It’s Temporary

Wayne Matthews

April 27, 2019

Welcome, everybody, to this Sabbath.

Well, brethren, the purpose of this sermon is to consider that everything is temporary in the sense of the physical life that we have. But in saying that, to understand this topic that we’re going to go into and to look at it with spiritual eyes we need to go over a few scriptures.

So if you’d like to turn to 1 Chronicles 28:20. While you’re turning there, the title of the sermon is It’s Temporary. The purpose of this sermon is to consider that this physical life is like a vapor. It’s temporary because we understand God’s plan.

So when we’re turning to this scripture it’s in the context that God has revealed to us His plan of salvation and understanding that plan of salvation is the key to life, because then it gives us a different focus. Now, the world won’t have the focus that we have and they’ve not been called to have a focus like we do, but in having this spiritual focus it’s worth considering that life is temporary. This physical life is temporary.

We understand that there is spirit life that we have been offered by God. Well, we have to consider that this life that we are in is temporary. But in saying that we need to consider these particular scriptures first, then we’ll move into the main topic, which is everything is temporary. Physical is temporary; money, trials, everything is temporary. There is a saying that says, “It, too, will pass.” Well, it’s true. So we’re beginning this sermon and it too will pass, and the time, hour and a half or so, will be taken from your time span, if you look at it. Because time is moving on, it’s moving on with or without us, as it says.

1 Chronicles 28:20—David said to his son Solomon, Be strong and of good courage, and do it... Now, the important part of this in lots of ways, we understand from sermons, is to be strong and good courage because we have God’s holy spirit and that God can build in us His character. The words here “and do it” are important. Do it. Now, this was “build the temple.” Well, that was physical. David is saying to Solomon, “Do it. Here are all the plans; do it.” Well, God is saying to us “Do it! Do it.” Which means there’s a part of us required, which is our thinking and our motivation, our spirit. God’s holy spirit comes to us, joins the two spirits, just do it. Which means we’re given the information, we’re given the power to build a temple. God is building a Temple. We know it’s perfectly fitting into place. All parts are going to go into that position, chipped and chiseled and put in.

Well, our part is do it. We have to do something. We have to make choices. Our life now we have been called is about making a choice, a right choice. Just do it. Fight the fight. Just do it! Do it.

Do not fear nor be dismayed. So don’t be overwhelmed with it all because there is a job to be done; it’s our part. God wants to build in us something, His character. We have to desire to have the building built, which is the doing of it.

Do not fear nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God—my God—will be with you. Because without God we have nothing. The truth. Without God’s spirit we have nothing. We’re just back to the natural carnal mind.

Well, here David is encouraging his son, Solomon, to get on and do it. Well, God through Joshua the Messiah is saying the same to us. “Just get on and do it! Do it! Fight the fight! As long as it takes, just do it.”

Now, why this is important is because there is a timeline involved. There is a timeline. Because this life is temporary and it will pass. We’re at the end of 6,000 years. There’s 1,000 to go, then there’s 100. There’s 7,000 years is human birth, then it stops. Then there is the hundred year period. It, too, will pass and the only thing left will be spirit – those in Elohim and the angelic realm that have not rebelled against God. It’s going to happen. So time is passing on. So this life as we have it now, the tests and trials that we have are all temporary. They’re only temporary. They will pass.

Well, the time allocated to us, three score and ten is the average physical life that God allocated, well, we in that period have been allocated a time to do it, to overcome selfishness, to have that desire, to have that commitment that we will never give up. Now, God has given us truth to reveal to us more of Him and more of His way. But we don’t see it all.

I was only thinking before it’s interesting how we view things because during the period of the Worldwide Church of God and Mr. Armstrong was given truth, we look back now and say, “Wow. They only had that much truth.” We’ve got 57 Truths +1. “They’ve only had 18 and they had 3 from the previous era.” Well, they did all that; God did all that with that truth. Now we have 57 +1 and people will look back in 1,000 years or so and say, “Wow. They did that? God did that in them with only that amount of truth? How powerful is God!” The glory goes to God. But we have minute part of truth because when you consider truth and the revelation of God, which is going to be an endless thing, we have very little. But we look at it and think, “Wow! We’ve got all this!” Well, we have all this compared to what others have had because God in His mercy has given it to us.

God will be with you. God will be with us if we get on and do it. If we get on and do it, make the choice to get on and do it, which involves overcoming self, listening to God, and obeying God, and doing it, implementing it into our life.

He will not leave you nor forsake you, because God has a plan of salvation for us. Well, He’s not going to leave us or abandon us. We’re the problem because of what we do. We give up. We don’t get on and do it. We just stop. We forget that life is temporary.

We’ve been so blessed to have been called now in this time period, but we’ve been allocated a time. As it has been written by God’s apostle, Time is Running Out, Time Has Run Out. Well, we’re in this time of running out. For some of us time is running out. Physically as we get older time is running out. Time hasn’t run out yet, as when we die time has run out for some.

Well, we understand that God will not leave us or forsake us until you have finished the work of the service of the house of the God, the house of the Eternal, the house of the LORD. So, when you look at this, “until we have finished,” so God’s not going to leave us “until you have finished all the work for the service of the house of the Eternal.” What is the house of the Eternal? We are. We are.

2 Corinthians 6:16. God has promised that He will not leave us as long as we don’t leave Him; He won’t leave us. He will finish the work in us which is the building of the Temple. Now, we understand that there has been the majority, the vast majority of the 144,000 that have been molded and fashioned. God didn’t leave them. God said, “Now I know you,” and now they are set and they will be resurrected. There are a few left that still the molding and fashioning is taking place. We understand that until that 144,000 is complete that we will not see the next series of events to take place. Well, the fashioning is still taking place. Well, there’s a finishing that has to take place to finish the first part of the Temple, 144,000.

