother, and has this ill will or an attitude of looking down on his brother (anybody), he is a liar, because it's not God's spirit. It's not being powered by God's holy spirit. It's from human reasoning. It's from the natural carnal mind. So we can't say we love God and have ill will or have anything or desiring anything ill towards anybody else, anybody else in the world. We can't say we love God and then have this ill will, because we are actually liars. We're deceiving ourselves, for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, well, we see mankind, how can he love God whom he has not seen? Because we haven't seen God through the eyes, we've seen God through the power of God's holy spirit. So we should have concern for the welfare of all mankind. No matter what they do, we desire mankind to be in a state of repentance. We desire the best for them, and the best for them is that they can be called and they can be granted the gift of the holy spirit, and they can be granted baptism, immersion, so that their sins can be forgiven, and then a true minister of God could lay hands on them so that God could live in them. They can then have the power to live love.

Now, that is our love towards all mankind. We desire the best for them. And the best for them is that they can be transformed, that they can be converted. Hence, we can always forgive our neighbor no matter what they do because we desire the best for them. We desire that they repent. We desire no ill will to them. We desire they enter Elohim. So it's a totally different way of thinking. We're willing to sacrifice ourselves, to give up on ourselves (as far as our desires) so that they can be advantaged.

God has used signs to reveal who He is. Like manmade sign posts, a sign reveals, points to something, or provides evidence. A sign provides a direction to follow. For example, you might see a sign post that says, "50 kilometers to London." It reveals a location, like "Smithtown." Or something to remember, like a gravestone to reveal the location of somebody. Or evidence of what is happening in or within a location. "Howard's Glassworks," for example.

Now this last point is very relevant. A sign provides evidence of what is happening in or within a location. So our sign post is the power of God's holy spirit, is whether or not we're living God's way out to the benefit of others.

Now, God has provided signs as well, and one particular one which we're going to quickly look at is found in Genesis 1:14. The first time God established a sign for mankind was at the re-creation of the earth. It was a sign that pointed to something for the purpose of remembrance. So the reason this sign exists is for remembrance.

Genesis 1:14—Then God (Yahweh Elohim) said, Let there be lights, which is, the sun and moon could now be seen from the earth. So, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens—why? So what's the purpose of this?—to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs (or marks) and seasons, which is "appointed times," and for days and years. So this sign is "a distinguishing mark." It is a sign of remembrance, a miraculous sign, or a warning. The sun and moon cycles were the way to count time, to mark time. By the sun we can work out the start and finish of a Sabbath day.

So the purpose of this sign post was for us because the Sabbath was created for man and not man for the Sabbath. The Sabbath and the Holy Days were created for us, and they're created by counting the cycle of the moon. By the moon and sun cycles God has established the only way to work out the seventh-day Sabbath and His annual Sabbaths, God's Holy Days (which we're keeping now). So this counting of time was for man's benefit. So the seeing of the sun and the moon by day and night were created for the purpose of creating sign post or signs or providing evidence of the way to live a life, which is through these appointed times (these seasons).

So we'll finish Part 1 of the sermon here and we'll pick up Part 2 during the rest of this Feast.□

Table of Contents

Chapter 1