Why Are We Here?

Wayne Matthews

September 28, 2015

Feast of Tabernacles 2015

Welcome, everybody, to this year's Feast of Tabernacles! This is one of the most exciting times for those that God has called out of this world, those that have been called into true fellowship.

We understand that the seven-day week points to God's plan of salvation for mankind. The first six days point to the 6,000 years given over to man, man's self-rule under Satan and his demons. Mankind has 6,000 years where they have been subjected to and influenced by Satan and his demons, but the seventh-day is the Sabbath, which points to the Millennium. This Feast points to a time of rest. It points to a Sabbath, 1,000-years of mankind at peace, at rest. The seventh-day points to a rest for mankind from Satan's influence. The seventh-day points to the 1000-year rule of Jesus Christ with the 144,000 on this earth.

As Mr. Armstrong would ask: Why are we here? Why are we here at this Feast of Tabernacles in 2015? Why are we taking this time off to come before God to worship Him? Now, this principle applies to those that maybe now at home, due to various reasons, and have not assembled together in a place where God has appointed. And that can be for many reasons, including health and other reasons. Well, the question is: Why are we here? Why are we presenting ourselves before God? The purpose of this first sermon during this particular Feast is to look at the spiritual reasons why we are here for these eight-days. Why are we here? We're going to answer that from a physical and spiritual reason.

Now, let's start today's sermon by looking at the command to attend this very Feast. And we can find that in Leviticus 23:33. Now, as we're turning to that particular scripture, it really doesn't matter how many Feasts we have attended, whether it's our first, whether it's the second, whether it's the seventh or eighth, whether it's thirty, forty, or the fiftieth Feast that we have attended, it does not matter if we neglect what God has prepared for us this year, because this Feast is the most important Feast in our life.

Now, we may have had many Feasts, and we can say that is the best Feast ever, and we can say various things about those particular Feasts, but, we have, by the mercy of God, been given this opportunity to come before God in spirit and truth to worship Him at this Feast. So if we're at home we still present ourselves before God to worship Him.

So let's look at the command that is found in Leviticus 23:33. Now, the Feast of Tabernacles, or this Feast that we are now celebrating is actually also called "The Feast of Ingathering," because it is about what has been gathered in all year and then they gather it in and they have paid a tithe of that ingathering, of the increase, which is the 1st Tithe is given to God and the 2nd Tithe is saved for the very purpose of coming together for these seven days, and then the Last Day to worship God, to present ourselves before Him. Now, we can look at this on a physical level where we have an income, and therefore, we have gathered in for the whole year an amount so that we can travel to worship God. And there is also the spiritual component, what we have gathered in spiritually so that we can come before God to worship Him, to rejoice before Him on what has been provided to us, physically and spiritually.

Leviticus 23:33—Then the Eternal spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, which is like today, "Speak to God's people, the children of God, begotten sons of God who have God's holy spirit." So, Speak to the children of Israel, the Church, saying: The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days to the Eternal. Now, a "tabernacle" is a "temporary dwelling," and on a spiritual level we are a tabernacle. The spiritual is about God living and dwelling in us. So we are here to celebrate physically and spiritually. Physically, yes, we are gathering here on this First Day of the Feast, the fifteenth day of the seventh month. We are gathered here for physical reasons, but also more importantly, the spiritual. Because we are the tabernacle of God. We are the temporary dwelling place of God. We desire it to be permanent, which is that change which will take place at a resurrection so that we can enter Elohim. Now, God is living and dwelling in His people. These people that have God's holy spirit make up the Church.

Verse 35—On the first day, today, there shall be a holy convocation. Now, that "holy" which is something that is "set aside by God," because God makes it holy. So God calls it "a holy convocation," a holy gathering together. Now, it's only holy because God is in it, and if we have God's holy spirit living and dwelling in us, therefore, we come together (commanded assembly), and therefore, it becomes holy because God is in it. God has appointed this day as holy. It is separate. It is a time to come together to worship Him in spirit and in truth. You shall do no customary (ordinary) work on it. So this is a day of rest. We are commanded to assemble together. Why? For God to teach us via His ministry by the power of His holy spirit. God's spirit can be in the message that is given, the sermon or the split-sermons that are given, but also God is in His people, therefore, they can hear what is said. And the important part of all of this is taking on board what is said over these eight-days that we are here together, to take on the spiritual component which is powered by God's holy spirit, and that we take it on, that we yield to it and then we implement the change of thinking in our lives. Now, that is the secret to the Feast of Tabernacles.

If we just gather together to rejoice on a physical level, that's well and good. But the spiritual component is the more powerful, and it is more important! Because just rejoicing on a physical level is not going to change the way we think. The most important part is the spiritual message that is given and what we hear on a spiritual level. This has to be powered by God's holy spirit; therefore, it is God communicating to us. The messages are for us individually! I want to repeat that because this is the important part about these eight-days that we're gathered together. The messages, every single one of them, are for us individually, because it's about what we will do with the messages. We need God to be in our thinking. We need God to inspire our thinking, the way we hear the messages that are given.

Verse 36—For seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Eternal. We understand that in the Old Testament (before the death of Jesus Christ that did away with the animal sacrifices), that animals were sacrificed in the Old Testament. Now this is spiritual in design. We are to sacrifice our selfish desires to benefit others. So these seven days is a time for us to sacrifice our selfishness, sacrifice the wrong thinking that is in us and put ourselves down to benefit others on a spiritual level. We can do it on a physical level, but what we do is spiritual in nature, because it's about the way we think. It's all about our intent. "For these seven days," and on the eighth day, "we should offer an offering made by fire," so it's going to take a sacrifice, "to the Eternal," because we're allowing God to live and dwell in us. We're putting down our selfishness to benefit others.

Continuing on in verse 36... On the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation, and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Eternal. It is a sacred assembly, so it's part of the Holy Days, you shall do no customary work on it. So that's talking about the eighth-day, which is the seventh annual Feast Day, which we call "The Last Great Day," which covers that Hundred-year period. And on that last day, the eighth-day, we will hear messages that are appropriate for that day.

Verse 37—These are the feasts (appointments) of the Eternal, "These are the appointments with God." Now, it's talking about all of the various days that God has set aside as holy. They're appointed times and we are to come before God to worship Him. They are appointments. So we strive, on a physical level, to meet these appointments that are in the world, well, we should strive to keep these appointments with God. Now, whether we are able to attend in an organized meeting or whether or not we are at home (for various reasons), we still are keeping this appointment with God.

So verse 37, again, These are the feasts (appointments) of the Eternal, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, because God's in them, they are of God, to offer an offering made by fire to the Eternal, a burnt offering and a grain offering, a sacrifice and drink offering, everything on its day— because there were certain sacrifices that were to be given, certain offerings to be given at certain times, and the numbers varied.

Verse 38—besides the Sabbaths of the Eternal, besides your gifts, besides all your vows, which are the promises that were made, and besides all your freewill offerings which you give to the Eternal.

Verse 39—Also, on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, this first day of the Feast which we're celebrating now, when you have gathered in the fruit of the land, it's talking physically where they would gather in the fruit from the harvest, and they would then collect that amount, they would tithe on it, well, then they can use it to worship God. Well, we, brethren, have also gathered in "the fruit of the land," over the last twelve months, which is something on a spiritual level, which is the increase that has happened within our minds, which is spiritual growth. So when we, "when you have gathered in the fruit of the land," spiritual fruit which is talking about growth, which is talking about the development of holy righteous character, the development of God's thinking. Now, we through the posts and the various sermons have had opportunity to gather in fruit, spiritual fruit from God, because God is the one who provides spiritual fruit. God is the one who provides spiritual thinking, or right thinking, or righteousness. ...you shall keep the Feast of the Eternal for seven days; on the first day there shall be a Sabbath, "there shall be a rest." We're here today resting. We're resting from our physical labor because we are now striving (laboring) to gain something on a spiritual level. So we're resting physically, but we're not resting spiritually, because we're working (powered by God's holy spirit) to take on the communication that God has for us during this particular day, but also the rest of the Feast and the Last Great Day. ...and on the eighth day a Sabbath, a rest, which is talking about the very final harvest that's going to take place.

Verse 40—And you shall take for yourselves on the first day... Now, what were they doing here? On this first day they were taking to themselves, fruit of beautiful trees, or fruit of the best trees. Now, what's the fruit of the best trees? Now, they were talking here with something physical, something that could be eaten. Well, this is something that is spiritual for us, "fruit of the beautiful trees," "fruit of the best trees." Well, what is the best tree? We know it's the tree of life. It's spiritual in design. So the fruit of the spirit is something that we need to take on during these seven days. We are to gather on this first day the spiritual food that is to be absorbed, that is to be consumed by us. Now, this is the foundation of the Feast. This first day sets the tone for the Feast. Now, that's why it doesn't really matter whether we've had one, two, twenty, thirty, fifty, it makes no difference, because it's how we live, how we absorb, how we consume the spiritual fruit of this Feast because this is the most important part of these eight-days, the seven days of the Feast and on that eighth day, that eighth-day, the Sabbath, a rest, it's about how we consume the fruit of the tree of life, which is God's holy spirit. It's spiritual in design.