2 Corinthians 6:16—And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? What’s that really about? Well, the temple of God, what is it? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said. Now, we, brethren, being called, part of the Body of Christ, part of the Church of God-PKG (it’s the only way), where truth is, where 57 +1 exist and can be understood because of the power of God’s holy spirit (cannot understand it without God’s holy spirit), well, what agreement do we have with something that is false? Idols? There is no power but God’s great power, God’s holy spirit. There is no other spirit that can build the Temple. Yes, there’s another spirit world (we understand that), and there is transmission of evil thoughts. But we have a receptor that can tune into that if we choose to and we can then have to make a choice. We understand all that.

Well, understanding God’s plan we can say, well, what agreement? What coordination or connection do we have with something that is false? Well, the answer is none. We shouldn’t anyway. We should have none.

Well, because life is temporary, the physical life is temporary, all the more reason why we should get on and fight now. Fight the fight now while we have this opportunity because time will run out for all of us at some point in time. If it’s not during this period on a physical life and a person is changed to the 144,000, well, the physical life part has expired. It’s over. For those that live on into the Millennium, still have that opportunity to do the fight once. There may be some of us or more, who knows, God knows, He knows His plan, that they’ll be resurrected in the hundred year period. The vast majority of mankind will be and they will have a period of time. It’s temporary. We know it lasts a hundred years, but there’s a time period.

Now, understanding that we’ve been called, and understanding what’s really taking place, this building of God’s character, God’s thinking in our mind because we have chosen to fight, and getting on and doing it, allowing God to live and dwell in us, and the moment we do sin we repent, well, knowing all of this we can see it’s temporary. Now, for those that have been around in the Church a long period of time, time is running out with these things. For others that have just been called to live on into the Millennium, well, time is still running out, it’s just that time hasn’t run out yet. If life goes on for ever how long it is, still our physical life is temporary and the purpose of this sermon is just to remember it; to stop, take a deep breath and stand back and say, “Where am I in this scheme of salvation?” In this process of salvation is probably a better word.

Continuing on: I will dwell in them, because nothing can change without God being in us. By the power of God’s holy spirit we are led. We can now make changes in our life because we’re given the opportunity by God to make change, but in all this we should remember it is temporary. Life is temporary; physical life is temporary. There is a period of time where this can take place, where this change can take place.

Now, where God says, “I will dwell in them,” well, we understand it’s not a whole lifetime that that happens. It happens after a person is first called, granted the gift of repentance, has baptism by a true minister of God, and receives God’s holy spirit. Now this is, “I will dwell in them.” Now this process of change can take place over a period of time, ever how long that is. A lot of that can be based on how we respond, whether we do it or we don’t, and how we fight and whether we do fight, how much effort we put into that fight.

...and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people. Therefore, Come out from among them and be separate, says the Eternal. Well, that’s our calling. Come out from this world. Come out from this carnal way of thinking and be separate. Well, we understand the Church of God, in the Church of God, part of the Body of Christ, we are separate. We are separated.

We are only separated by one thing, really, the power of God’s holy spirit — and of truth, which is another part, but they’re connected. You can’t separate God’s holy spirit and the truth, can’t separate them because the truth that exists today (is what is considered truth at this period of time), we know that will be expanded in the future once Joshua the Messiah comes to this earth and sets up a new government. Then more truth will be given.

So we’ve been given an aspect of God now, which is 57 Truths +1. We understand that aspect but it’s only understood because we have God’s holy spirit. Now, a person, we understand, can read the 57 Truths without God’s holy spirit, but they won’t understand it because they won’t have the power to do what it says here, “and do it.” A person without God’s holy spirit cannot do it. They cannot be involved in the building of the Temple, which God is doing. God is building a temple and it will happen. It takes 7,100 years and then it is complete. So time is running out because we’re at the end of 6,000 years. There’s a period left. So for some of us we have lived longer, things are temporary. We see it more clearly that things are temporary.

Do not touch what is unclean. Don’t handle sin. Don’t get involved in sin. If we see sin in our life we need to get rid of it. Don’t handle it, don’t get involved in it, get rid of it. ...and I will receive you. So if we repent, if we see sin in our life and we repent God says He will work with us and we’ll be able to continue to do it, to overcome self, to take on the mind of God, the thinking of God. At some point God will say, “Now I know you.”

I will be a Father to you... And if we really considered that, we have one Father, Yahweh Elohim, and He says “I’ll be a Father to you.” Fathers (supposed to on a human level) nurture, guide, help, support. Well, God does all those things. He gives us all of His love, which is unlimited...unlimited love. So really the issue comes down to whether or not we want that love, whether we’ll accept that love because God desires to love us, but whether or not we desire to love God is a different matter. ...and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Eternal.

Now, understanding that the purpose of this sermon is to consider that physical life is temporary; it’s like a vapor. Now, you may remember in a previous sermon that we looked at the concept of life being as a palm breadth. Now, a palm breadth is the width of the palm. It’s not the hand spread out, top of little finger to top of thumb. It’s side to side. If you look at it, God says our life is but a palm breadth or a vapor because it’s temporary, and the palm breadth is seventy years, three score and ten. Now, having three score and ten, and we looked at a rope, and the rope going one way never stopped, and God was at the end of that, but there is no end because God has eternal life. He’s always had life. God is life. He gives life. God always existed.

Now, our natural mind doesn’t have the capacity to comprehend something that has existed forever. Never had a beginning, doesn’t have an end. Somewhat easier to understand because that’s where we’re heading. But something that never had a beginning? It’s very difficult.

Well, if we’re in this rope and it goes that far, that it doesn’t stop, and it’s going to go that far that it doesn’t stop, but in the middle of this there is at least seventy of those, equals 7,000 years. Then there is another hundred years so it’s one and a bit of that width. That’s not much in the scheme of things when you look at it. That’s why it’s so important that we understand God’s plan and we understand the time period we are in because we have gone through 6,000 years of 7,100, and therefore, all of these palm breadths have happened. Well, here we are in this little period here. It all overlaps, of course, because taking a seventy year period some have been around longer, and some have just joined the Body of Christ, and therefore, we’re in this period, but we’re in a period of time.

