Be Encouraged, Pt. 7

Ron Weinland

December 17, 2016

Today will be the final installment of the sermon series entitled, Be Encouraged, with this being Part 7.

And as it was mentioned in the last segment of this series God's desire for us is that we indeed be encouraged that we are so blessed to still be here in the Body of Christ, in God's Church, especially after we think about all the battles and the spiritual warfare that we've been through. We have been through a lot in God's Church and it is no small thing to think upon this. That's why we've had a seven part sermon series to discuss some of this, so that we can focus upon the importance of our being encouraged that we're here.

There are a lot of people who've gone by the wayside through time. Since the Church began in 31 A.D. so many have been called, so many in the world have been called throughout different parts of the Middle East and then on up into parts of Asia and Europe, and as things began to expand in the world, especially as Israel, some of the tribes of Israel began to expand into different regions, like here in the United States and Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and so forth; it's incredible what's taken place. And sometimes it's difficult for us to grasp what God says, when Christ said, when he said it over and over, "Many are called," many have been called, "but few chosen." Few! And we understand that to a degree and in a depth that we haven't in times past. We haven't grasped the magnitude of that. We haven't really understood that to the depth and level that it is. And it's an awesome thing when you really grasp that.

He meant what he said, many, many, far more than what have been chosen to be able to participate, to be able to become a part, to be able to continue on, a process of transformation to be a part of the 144,000, because, candidly, in the first 2,000 years that's the primary focus. Only at the end-time has that changed somewhat. And then there are very few who really have at this point in time, as of today, as an example, the opportunity to have been called – not for the purpose of being a part of that government when Jesus Christ returns, but a part of the Church that continues on into the Millennium, and really the backbone, in a sense, or the foundation (maybe is a better way of saying that), because that's going to grow and change so rapidly once it takes place. But you've had the opportunity to be refined in this age, in Satan's world. This is still Satan's time, and the demonic world that is around us, that won't be there during the Millennium.

I marvel at that because people in the Millennium aren't going to have to go through the kinds of things that you have over the past several years. And so, so many of you who have been called during that period of time, from 2006, 2007, and especially the latter part of 2007 and 8 onward, those who are able to participate with a Body, a remnant of God's Church from the Apostasy, you are exceedingly blessed! You need to embrace that! You need to grasp that! You need to think about that, how blessed you are! Very few have such an opportunity. And there is a training and a refining in that process that people in the Millennium will not be able to have! I hope we understand that. They can't have that! They can't have the same experiences you do! And because of that they're not going to be able to have the same kind of refining in the same kinds of battles in the same kinds of experiences that you have. Your experiences are incredibly unique to you!

And Satan's not around and demons not around. The people called later on aren't going to experience those kinds of battles. They're not going to experience the same kinds of things.

I think of something I read here, I believe it was in one of the reports that just came in, monthly reports in the ministry where someone was talking (maybe it'll come to me here), but that we receive quite a few of those each month, but some were talking about the Apostasy. Ah, yes. And part of the conversation was, in essence, it's really difficult for some to understand how the Apostasy could have happened. Now, we're talking about individuals who have been called since the Apostasy, obviously. But if you went through it you know how it happened. There are things that are embedded in you. There are things in your mind and in your being that could be there by no other means. What an awesome thing! Every one of you who has experienced the Apostasy, witness of that time period of what happened to God's Church, that's an incredible thing. That really is! When you think about it, that is an incredible thing to have experienced. And the reality then that you are still here! That you have gone through different battles since that time, and the fact that you are here is awesome! It truly is!

And so the very fact of those who have lived through that who are part of the Church… the previous 2,000 years nearly, and people not having that kind of experience, really wouldn't understand if they were alive in a physical body. They're going to be spirit so they're going to grasp things in a way that can't be grasped until you are spirit. But if it were going back in time and they were to hear about something like that, knew it verbatim what took place, they would have a hard time understanding. Those in the early Church would have a difficult time  understanding how an Apostasy of the kind of magnitude and the size the Church was, to understand how that could have happened. But when you experience something it's a lot different.

So the Millennium, that's going to be so incredible, so unique. But those of you who have opportunity now to experience things, to learn things, to have hardships and trials because of a spirit world and because of a being out there that truly still wants to destroy God's Church and attacks it over and over and over and over and over again. He doesn't quit. He's not going to quit until he is stopped. He's not going to stop his pursuit at any point in time until he's not able to do so any longer. And the same with those who follow him, a distorted demonic world that's out there of beings, angelic beings that chose a long time ago to listen to him rather than God.

And so the fact that you're here, I can't say it strong enough to help you to grasp and comprehend what this seven part series has been about. It's between you and God. It's between your relationship with God and what He can give you on a spiritual plane. But it's most awesome. It truly is. And I know you can't grasp it all because of where you are, because of how long your experience has been. That's just the way it is in God's Church. But embrace what you can grasp and ask God to help you to grasp more. Ask God! Ask God to help you be able to drink in this message, and some of these things have been repeated now. This will be the seventh time some of this has been stated. And the reason is, is because God is offering us an opportunity to focus on something that is exceedingly important to Him and to His Son Jesus Christ, and He wants us to grasp the magnitude of it all. That's why we're going through this and discussing it in such detail and repeating certain things over and over again. And thankfully with some sermons interspersed. You know why that's effective and powerful? Because with a week or two here and there, there is that which settles in your mind, in your being, you're able to think about, you're able to pray about, and then when it comes back again you're able to build upon it more. More and more and more depending on what each of us individually puts into it.

So what an awesome thing, though we be small. It doesn't matter how small we are. But the fact that we're here, that's what's important. The fact that we're in the Body, that's what's important. The fact that you've gone through the various trials that you have that are brought out in this book, that's awesome. Because no Church era in the seven Church eras ever experienced what you have been blessed to experience. Because what you have been blessed to experience has worked to mold and fashion things within you that could be molded and fashioned in absolutely no other way – and all by design and for a purpose. I hope we grasp that. Every era of God's Church had great purpose, for great lessons, and for those who went through and experienced those things a molding and fashioning that was unique to them that God will use in His temple. And what is being offered to you is unique to you, not offered to very many, that has a place in God's temple after the 1,000 years. And it is far more awesome than you can begin to grasp and comprehend. So it's a matter of faith. It's a matter of belief and understanding how God works with us and what He shares with us.

And so as with each segment of this series there are some things that have been stated over and over again, some specific areas of focus that have been mentioned that we're going to look at again. So we have been consistently reminded of what God told the Israelites just before they were to enter the physical promised land after being in the wilderness for nearly forty years after leaving Egypt. And it's contained in the book of Deuteronomy, which is the second giving of the law. They were reminded again before they went into the promised land of God's law, of what He gave to them beginning with Mount Sinai on. And then brings it back to them again, reminding them of so many things that are so powerful and so important – not as much for them as for us. Because they didn't have God's spirit.