And the second thing is, branches of palm trees, and boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook, so they were for these temporary dwellings that they were going to build. And what were they doing with it? Well, they would build this temporary dwelling on the first day, and then they would sit in it at various times to think, to meditate about their life, about what their life had been to this point in time. And there was much to reflect on, which was coming out of captivity, how God had led them, and what God was doing with them as a nation. They were thinking about their life, their relationship with God, and their relationship with one another.

How does it apply to us? Well, we, brethren, are that temporary dwelling place because God desires to dwell in us. This reminds us that we are temporary, we are physical. So it's a time now to consume the spiritual food that God is giving and to be reminded that we are temporary and that we are the temple of God, we are the temporary dwelling place of God. God desires to dwell in us forever, but at the moment, it's temporary because we're temporary, and then we will be changed and God will live and dwell in us forever when we are given spirit life in Elohim.

What then? What happens after this? ...and you shall rejoice before the Eternal your God for seven days. So here is the key to this Feast. It's about rejoicing. Now, we can rejoice on a physical level no matter what it is that God has allowed us to have. We can rejoice because we have life. We can rejoice on the amount that we have saved in 2nd Tithe, if we've had that opportunity. Or we can rejoice, the fact that we are in God's Church. But either way we can rejoice before God. That's the purpose of these seven days. No matter where we are located, organized Feast site or not, at home, maybe we're not even well during these seven days, maybe we have illness, but God has a command here. We are commanded that we should, "You shall rejoice before the Eternal your God." So we have to rejoice before God. Now, to rejoice before God, what does it really mean? It means to be thankful. Because to rejoice is to express joy, which is joy in something, which is to be thankful for something. No matter what the situation, it's time to rejoice. So here we see on a physical level they were gathering in branches and willows of the brook and they were making this temporary dwelling, and they were to come before God and rejoice for the seven days. They weren't living in these temporary dwellings the whole time, it was just something that they would have, that they could go away and meditate in.

Verse 41—You shall keep it, so we are to keep this Feast, as a Feast to the LORD (to the Eternal) for seven days in the year. So why are we here? We're here to rejoice. We're here to keep it, to keep this Feast before God for seven days, which is this Feast of Tabernacles or the Feast of Ingathering. It shall be a statute forever in your generations. So it's not going to stop. While there are humans in existence there will be a Feast of Tabernacles. And we are to keep it as a command forever in our generations, from one generation to the other. This is a time to stop work, to gather before God, to rejoice before God, and we're going to look at all the different things we can rejoice in during this sermon.

You shall celebrate it in the seventh month. You shall dwell (sit) in booths for seven days. Now, it wasn't all the time, it was just a time that they would take off to go away and think about certain things. All who are native Israelites shall dwell in booths. Now, why were they doing this? That your generation, so this is the intent of what God had for mankind. This is the intent that God established the Feast of Tabernacles. Now, we can take this on board, brethren, to see God's intent, God's motive. They weren't doing this, having seven days off just for fun. No, God had a spiritual intent in this. We can take it on in a deeper way than they could, because they could only keep it on a physical level. But we can take this command of God to understand God's intent in the Feast of Tabernacles.

Verse 43—That your generations, those that followed the Israelites here that were physical and carnal in their thinking, that we are part of this generation on a spiritual level. That we, brethren, may know that I (God) made the children of Israel dwell (sit) in booths when I (God) brought them out of the land of Egypt. Now, that is something that was on a physical level, that they were to stop and be thankful and rejoice, the fact that God made them sit in booths to think about that He (God) "brought them out of the land of Egypt." They were delivered on a physical level. They were to rejoice for being saved from Egypt, from the hardship and the punishment that was going on in Egypt. God saved them from Egypt.

Spiritually, we are to keep the Feast of Tabernacles, and we are to understand that God made the children of Israel (the Church of God) for a purpose – God living and dwelling in us. So, we, brethren, can dwell in the Church, the Body of Christ, the Church of God so that God can live and dwell in us. We can stay in union with God, in unity with God because we believe the truth. "And when I (God) brought them out of the land of Egypt." So this all took place, God living and dwelling in us, when He brought us out of the land of Egypt, when God brought us out of bondage, when God brought us out of sin. So this is a calling.

We, brethren, during this particular day, this first day, are to stop and think about our calling. We are to stop and meditate and to rejoice in the very fact that we've been brought out, we've been delivered from sin. Now, we can look back at our calling and say, "Well, yes. I was called by God." And what was that process? God opened our mind to see spiritually. We saw that we had sin. We saw we needed to repent. We saw that we needed to repent. We saw that we needed our sins covered, so we then accepted the death and sacrifice of Jesus Christ for the remission of our sins. We were baptised. We were placed under the water, immersed under the water as an outward sign of something spiritual. And then, when we raise up, our sins have been covered by God because we are repentant. And then from that point on we desired to continue to come out of the land of Egypt. We didn't want to go back into the world. And God provided us a power to overcome sin, by the laying on of hands of a true minister of God and that request for the power of God's holy spirit to live and dwell in us, which is God's spirit in us to give us the ability to overcome sin, to conquer sin through repentance, and God's all merciful forgiveness. We can meditate on this. We should remember our calling.

So during these seven days, brethren, we are to stop and think about how God has brought us out of Egypt, out of spiritual Egypt, out of the house of bondage. We are coming out of sin. So we can rejoice, brethren, about this fact.

Continuing on in verse 43... I am the Lord your God. Now, this is a time, brethren, to think about how God is bringing us out of spiritual bondage, out of sin. This is an ongoing process. Now, when we look back we should be able to calculate, we should be able to "see" the change that God has achieved in us, from what we were – whether it's one year, two years, twenty, thirty, we should see what we were, we should see what we're capable of, we can see our selfishness. Well, we should rejoice before God at this time physically, but also spiritually. We should be so thankful to God for what He has done in bringing us out of Egypt, out of spiritual Egypt, out of the bondage of our minds because we're held captive by this world if we haven't been called. People are in sin. They don't even know it. They are held in captivity. Well, God is saying here during this seven days we are to rejoice before Him and remember our calling.

Verse 44—So Moses declared to the children of Israel the Feasts of the Eternal.

So, why are we here? Well, we've already seen some of the reasons why we are here. Well, let's go over them again in a little bit more detail.

Firstly, it is a commanded assembly before God. Now, this is done in spirit (which means our intent and our motive is to yield to God) and truth. It has to be as God has declared, not a manmade theory, not man's thinking. So we are to assemble before God. Now, if we're at home, we can still assemble before God. We assemble in spirit, which means our attitude is to yield to God. We wouldn't work on this day. We will seek spiritual food. We will seek to think about our calling on the fifteenth day of the seventh month. "And in truth," exactly as the way God has outlined to keep a Sabbath, to keep a rest on a spiritual level. We wouldn't work, for example, and we would watch our intent on this particular day, as we would on a Sabbath.

We are here because we desire to obey God. Whether we're assembled together with other brethren or we're by ourselves in our home, we are here because we desire to obey God. We are here to learn from God, because it's God's thinking that we desire, it's God's thinking that we are seeking. We are here to reflect on what God is doing for us and in us. Now, that's an incredible statement if we just understand that, brethren, because it is about our calling. It's the purpose of the Feast! We are here to reflect on a spiritual level what God is doing for us and in us.

So what is God doing for us? Well, God is showing great mercy and favor to us. So He has established these Holy Days, the seven annual Holy Days, for a purpose. It's something He's doing for us to educate us so that we will have our thinking transformed. And what's He doing in us? He is transforming the way we think all for the purpose of one day at a resurrection, at a change, that we will enter His family.

Now, we can stop and meditate on this. We can stop and rejoice in this very fact, what God is doing for us and in us, because God in His mercy is continuing to provide His holy spirit for us.

God is saving us from spiritual bondage. We are here to stop and reflect on our calling – what God is doing for us. Now, there are many things that take place in our life. We can stop and reflect and show thankfulness and appreciation to God for any type of income that we may have – any type of income that we may have. For example, if a person happens to be on a government benefit, there's a time to stop and be thankful that we are on that level of income, even if it's nothing much at all. It's still something that God in His mercy is allowing us to receive. Because there are many countries in the world that have no form of government support, it's everybody for themselves and nobody is looking out for his neighbor, no one is caring for them. We can stop and be thankful for any type of income.