Now, if you stood back and zoomed right back and went right out, what would you see? You would see this rope going all that way and you’d see this little weenie pinprick; tiny, minute thing that you could just see. Well, that’s our seventy years. That’s us, that little weenie prick there. Well, in that period out of considering that way and this way, which we more are focused on that way because that’s our future, that we’ll be with Yahweh Elohim in the sense of God’s spirit forever that way and we cannot sin, well, here we are in this little bit of time. Well, one palm breadth equals seventy years, one hundred equals 7,000. There’s about one and a half, approximately, for the hundred years of human life. So we have, basically, a very short period of time that we need to consider.

Now, when we consider the amount of time that we have, all the more reason having been called, that we should consider our life, that it’s temporary. Now, the trial that we are in, if we are in a severe trial it, too, will pass. It’s temporary. Life is temporary. This sermon, when you look at the scheme of everything, this is just a temporary period of time that God is allowing us to focus on something, on a point, which is, we’d best get on and just do it, just fight while we’ve got the opportunity because there are thousands and thousands, there are millions and millions of people that have existed that have never had the opportunity to fight. Not like we have to fight. They’re never really considered that their life is temporary. Why? Well, when you look at it they actually think that they have an immortal soul, and therefore, they don’t see life as temporary. They don’t ever really consider it. Everyone seeks money and tries to get gain and they die. They actually believe they’re going somewhere. Very few would believe they were going to hell. Most believe they’re going up to heaven to be with God. So to them it’s temporary, but it’s not.

Well, we understand that it could be temporary for us if we’re not careful. It could be temporary for us.

Why is this understanding about a physical lifespan so important for God’s people? Well, we understand what it means when it says “life is but a vapor.” We can see that life is. What’s a vapor? So you would see it. You might see a vapor at the end of a can spray where it goes “fffft,” it’s just “shhhht” and it disappears. Well, a vapor, something, water melting or water being heated and the vapor comes off the water, it’s temporary. You just see it and it’s gone. That is how our life really is. It is so temporary.

Now, knowing that is very important for God’s people because knowing that we should now rededicate ourselves even more so to God. Because that’s the purpose of the sermon, to consider our life as temporary. It’s but a vapor. In time, when you look at a rope going that way and that way that never ends and here we are, well, it’s very short. So today is the day to get on and do it, to get on and dedicate ourselves to God and fight the fight.

We understand that a short period of time that we have our physical life, in that time, is but a speck in time compared to what God has desired for us. So this little weenie speck yet we understand God’s plan. So how incredible is that, that here is this little weenie speck and if we make the right choices that will go on forever. Isn’t that incredible what God has done for us?

Without God what is the point of a physical life? If we just say there is no God, well, what is the point of it. It’s temporary. We know it’s three score and ten and by strength a little longer, but without God what is it? It’s all going to go. Thousands of people have lived, thousands have died, and that is life. We have the potential of spirit life.

It was interesting, had the grandchildren for a few days and we were talking and I was talking to my granddaughter and mentioned something to her, just explaining about life, that my wife’s mother and father had both died, and that both my parents had died, and that at some point in time that we would die because that’s life as we know it today. You live it and you die, that everybody dies. She looked really worried about that when I said, “Oh, you know, we will die.” There was this sort of frown went over her face and then she came out with some incredible words. She said, “But where will we go and where will I go if you’re not here?” In other words, “How are we going to come up for a weekend or for four or five days? If you’re not here we’re not going to be able to enjoy life by coming here and you’re taking us everywhere.” So I understand that, that it was more a concern about self than it was about us dying. Us dying had nothing to do with it; it was almost like it’s an inconvenience towards her. But that’s understandable because that’s how the human mind works. If somebody dies it’s a loss to the person. It’s a loss. It’s not about the person that died; it’s the impact that it has on the people left behind.

Now, with this understanding it should create humility in us because it also reveals that we are temporary. If we understand it, we are temporary, and therefore, we shouldn’t be in pride or have pride. Because life is temporary, things are moving on.

Psalm 39:1. So why we’re really looking at this topic is because we understand God’s plan of salvation for us, and understanding that plan of salvation, understanding that God is building a temple and we have a part in it...we have a part in it. We understand that God has given that task of building the rest of the temple to Joshua the Messiah, and God calls us and gives us over to him and he works in us to build something, to build a temple. So we are part of it, but we are involved, because if we don’t get on and just do things and fight the fight, well, it can’t be developed in us. That character cannot be developed in us.

Psalm 39:1—I said, this is David speaking, I will guard my ways, lest I sin with my tongue. So the problem is us. The tongue is an issue but it starts in the mind. It’s the way we think first (and we think selfishly first; we have those desires first) and then things are said. So we can be somewhere and not say anything. It doesn’t mean to say we haven’t sinned. We’re thinking evil toward someone or ill will toward somebody or thinking rubbish. We can be sinning without saying anything. Well, here David is saying, “I will guard my ways.” The way he acts, the way he does things that are contrary to the way of God, he will guard it. He’s going to look out for it. “Lest I sin with my tongue.”

I will restrain my mouth with a muzzle, while the wicked are before me. We have what is considered “the wicked” before us. We were wicked; we can be wicked when we sin, because that’s what wickedness is. Well, these are people that are not called. So what David is saying here is that he’s going to be on guard, basically, all the time when he’s before others because he doesn’t want to be a hypocrite and blaspheme God’s name by his thoughts, words, or actions because generally it’s the thoughts first that bring the actions and the words that come with it. So while he is before the wicked, so while we are in this physical life, this temporary, physical life, we should guard our ways. We should guard our tongue when we’re around others that haven’t been called by God, that are not being called, that are not converting, that do not have the power to change. They don’t have the power to do it, to allow God to live and dwell in them. They don’t have that power. We do.

I was mute with silence; I held my silence even from good. He didn’t say much at all here. And my sorrow was stirred up. So when he saw the world and the things of the world and around him and people suffering it’s difficult to watch. It is difficult to see people destroying themselves.