Deuteronomy 31:6, I'll just read it to you again: Be strong and of good courage; those things come from God. God is the source. It's not something you can work up on your own. …and do not fear nor be afraid of them, of anything, whatever that might be. For them it was unique because of where they were going and what they were going to face. Put that on a spiritual plane. What is it you face? What is it that's before you day in and day out? What is it that sometimes people fear? I hear from different ones, again, even from elders, that talk about a fear, a healthy fear of going astray, of turning. That's a good fear to have. Because in one of the sermons I'm going to be giving shortly I'm going to cover some of the things we covered at the ministerial meetings. And it is astounding – astounding – some of the statistics of the ministry and what has taken place in the Church of God—PKG. And that should sober everyone when they hear those things. It's quite dumbfounding.

So do not fear. So if we are doing what we should be doing, if we're striving to be on fire, if we're striving to get behind this thing, whatever it is that God does at any moment in time, if we're striving to do what we need to do and pushing forward, striving to move forward as Mr. Armstrong used to talk about, as though you're doing it yourself because you're putting so much into it, you're striving yourself, but understanding all the while it's accomplished because of God, because of what He can give to you, because of what He will give to you, the strength and the power, the courage (as it talks about here), the strength to do the things that you need to do. Because the reality is without God you can't do it and you can't make it and you won't make it through this!

I had very sobering talk there with the ministers at that meeting. Is everyone in the ministry going to make it to the end? Is everyone in the Church going to make it to the end? And the reality is, the answer is absolutely NO! NO! Now, that's sobering! And I know that –and I have a history that I can look at that tells me the truth of how people have responded to God's spirit through time, and especially since the Apostasy. It is a history to go by. Every year! And just because this is still a point in time of the temple being cleansed, God has also brought me back to let everyone know that that process has not ended, that it's going to continue on until this is finished. And the reality is this is stronger than ever before in God's Church because of a truth, because of a reality that's unique to us – the coming of Jesus Christ and the condition that God's Church will be in, and the reality that there is no one in the courtyard that's going to be allowed to be there to live at the return of Jesus Christ. When God has given such opportunity and blessings to be a part of something so incredibly great at the end of an age, just before the coming of His Son, which is the most momentous thing that has ever, ever, ever happened in all of God's creation in time. And we get to see it. We do! If we fight. If we continue to move forward. If we continue to remain faithful. If we continue to seek to hold fast what God has given to us. If we strive with all of our being to be watchful and to be spiritually alert, crying out to God every day that His spirit continue to dwell in us and never leave us. That should be something that is so deeply embedded in us, that if there is nothing else prayed about that better be prayed about every single day. "I need Your spirit in me to move forward, to live right." We know we can't do it on our own.

And so if we do those things we have nothing to fear. Now, I understand the healthy fear that moves and motivates us to a reality that we will pray every day, that we will be watchful every day, to be alert spiritually every day. And that's good. But any fear above and beyond that should never be there. But to have boldness, confidence (confidence!), to be encouraged, to be strong in God. God is our high tower. God is our fortress. God is our strength, our might in everything we seek to do if He dwells within us, if His Son dwells  within us and we in him. Awesome!

…nor be afraid of them, for the Eternal, the Almighty Self-Existing, Self-Sustaining Eternal God, for the Eternal your God, He it is who goes with you. He will not fail you nor forsake you. What an awesome thing to believe! What an awesome thing to know! What an incredible thing, if we will do our part, if we will seek God He'll never leave us. It's what we do. It's what we do if we leave God.

And so I'm sobered. I'm sobered by the meeting that we had. I'm sobered by the statistics that happened within the ministry of the Church of God—PKG. I'm dumbfounded by it, and I think, "What did you give up? Do you not…" Well, you can't grasp. When people go astray, when they begin to let down, when they no longer fight the fight, when they let jealousy or envy or sex or lusts or pride or whatever it is enter into their life, into their being, into their mind and they start going astray and start getting cut off from God's spirit and are not watching and being spiritually alert, not living by faith any longer day by day by day they go by the wayside. They go by the wayside. And this stuff just keeps happening! It just keeps happening!

And there is nothing secret. God brings it out. God will manifest it in this age. God will manifest it. He knew what Ananias and Sapphira did and He dealt with it as a warning that we never lie to God, that we not lie to God's spirit, that we not lie to God's Church, that we not lie to God's apostles, that we not lie, period. For if we do, just like Deuteronomy says, choose life. Choose life! And if you do you make certain choices. And if you don't, well, then you've chosen the other. And people still do that.

People are still getting suspended. People are still getting disfellowshipped. Happening on a regular basis. It's happened since the ministerial meetings. It's happened many times since the Feast of Tabernacles already. Now, at this rate, if it were to continue on to the next Feast of Tabernacles you can just about cut this whole audience in half, if it keeps up at this rate around the world. Does that cause you to have a soberness in thinking, in mind, to realize the battles are out here?

Do we not know the being that doesn't want us to succeed? Do we not grasp that we are in a final stretch? And just like in a marathon or… I only need a mile. Well, I can't even do that today. Whatever the race might be, that at the end if you're really running and if you're really throwing yourself into it that last part, that's the greatest battle of all because it's of the mind. And that's where we are spiritually. It's in the mind. And that's what God's revealing to us, the importance of our mind and how we think and what we're doing and what we must strive to accomplish and do even more so.

So we may have Part 8 if I keep this up. No, we're going to get through it, I'm certain of it, even if I cut some short today.

But it's sobering to me. And some of the reasoning and some of the thinking that people use when they come to the point of suspension or disfellowshipment? So blind! So blind. Have become so blind to certain things in themselves. So blind to sound reasoning. You know, only God can give you truly sound reasoning, sound. And so I know there's going to be more that happens and I know that the rate will slow down as we continue on here. But it's sobering, and it should be sobering. We always have choices to make. And you have to be determined – should have been from the day you were baptized, that you're going to continue to fight the fight, that your life is not your own – your life is not your own to love and pamper self and to take care of self first. That's not what it's about. Self is not first! You're to conquer self. You're to learn to conquer and overcome self being first. God Almighty is to be first! Jesus Christ and God Almighty are to be first! And God's Church is to be first! I've known of different ones who have gone by the wayside. I know of one individual who was given great opportunity in God's Church and he had this battle – the Church not being first, but family was first; so he said, in essence. No, it isn't.

Each person begins with themselves as being a family. Even if you're by yourself, single, you are a family unit, okay? Now, you can add to that unit. As time goes along people can add to it and a family unit can become larger, but everything begins with self. Just like the scripture that says if someone, in essence, does not provide for themselves, provide for their family, in essence, but it really is about themselves, starting first of all with that first family unit, they're worse than a non-believer. So God expects us to be able to be productive. And the reality is that God will bless us in that. God will give us favor in that. He called us to succeed and to do well and to work hard. That doesn't mean you're not going to have battles, whoever you are, whatever's happening in your life, but God will see you through, God will bring you through, God will give you favor. Maybe just enough to get by. Maybe just enough to barely get by. But therein is the struggle and therein are the lessons to be learned in life. And what is the greatest He's given? Is it the physical aspect of it?