Now, if we're blessed to have a “medium” type of income, we can stop and show appreciation and thanks to God that we've been able to pay our 1st Tithe and our 2nd Tithe, and to support God with Tithes and offerings. Now, this is something that we can be thankful for because God in His mercy is allowing us that income. And, if we are on a "better" income than normal, or than other people, we should stop and show our appreciation and our thanks to God for His allowing us to achieve that level of income because He is allowing us to support His work (the Church through 1st Tithe), and He is allowing us to have an extra special Feast in the sense of having extra income to spend or to benefit others during this Feast, to express our appreciation to God through being thankful.

Now, one of the key things about these seven days of this Feast is that we demonstrate our desire to have our thinking replaced, our natural mind replaced, the natural way of thinking, the selfishness in us replaced with God's thinking. Now, this is demonstrated by what we do during the sermon, what we absorb during the sermon.

So let's take an example. We desire to have God's thinking. We want our selfishness replaced. Well, how do we do that? We do that through hearing what God has during these eight days of this particular Feast. That's why this Feast is the most important Feast within our life. This is the most important because it's God communicating to us now at this Feast what He has for us now. Now, what we do with it, how we listen, and how we meditate on what we hear, whether we're going to then take it away and implement it into our life, whether we're going to follow the instructions God has for us… For example, God has already told us for the first sermon here that we are to rejoice before Him, physically and spiritually, to be thankful for our calling and to be thankful for everything in our life, physically and spiritually, for what God has done for us. Incredible things that God has done for us! Well, will we? Or won't we? So whether or not we do rejoice before God on a spiritual level and express thanks to Him is our choice. Now, this could be the best Feast ever if we follow the spiritual instructions. It might be the best Feast ever on a physical level, by just dwelling on the physical things, but that's not the secret to a successful Feast. The secret to a successful Feast is to come before God in the right attitude with the right intent to express our thankfulness, and rejoice before God for what He has done for us on a spiritual level, to have our thinking changed, to have God's holy spirit live and dwell in us and us yielding to what God has for us during this Feast. Now, we're to take these things away, to meditate on them during the Feast, to meditate on how we can implement them into our life. What change are we going to make after these eight days? What is the one thing we're going to tackle? What are the two, three, four? No matter how many it is, but even one thing that we're going to do? For example, maybe after this Feast we will go away with a different attitude about life. Knowing what is ahead of us, knowing what's happening, knowing the distress that is coming on mankind, maybe we can take away the spirit of being thankful for every single thing in our life, and in particular, being so thankful to God, expressing our appreciation for God considering us to call us in this present evil age. That's an incredible thing! Because there are billions of people that have not been called during this present evil age. We have such a wonderful opportunity. We have had such mercy shown to us that we should rejoice because of our calling and we should express to God our thankfulness for Him showing love and mercy and forgiveness to us. Brethren, we are here to rejoice before God and show our appreciation to God for Him delivering us out of bondage, out of spiritual bondage.

Deuteronomy 12:1-12—These are the statutes and the judgments which you shall be careful to observe....which the LORD God of your fathers is giving you to possess, all the days that you live on the earth. So physically they were going to go into the promised land, and God is telling them here to be careful to observe all the Commandments when they go into the promised land which God is giving them to possess, and that during their whole life they need to stop and to be careful about what they do; for example, keeping the Feast. We can look at this on a spiritual level. Brethren, we need to "be careful to observe," which is "to keep" while we're in the Church of God, "in the land which the LORD God of your fathers is giving you to possess." Well, what have we been given, brethren? What have we been given? Well, we've been given a calling, and we have been given the Church, the mother of us all, and God the Father has given it to us that we can possess His holy spirit. So God is giving us His spirit so that we can have our thinking transformed. And while we are in the Church of God, the Church of God—PKG with God's holy spirit, all the days that you live on the earth. Well, that's what we should rejoice before God and we should be careful how we take on the messages that are given during this Feast, to be careful to observe them, to listen to God while He is giving us these instructions.

So we are to be careful to observe the seven annual Holy Days and what we do in them. And we should do that while we are part of the Body of Christ, the Church of God. And while we have this opportunity this year to be at the Feast, well, we need to be careful to observe what God is giving us, and He is giving us His spirit so that we can understand what he is telling us through His word.

Verse 2—You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations which you shall dispossess served their gods. So this is talking about physical things. When they went into the promised land they were to destroy all the areas of false religion. All the areas that they took over they were to destroy the falsehood, all the places of worship. So they were to knock them down. ...on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. Because they set up these places of worship where they'd have their idols and people would go to these high hills to worship. Now, this, of course, we understand on a physical level, is similar to today where "on the high hills and on the mountains," and the various places we will see church buildings, or (so-called) churches there, or buildings there. Well, this is talking about when they walked into the promised land and as they went on with their armies they were to destroy all falsehood from the other religions, from the other nations, that they had, because they did not know the true God.

For us, today, we have this opportunity to destroy falsehood within ourselves. We are to get rid of selfishness. We're to destroy our selfishness because we have falsehood within us. No matter how long we have been called out of this world, no matter how long we have been in the Church, there is a degree, there is a level of selfishness and there's a degree of self-deception and falsehood in us. Well, we, brethren, during these seven days of the Feast are to commit to, to destroy all of our false thinking, to try to strive towards overcoming our selfishness, and we're to get rid of any wrong thinking that we may have. We're to destroy our wrong thinking that exists within us. How's that done? Powered by God's holy spirit. So when falsehood is brought to our attention (powered by God's holy spirit), we have to yield to that thinking. So we have lots of things within ourselves where we react or we respond in certain ways. Well, we're to strive to destroy this wrong way of thinking that dwells within us. We're to dispose of those things. We're to dispose of those things within our life.

Verse 3—And you shall destroy their altars, break down their sacred pillars, and burn their wooden images with fire; you shall cut down the carved images of their gods and destroy their names from that place. For us, we are to destroy the things that go on within our minds, that falsehood that is in us. We're to get rid of those "wooden images," which is to do with false thinking. Now, on a physical level, that was easy to follow those instructions. Well, often, brethren, we don't even "see" the very fact that we have these "images" or these "idols" that are in our thinking. Now, our biggest idol, of course, we understand is our self, or our selfishness. We put ourselves up before God – to do with pride and the natural mind. Well, God says here during these seven days of the Feast and the Last Great Day, we are to destroy the false thinking that is in us. We have to set our minds to destroy, to put down our wrong attitudes, the way we think.

And what's the outcome? Verse 4—You shall not worship the LORD your God with such things. Because selfishness cannot worship God, because it's selfish. It will always lean back to its own understanding. So we have to now worship God the way He says, in spirit. We have to have the right intent, the right motive of why we're worshipping God. And it's not done to get something. It's done out of awe or respect to God because we see God as almighty. So we are not to worship God with anything outside of what He says to worship Him. So we have been commanded to come before God in spirit and truth to worship Him on the first day of the Feast, this day, and for a total of eight days. Seven days of the Feast and the Last Great Day, we are to worship God as He says. And what has He said so far? To rejoice during this particular Feast, to rejoice with the fact that He has brought us out of bondage, out of Egypt, spiritual Egypt.

Verse 5—But you shall seek the place where the LORD your God chooses. Well, where's He chosen? Well, we understand that God has placed His name in various locations within the Church of God—PKG, and they are the locations that God has chosen. It's God's Feast. It's not any man’s, it's not any woman's, it's not man's Feast. These are God's Feasts and He is the one who has chosen the location. He has inspired these locations for various reasons. And there are a multitude of reasons why God chooses to place His name at a particular site, but people don't always see it. Members in the Body don't always "see" the reason why because we tend to look at things on a physical level. But these are God's Feasts, and these are the locations that God has chosen for His called out ones, for His people.

But you shall seek the place where the LORD your God chooses out of all your tribes, to put His name for His habitation (His dwelling); and there you shall go. Which is what we have done. Now, if we haven't been able to come to a location where God has chosen, well, we are there but we can still fulfill a place, because where God is, is the location. It's all to do with God's spirit, where God dwells. God dwells in His people. So if we're by ourselves, if there's one or two of us in a location, that is where God is. It's where God dwells. Well, this instruction here is talking to physical Israel, but it's also talking to spiritual Israel.

Verse 6—There you shall take your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, your vowed offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstlings of your herds and flocks. So they were now to take that and they were to come to where God had placed His name. And there you shall eat before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice in all to which you have put your hand, you and your households, in which the LORD your God has blessed you. So they could do that looking at it on a physical level. We, brethren have this same command, only it's spiritual. We shall come where God has commanded us to come, to the Feast site (if we are able, if we are so blessed by God to be able to do it). Well, we are to come "to eat before the LORD your God," which is something physical. We can rejoice in that. But spiritually, we are to consume what God is giving us during this Feast. "And you shall rejoice." We are to rejoice.