There have been things said on TV at the moment in relation to drug use and you realize that humanity has gone past the point, particularly in Australia now, they’ve gone past the point of individual responsibility not to take it. Because those that are using it they’re saying, “Well, no, we should do more to support those people so let’s,” for example, “test pills.” Don’t say to people, “Don’t take it.” They can turn up to a concert with the pills and they can get them tested, and if they’re okay that’s okay. Rather than self-control, don’t take drugs, it’s going to alter your mind. Well, they don’t understand why that’s so important with regards to God’s spirit. They don’t understand all of that they’re just involved in selfishness and that’s the way of the world.

Well, to watch it, to watch the world suffer, to watch people go through these things, it is difficult to watch. And, you know, you do yearn out and go, “Ohhh,” because you know there is pain. You know there is sorrow that’s there for them, and it too is temporary. That’s the beauty of it. When we watch these things we can go, “That’s temporary.” It’s all going to pass shortly. It’s all going to go. People are going to be re-educated in one way of life, one religion, and one truth. It’s just going to be incredible, but it’s going to take time; it’s going to be suffering and sorrow, but it takes time to change things to the truth.

Well, his sorrow was stirred up. My heart was hot within me; while I was musing (thinking), the fire burned. Then I spoke with my tongue: LORD (Eternal), make me to know my end. So what this is he’s looking at all this, “Make me to know my end.” Why? That I may know how frail I am. Which is, “Make me understand my self-reliance is a problem. Make me understand that my life is temporary. Help me to see, to view it.” So we have the truth. We know all of these things. “Help me to understand about Your way of life, and having all of this, that it’s only a period of time that I’ve got personally,” that we have. It’s personal, but this is the period of time. “Well, make me to know it. Help me to see that I am temporary, that this is all passing.” Time is moving on because there is no beginning with that rope and here we are here at this spot and it’s going to continue that way with or without me. That’s what we have to come to see: It’s going to start with or without me.

Now, when you look back at the rope, how far it goes, in all of that period we see a lot—we see because of God’s holy spirit—we see a lot has happened. We see that there has been a creation of a spirit world. We see there has been a creation of angelic beings, and we see that a third rebelled. Well, that all took in a period on this rope. Now, we understand also that time for mankind was created when we see the rotation of the sun and the moon. The Bible talks about the earth going around the sun and the evening and the morning are the first day. That’s time as we understand it as humans – human life. But the other way to look at it is a length of rope where it just doesn’t stop. How do you count time? Don’t know, that spirit realm, how things are measured.

But if you look at it, all of those things have happened. We’ve seen a rebellion. We’ve seen the universe in its creation, all of those things. We have no idea of the billions or trillions of years that it has taken. Well, here were are now in this period of time, at the end of 6,000 years of human life, knowing there’s only 1,100 left then there is no physical human life. There is none. It’s going to be spirit. Physical creation will be around as far as physical things that God has created, but when it comes to human life it’s temporary.

So David is asking this, that he “may know how frail I am.” If we could always remember that we are created physical and temporary we would think differently about a lot of matters of life. We would start to have things about priority, what’s important and what’s not.

So how important is this, really, compared to entering Elohim? Really, the physical things of life? It’s often said about when people die and they leave money. Well, really, money is important in some ways because you have to have an income to be able to live and you’ve got to work to earn money. All those things are important and what we do with what we have. But, really, in the scheme of it all, compared to a calling from the Eternal God, how important is all of that compared to a relationship with God? If we could only just stop and think about a lot of these matters.

So often we get into disagreement about things. It can be about food or wanting to go somewhere, or get upset about the lawn being too long or whatever. It’s rubbish compared to the important thing of life. The important thing of life is having God’s holy spirit, disciplining self, and responding to all situations in a godly manner. It takes God’s holy spirit. That’s what’s important. So all of these things don’t matter. It’s how we respond, whether we love or whether we don’t. That’s what’s important. In this period of time where we have access to God’s love, have access to God’s holy spirit, that’s what’s important. The other physical things don’t matter.

Whatever is around us is temporary. A physical relationship, all physical relationships are temporary. Marriage is temporary. Having children, babies, is temporary because what? They grow up and they become adults. So everything is temporary. Everything is moving. Whether we have a relationship that is lawful or unlawful on a physical level, it is temporary...it’s temporary. So somebody that may leave God’s Church or desire to have an unlawful relationship, they’re giving into a lust or desire, it’s going to pass. It’s temporary. Temporary pleasure of sin, as it says in the Bible. It’s just temporary. It’ll pass. It’s gone.

If we remember that everything is temporary we would be more repentant of the wrong spiritual choices we make because when we make wrong spiritual choices if we could just see it in the scheme of time, that way and that way and a little dot and there’s that sin, repent of it quickly. That’s the most important thing of life. That’s the most important thing in life.

If we were just to consider the physical time on this earth as temporary we would definitely treat others differently. Now, we have the power to treat others differently because of God’s holy spirit, God’s love in us. So we have that power to do it. People, other people don’t.

Verse 5—Indeed, You have made my days as a hand breadth, so that’s the palm width, which is 70 years, and my age is as nothing before You. So compared to God, and if we look at time which was created for us, if we compare it to God and His existence forever, has always been there, and we’re just a temporary thing for the purpose of a great purpose God has for this temporary period of time of 7,100 years, is to have a family, it is so important.

So, now, if we just stand back and look at our calling that way. If we consider that God has existed forever – and you can go that way on this rope and it just never stops – then you come to this very point in time at the end of 6,000 years right now, if you come to there and there you are and there I am, how important is this to God when He’s been there forever and it’s going to go that way forever? And there we are there? We just underestimate how important this time is to God. His Church, we are the Church of God. We belong to God. We are His people. He dwells in us. How important is this little period of time today? It’s so important to God, but we often take it too casually. We just don’t think about how important it is to God because He’s building a Temple, He’s building a family, and it’s going to happen. There’s a timeline for it to happen and it will happen with or without us, because a lot of that is about what we choose, not what God chooses, but what we choose and what we do with what we have, what we do with what we know and how we treat others in this very short narrow time period that we have.