We have to come to the point where we recognize it's the spiritual that is the most important. It's the spiritual of what God gives to us that is the most important indeed. And we have to cling on to that with all of our being, with every bit of our might, because "I" belong to God and Jesus Christ. "I" do not belong to myself. I cannot live my life the way I choose to as a human being apart from the Church of God, nor would I want to, obviously, at this point in my life. But even in the beginning, my life was God from the moment I was baptized. You have to have a conviction in that. And if you haven't developed that conviction you have to cry out to God, "Help me to have that kind of conviction to where You are first in my life! To where I am not putting myself first. I cannot afford to put myself first, because in the day that I do, I am gone. I am cut off from Your holy spirit." And so we battle with that as human beings. But the more that conviction is within you at the beginning or at some moment in time and you come to a deeper point of conviction in your life, of a point in life where you come to a deeper sense of choice and conversion, because that's what it is. And those things have to be in us. And no one else can make the choice. No one else can make that choice for you. It's your choice.

So I get tired of making those decisions – suspension, disfellowshipment – whatever it might be. I don't like doing it. It's the worst part of my job. But then I know it's necessary and so I'll do it. I'll do it no matter what, no matter who, because it's about God and it's about Jesus Christ. And we have to want this way and be in unity and oneness with the Body of Christ.

So, "the Eternal your God, He it is who goes with you," if you're striving to obey Him, if you're striving to put Him first. Not someone else. Not someone else you get pulled away with, commit fornication with and a baby comes into the world and you think that somehow you must be justified or you have some right to disobey God's laws and God's way of life, to do something of that measure, of that nature. Where is the thinking in that? To live together? To  live with someone out of wedlock in God's Church? You think that's going to happen on my watch if I know about it? Absolutely not! And I have a watch. Blows my mind how people can think in that way. How can anyone think that way?

What are you doing? Are you doing anything that you shouldn't be doing, that God isn't first? What are you monkeying around with, if you are, that you need to stop right now today? Because I'll tell you, there are some things out here if you don't stop it's going to come out soon. It's just the way…. God Almighty is powerful. And if He did to Ananias and Sapphira what He did like that do you think He's incapable of doing that with any one of us at any moment in time? He's all mighty, all powerful. He knows everything that's going on. Nobody hides anything from God. Adam and Eve tried to do it! They tried to walk around the trees, amongst the greenery in the garden, "Maybe He won't see us. Maybe we won't run into Him." Duh! But that's how we deceive ourselves as human beings. It's like we're going to get by with it. Not in God's Church! Nobody gets by with anything because it's God's Church! It's God's Church!

So if there is repentance that people need to do in their lives, please don't monkey around. Please repent and get your life right! I don't care what you've done. You may pay a price for a while. You may get suspended for a while. But if your spirit is right and you desire to be right with God, God will work with you. But if you lie? And if you don't do what God says and you just get weaker and weaker and it'll come to a point of being disfellowshipped. But you do it to yourself as human beings. That's what happens.

I think, when will it stop? When will it stop? When will the betrayals and the knife in the back stop. Because every time something like that happens I have a knife in my back as God's apostle. I'll just be honest with you. That's the way it feels. And sometimes it twists. You pour your heart out. You pour your life out. And it's not me. I'm just saying that as a part of in between. It's toward God. It's toward Jesus Christ. It's toward the beating he received. Beaten so badly, flogged so badly, skin was ripped off his face and off of his head! Beaten so badly that no one could  recognize him for who he was. He wasn't recognizable. If you saw a picture you'd say, "No, that's not him." They didn't have those pictures then. I'm sure they didn't even have any paintings.

But anyway, what a horrible thing to do on a spiritual plane to the one who's given us everything, every opportunity to become a part of God's Family. We turn our back on him. We stab him in the back. We beat him. We are guilty then of being a part of the same individuals who ripped the skin off of his flesh – that's what you do on a spiritual plane – and caused his blood then to be spilled to the earth. We're guilty. We become guilty of it again. We were guilty before baptism and we become guilty again if we take lightly those things and let down and begin to go astray.

Think, how can human being do that? How can we have an Apostasy? Well, it happens because we have human nature. And we tend to be exceedingly (exceedingly!) selfish and put self first. That is your greatest battle – against self. If you don't know that, if that isn't up there at the top of your list you need to do a little revising… a little revising. Because your battle is yourself and how you think. And nobody thinks like God yet. Not completely, not fully in any fashion or form. We strive to. We can have that unity and harmony with God and He will give us more of that kind of a mind, but we're not there yet. And you'll never be there as a human being. You'll always have self to fight against no matter how long you've been in God's Church. There's where your primary battle is. See? And if you're fighting that one then the rest more easily fall into place because you understand God is first, not self, not self-interest, but God's. And we want to honor God Almighty and His Son Jesus Christ.

…He it is who goes with you. He will not fail you nor forsake you. We are the only ones who can forsake God. He will never forsake us. The choice is ours. Always has been, always will be. Awesome to know that, to understand that.

It also needs to be stated again that this verse has been consistently followed by mentioning the importance of the title of the sixth chapter of the latest book. It's entitled, “If You Will Listen… If You Will Listen… If You Will Hear…. If You Will Listen, God Will Listen.” What an awesome promise that God has given to us in His Church. What an awesome thing that God told the Israelites, but they didn't listen. And He knew they wouldn't and couldn't. But now it's going to be offered to the world, too. And that's an incredible thing to understand. And so there are physical things that happen, began on a physical plane and began to work toward a spiritual plane, but for us it's totally spiritual.

And along with all this covered this far, reading Deuteronomy 31 and also the title of the sixth chapter, it's also been repeated over and over concerning what is referenced in that section of Chapter 6 that's under the heading, “The Factor in Determining Christ's Return – The Church.” I'll tell you what, I love that. Because I "see" it and I understand it on a  plane that is so incredible. Because if we truly grasp it with all of our being, if we grasp the importance of God's Church to God this shouldn't be a surprise, this should be a given. But yet we're at different levels of really latching on to this and grasping the magnitude and the importance of what is stated there. Above and beyond the things of the world, above and beyond nations, God's focus is upon His Church. His focus is upon us. Everything He's doing, as a whole, on a spiritual plane is about us being transformed to become a part of His Family. And that is no small thing with God Almighty. It, frankly, goes so far above and beyond what we can grasp and comprehend. Even to grasp that and try to make some comparisons of things on a physical plane, we would be exceedingly hard pressed and we couldn't even come close to understanding His desire and His will and His love toward His Church.

So that should give you encouragement alone. You're not only here but the Great God of the universe loves you exceedingly so, above and beyond what you can grasp! He truly does. And we grow in that. We learn that as we grow, the love that God has to each and every one of us. That's something you grow in over time.

So again, it's a statement about the change that was being made concerning whether Christ would return on Pentecost 2012 or Pentecost 2019. And one more here, it's important to grasp this, what's stated in that first paragraph:

There is one factor in the midst of all this that would determine which date God would send His Son to rule in His Kingdom. That factor was the Church—His Church.

That's profound! Truly is!

So today we're going to pick up the flow of what we were covering in the sixth chapter by starting here with the last paragraph on page 256, if you want to find a place there. But again, we're just picking up a couple of those paragraphs just to get some of the context and the flow again. But starting there it says:

This test upon God’s Church in 2008 was actually far more important than we ever knew. It was of double importance in one sense because it was like two tests in one. Not only had truth been changed about a Holy Day, but now the timing for Christ’s return was also altered as a result, since it was now understood that he would not return on the day of Trumpets 2011, but on the day of Pentecost 2012. This was a mighty strong and telling test for God’s Church, as it would quickly and powerfully reveal the belief, conviction, and faith of every individual.