Now, this is the key to having a successful or the best Feast ever. It is about rejoicing on a spiritual level. The only way to rejoice on a spiritual level is to be thankful for what God has provided us. Now, if we're not thankful for what God has provided us, if we see that as least or more, it's irrelevant, because this is a command that we "shall rejoice" on a spiritual level "in all to which you have put your hand." So if we have labored spiritually during the last year, from Feast to Feast, if we have labored, what we have put our hand to, what we've put our mind to, we have worked hard at overcoming selfishness, "you and your households," which we'll come together, the household of God, the Body of Christ, the Church of God, because we've been laboring in God's work, which is overcoming self, "in which the LORD your God has blessed you." Well, we've been so blessed that we can labor, that we can overcome, and therefore, we can rejoice in the fact that we have spiritual growth.

In this Year of Dedication, in this period of 1260 days of the measuring of the temple, we are here, brethren, at the end of, or near the end of this measuring of the temple. How incredible! We are near the end of the Year of Dedication! We can come before God and rejoice, to be so thankful for what God has provided us in the way of the truth and spiritual growth. We can be thankful we can rejoice on a spiritual level because of what God has done for us, what He has provided for us.

Verse 8—You shall not at all do as we are doing here today (which is), every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes. Now, that is the wrong thing to be doing, what we think is right, what we think is right from the point of view of opinions, what we think about doctrine, what we think, "Well, the Feast shouldn't have been here, it should have been up there." And, "No. There should have been more Feast sites." "Oh, no, there should have been less Feast sites." "No, somebody else should have been given money." "Someone else should have been given assistance." They're all things that are right in our own eyes. We're to come together before God and to get rid of our selfishness. We're to get rid of what we think is right in our own eyes. We're to get rid of pride, because pride drives this thinking, this attitude of what is right in our own eyes. We're to get rid of pride.

You shall not do as we are doing here today, which is this self-righteousness that is happening, but we're to do something different.

Verse 9—for as yet you have not come to the rest, we have not come to this final resting location, which is all to do with resting in God, taking on the very mind of God. And of course, it's pointing to a spiritual rest in Elohim. ...and the inheritance which the LORD your God is giving you. So God is giving us His character all for the purpose of creating a family.

Verse 10—But when you cross over the Jordan, because at this point they weren't and they were doing things as they saw fit. Well, God is saying, "No," when you cross over to the promised land and dwell in the land which the LORD your God is giving you to inherit... What has God given us to inherit? He has given us His spirit, and we're to inherit it because we're going to inherit Elohim. So, therefore, we're going to inherit His character forever! So this is some incredible things that God is offering us. So when we come into the Church (into the land) which God is giving us, God has given us the opportunity to dwell in His spirit, to be in unity with Him, and when He gives you rest from all your enemies around you (round about), so that you dwell in safety, which is to have peace of mind. So they were to move in physically, and when they were there and they had peace and safety, because they were following God or following God's instructions (verse 11) then there shall be the place where the LORD your God chooses to make His name abide.

We can see from here that for us on a spiritual level, we are entering His rest now because we are here keeping the Feast, which is a time of rest, spiritually! We are to rest from our physical labors to take on the mind of God, which is taking on rest, which is taking on peace within our thinking. Then, continuing on, verse 11, then there will be the place which the LORD your God chooses, which is here at the Feast of Tabernacles this year in the year of 2015 on the Roman Calendar, "to make His name abide," which is God living and dwelling in His people. So God is in His people. God is dwelling in His people. We carry, we represent God! We represent God's name, God's Church, the Church of God. So God now is with His people and He has chosen us a place to dwell – and that is God has chosen a place to dwell, which is us, God living and dwelling in us. Yes, God has chosen a place for us to come together as His people, begotten sons of God, and God is where His people are, God living and dwelling in His people.

There you shall bring all that I have commanded you: your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, and all your choice offerings which you vow to the Eternal. And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God. So what we're doing, brethren, we're coming before God to rejoice. And yes, we are bringing these things. We're bringing our offerings, which we have given for the first day. Every High Day we give an offering. We've done that. And your sacrifices. What our sacrifices? We're willing to put down ourselves. We've brought our tithes and our offerings in our hand, and the choice offerings, those things we want to give as an offering to God – not only just the commanded ones. We can give an offering any time we desire. If that's what is in our thinking powered by God's holy spirit, it becomes a righteous offering. But an offering given out of habit or an offering given because we "have to," with the wrong attitude or the wrong intent, God does not accept that. But God accepts an offering that we give. So we've come before God to offer our selfishness, to get rid of it, to sacrifice it, to get rid of it altogether. And what are we to do in doing that? In coming to this commanded assembly on the fifteen day of the seventh month? And we, brethren, and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you and your sons and your daughters, your man servants and your maid servants, and the Levite who is within your gates, since he has no portion nor inheritance with you.

So we are to come together, brethren, to rejoice before God for the physical things, but more importantly, we are to come on this day to rejoice before God during these seven days because of the spiritual blessings that He has given us. And it all starts with a calling... it all starts with a calling.

Deuteronomy 16:13—You shall observe the Feast of Tabernacles seven days, when you have gathered from your threshing floor and from your winepress. So this is talking about a 2nd Tithe that they are to do. They're to spend their 2nd Tithe in rejoicing before God. And you shall rejoice, you will be thankful, in your Feast. So we, brethren, at this Feast are to rejoice. Now, often people can get caught up in here thinking that it's all about physical things. It's about spending money and going and doing all these physical things. Well, they're okay as long as there is a spiritual rejoicing. So no Feast is a "best Feast ever," if it's just all physical. The best Feast ever has to be spiritual in nature – physical with the spiritual! Now, if it's just all physical, well, we're not really rejoicing before God. We have to rejoice before God by a spiritual thankfulness that we express to God for everything He has done for us. Because we only are here, or we're only part of the Body of Christ, or we're at home worshipping God on this day because God in His mercy has called us to it. And you shall rejoice in your Feast, you and your son and your daughter, your man servant and your maid servant and the Levite, the stranger and the fatherless and the widow, who are within your gates. So this is a time of fellowship. This is a time of spiritual fellowship.

Now, on a physical level we can get together and there is a fellowship. But the more important part is spiritual fellowship. Now, what is true fellowship? True fellowship requires God's holy spirit. God has to be in it. So if we are close to God, if God is dwelling in us, living and dwelling in us, we can have true fellowship with one another. Yes, there are physical components, but it has to be powered by God's holy spirit to be of any real value, because it's about the way we live our lives to one another, the way we think towards one another, which is true fellowship.

So here we are together, all of us, brethren, for the purpose of fellowship. We are about a family that is sharing together, sharing together on a physical level and sharing together on a spiritual level. We share. Now, God is providing us the spiritual food. Now, we can share that food with God by consuming it, by eating spiritual food that God is providing, therefore, we're sharing with God. Now, that is true fellowship. Sharing with one another based on a spiritual level, sharing with God based on a spiritual level is true fellowship. That is worshipping God in spirit and truth. So we are here for these seven days to share in fellowship, to share with one another, physically and spiritually, because "iron sharpens iron," therefore, we can share together.

Verse 15—Seven days you shall keep a sacred Feast to the Eternal your God in the place which the LORD chooses, because the LORD your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you surely rejoice. We are to be joyful in this. So here it's saying that we are to keep the Feast of Tabernacles – because this is really a review of what's happening—we're to rejoice before God, keep the Feast, to be thankful to God for what He has provided. We are thankful because God has blessed us physically, even if we are only on a government pension or even if we're not and we have very little, it's still a time to be thankful because there's spiritual lessons to be learned in this. There's spiritual lessons to be learned if we don't have much on a physical level. There's spiritual lessons to be learned if we have been given much, which can be a great danger. And the reality is, brethren, as we are longer in God's Church, and as we come to "see" more of ourselves, we come to "see" that what David said, "Don't give me too least, case I sin, and don't give me too much, in case I sin," that we're better off to be in the middle, to be on middle-ground, to be thankful and rejoice for what we have. But we have the opportunity now to rejoice whether we have little or whether we have much on a physical level. But spiritually, brethren, we could all have much! Spiritually, we could all have much during these seven days of the Feast. Well, God has chosen us to be part of the Body of Christ, the Church of God! How blessed are we? And God has blessed us all with the work of our hands because we have been working within our minds. We've been working to overcome self. We've been working during this Year of Dedication to get into the detail. So therefore, we should surely rejoice. We should be joyful for the fact that God in His mercy has kept us within the Body of Christ. God has not cut us off from the flow of His holy spirit. We are here to rejoice, to express our thanks to God.