My age is nothing before you, compared to God. Time was created by God for His creation, for this physical creation. Certainly, every man at his best state is but vapor. Selah—think about it. Think about this statement: “Man in his best state is but vapor.” So when we lift ourselves up and start to exalt ourselves by raising our voice or arguing about stupid things we should stop and just think, “Our life is but a vapor – whoosh, it’s gone.” It’s temporary. It’s going to disappear.

So all the more reason in this short period of time that we have, that God in His mercy has called us and granted us the gift of His spirit, how we should work diligently. Do it! Build a relationship with God now because time is going to run out in having time to build this relationship with God, to take on God’s holy spirit, to think like God, to live towards others in a godly manner. We’ve only got a short time to do it. As David said to Solomon, “Do it!” Just do it! Get on with it. Don’t delay any longer. Just do it. Do what we’ve been instructed to do.

Well, that’s what life is about for us. Do it! Get on and overcome self. Get on and fight. Don’t argue about the stupid things of life. Don’t exalt ourselves. Don’t look down on others. Get on and look at self, what self is capable of, and repent. Build this relationship with God now while we have the chance because time is going to run out for all of us.

We, as humans, think we are at our best (pride), but when we think that we’re at our best and that we’re the best of something and we’re doing really well, pride is in the way. It’s just that we don’t see. We don’t see at all. Because if we truly see (spiritually, we’re talking here), if we truly see we would understand that we’re never in our best state. We’re never, because humility should kick in and realize, wow, I’ve been blessed to have been called. I’m blessed to being placed in the Body. I’m blessed to have the 57 Truths +1. I’m so blessed at this time in this narrow window of 7,100 years. I am so blessed to have been called and I see it. The purpose of the sermon: “I see it. I see life is temporary.”

It’s not necessarily about age, although parts of it is. It’s actually about being part of the Body of Christ. Being part of PKG now is temporary, because it didn’t exist as far as the physical organization as a name, PKG – Preparing for the Kingdom of God, which is spiritual in nature. But before this, remember, before the Apostasy there was a period of time where Mr. Armstrong as God’s apostle was given the truth, gave it to the Church – Joshua the Messiah, to Mr. Armstrong, to the Church – well, people had a timeline. Well, that’s gone. Mr. Armstrong has died. That’s gone. Then we went into a period that led up to the Apostasy. That period of time is over, it’s gone, it’s finished. The Apostasy happened. God’s Church reunited, re-brought together, confirmed in Pentecost of 1998, if that’s the right terminology to use. That God set up a structure again, that this is His Church. Well, again, that’s gone, now we’re looking forward.

Here we are on the Roman calendar of 2019, but we’re looking forward. We can look back to learn and remember things, but remember, that’s past. On that rope, it’s past and it’s going that way and we can’t stop it. We’ve got a time to build a relationship with God, to turn to Him in humility and repentance, and the time is now, right now because the last half hour or so is gone! It’s gone! Now we’re going that way and it’s going to keep going that way with or without us.

Verse 6—Surely every man walks about like a shadow, which is temporary because when the sun is up you see your shadow, if you’re standing in the right way. When the sun is overhead the shadow is down there. Then it goes, it passes, it’s gone. That day is gone, that shadow has gone. Surely they busy themselves in vain. Because if we’ve got a physical focus we’re getting busy about physical things, it’s a vanity. It’s a vanity. But in saying that there is a need for us to dedicate ourselves to God, to involve God in everything that we do and say as far as physical things that we do.

Work; it’s good to work. Those things are good. Well, God says get involved in that, but bring Him into it and then it has a real purpose. Other than that, it’s just work, and in the end the person dies and leaves it to someone else who wastes it all, works, or uses it, or does something, may build more, may lose it all.

He heaps up riches, and does not know who will gather them. Well, that’s been going on since Adam and Eve. It’s been going on since that time, that people have built things up and done it. Now they have laws about inheritance and if you’re in certain countries and you leave an inheritance the government takes the majority of it, different taxes and things. In other countries you don’t, you build it up and then the children fight or people fight over it. Or people marry, you may not have children, and leave it to somebody else, but they have no idea what’s going to happen to it. Who knows what’s going to happen to it. Some may build it up higher. Some may lose it all and end up with nothing. You can’t tell. So mankind in their temporary life does certain things and they gain to self and then they pass.

Hold your place there and turn to Ecclesiastes 1. So holding your place in Psalm 39 and turning to Ecclesiastes 1:12—I, the preacher (Solomon) was king over Israel in Jerusalem, and I set my heart, which is mind and intent. So his focus was on something that was physical. So he’s going to learn lessons from it and there are spiritual lessons to be learned from the book of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes because they’re got a physical component, but there is a great spiritual lesson in them as well.

I set my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven; this burdensome task God has given to the sons of men, by which they may be exercised (occupied by it). So God’s plan and purpose is that there’s a period of time and in that mankind will learn. So the first 6,000 years mankind has learned a lot of lessons, and the biggest thing that they’re learning now is that man cannot govern himself. Other people are learning that, boy, people are selfish, mankind is selfish. Only when called can a person say, “I’m selfish.” It’s easy to look at and say, “Boy, that person is selfish,” or “That person is ‘this,’” but when we’re called God gives us the power (because of His holy spirit) to look inside and say, “Mmm, I’m selfish. I’m the problem.”

Well, for 6,000 years there’s only been a few that have known that they’re the problem, their nature. Very few. We live at a time now at the end of a period of time where this has been magnified, that we really see now that we are the problem. Our nature, what we desire within, is really a big problem and it hurts. It hurts individually, but it hurts others. It’s always hurting others because selfishness hurts.

I set my heart (intent) to seek out, to see all this that mankind was doing, what they’re going to be exercised by, what God had given them to do. Which was? To work. To work and look after self, but to look after others around, called family.