That's an awesome thing, the different things we go through from time to time. And that's why even here, in the context of some things, we went back to talk about Pentecost and how Mr. Armstrong had to address a particular change of whether it should be kept on a Monday or a Sunday, and came to understand that what had been observed for several decades previous to this was wrong. Because it wasn't his fault. It didn't take away from his job, his place, his… what God had… how God was using him. And yet people think that way. They thought about that back then! That's why so many left. That's why so many ministers went astray. "This can't be God's Church because he made a mistake!" No, God Almighty just didn't give it to him, fools! How ignorant that a minister who's gone through Ambassador College could go out there and come to that conclusion! You think, how dumb! Well, the point is it's not a matter of intellectual ability anyway, it's a matter of God's spirit.

And these individuals had already been going by the wayside. They'd been doing their own thing. They'd been teaching some of their own things. They had some of their own ideas that didn't agree with the Church anyway and that came out during those years and the years following, and some ideas of some people who wanted to go back. They wanted to go back to Sunday worship. So they used that as their excuse to finally make the change. Others had different reasons. They didn't agree with the government anyway so they wanted to start up and hope the Church might follow them. That was the motive. The Church might follow them because, "He's an old man and he's going to die anytime." You think, wow! You can think that way in God's church? Well, if you get far enough out in left field because you're not watching and being spiritual alert you can do those things. Those things can happen in people's minds.

They can come to a point in time where they think they're a prophet and that God's apostle should recognize them as a prophet, and if I don't recognize them as a prophet something must be wrong with God's apostle.

Incredible! Incredible, what the human mind can do when it begins to be cut off from the flow of God's spirit. And we don't realize as human beings what happens in God's Church when people do that. They open themselves up to a spirit realm that you don't want to mess with. When people let down on a spiritual plane they open themselves up to a… and especially in this end-time more so, to a spirit world that's out there just waiting. When it says, "Satan is a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour," it means what it says. They want to destroy. They want to pervert. They want to distort your thinking. They want to ruin your mind and your life. Incredible!

So again, pick it up here on page 257. I believe I finished that particular section there in the last paragraph. So again, what an incredible thing that we had a thought in our mind that it was going to be Trumpets 2011, but even by mid-2008 God revealed to us that's not the way it's going to happen. Yes, there's a witness that starts in 2008 but you have the wrong ending, and therefore, the wrong beginning. We thought something had started in February and then God revealed to us, "No, there's more truth here. There's something you haven't seen. There's something you haven't known. And it's going to alter things a bit, just a bit. And it's going to try people a lot!" And it's the reality that Jesus Christ is not going to return on a Feast of Trumpets but on a Pentecost. And so it wasn't too hard then to figure out the next period of time. And then what an amazing thing when things fell into place as far as time periods that you can't… you can't… you can't make up, you can't work out. Page 257:

So indeed, God triggered a response that manifested the true spiritual condition of the Church, which could then be measured. It was then that God proceeded with His plan and purpose to create something far greater in His Church…

Now, that's a marvel if you "see" it, if you can see what God was doing that hasn't been done in times past. There's no one in Ephesus that went through something like this. There's no one in Pergamos. No one in Thyatira. Definitely no one in Sardis. And no one in Philadelphia or Laodicea that's ever experienced what this body has at the end of an age like this. And so what does that mean? Well, it's an opportunity. It's an incredible blessing to have something molded and fashioned within us on a spiritual plane that has never happened in like manner in times past. It's like progressive revelation. There's just more and more and more that God gives. And there's more and more that He does in His creation. It's His creation! And He's revealing more things as a result of what He's doing and how He's doing it. And that's going to become even more powerful then in the Millennium and the Great White Throne. So again:

It was then that God proceeded with His plan and purpose to create something far greater in His Church to a degree and in a way that had never been done before. And since the Church passed this test with resounding success, God would now not only move forward the timing for Christ’s coming from the Pentecost of 2012 to the Pentecost of 2019, but He would begin preparing the world to now have the potential for far greater numbers to be delivered into the Millennium.

Although God changed this timing, He did not reveal to the Church that He had done so. That in itself would become a primary tool God would use whereby He would continue an even greater spiritual creation within His Church.

Because it's about faith, those things we read earlier about faith, in Part 6 here, the segment six there, that sixth segment of this series, and how God works with us in that manner. And to come to see certain things and grasp certain things and to live by faith according to… God blesses that mightily and powerfully in our lives. As a matter of fact, we're counted righteous because of faith, through faith, how we live according to faith. It's not by how good we are. But indeed, we're to strive to become better in how we live our lives, more obedient to God so we're not cut off from the flow of His holy spirit. But it's what God does in us and what He gives to us because of how we live. And so we believe God, and therefore, we do it, and God attributes that to us for righteousness.

Because none of us are righteous. None of us are righteous. There is not a day out there that you can live a totally righteous life. You can't do it. Physically, you can do it, like Job did. Spiritually, you can't do it. You can't do it! And if you think different than that then you have something to address in your being about yourself, about your own mind and your own thinking, that your entire thinking is not right. My entire thinking is still being transformed and changed – so is yours – becoming more and more refined, better and better, yes. But righteousness comes through faith, because God attributes that to us because of how we choose to live our life, because of what we choose to hold on to and believe that He gives us to believe. Continuing on:

As a result, the Church experienced a molding and spiritual fashioning of faith and strength to a level where members were made to stand fast against Satan, the demonic world, and the world itself, regardless of what these would throw at it.

Now, there's another point not mentioned in all of this, in that respect, and that is self. That is where the  greatest battle is. But if we let down in various things some of these other things will come at us and that will make us weaker and pull us away. And so if we lose or pull back in that particular battle then these are the ones that will grab a hold of us. They do.

Then in Part 6 we went through several scriptures regarding the importance of faith that God molds and fashions within us. And I thought it'd be good just to review those in 1 Peter where we ended. Repetition, we're repeating. Some things have been repeated seven times now… seven times now. That says a lot. If we grasp that one alone that says a lot. If God uses seven sermons in a particular series to drive home certain points over and over and over again, how important do you believe that that is to God, that we hear, that we listen to what He said? It's powerful! It really is! If we can see it in that light it's going to be a great boost to us on a spiritual plane.

1 Peter 1:3—Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again unto a lively, or what it is in the Greek, a living hope. It's something that lives in us! What are some of the things you have hope about in life concerning God's way? Concerning the future? You still have hope of things to come. There's a hope that God helps to mold and fashion within you that can become stronger and stronger within you because of faith, because of what you believe. That's an awesome thing. (I wish I could think about what it was this morning I was going through and thinking about on this plane.) But things we have hope for and look forward to them being accomplished and fulfilled, especially in the time we live in and what's in front of us. But again, it's something that is alive! It's living! Because you live it day by day. It's something you live your life because of that hope, because of that so powerful in your mind, your desire for what God is offering you. And because of that it is alive. It is something that's living in you day by day by day.