Verse 16 goes on about giving offerings—Three times (three seasons) a year all your males shall appear before the LORD your God in the place which He chooses. Well, we are here, brethren. So these three seasons that are being discussed here: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which we have celebrated, the Feast of Weeks, which is talking about Pentecost, and at the Feast of Tabernacles, which is covering this season. So these three seasons were broken down into various components which cover the seven annual Holy Days, that they would appear before Him, not empty, not empty-handed. So we, brethren, are to come with a spiritual attitude of a free will offering.

Verse 17—Every man (every person, every baptized person) shall give as he/she is able, according to the blessings of the LORD your God which He has given you. According to the relationship we have with God. According to the spiritual blessings that we have received. Now, a lot of people look at this on a physical level and say, "Well, I can only afford this much." Well, the reality is, brethren, it's not about affording. This is about standing back and counting our blessings on a spiritual level. Yes, we have to take into consideration the physical component, but more importantly the spiritual component, the blessings we have had. Well, what are the blessings we have had? A calling. We have been so blessed to have been called. And that's what this Feast is about, thinking about our calling and then rejoicing and expressing thanks to God. How's it done? It can be done through prayer, through words, but it also can be expressed through an offering, because it's from the heart. The intent of the heart is what God is looking at – not the amount of money – the intent behind the amount. It's like the widow's mite, the small amount, because it's done in humility and it's done in meekness. And it was almost everything that the person could give because it was from the inner expression of rejoicing and being thankful.

So we, brethren, are here to express joy, to rejoice before God in spirit and truth, to rejoice before God physically, but more importantly spiritually, for everything that God has given us. What God is going to provide us during these next seven days, or these seven days and the Last Great Day, it's all been given to us by God and it's all spiritual. Now, what we do with it is the key. What we do with it, whether we are truly thankful for everything that is given to us during this Feast and then we take it back and implement it into our life, well, that's the key to whether this is the best Feast ever.

So, why are we here? We are here to rejoice, to express our appreciation to God for everything physical and everything spiritual that He has given us.

Isaiah 2:1-4. This is talking about the Millennium, and we're here because of that very fact that we're celebrating the Millennium. What is going to take place in the Millennium is a time of rejoicing. People are going to rejoice and they're going to turn to God and be thankful to God during this 1000-year-period of the reign of Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 2:1—The word that Isaiah, the son of Amoz, saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. This is talking about the end of 6,000-years of man's self-rule.

Verse 2—Now it shall come to pass in the latter days, which is talking about this end that we're now to enter, the latter days. So we're entering into a time of great distress on mankind because God is going to intervene through Jesus Christ on to this earth, that the mountain of the Eternal's house (the LORD's house) shall be established, which is the return of Jesus Christ to this earth with 144,000, on top of the mountains. It's talking about "on the mountains," on the governments of mankind. Jesus Christ is going to return to establish the Millennium.

We know that the Day of the Lord is a time of great destruction. Well, after that Jesus Christ is going to rule for 1000-years, which is the Millennium, which is the seven days of this Feast that we're celebrating, which we're rejoicing in. We're going to rejoice because of the return of Jesus Christ, for example. And shall be exalted above the hills, so all of the small governments, all the governments of mankind will be put down. They will be re-established in part by the rule of God, under God, under Jesus Christ. So God's government, the return of Jesus Christ, His righteous rule will be exalted above all the hills, all the smaller governments. And all the nations shall flow to it. All of mankind that is left that God in His mercy has allowed to live into this beginning of the Millennium, "will flow to it." So all the world will function under it, under God's Government on this earth. So God is going to rule through Jesus Christ for this 1000-years.

Now, we're here today to worship God, to rejoice before God, to be thankful for His mercy to us. Well, mankind is also going to come to this very point. They're going to follow the instructions as outlined in Leviticus 23. They're going to come before God. They're going to bring an offering before God. And they're going to assemble where God has chosen, where God chooses to place His name. Well, the nations are going to do it and mankind will turn to God, to learn to rejoice, to learn to be thankful.

Many people shall come and then say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Eternal, "Let's go and turn to God." So people will come to this point in time. This is not going to happen in year 1 of the beginning of the Millennium. This is going to take some time because there's no magic wand that changes the thinking of mankind. Many of mankind will not fully understand what has actually taken place. They will have seen certain things and they will have to come to know, to come to know God, come to know the 144,000, come to know the truth. So in time they will come to say, "Let us go up. Let's turn to God's way of government. Let's go and see what this is all about." To the house of the God of Jacob, which is to God's Church, to where God dwells, the house, the family of God living and dwelling on this earth as spirit beings! So mankind is going to come to see a new way of government, and it's going to come through the intervention of Jesus Christ.

He (God) will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths. Now, this has to be a choice that mankind makes. So over time God's law will be introduced to mankind, and God, through Jesus Christ and the 144,000 and the ministry that will be established in God's Church on this earth, God will teach mankind His ways, the law, the 10 Commandments. Leviticus 23 will be explained in great detail and mankind will come to see the Sabbath, the beauty of the Sabbath, and the annual Holy Days. And mankind during the Millennium, in time, will be keeping the Feast of Tabernacles on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, and they will be coming to God to worship Him in spirit and truth and they will learn to rejoice. They will learn to be thankful for what God is doing for them which is all spiritual in nature.

But mankind has to learn to walk in His paths, to walk in God's ways, which is what the Church is about today. The Church of God today is about being taught, God teaching us His ways. It's done through sermons, through posts, through writings, and we, brethren, are learning to walk in His paths, the way that God has outlined that we should walk. We are learning about God's way of life, all powered by God's holy spirit. Now, this is the key to the Millennium, God's holy spirit. God is going to pour out His holy spirit on mankind. Mankind will have access to God's government, to God's way of thinking. Then man will learn to walk the way God is teaching them to walk, which is in spirit and truth. Because man has to come to change His motive and intent from selfishness to God's motives and intent, which is outgoing concern for the welfare of others, and in truth, which is according to God's word. God's word is truth. God's word is truth, therefore, mankind must worship God as God has outlined, not his own thinking's, not leaning on his own understanding, not walking in what is right in his own eyes. He has to get rid of all that and turn to God and implement change within man's thinking!

And they're going to do this (and continuing on in verse 3), For out of Zion, out of the Kingdom of God, God's Church, God's existence on the earth through physical structures, through physical organization, through Jesus Christ and the 144,000 teaching, "For out of Zion," out of the Kingdom of God, God will teach the truth. "For out of Zion," from Jesus Christ and the 144,000 (and the Church on this earth) shall go forth the law. Now, what is that about? That means that the spirit of the law, the spiritual intent behind thoughts, words, and actions, will be the key to life, the spirit of the law. "For out of Mount Zion (out of Zion, the Kingdom of God) shall go forth the law," the spiritual intent will be explained. Now mankind will be able to understand the spirit of the law. They'll be able to understand their own intent, their own motives. Now, this is an incredible change because for 6,000-years man has not been able to see his own intent. He cannot see his real intent!

Now, God has worked with a few more than 144,000 that have had the opportunity to come to "see" the spirit of a matter, their own spiritual intent, their own motives. Well, God is going to teach this from Jesus Christ, from the 144,000, through God's Church on this earth, that the law, it's spiritual intent, why Jesus Christ came to this earth was to expound the spirit of the law, the intent behind the law, this is what is going to go out across the earth. Now, powered by God's holy spirit this can be achieved.

And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. Jesus Christ as King of kings, as the King over all kings, over all kingdoms that are on this earth, "the word of the LORD," the truth, God's word is truth. That's what's going to be explained. That's what's going to be given to all mankind that live during this 1,000-year-period. Now it is going to take some time to be achieved. The end result is, the outcome is that the spirit of the law will be able to be taught and that mankind will be able to understand it because they will have access to God's holy spirit. And it's only through God's holy spirit that the intent of anything can be understood.

Verse 4—He, talking about God, shall judge between the nations, well, this will take place, of course, on the Day of the Lord, in the main, where there will be a correction that takes place on this day, because mankind needs to be corrected. And shall rebuke many people. Now, this rebuking that's taking place, this will also take place at the beginning of the Millennium. Because it's only God that can bring peace, and He's going to do it through Jesus Christ. So God will judge, through Jesus Christ, the world, the nations, "and shall rebuke many people," which is this correction. And what's this correction? They shall beat their swords, their weapons of war, into plowshares, which is about peace. So this is about a different way of thinking. This is about a change of intent, a change of motive. Their motive is now peace. So mankind has to be taught. Mankind has to have Jesus Christ and the 144,000 re-educate the whole earth so that mankind can now change the way they think. And their spears into pruning hooks, so it's a matter of changing things of war (the way of thinking of hate and evil) into peace, into producing something. So mankind's attitudes, the way of thinking is going to change.