I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity, all is futile. Because why? Because it’s all temporary. So people can work really hard and do all that and build it up and they can have a house and get it all, and then there is a fire and it’s all burned to nothing. It’s all gone and they didn’t have an insurance – in older days they didn’t have insurance – and it’s just gone. You think, “I’m 65 and I’ve got nothing. It’s all gone.” Because it’s just a waste of time; it’s all futile. ...and the grasping of wind. It’s all a waste of time.

The conclusion that Solomon came to is physical life is meaningless without God. So how blessed are we at this time? How blessed are we at this time? Because life has a meaning. Our temporary, physical life has a meaning. It has great meaning to God because when He called us there was a plan for us.

Now, whether or not we respond and how we respond, well, they’re personal choices that we have to make. God gives us the opportunity now so how blessed are we?

We’ll go to 2 Corinthians 5:1—For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens, which is it’s a spirit body. So if this physical life ends – we’ve been called, we’re converted or converting, we’ve been baptized, have God’s holy spirit and we fight the fight, we’re doing it, we’re fighting, we’re overcoming self, we’re building this relationship with God, we trust in God, we rely in God, we obey God, what do we have? We have a building from God because our mind is the building, our mind is being transformed. The transformation of the mind, the renewing of the mind from these lusts to love, to God’s way of loving. Because, really, the lust of the flesh is love self. So we’re moving from loving self to loving God and loving others. That’s the transformation. That’s the building that’s taking place.

It’s an incredible thing, “A house not made with hands,” because it’s not a physical thing at all. Just like the building of the temple was a physical thing, but it pointed to something spiritual. Now we know this, how important it is to measure time. Where are we in time physically? Spiritually where are we?

I was called 36 years ago. Where am I in this path? I look back at 36 years and look at all the wasted time, all the things I have done that have wasted time, as far as spiritual time, the time that I have that God has allocated to me and allowed me to have at this point in time for a purpose. But, boy, I’ve wasted some time in my life. Now I look at it and think, “How stupid was I?” I went to sleep. I was one of those that went to sleep and the Apostasy happened. God in His mercy awakened me to see something in 2005. How incredible is that? How incredible is that?

Well, when you measure those things all on a spiritual level you can see how life is very temporary and we’d best be using the spiritual time that we have very, very wisely. It’s time to do it now, have that relationship with God right now because time is going to run out for us.

2 Corinthians 5:1— For we know if we have our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, which it’s going to be. It’s going to die or it’s going to be destroyed. One way or the other it’s going to go. ...we have a building from God. Yes, God living and dwelling in us. “I will be with you.” Remember that promise that we looked at? “I will be with you. I will be with them.” God is with us.

...a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens, a spirit body. So from the physical temporary body to a spirit body that is going to live forever? So that rope that way, behind us, and then we’re here, and that rope that way, in front of us – a lot of it is to do with us. God desires to give us life eternal that way, forever, to live forever, everlasting life. Isn’t that incredible? Well, if we see where we are in time right now at this rope, just right there, and it’s the opportunity we have in this period of time is that if we make right choices and do it we will live forever, never to be able to sin ever again as a spirit being. We have very little, minute, little speck. When you look at the rope and the little speck we have a little speck of knowledge of what that future rope, the distance, it never stops, has for us. What will we be doing? How will we be doing it? All of those things, we have no real idea. We’ve got a little grasp of things.

So you imagine if Yahweh Elohim has existed forever— “forever.” The mind can’t get there—imagine what He’s got planned forever. It blows your mind.

Verse 2—For in this we groan, physical, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven. Now, God has the power to do it. We can’t do it. We’re physical, temporary beings, we don’t have power. God has the power to be clothing us. Well, He’s clothing us now by the power of His holy spirit, changing and transforming the mind so that we can be clothed with spirit life forever.

...if indeed, having been clothed, with God’s holy spirit, we shall not be found naked. We won’t be found in sin, in other words. So we have God’s holy spirit now, we have the potential to get on that rope and go that way before us. That’s the potential we have. God wants to give it to us; it’s a matter of what choices we make.

For we who are in this tent (physical) groan, being burdened with our human nature. It’s a burden. If we see our human nature, if we see our selfishness, it is a burden. You think, “I’ve done it again,” or “I’m still doing it!” It’s a battle. It’s hard. It’s not easy. It’s not meant to be. But if we see that and we realize it’s only temporary, we know it’s going to come to an end – at what point we don’t know and we should live every day as if it could be our last, therefore, it’s very important that we do it now and have that relationship with God right now, today, because there may be no tomorrow for us. Let’s just focus on that point. Let’s do it now. Let’s get on and do it exactly as God has said, as what He has revealed to His Church. Let’s believe the truth and live the truth. Let’s get on with it.

For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want/desire to be unclothed, which is to be in sin. We don’t want anything to do with sin. ...but further clothed, with God’s holy spirit. So we have been clothed with God’s holy spirit. Well, we don’t want to lose that. We want more of God’s holy spirit. We want to think more like God because we understand life is temporary. We want to move on. ...that the mortality may be swallowed up by life, by spirit life. So this mortal will put on immortality. That’s the potential that we all have because we’ve been called to that. That’s what God really wants to give us. That’s what God wants to give us. But do we want it? How badly do we want it? Do we really want to build a temple here? Do we really want that?

Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God. It’s God working, it’s God that does it, but we do have a part. God’s called us for a purpose, which is to build this relationship with God, to be clothed with God’s holy spirit. ...who also has given us the spirit as a guarantee, which is God’s holy spirit as a deposit. It’s a down payment for something. So we have it. Those in God’s Church are the only ones that do have it, that have the potential now to have spirit life. We understand that we’ve been called for a purpose and there is a timeline involved. Well, let’s not waste time.

So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the Body we are absent from the Lord, which is talking about Christ. Although we’re here now and we have God’s holy spirit, we have a relationship with God, we have a relationship with Joshua the Messiah, whom we pray through because all that he has done, our Passover and soon coming King. We understand that.

Well, this is now our opportunity. Other’s don’t have it, but we have it. So we are confident knowing that we have this mortal body for a purpose. We’re at home in it. It’s who you are. It’s who I am. But the important part is what am I doing with it? What am I working at within my mind?