So calling us, again, or has begotten us to a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, that's where it begins, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you. What God has promised God will deliver. It's with Him. What He's going to give as a result of what we do and how we live our lives, that's where it's reserved, it's reserved in heaven with God Almighty, and when the time comes He will give it to us, just as He will with the 144,000, just as He will with those who continue on into the Millennium, and then what that will accomplish later on at the end of the Millennium where your hope and your desire is, because you've chosen to live a way of life, you believe God. And so you live accordingly.

…undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God. It's not our own power! It's not our own ability! It's not our own righteousness! I've lived through a long period of time within God's Church when too many, including a lot of ministers, who felt and taught that it was by their own ability and power that they were able to do various – and gave lip service to various things that come from God, but the deep down real belief was it was what you had to do. "How long can you go without sinning?" Now, should you strive not to sin? Absolutely! "How long is your prayer?" "How long is your Bible study?" "How much time are you putting into it?" All in a context of things you can do on your own as though you're looking to yourself for the strength.

Now, indeed we should study, we should listen, we should hear, we should strive to grasp and understand what God gives to us. But there was a lack of understanding, or what was missing there, was a reality of a truth that it only comes by God Almighty and the fact that you live by faith. When I used to hear some of those sermons about how long do you have in Bible study I used to think, "Well, those poor people who lived for nearly 1,800 years before us who didn't have Bibles, who didn't have the ability to use a Strong's Concordance! How on earth did they make it? It must just be up to us now." I'm being facetious. That's not how they grew. Does that mean we shouldn't do it when we have the ability, you have more tools at your disposal? Well, more is given, more is expected, more is required, and so we should strive to accomplish more and do more because we have more. But to think that's what saves us? To think that somehow that's going to give us a measure of righteousness above and beyond others? That's how the 10 virgins used to be looked upon. There were some who were wise in the Church and there were some who weren't and they just weren't doing enough. I don't want to get into all that.

…who are kept by the power of God. That's how we're kept. It's God's power that keeps us. It's His spirit that gives us strength. It's His spirit that gives us the kind of encouragement and mind that we need to have to continue fighting what we fight. That's why we have to cry out to Him for His spirit, for Him and His Son to dwell in us day by day, to quickly repent of any kind of sins that we are aware of, that we come to see and know. Because we have plenty that are presumptuous sins that we don't even know about yet.

Every one of you has presumptuous sins in your life that you don't even know exist, because of self. Because we raise up self. And we don't even see them. And the only way you'll ever see them, the only way you'll ever come to understand it or grasp some of that or come to that point is that God reveals it to you. You'll always have sins that are presumptuous in nature in your life. Surprise! Surprise! Shouldn't be. We're human beings; we have carnal human nature. And by nature we are exceedingly selfish! And there are just times in your life you put self first that you don't even recognize it yet, and you'll never be able to recognize it unless or until God shows it. And God's not going to show you all those until the time you're actually changed or die. He can't. It's a growing process. And what He chooses to reveal to you, then you're going to have to deal with those things once He reveals it to you. I hope that makes good sense.

…who are kept by the power of God through faith. That is so powerful! That is so awesome to understand. Through faith God gives us the truth, the ability to believe it, to "see" it, and then it's up to us. It's up to us to choose it and to continue to want it and continue to cry out for ability to hold on to it and "see" it on a continuing basis. Because the ability to continue to "see" it is something that comes by God's spirit living in us on a continuous basis. Otherwise, we can lose it.

We've had a lot of people sitting in this very congregation, that would fill up the back here a whole lot more, who aren't here today because somewhere along the line they made choices, choices not to believe certain things, choices to believe about how God works in His Church, to understand how truth is given to God's Church. That every apostle God has ever called has continued as apostle and has never betrayed God Almighty, because God brought them to that point before they were ever given the responsibility and the job. That's something to live by faith by or not. That is a choice. There has never in the history of God's Church been an apostle or a prophet who has betrayed God Almighty. Because God never gave them those places until He was able to say to them, as He was to Abraham, "Now I know you." I've said a lot there. That's why some people try to compare the man of sin. He was never an apostle. He was never a prophet of God. He was never given that. Responsibility over the Church, to lead it? Yeah. And the only way it could be given at that point in time, so he said. A lot we don't know yet. One day it'll all come out, what truly happened.

…who are kept by the power of God through faith until salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. So it's a matter of faith. It's a matter of faith to believe what I just told you. It's a matter of faith. And if everyone who has ever been a part of God's Church, those individuals who sat at Ambassador College, who later went out as ministers, and came to 1974 and Mr. Armstrong…  Actually, 1973, that's when it first came. That's when it first came out that Mr. Armstrong was looking into Pentecost, but he wasn't going to change it until he'd had different ones research into it and he himself looked at their research, and he himself searched into it and prayed about it. And it was another year went by to the next Pentecost, just before that Pentecost, and he said, "It's to be observed on Sunday, not Monday." A lot of things happened over that year. A lot of things! A lot of division took place. A lot of people went in different directions. Far too many for that period of time, but they did.

If they had only grasped and believed what God says about His apostles. When He says about certain things that are built upon the prophets and the apostles He meant what He said. And if you grasp the magnitude of that, well, it's a matter of faith. But they didn't, and somewhere along the line they began to think that God was working in a different way, that somehow He was working through them and they had to make a choice. They really didn't think that far. You know, when people turn that way they don't really think it out that well. Well, they don't think about him being God's apostle and they don't think about the presumptuousness of what they have done when they decide to start yap, yap, yap – just like Satan did to different angelic beings, yap, yap, yap, "This isn't fair. Look what God's doing. He's going to create human beings." Blah, blah, blah, and start chirping over here. And the ones who would listen to him he would keep chirping and keep… and finally had a third of the angelic realm that would follow him. That's exactly how it happened. That's exactly how it's always happened in God's Church. Different ones starting to chirp.

Just like here in the local area, they get together and they start chirping, "This isn't fair. This isn't right. I think I see something in the Bible." Some had their own Bible studies. They thought they saw certain things in the Bible. And some of you barely… almost got sucked into the same things! Thank God, just like a branding iron, God delivered you out of that! That's an easy thing to happen. And we learn lessons from that and we grow from that and we realize that's powerful when things like that happen and you become more convicted, or you can become more deeply convicted, "This is not good. This is not healthy. Look how dangerous those kinds of things are." And you become stronger then in your determination that those things are never going to happen to you. And that's how we learn. That's how we grow. It's just a truth. It's a reality.

…ready to be revealed in the last time. Wherein you greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, you are in heaviness through various trials. Bring them on! You're going to have them! And toward the end here, we're going to have them. You're going to continue having trials. If you think they've stopped… Now, the desire is and the reality is, is that there are those that God has put greater power into in the sense of Satan not being able to come at you, and the demonic world not being able to come at you if…if you listen to God. If you're listening to God, if you're striving to apply what He has given, if you listen, God listens. And more so now than ever before. And that being has no power over you – less power than ever before! Less power than ever before in the Church of God–PKG or Philadelphia or Laodicea. Less power than ever before if God's first. If you are crying out day by day for God's spirit to dwell in you, to continue in you, to keep you strong in His strength and the power of His might.