And the result will be? Nation shall not lift up sword against nation. There'll be no more ill will. There'll be no more ill thinking. And they won't be able to go to war, "they won't learn war anymore." Now, there still will be sin and there still will be envy, there still will be hate, there still will be ill will, because that's natural, but the way God is changing the way of thinking is powered by God's holy spirit, and man has access to it. So it's a way of learning things. It's about overcoming self to change the way a person thinks. Neither shall they learn war anymore. There's going to be a new way of thinking. There's going to be a new way of education, a new education, and it's about a different way of thinking.

Well, we, brethren, can rejoice in these scriptures because we know that Jesus Christ is going to return. We know what we're celebrating now, the Millennium, is what we're celebrating at this Feast of Tabernacles, that mankind will be re-educated, so we can rejoice.

So why are we here? We are here, the first point, is because we are obeying God. And the second point is we are here to rejoice on a spiritual level.

Now, let's look forward to what things we can rejoice about knowing that we're now living the Millennium. During these seven days we're living the Millennium because we're living love to one another, and that's what the Millennium is about. It's powered by God's holy spirit. We're learning to live love to one another through true fellowship.

We can look forward to Satan's removal. We can rejoice in this! So this is a time to rejoice now, brethren, because we're celebrating a time when Satan will have been removed and the influence that he has on mankind's thinking, on man's own selfishness, that will be removed. So we can be thankful to God for His plan of salvation. We can thank God for the return of Jesus Christ and the 144,000, because it's on that day. At the end of that day we're going to see Satan removed and his influence removed from mankind. This is an incredible, incredible event! And therefore, brethren, we can rejoice in this. We can express our appreciation to God for the protection He gives us now, but also we can thank God for His plan of the removal of Satan and the demise, the end of Satan, at the end of 7,100 years. This is something to rejoice about, to appreciate what God is doing for us.

Another point is a new government will be set up. Well, we can rejoice in this because we see the governments of this world, we see the motive and intent. And as time is going on now, more and more is coming out about the way organizations are run, the way governments are run, and they're all based on greed, money, and selfishness. Well, there's a new government coming and it's based on love. So we can rejoice about this new government that's coming to get rid of all the garbage that is going on in this world based on wrong thinking, based on the worship of self, because, really, man worships himself. He set himself up in his own pride, and he worships what his hand makes. He doesn't worship the true God. So there is a new government coming. We can rejoice in this!

Another thing is God's spirit will be poured out to mankind. Mankind will have access to God's thinking. Now, this is incredible because this is about fellowship! Mankind will now have the power of fellowship because he can't now. Two people can get together and they can talk, but if they don't have God's holy spirit, it is not true fellowship, because true fellowship is about having God's spirit. Well, man will have access to God's thinking. Man will have access to God, and therefore, man can come into fellowship with God, and by having fellowship with God, by having God's holy spirit, they can have fellowship with one another. And this fellowship will bring unity and will bring peace. So there is a time to rejoice, brethren, now because we can have true fellowship now! At this Feast we can have true fellowship now! We can have a relationship with God in spirit and truth, and we can have a relationship with one another now during these seven days, and the last day, the eighth day. We can have it now. How incredible is this, if we understand it.

Another point is the truth will be taught. Well, we're being taught the truth now. We can rejoice in these truths. We can rejoice in the fact that we have spiritual sight. We can "see." We're different because we do "see." The world will treat us as different because we see spiritually. The Millennium shows that truth will be taught and people will have access to God and they'll be able to see spiritually and by this seeing spiritually they'll have the opportunity to change their motive and intent. They'll change their motive from selfishness to God's motive and intent, which is all about love.

Another point is mankind will be delivered from spiritual captivity. We can rejoice now and be thankful because we've been delivered now. We are being delivered. We're being delivered. And we're only delivered when we die or we're changed to spirit. Well, during the Millennium mankind will have access to this deliverance. Mankind will have access to be delivered from spiritual captivity. It's done by the removal of Satan, but it still requires God's holy spirit living and dwelling in a person, being the dwelling place of God, being the temple of God, to be delivered from spiritual captivity, the captivity of the way a person thinks. The bondage of selfishness, the bondage of pride, well, mankind can be delivered from it, and the vast majority will be delivered from their spiritual captivity.

Another point is there'll be no more war. Man will not learn war anymore because of the change of thinking, from thinking selfishness to thinking God's way, which is thinking outgoing concern for others on a spiritual level.

And another point is man will learn peace because peace is something that has to be learned. Now, we, brethren, have access to these things now. We have access to all of these things now, because through repentance sin can be forgiven. It's through repentance that we can stay in unity with God. We have access to God's holy spirit now. We've been taught the truth now. We have access to the truth now (powered by God's holy spirit). We have been or are being delivered from spiritual bondage, from spiritual captivity. We're not learning war anymore as far as ill will to another human, but we are at war. We're actually learning about spiritual warfare! We're learning right now how to deal with Satan and His demons, how to deal with self! We're at battle against ourselves! We are at war! We're learning to war on a spiritual level, not physically. And we're learning peace. We're learning what true peace is. True peace is thinking like God, is having God's thinking living and dwelling in us and us yielding to it.

So what a time to rejoice! Now, all of those things on a physical level that are going to take place, people in the Millennium will learn of those things and they will rejoice on a physical level, but they'll also rejoice as we are rejoicing now, which is on a spiritual level, because they now have access to the ability to be able to rejoice spiritually, because they now have access to God's holy spirit.

Deuteronomy 14:22-27—This is talking about Tithing and the principles of Tithing. You shall truly tithe all the increase of your grain that the field produces year by year. Referring to the 1st Tithe in particular. And, something else, which is talking about the other Tithes that are involved, which is the 2nd Tithe, you shall eat before the LORD your God, in the place where He chooses to make His name abide. Now, we've looked at this on a physical level. We are to come before God on a physical level and live off our 2nd Tithe, which is "to eat before the LORD your God." Now, the key here is remembering we're always "before the LORD your God." It's our God, Yahweh Elohim, and we're doing this "in the place where He (God) chooses to make His name abide." Now, God has selected various sites and we are here, those that can make it, those that have the health, those that are able to, and we are rejoicing before God, "where God has placed His name." So this is that additional Tithe outside of 1st Tithe. ...the tithe of your grain and your new wine and your oil, of the firstlings of your herd and your flocks, that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always.

So why are we doing this? Why are we now here worshipping God using our 2nd Tithe, or where God has blessed us with assistance, which is all part of God's blessing and God's mercy towards us so that we can come to the place He has placed His name. And we are here. We've travelled here for this various reason. And why are we here? Another point – why are we here? "To fear the LORD your God always," which is to place Him in awe, to show respect to God. So we are here at the Feast to rejoice before God and to learn, which means, to learn something means we're going to have to change the way we think. Because to learn something means a change of thinking, because if we understand everything now, we can't learn anything. It's just we already know it so there's no point telling me. Well, God is saying, no, the purpose of a Feast is to come before God where God has placed His name, where God is, where God's spirit is, to be educated by God all for the purpose that we may learn, which means we're being educated, which means a change of thinking has to take place because we're learning something. "Ah, it's different. I've learned something out of this Feast." We're learning "to fear the LORD your God always." We're coming to hold God in awe, to respect God, to fear God, because He is almighty and He is all-powerful. So we're to learn to fear God.

Now, we learn to fear God how? To hate sin. Proverbs 8—to fear God is to hate evil. Well, we're to learn to hate evil within ourselves. We can hate it in the world, but we have to learn to hate our selfishness. So we're to learn to hate our selfishness. We're to stop and think about what we really are and to rejoice and to thank God for what He is doing in us, which is transforming the way we think. So we're here to learn how to fear God always, to place Him in awe, to respect the fact that He's even called us or given us this opportunity to change the way we think.

Verse 24—Now it discusses the physical component of keeping a Feast. But if the journey is too long for you, in other words, they have to travel to the Feast and it's a long way and they have to have money for it. They can't take all their animals with them; they're going to have to do something differently. They can't take all their herds and flocks and everything with them, and all their corn, all the things they're going to consume if they stay home, so that you are not able to carry the tithe, or if the place where the LORD your God chooses to put His name is too far from you... It's a long way and it's a different location than where you normally dwell. It's not in your town, for example. ...when the LORD your God has blessed you, we've been blessed, we've had all this physical blessings and we're having all these spiritual blessings during the year, but the Feast site is a long way away, then you shall exchange, or turn it into money, you exchange it for money, turn it into cash, take the money in your hand, and go to the place which the LORD your God chooses. So it is a commanded assembly where able, if we're able to. If we have the money or we've got assistance we should do it. We should strive to do it. But not everybody can because of age, because of health, or other reasons that may impact the reason why a person can't come here. But everyone's desire is to attend the Feast, to come before God to hear what God has for us, to learn to fear God and to rejoice.