For we walk by faith, not by sight. Now, often people have thought they’ve tried to prove the truth to others that aren’t called. We’ve all probably tried that to different degrees, but we walk by faith because we walk by faith because of God, not because of who we really are, but because God called us and has given us the ability to see the truth and we believe God. Now, because we believe God we walk by faith. Every day we walk by faith. That is accounted to us as righteousness. We’re not righteous of and by ourselves, but God attributes that to us and says, “They are righteous because they believe Me.” So we believe God. We believe the truth.

Verse 8—We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body, which is dead and changed to spirit. That’s what we would prefer. But the reality is we’re here listening today; that hasn’t happened yet. We’re in this body for a purpose. We have our tests and trials for a purpose. We’ve been called for a purpose. But it all is temporary. This calling is a temporary thing, if you want to really look at it. Truly, it’s temporary. Called, given an opportunity to transform the mind by the power of God’s holy spirit, and it will stop. It too will pass. All of it is about what choices we make. But either way, time is moving on and we’re moving down that rope further and further every second, every minute of the day.

For we walk by faith, not by sight. So we see the truth, but we look at what’s going on around us and we see the truth is completely separate. We are isolated, we are separate because we believe the truth and we live the truth. But we don’t walk by sight, because some of the things that we see may not be what God has placed in the Church as truth because you look at physical things and you think all this going on. No, we see by sight. No, we walk by faith, we believe God, what God says about a matter, not what we think about a matter.

We are confident, yes, well pleased, rather to be absent in the body, which means we’re dead, and be present with the Eternal. We’d like to do that. That’s what we want. That’s our desire. Well, we’ve got to live out a timeline, a period of time.

Psalm 39:7. We’ll go back to Psalm 39:7—And now, LORD, what do I wait for? My hope is in You. Salvation from God is our hope. That’s what we want. David was the same. He knew that life was temporary, that it would go, and in the end, of course, he was told certain things about what he could do and what he couldn’t do. But as he got older he would have realized, just like we all do, that yes, life is temporary, time moving on.

Just like I’ve always looked at it where the opportunity that God has given me to speak, that is temporary. I’ve always known that it’s temporary. Because the Church has existed since the death of Joshua the Messiah, and then you see Pentecost of that 31 A.D., then you see the Church forming. Well, all of the apostles then, and those that followed, they’ve all died. Many await a resurrection to life. Well, everything is temporary and that moved on and all the eras have gone through. It’s all temporary. Well, this period of time now, today as you’re listening to this sermon, it’s temporary. It’s going to move on and there is a period of time where I won’t exist, where others around you won’t exist, where you won’t exist. That’s just the way that it is. There is going to be a new group of people, a new group of people. People live into the Millennium, they will have children, and their children will have children. It’ll go on for a thousand years, and then there’ll be none. Then there is the one hundred years and that’s temporary. Physical life is temporary and it’s very important that we remember that it is.

We wait for a resurrection to spirit life. Our confidence comes from God not in physical things like money. We’re not living this life for money. We live this life to be changed to spirit.

Verse 8—Deliver me from all my transgressions. Well, only God can do that and it’s based on our repentance. God is willing and desiring to forgive if we’re willing to do it, to repent. If we’re just willing to do it, just do it, repent, be genuinely, sincerely sorry about our transgression, what we did wrong, identifying our human nature, admitting our human nature, what we like, what we choose by nature, and God will forgive. We have been delivered from sin by our Passover and our repentance. “Forgive me.” That’s what we have to do. We have to do it, though. We have to choose to do it.

Do not make me the reproach of the foolish. Well, who is the foolish? Someone who doesn’t listen to God. A person is a fool if they do not listen to God. A person is a fool if they decide to leave the Body of Christ. They’re a fool. If we just could stop and just think about our nature and know it and just admit it, which is about remaining humble.

If we were just to consider: Yahweh Elohim existed forever, has given us a period of time so that we could make choices (based on a calling), based on repentance, that we could live forever, what choice is there? What choice is there when you really stop and think about it? Life is temporary.

So we would leave the Body of Christ, the Church of God, and go off and do our own thing because of our lusts and desires. Well, when you really stop and think about it it’s just stupid. It’s the same as what’s been brought up by Mr. Weinland where people decide to put other things before God when it comes to tithing. Now, stop and think about the rope and God, eternal, all powerful, almighty. All this is physical, temporary, yet we won’t honor Him and we’ll fulfill a desire that we have rather than honor Him, yet He’s existed forever and we’re temporary. Human reasoning.

Even if we would just sit there and think about it, how stupid is it? How stupid is it to do that, to steal from God, when we’re temporary? The thing that we may have desired to use the money on is temporary and it just fulfilled a pleasure that we had or that we desire or something that we think we needed rather than honor the Eternal God when we know we’re temporary. We’re just this little weenie speck. Doesn’t make a lot of sense when you go through it.

Well, the purpose of this sermon is to really look at our period of time right now. There is no time left but today to get on and repent and build a relationship with God. Now is the time. Today is the day because time is running out for us all.

Deliver me from all my transgressions. Do not make me a reproach of the foolish, of those that aren’t listening to God. Because we could be hypocrites by trying to say, “Ah, yes, we do ‘this’ and we do ‘that,’” and yet we do something completely different. So we can blaspheme God’s name because of our conduct, because of our words or our actions. Well, there are things that we could be the “reproach of the foolish.” Those that are outside go, “Look! Look at them. Look at what they’re doing. Look how they’re behaving.”

I was mute, I did not open my mouth, because it was You who did it. So there is no point talking about spiritual matters to someone not called who cannot hear or understand. God in us by the power of God’s holy spirit gives us the understanding.

So we have to accept that we’ve been called, we’ve been called and we’re in this time period and we are under judgment now. The Church of God, the House of God is under judgment now. Not tomorrow, now. Now, unless a person in the Body of Christ, has been called, baptized, received God’s holy spirit, they’re not under judgment. They’re being measured for different things, other outcomes for another result. But as far as a spiritual judgment, now is on the House of God, the Church of God. It’s us! So all the more reason to think about our temporary life and that our existence in the Church of God is temporary. It is. Because if we die it no longer exists. If we die and we’re changed to spirit it moves from this physical to something spiritual.