"Who are kept by the power of God through faith." Powerful words, those. Wherein you greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, you are in heaviness through various trials. That the trial of your faith… There are just times that we don't like to go through trials. I mean, who does? They're just not a whole lot of fun while you're going through them. They can cause stress. They can cause heartache. They can cause all kinds of things in your mind and in your being. They can cause tension. When I say stress, it can turn to tension. So you can have all kinds of things happen to you when you're going through trials, because they're not just designed, they're the reality, they're just not fun. They're hard by their very nature. They're trying. That's why they're called trials. They try you. They're trying in your life. And the choices you make as a result of them determines where you go, determines your direction and your continuing direction, if that be the case.

…that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes. And that's so hard for us to grasp on a spiritual plane. It truly is! We can read through this and, "Yep. More than gold." But have the opportunity for gold right now, that can be a pretty big pull in your life. Gold! Silver! The dollar! Well, anyway… It still does because, you know, that's how we're able to do things in life. It revolves around what we're able to do as far as work is concerned and then what we're able to… Whether it be rent, payments, electricity, food, transportation, on and on it goes, it's a necessary part of life. But sometimes we can put too much weight on it above and beyond the trial, the hardship, the difficulty, the pain, the suffering of what it is we might be going through.

…though the trial of your faith, being more precious than of gold that perishes, though it be tested by fire… Try you to the core of your being, to where you are brought to a point where you have to address questions that flood into your mind about what does this mean and how does it affect your life and what you're going to do as a result of it. That's what it's for. Because it puts you to a point where you have to… you have to come to a resolve in your own mind, you have to be resolved in your own mind as to what you're going to do and how you're going to respond. And everyone is tried that way. Everyone has always been tried that way in God's Church.

And so how meaningful are they? That's why I mention over and over and over again, all the trials I've gone through, and yet have to go through, they mean nothing compared to what God gives to us, to what God places before us, that which will be gone. We look at time in a different way. It's hard for us because time regulates our life so much that we're restricted to time, our lives are restricted in time and we tend to be ruled by that in a very powerful way. We're kind of in bondage to that in our thinking as well. And to be able to go beyond that, to be able to grasp things on a spiritual plane and what God places before us, we can't grasp everlasting life. We can't grasp what it means to share with God into the future into time. It's hard for us. But we have hope in that. We believe it. We know it's going to take place. We have confidence in that.

... that the trial of your faith, being more precious than of gold that perishes, though it be tried in the fire, might be found unto praise, honor, and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. Now, for most of the past 2,000 years that's for the 144,000 – past 6,000 years, actually, that's for the 144,000, as a whole. But it's not just for them. It goes beyond that. It goes beyond all who are called into God's Church and have opportunity for different periods of time then. "At the appearing of Jesus Christ." That means, in other words, this is talking about a specific moment in time because that was the focus of the Church for 2,000 years, nearly 2,000 years, was the coming of Jesus Christ, the establishment of God's Kingdom on the earth, the 144,000 being resurrected, and those who have come to that point to be a part of that, of what this is talking about, that you "might be found unto praise, honor, and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ." But so will those of you who continue on! There is a glory. There is an incredible glory being in God's Church. There is an incredible glory having God's spirit dwell in you. It's a glory that God has given to us to share in, to experience in life that others don't have; opportunities and blessings and honor. What an honor!

I was thinking this past week after having being here to services, and went home with a feeling, a strong feeling. What an honor it was to be with God's people! What an honor to be in fellowship Sabbath by Sabbath with God's people! It is an honor that God blesses us to share in. Now, that's awesome to know that, to feel that, to experience that in life. And so that's what we're talking about here. There's a praise, an honor, and a glory in just being a part of God's Church, let alone what it's going to bring us to once Jesus Christ returns.

…whom having not seen you love. In whom though now you do not see him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. There are some things at times you just, you can't express. There are things you tell God that are hard to express in words. I find myself highly inadequate of being able to express. But He knows what's here. He knows what's here in the mind. He knows what's there; goes past words. …receiving the end (purpose) of your faith—even the salvation of your souls.

So let's continue now on page 257 under the heading, “At One With God”:

This experience of a duel test the Church had been given at the end of June in 2008 actually worked to launch the Church forward with greater conviction and focus than ever before. After another six months had passed, the Church had grown to a much stronger level of spiritual oneness with God.

As a whole. Now, there were still some who suffered from that point in time, who never recovered and eventually left. And that's where it started, the height of it, was magnified in their lives to where they couldn't return after that point in time because they couldn't go through that trial well. They didn't go through it well. And in the back of my mind, because of what they had done, because of what they  had said, because of some of the response that was there I knew it was still there and had yet to be addressed in their life, and it couldn't be. Going on:

This was reflected in what the Church then did in early January of 2009.

You know, we read through things like this and sometimes it's hard for us to grasp the magnitude of it. It's hard for us to grasp how important it is to God. I think of the Year of Dedication and all those fasts. I think of what happened in my life as a result of those fasts, of things that God blessed me to "see." I was thinking about that this week, things that He blessed me to come to "see" on a plane and on a level about how He works in certain areas of life that we hadn't known before, that I hadn't known before. And to me that's always exciting when God gives you more and you "see" more and you realize they're directly connected to a spiritual strength and blessings that God gives in spiritual life because of drawing closer to Him. That's an awesome thing! So the value of the tools that God gives to us to draw closer to Him, what value can you place upon it? What value do you place upon it? So again:

…the Church had grown to a much stronger level of spiritual oneness with God. This was reflected in what the Church then did in early January of 2009. Although God had revealed an important truth to His Church that the return of Christ was now going to occur on a Pentecost, He never revealed to the Church that 2012 was no longer to be the year for Christ’s coming.

I marvel at things like that, just as much as Pentecost of 1974, when it was changed. God could have given that to Mr. Armstrong very early on with all the other things when Mr. Armstrong and his wife, Loma, kept the Holy Days for seven years before He began to teach them. The Sardis Church didn't accept it, and Mr. Armstrong… it was a powerful dividing moment in time for the Church because then the Church continued on, an era was started, had begun, and God was raising him up to lead it in a very powerful way. But they did something unique for that seven years.

And anyway, you think of some of the different periods of time God could have given him that understanding right then and there, but God chose not to. He saved it. And sometimes we don't grasp that God saves things for other periods for a specific design and purpose that He has of what He's doing in the Body, in His Church. God's always molding and fashioning and always going by a plan that He has. He knows exactly what the temple is to be like, how it's to be constructed on a spiritual plane, and every piece that's to fit in it and where it's to fit. And so God knows by design, has planned by design what He's going to do at various times to bring about a various shape or place to be fulfilled in the temple. Going on:

It would be a few more years before God would actually reveal that everything had been moved forward by seven years.

And we're in page 258, going on:

Throughout the four years that followed the time the Church was tested, all the way up to Pentecost of 2012, the Church still believed that Christ was coming on that day. It lived that belief as a matter of unquestioning faith…

I've heard some stories that if you look back at them now, look back and think, "I can't believe I did that." Anyway, but you did, people did. Sitting on their roof waiting. Sitting outside on the ledge of a roof watching right up to the very end. Awesome! You think God doesn't look upon that in a very special way, those who follow Him and look to Him in a unique way like so many did in the Church right up to the very end? Lived by faith. As though you lived it! Awesome to understand that and what that means on a spiritual plane, it truly is. Going on:

It lived [speaking of the Church] that belief as a matter of unquestioning faith, similar to Abraham who had unwavering faith that God would resurrect his son if he were sacrificed. For the Church, everything they lived was geared to that day for Christ’s coming.