Verse 26—And you shall spend the money for whatever your heart desires. That has to be within the law, within the words of God, because we can't go off and just say, "Oh, my desire is to go and eat pork." Well, that's not within the law. It's not within God's word. What are the things that people should do in rejoicing? This is on a physical level. We are to eat things that we desire to eat. Now, everybody's different. There's no right or wrong as long as it's clean and within God's word. One person may like chicken. Another person may like beef. Another person may like a bowl of vegetables. It's up to them. It's up to what they desire, but this is an opportunity to truly consume things that normally we wouldn't have the money for, things that are a little bit different, for example, maybe a special restaurant during one of the nights of the Feast or on one of the High Days, one of those things where we could go out and just do something special, just even that one night, something special, what our heart desires, something that's unique and different that will help us to rejoice on a physical level. ...for oxen or sheep, for wine or similar drink, we've had lots of sermons about that and lots of direction. And of course, everything is in moderation in these things. So it might be a special wine that we have. We may have a glass of something that is quite unique, something that we couldn't normally afford, but done in moderation. Or similar drink. It could be a whiskey with coke or whiskey with something else that normally we wouldn't drink it, but, yes, I'm going to have that. Or a small glass of champagne, for example. They're the things where everyone is different, everyone has a different thing. It could just simply be just some other alcoholic drink that we can't afford normally.

...for whatever your heart desires. So whatever our thinking would like to do, all within the bounds of God's law. You shall eat there before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household. What's the household? Here it was talking about physical household. What's our household, brethren? It's members of the Body of Christ. We should share. We should rejoice together. We should enjoy this time of fellowship, true fellowship. "Your household." We are brothers and sisters. We are begotten sons and daughters of God. We belong to God. We have God's holy spirit living and dwelling in us. So let's rejoice together as a household. Let's share! Let's share in fellowship. Let's share our time together. This is not a time to pull back and to be conservative in the sense of fellowship. No, we should strive to have fellowship with one another.

Now, there are various activities that we can share time together, and there are other events that may take place where we can share together. It may be two or three people together at a meal. It may be more. It may be an organized activity. The most important point is that we rejoice on a spiritual level as much as a physical level, and we're to share it together, this sharing, this fellowship together as a household, as members of the Body of Christ, the Church of God.

Now, the word "rejoice" there that we've just looked at is actually, the word means, "to brighten up or cheer up, be glad." We are to rejoice physically and spiritually. We're to brighten up physically. We're to cheer up physically, and we're to be glad physically. Spiritually we're to brighten up. We're to take on board what God is giving us, spiritual food, brighten up, take on more of God's thinking, to cheer up, to be positive about what God is doing. God is feeding us. We are to dine with Him spiritually, to be glad, to rejoice spiritually, which is to be thankful to God. So to be thankful to God is to rejoice. When we rejoice spiritually we become thankful to God for what He is doing in us and for us.

Psalms 63:1-11—This Psalm is about joy in fellowship with God. Verse 1—O God, You are my God. Early I will seek You; My life thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You. So these are desires that are within a person that has been called by God. It's about a desire to know God and have His thinking, His mind dwell in us. Because here it is, "I rise early to seek you." We put God first in our life, therefore, the first thing that we will do is have communication with God. "Early I will seek you." So early in every situation we turn to God, we seek God in all things. "My life," the way we live our life, "thirsts for you." We want God's thinking. We want God's answer to matters in our life. "My flesh longs for you." Now, this is about a desire to have this relationship with God, which is to have fellowship with God.

In a dry and thirsty land where there is no water, because it's about this world. The world is "a dry and thirsty land where there is no water," no spirit of God in the world. God's spirit is in His people. God's spirit is in the Church of God. God's spirit is not in the world. God is not living and dwelling in mankind within the world. No, person has to be called out from the world. They have to be called out of "the dry and thirsty land where there is no water." Water is symbolic of God's holy spirit. So we have to be called out of "the dry and thirsty land," out of the darkness of the world where there is no water, where there is no spirit, God's spirit in it. We have to be called out of that. Then we are placed in the Body of Christ where there is water, where God's spirit is.

Verse 2—So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, in the temple. Well, the temple of God, which we are! Because we, brethren, carry God's spirit. God's desire is to live and dwell in us. Good works can only be done in a person through God's spirit, because it's God doing the works. We have to yield to it. Of and by ourselves, our selfishness, we cannot do good works. It's absolutely impossible. So, "I have looked for You in the sanctuary," in the temple where we are. We can see God's power and glory in us! We can see it in us if we are yielding to God's spirit. So here it is, David is saying, "I have looked for you in the sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory. Now, we should be able to see God's power and His glory in us, brethren, because we are the temple of God, and therefore, we should see God's power in us. We should know, by the power of God's holy spirit, that we are selfish and carnal. And it's only by God's power and His glory – all the credit's got to be given to Him for all the works that He has done in us, in the transformation of the mind that has taken place in us. In the fact that we can rejoice spiritually, well, that's God's power. If we are rejoicing before God, if we are learning to fear God, and if we are in fellowship with God and with one another, that is all done by God's power, and all the credit and all the glory has to be given to Him from where it all has generated. Because He is the origin of all these things. God is the origin of all of these things that we do. It is God in us that is doing the works, therefore, God should be given the glory for achieving it in us. How thankful we should be! Why should we rejoice? Why should we be thankful? Why should we learn to fear God? Well, because all the glory has to be given to Him because he is doing all these things in and through us. He has called us to achieve His will in our life. Incredible things that God has done for us.

Because Your loving kindness is better than life, my lips will praise You. So here it is, David is saying because of God's great mercy that He has given, this mercy that He's given, which is a calling, is better than physical life itself, and therefore, he will praise God, he will give all the credit to Him, he'll rejoice with thanksgiving to God for the calling that He has been given because of the opportunity he now has of fellowship with God and with God's called out ones.

Verse 4—Thus I will bless (praise) You while I live. While I have life and the opportunity to do so, we should worship God. While we have life and the opportunity at this Feast to worship God, to praise God, we should do it, brethren. This is the time, the fifteenth day of the seventh month of this particular year in God's calendar, we should now take this opportunity to rejoice before God with thanksgiving, to praise God while we are alive physically – more importantly, while we are alive spiritually. While we have this true fellowship with God now, we should take this opportunity here and now during these seven days and the eighth day to truly praise God, to reflect our appreciation for the things God has done with us, for the fellowship we can have with Him, for the fellowship we can have with one another powered by God's holy spirit.

I will lift up my hands in Your name. Prayer is fellowship. Prayer is fellowship. So we, brethren, need to take this opportunity during this Feast to pray to God, to have a relationship with God, to express our appreciation for everything He has given us physically and spiritually. "I will lift my hands in Your name." We will pray to God and show our appreciation during this Feast.

Verse 5—My life shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, which is the abundance of physical food, but here it is about the abundance of spiritual food. "My life," my spiritual life only exists because of the fact that God has called us and He has provided us an abundance of spiritual food, truth. And my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips, because he's going to show appreciation for his calling and the fact that God is continually providing spiritual food that keeps us alive, alive spiritually.

When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You, so he thinks about God and God's greatness. He meditates, he thinks about his calling. He shows appreciation to God for what God is doing. He's giving all credit to God, saying, "I will remember you on my bed. I will meditate on you in the night watches." Why? Because You have been my help, therefore, in the shadow of Your wings I will rejoice. Because this protection that he had been given was physical, and he's saying, "You, God, have intervened into my life on a physical level, therefore, 'in the shadow of Your wings,' underneath Your word, under Your protection," like a bird covers it's chicks with its wings, "I will rejoice," because he's protected on a physical level. Spiritually? "Because You are my help," "You have been my help." Well, how's that apply to us? Because we've been called. God is helping us to the path of salvation. God is guiding us on the path of salvation. God is protecting us spiritually from the evil that exists in this world. He's protecting us because He's called us and transforming our mind. We are the clay, He is the potter, therefore, "in the shadow of Your (God's) wings, I will rejoice," because of this protection, because we're part of the Church of God, because we have God's holy spirit, we are God's dwelling place, we are the temple of God, "I will rejoice." We will rejoice, brethren, because of the protection God is giving us.

If we are celebrating this Feast, no matter where we are, on the fifteenth day of the seventh month of this year in God's calendar, we should rejoice, because we have been protected to the degree that we can have fellowship with God and with one another. And this is a marvelous and wonderful thing, brethren, that God is allowing this to take place this year. With only a short time to the return of Jesus Christ and the establishment of the Kingdom of God on this earth, this should be the best Feast ever. This should be the greatest time of learning on a spiritual level, learning about ourselves, learning about the thinking of God, and above all things, this is the year over these seven days and on the eighth day to truly rejoice spiritually with thanksgiving, with the joy of our lips, to express the appreciation to God.

Now, this will not be the best Feast if we neglect our calling. We've been called to attend this Feast, spiritually, no matter where we are. We've been called to be protected because God is protecting us spiritually. We've been called and placed in the Body of Christ for the purpose of true fellowship with God and true fellowship with one another, all on a spiritual level. Well, we, brethren should take this time during these days to truly rejoice.