Everything! We talked about it in the meetings, how that even in for the last several months leading up to that point in time we were throwing hundreds of thousands of dollars into advertising. We were trying to drain out everything we had to have a very powerful ability to get a message out before Christ's return. And because, especially even more so when you believe what you believe, that Christ is returning in a specific moment and you know at some moment here that green is not going to have any meaning whatsoever, so put it out there quicker. And the quicker we put it out and the more we put out the more that came in! Couldn't get rid of it fast enough! And I believe that happened all the way right up to the end – all the way to the end. Put out more and more would come in. It was like, you've got to be kidding! And maxing the things out on a month by month basis, week by week, just kept increasing it and God just kept giving more. Couldn't do it. Couldn't give it all away. Little did we know we still had things to do.

Anyway, incredible how God works with us in life and we can look back and laugh at some of those things, the things we did. Sitting there on the roof waiting, or whatever it might have been. Whatever you… You remember. You remember those things of what you thought leading up to that point in time. And you lived it. It was a living hope, living hope. Awesome! Lived by faith.

Throughout the four years that followed the time the Church was tested, all the way up to Pentecost of 2012, the Church still believed that Christ was coming on that day. It lived that belief as a matter of unquestioning faith like Abraham who had unwavering faith that God would resurrect his son if he were sacrificed. For the Church, everything they lived was geared to that day for Christ’s coming.

People made important financial, future family planning, and career decisions based on the world’s system coming to an end by late May of 2012. For many, this would later prove to make their lives more difficult in the years that immediately followed, but nevertheless, they did it all in faith.

So we could look back and think, "Well, I wish I'd done this a little bit different, a little bit wiser," but that wouldn't have been living by faith. What you did, what people did was a matter of living by faith. And in many things some are still trying to recover from that. Maybe all of you are, just on a financial plane in life, you know? Anyway, awesome. More precious. What is more precious than anything else in life? The faith in what God builds within us in the mind, in our being, in our thinking.

Although the Church experienced the months, weeks, and days leading up to that day with nothing happening, this experience actually became the catalyst that would pave the way for God to do a much greater spiritual creation within them in a way that could not have been accomplished through any other means.

I really hope that you all of you see that on a spiritual plane. If you don't, if you feel like you're lacking in that, ask God to help you to see it more clearly. Because this really is a beautiful thing. It truly is. To understand how God works with us, that there are certain things in life that if you don't go through them they're things that cannot be molded and fashioned within you. That's why at the beginning of this sermon I made comment about those living in the Millennium and even those who have lived before; no one, no one will have ever experienced and had molded and fashioned in them for a specific purpose and a specific place in God's temple, things we don't grasp nor understand yet fully until they come to pass, things that could only happen during this period of time that we're talking about here up to the present. Things that are molded in you that could not be molded and fashioned in the same manner, in the same way, even in the same timing with the same speed. I mean, what God has done He's revealing to us something that magnifies God in a greater way, that he brought His Church, just like things that He does when He progressively reveals things, we have more now than at any time in the past 6,000 years, of truth and understanding, things that God is revealing, the last several truths that God has given that are astounding, dumbfounding, and yet God is sharing those things with us.

So again, sometimes we don't grasp what we have opportunity, and really won't fully understand some of those things until we're there, until you're plugged in. Just like any type of a building, all of a sudden a part of the temple, this huge stone is fit into place perfect. Perfect! And only God can do it because that was by His design and His purpose of where He wants it and what it must have to do, whatever it's going to do as a part of the entire temple. That's something only God can do by His design and purpose, Him and Christ, as they work together in that process, as He's been working together with the Church and will in the Millennium and Great White Throne. Incredible things to grasp.

I believe I'm ready for [page] 258 here.

Although the Church experienced the months, weeks, and days leading up to that day with nothing happening, this experience actually became the catalyst that would pave the way for God to do a much greater spiritual creation within them in a way that could not have been accomplished through any other means.

I think I'd made it to the end of that, but that's okay. It's good that that be deeply embedded in our thinking, that we grasp and understand that.

That is the very reason God did not reveal that everything had been moved forward by seven years. As a matter of fact, it wasn’t for quite a while after Pentecost 2012 that God revealed what He had done. In all those years leading to that date, the Church grew into a more responsive and unified body that had been prepared to follow God in whatever direction He would lead it and through whatever change was thrust before it.

The Church is God’s creation and now He was going to create something on a far greater plane through this entire process. The astounding purpose behind all that God was doing within those in the Church began to be revealed in what He inspired His Church to do soon after the Seven Trumpets of Revelation sounded in mid-December of 2008. In the beginning of January, God’s Church entered into a two-day fast. This was unprecedented in the Church.

And I don't believe it ever happened before. Incredible. Individuals have done that on their own, obviously, but not an entire Church.

It was stated that this fast was for baptized members to participate in. Yet some who were not baptized and some younger in age joined in as well, and some of those who were young did so one day instead of two, but nevertheless, they participated.

Incredible! Beautiful! Page 259, going on here in this paragraph:

This fast was a powerful tool to bring the Church into a far greater unity and oneness with God’s very purpose in moving forward in a second date for Christ’s coming. In this fast that the Church observed, the desire as with all fasts was to draw closer to God through humbling oneself before Him, as one would focus more on their own need for growth, change through repentance, and transformation in mind (in thinking). In this fast there were also many prayers that included a petition to God that He might deliver far more people from destruction in this end-time, both in the world and in the Church that had been scattered.

Now that… I really  marvel at this one, because God was already revealing His will to us. He was showing us things that were His desire, but He wanted us to come to that desire. He wanted us to come to that desire and will in ourselves. And He did that. And to me that's an exciting process when you live those kinds of things, when God is revealing certain things to you to bring you to a point where you "see" what it is He wants in you, what He wants in His Church to "see," to have vision of. And it's not always by just telling us. It's not always just telling us everything up front. It's by experience. It's by growth. It's by maturity. And then we come to a point where we're able to "see" things and think, "How incredible, God's purpose and God's plan!" Because we still didn't grasp and understand what we had experienced here, but we were doing the very thing as God brought us to His will to participate in His will. We just didn't understand the timing of it all! We didn't grasp that, yet it was God's purpose all along that more, that those who had been scattered have an opportunity that they otherwise would not have had. To me, just to understand that is awesome, in the Church that was scattered, let alone the world. Because that has changed. That changed. Judgment upon them changed as well. Going on:

That was God’s purpose all along for the world and for the Church that had been scattered. Through this fast, the Church had been brought into greater unity and oneness with God’s purpose. Yet the Church would not fully learn about all that God had accomplished until they could read the pages of this book, and this is long after God already implemented His plans to achieve the very thing this fast was directed to accomplish—that many more might be able to be delivered into the Millennium.

That's what it's all about. You know, our entire growing process is God working with us, transforming the mind to bring us to greater harmony and unity with His will, with His purpose. That's why I love certain scriptures there in Hebrews when it talks about Jesus Christ and those things that were written in the Old Testament that are fulfilled in him. And when it discusses the process of how it's not a matter of sacrifices and so forth, and he comes all the way through and he comes to a point in time where he says, in essence, "It was to come to do Your will," to do God's will, to have God's will alive and working within you. That's something on a spiritual plane that then we in the Church are able to live by and experience. Anyway, going on:

God actually did reveal a portion of this to the Church before 2012 that concerned the Church that had been scattered. God revealed that far larger numbers…

Didn't even know it! God was already revealing some part of a change here that we didn't even grasp. But He still revealed that something was happening here for the scattered Church, or going to happen that was different and new to us.

God revealed that far larger numbers of those who had been scattered were potentially going to be delivered, although we did not realize at that time that this was not to happen for at least seven years or more from when it was revealed. If Christ’s coming had been in 2012, only a much smaller number could have been potentially delivered into the Millennium.

Talking about those who had been scattered. They'd already been judged. There were certain things that they weren't going to be able to receive. That was God's purpose, God's judgment.

There is a prophecy in Revelation that speaks of destruction that will take place in Jerusalem where a total of 70,000 people are affected. God said that 7,000 of them would perish in a great earthquake (or shaking). If the date of 2012 had been fulfilled, this would have occurred within that literal physical city, as this would have been fulfilled as a physical type for a physical city.

You know, there are things that God has been revealing that I marvel at. That there are so many things that God can do within prophecy that's written. Leaves Him much leeway. Much is opened up for God. And yet we as a Church so often take it, "It's this way!" Wham, wham, wham, wham, wham! Clear cut. Absolute. No variance of anything. Not so in certain prophetic events. That's why the book has gone into and explained some of those things, that especially when it comes to prophetic events God has incredible leeway of things He can do. What He says is true. What He says He will bring about, but He's going to bring it about His way for whatever His purpose is. Some things He does in a physical plane. Some things He has purpose for the potential of things that will happen on a spiritual plane. But there is a lot of variance along the way. And that variance has to do with us. It has to do with human beings. It has to do with the way we think. It has to do with how God's working in us, working with us at any moment in time, whether it be His Church or whether it be the world. And God is working in a different way with the world right now in things we don't even know.

Got enough time to mention it. You'll always be able to read the rest of this part. It's in the book. You've read it already.

I think about how some people in the Church have gotten too involved in politics during this past election, and began to even take sides about certain things. And sometimes you're on the wrong side. And there are lessons to be learned from some of that. The reality is, is there is no side anyway. That's the bottom line. And the other is that God allows certain things to happen – no, not just allows, but brings them to pass according to His will and His purpose of what He is doing. And right now what has happened is because God did it! God did it. There is not one individual nor group of people that did it. God Almighty did it for a purpose. He has moved people. He has allowed certain things to happen for a purpose, that there are certain peoples, there are certain situations in the world, that people are allowed to be or put there for a purpose and a reason, of things that must come to pass of how God is working with the world. No one can solve the world's problems. No one can solve this country's problems, no matter how many decades or centuries you might have. The only thing that can happen is if God is not involved is it'll just get worse and worse and worse. But God is going to allow something. And do you know what it is, and why it is?

There are some people out here I just didn't correct even in the ministry for some of the things they've said. I've just let it go, that hopefully in time you're going to learn the lessons yourself. Back off! Let God do His work and learn from it. Don't get involved. Don't tear down. Don't talk down about anybody out there. It's not your purpose to take sides. So when I used that word earlier, it's a poor choice of words because there are no sides except God's. And so we learn from the process. God is going to do what God does. Whether it be with China, Russia, Syria, Israel, Europe, Great Britain (which is a part of Europe, but distinct and different), whether it be things that are happening in Italy right now, whether it be things happening within the United States and our politics, and in Canada and their politics, and in Australia and their politics. Do you know what it's all about? It's for the very thing we're covering in this book – to let people come to a point in life where all of a sudden when everything is beginning to be cut out from underneath them, they lose it all. When everything is taken away one after another in a speedy fashion in order to humble or have the greatest potential to humble people, of anything else that could take place.

What's happening right now is to give people in this country the greatest potential to be brought to humility. If certain things had happened in a different way it wouldn't have had the same effect when they began to have everything taken away. I hope you can "see" that. Because it's what God is doing and we are not to interfere with what God is doing. It's not a matter of a side. It's not a matter of who's right and wrong. Because in the world there's nobody that's right. There is no one who's right. There is no leader who is right or righteous. Mankind leads according to his own thoughts and ideas and thinks his way is best. That's why we have different parties. They all know they're best. Every one of them that goes out and runs and spends millions and millions and millions of dollars, they know they have the best ideas. They don't have any doubt about it. And they get angry if things don't work their way. That's just the way human beings are. Doesn't work out their way – my way is better, your way sucks! It stinks! It's going to destroy everything! It's going to be a Third World War… Oh. Hmmm. I wonder. Not because of what they think. But it is leading to that.

There are going to be people in different nations who make certain decisions because of what's happened, where they wouldn't have made them if the other had happened. They're being pushed into a corner. And just like a bear, you don't push a bear into a corner. It doesn't work out well.

So I hope we see the hand of Almighty God in the things happening in this world. Because you can step back a little bit and just learn from it and understand how things are taking place. Just like Great Britain, Brexit. Awesome! Awesome, what took place there! You got to witness something that Mr. Armstrong talked about a long, long time ago. They will never be a part. They will never be a part. And, also, to witness now because of certain things that have happened certain individuals who talked about it and wanted it anyway, they've always wanted it, a European Army. Now they have the votes for it. It's passed. Awesome! More prophecy falling into place because of our elections, that was a catalyst to do what God is going to have done.

So, Mr. Harrell said, we have a front row seat. Don't get to a point where you're taking sides on that front row seat, because if you do you might fall into a pit, a trap that will be a snare. On the contrary, watch and learn from it what God is doing, because God's at work in a physical world in a very powerful way. Perhaps more than has ever taken place. Because God has never worked with all the world in that respect in the manner that He is right now. I hope you "see" that. He has never worked with all the world in the way that He is now. He's worked with different nations at times, but not the whole world. Because of where we are. We're at the end of an age when the whole world is going to be humbled before God Almighty. Incredible to understand.

I think that's a good place to stop. I was going to read a couple more pages; you can certainly do that on your own.

But this drives it home and this is, again, a good place to stop because that's why we fasted, to give opportunity. It goes on talking about that 63,000 and some of the things that took place and that have changed, if you will, whereby God is working with a scattered group out there too. We don't know about those things. You don't know what's taking place, but it's happening where God is going to work with and bring certain ones along now in a way that they weren't going to be given the same opportunity before. And that's God's job and Jesus Christ's job. And our job is still self and bringing self into control and ever seeking to be watchful and alert because there is a power out there that still… and the closer he gets and knows that his time is shorter and shorter, has a greater desire to not only see you fail, his desire is to see you destroyed. And God's not going to give that to them IF… if, if, if you put God first. If you will listen to God Almighty.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1