Verse 8—My life follows close behind You. Here it is, he's saying that he's desiring to be at one or in unity with God's thinking. "My life," the way I live, "follows close behind You," because whatever God directs, wherever God is leading us through the Church, through the truth, through an apostle, we will follow it. This is what we do. We follow Jesus Christ because He has the thinking of God. Well, our desire is to follow God, and to follow God means we stay in fellowship with God and fellowship with one another, we are in fellowship with the Church, the Church of God, the Church of God—PKG. Your right hand upholds me. It's God's power, it's His holy spirit that is our strength. We have no strength of and by ourselves. It is God's power, God's holy spirit living and dwelling in us that holds us, that keeps us in the truth, because we need God's spirit to have a relationship with God, to be in fellowship with God.

Verse 9—But those who seek my life, to destroy it, shall go into the lower parts of the earth. Well, he's talking about physically here about that those that sought to destroy him that they would die, they'd "go into the lower parts of the earth." Well, for us, brethren, "But those who seek my life," Satan and the demons seek our spiritual life. They seek to destroy us through sin. "The wages of sin is death." Well, those that seek to destroy us, at some point in time soon, at the end of 7,100-years "shall go into the lower parts of the earth," which is death. They will have death. They'll have no consciousness, no thinking ability forever. Death, eternal death, it'll last forever.

Verse 10—They shall fall by the sword. What's the sword? God's word. God's word is the sword. So whatever God has said, what He has planned, God's word, the sword, His word will be achieved. So what God has stated will happen. "They shall fall by the sword." "They shall fall by the word of God," what He has declared. They shall be a portion (prey) of jackals, which is to be destroyed.

Verse 11—But the king (David, himself) shall rejoice in God. Everyone who swears, commits to, by Him shall glory, but the mouth of those who speak lies, those who do not repent, shall be stopped, which is by a second death. "But the king (David) shall rejoice in God." Well, brethren, we can rejoice in God, because God has said the 144,000 will be kings and priests of God. Well, they can rejoice in God. Well, all of us, brethren, can rejoice in God, because one day we will enter Elohim, at some point in time if we endure to the end. "Everyone who swears (commits) to Him (by Him) shall glory," shall give praises to God, "but the mouth of those who speak lies," those who refuse to repent, "shall be stopped." They will face the second death. There is an end to those that do not wish to yield to God.

2 Corinthians 6:14—This is a scripture that's talking about being separate and being holy, which is to be separate. Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. Now, this is talking about a relationship with the world and about a way of thinking. Now, to be "unequally yoked," which means "to think differently," because one person thinks this way, righteousness, and the other person thinks selfishly, which is selfishness. So "don't be unequally yoked with unbelievers," don't be joined with the way of thinking of someone that doesn't believe God. We believe God. They don't believe God. So don't have a relationship with the world. It's about a way of thinking. For what fellowship (what relationship) has righteousness, God's thinking, the way God is, with lawlessness (with sin)? So, what relationship, what fellowship, what connection has righteousness, God's way of thinking, God's way of living, with falsehood, with Satan's way of thinking, with man's way of thinking of selfishness, with sin? None. And what communion, what fellowship or what relationship, what sharing has light, which is the truth, with darkness, with error, with sin? None at all. So it's talking about two different ways of thinking. So we're not to be yoked to, not to be connected to with the way of thinking of selfishness, Satan's way of thinking, and we're not to have a relationship with Satan's way of thinking. We're not to have any fellowship or connection to this false way of thinking – satanic or selfish thinking. We're not to have a connection with darkness, which is sin, which is error.

Verse 15—And what accord, what union, has Christ with Belial? Well, it's the question. They have no relationship, therefore, they cannot share. Well, this is just like us. Christ has no connection with Satan's thinking, none whatsoever. There is no union. There is no relationship. There is no fellowship. We can only have true fellowship if we have God's spirit. We're either thinking selfishly or we're thinking like God. So, like us, brethren, we cannot share the truth we have been given from God with others, as they do not have a spiritual relationship with God, and therefore, we cannot have a spiritual relationship with one another. We cannot have fellowship with the world. We can't communicate with the world. And God is saying we're not to, we're not to be yoked to man's way of thinking, their attitudes. We're not to have that relationship. We're not to be connected to it. We're not to have a union with it because we'll be thinking sin, we'll be thinking error.

We're to have a relationship with God all powered by God's holy spirit, but we can have true fellowship here at the Feast with God and one another. Isn't this a marvelous thing? We, brethren, at this Feast, can have true fellowship with God and with one another because it's powered by God's holy spirit. So we're not to be yoked or connected to the world, at the Feast in particular, we are to be connected to one another. We are members of the Body of Christ. We are begotten sons of God! We are family! We are family. We are here to rejoice. We are here to have true fellowship with one another because it's all based on God's holy spirit. It's the way we think towards others; it's the way we think towards one another. We think love to one another. We share. We share in relationships. We don't judge one another. We don't pull each other down. We build each other up! We are motivated and excited by God's presence at this Feast!

Continuing on, verse 15—Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? None. None, whatsoever! "Two cannot walk together unless they are agreed." So we are believers of God. We cannot have a true relationship with an unbeliever. This is a time to have a relationship with one another, those that believe God, those that have been called to believe God.

Verse 16—And what agreement has the temple of God, us, members of the Body, begotten sons, "which temple we are," says scripture. We are God's people. We have God living and dwelling in us. So, What agreement, what union, what fellowship, has the temple of God, God's people where God dwells, with idols, with anything that is false, with sin? None, whatsoever. There is no agreement. There is no relationship. There is no fellowship with something that is false. God and falsehood cannot be connected. They are separate. They are apart. They are not yoked. They are not joined at all. For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: I (God) will dwell in them, and walk among them. Now, this is true fellowship. Where God walks in His people, that is true fellowship. I (God) will be their God, and they shall be My people. We are God's people.

We have come together on this Feast, the first day of the Feast, for the purpose of true fellowship, to rejoice, to learn to fear God.  Therefore (verse 17), Therefore, come out from among them and be separate. Well, that's exactly what we have done, brethren. According to God's command at this Feast, we are coming out of the world and we're going to continue to do so. And as we fellowship with one another we will be separate because we think differently. "Come out from among them (the world and that way of thinking, that bondage, that way of thinking), and be separate." Well, what makes us separate? God's holy spirit makes us separate, says the Eternal, think differently powered by God's holy spirit.

Do not touch what is unclean, do not handle sin because sin is unclean. Righteousness, God, is clean, His way of thinking). So we should handle what is clean, what God is giving to us at this Feast. Do not handle sin, but be repentant. Do not touch what is unclean. Don't handle sin, and if we have handled it, repent and think differently. And I will receive you. God will receive us because we are repentant. God is desiring a relationship. God is desiring true fellowship with us.

Verse 18—I will be a Father to you, God will nurture us, look after us, do what is best for us on a spiritual level, and you shall be My sons and daughters, begotten sons, heirs of a promise, says the LORD Almighty (Yahweh Elohim). God says that we are His sons. We are begotten sons. We are heirs of a promise.

So during this Feast let's come out of the world's way of thinking. Let's have true fellowship with one another.

We are here to rejoice physically, but more importantly, spiritually before God. We are here to learn from God and to express to God our thankfulness for His mercy to us, which is all based on a calling. God could have called many of other people, but God called us. And God called us to come on this particular day, the first day of the Feast, to worship Him, to learn to fear Him, and to rejoice before Him with thankfulness.

During these eight days we can spend time with our spiritual family in true fellowship. We cannot have this fellowship in the world. So once the Feast is over and we go back to our own homes, unless there's a member of the Body of Christ there, we are not having true fellowship, we're not sharing. We can't share because we think differently.

Today, at this Feast, we can rejoice with and in each other before God. We can share with one another. How? By living God's way towards others in the Body of Christ, by thinking righteousness towards each other. We can rejoice before God and learn to fear Him, to be in awe of Him, of the greatness of God, for the fact that He has called us. We can rejoice and we can learn of God and God's way of thinking. We can learn to live love to one another. Now, this starts in our thinking, the way we think towards each other powered by God's holy spirit, powered by righteousness.

What attitude we have over these next eight days is in our control. It's about the way we think. It's about taking on God's thinking and implementing it into our life. So what attitudes we have over these next eight days is in our control. Let us be thankful and choose to rejoice by yielding to the power of God's holy spirit in our life. Let this Feast be a time of rejoicing in true fellowship!

I hope, brethren, that at the end of this Feast we can say this was the best Feast ever because we followed the instructions that God has given us for this day, in rejoicing, in learning to fear God, and having true fellowship with God and true fellowship with one another.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1