So time is temporary. Today is temporary. It’s moving. Time is going to move on. No matter what happens time will just keep moving forward for us.

Verse 10—Remove Your plague from me, which is death or “the wages of sin is death.” The plague that can be removed is, because of sin that we repent. So that’s, the plague is death. The wages of sin is death. To remove it from me, how is it removed? Well, God can cover it by the fact of our repentance, that we repent in the name of Joshua the Messiah who’s given us the ability to repent because of Passover.

I am consumed by the blow of Your hand. Well, this “blow of the hand” can be tests and trials. Now, we all have different tests and trials. Everybody. There is nobody in the Body of Christ that doesn’t have a test and trial. It could be that they don’t see it. But the test and trial, the main one we have is our own selfishness. That in itself is a big test and trial that we have every day because of the way we respond.

Now, with God’s holy spirit we should be aware of the things we say and of the things we do. That awareness means we are consistently or constantly in a test and trial. We’re being measured all the time: How will we respond? What will we do? What will we say? How will we behave? What will we do? Will we follow instructions? Will we obey God? That’s the test and trial. But there are others on top of that that are magnified.

Now, it can be that a test and trial can be given from God. That can be, for example, change of Pentecost from a Monday to a Sunday. That was a test and a trial, a spiritual one, on God’s people. But there are other tests and trials. It can be health. It can be family. It can be financial. There’s lots of other ways that happen, but a lot of those are brought on self because of decisions we made or decisions other people made that we have to carry that test or trial with us. But there is also doctrinal tests and trials, changes of things. A truth can come to the Church where a person will be tested; their thinking will be tested because of it. So we are in tests and trials all the time if we really understood our nature. There are other tests and trials that come along.

So, “a blow from God’s hand” is a test or a trial that He brings to us to see how we think, the way we will think. What will we do and how will we respond to it? Often it comes in the sense of truth or a change of doctrine, which is truth being given to the Church.

Verse 11—When with rebukes You correct man for iniquity (sin)... So correction is for our spiritual benefit. So any correction that is given, which we should expect, comes over the way of God entering truth to the Church (which is a correction). When you see truth given to the Church it’s a correction because of the change of thinking that is coming. If checked, correct your thinking, which is one way to another way. I’ve had many of correction other ways as well. But it’s all for the benefit. It’s all for our personal benefit because God loves us and He wants to mold and fashion us so that we in a period of time can be transformed to something new, that at some point He will say, “Now I know you,” and therefore, we’ve been transformed to that point where now God can give us life, to go down that rope forever and ever and ever, never to stop, never to be able to sin.

When with rebukes You correct man for sin You make his (man’s) beauty melt away like a moth. It’s temporary. Now, we understand what a moth is. We know that a moth will lay a caterpillar and the caterpillar changes to a moth. But it doesn’t last very long. It’s very temporary.

We have a lot of insects around this area and birds and other animals. Their life is temporary. It’s like a dog’s life. A dog can live generally 11 to maybe 13, 14, maybe 15, some get to 17, but they die. So that relationship is temporary. The relationship that the dog has with its owner is a temporary thing. Most humans realize that it is a temporary thing and when the dog or the cat or whatever it is dies there is an emotion because it was a bond that was built up there and there’s an emotion that comes of loss, of sorrow.

Well, our life is temporary; three score and ten, and if by strength longer. Some are shorter. But in this time it’s physical. But for us how long is it we’re going to be in God’s Church? How long are we going to have the opportunity to have this relationship with God? Because the truth is, it’s like a vapor. It is actually temporary. There is a time period where God is going to mold and fashion us to a point if we get on and do it; we have to be involved in it if that’s what we choose. Well, it’s only temporary. When that’s complete then there is life. But if it’s not complete they may be given an opportunity to finish it, and if it’s not completed by a choice, it’s over, it is temporary; life is really temporary—and spirit life will not be given.

Continuing on: Surely every man is vapor. Selah Think about it. Think about temporary pleasure of sin. Temporary is the key word. Because we all sin. But why do we sin? Because there is a temporary pleasure and that pleasure is about self. It comes back to self. All sin comes back to disobedience to God, but it comes back to self-pleasure, satisfaction. But it’s temporary because the moment we sin and that pleasure is fulfilled, what then? Repentance is required to move forward. Because that temporary pleasure is gone. It’s temporary because time is moving on. No matter what we do or say time is moving on. Everything is temporary.

Verse 12—Hear my prayer, O Eternal, and give ear to my cry. Do not be silent at my tears. So he wanted God involved in his life. Because here he is crying out to God in repentance, and that crying out, He wanted God to forgive him because he’s genuine and sincere he wanted to do it. For I am a stranger with You, “a sojourner,” that word is, a temporary inhabitant, a newcomer. It can also be, A sojourner, as all my fathers. So he is just going through it’s a time.

So when we go back to Adam and Eve and all that period of time, all the ones that God has worked with that has completed and sealed, the 144,000 to that point in time – there is still few to go – but it’s a time period and in that time everybody was allocated a time period to have a relationship with God – to do it, to repent, to get on with life, to know self more, to recognize the selfishness that is in us, and to build a relationship with God through repentance, through prayer, through overcoming self by the power of God’s holy spirit.

So he understood that he was just a sojourner, that it was temporary. He’s a newcomer. Well, when we’re called we understand we’re babes in Christ. It’s temporary. It moves on. We should be growing and growing and growing. So our growth is a time period and it just moves forward slowly until we get to a point.

Remove Your gaze from me, which is to inspect or consider, that I may regain strength. “Remove this test or trial because I’ve overcome it. I’m moving forward, and I’ll be strengthened by the power of Your strength.” Before I go away and am no more. “Before I die.” So, “Keep working with me, and the trials that I have, they are temporary.” No matter what situation we are in, it’s all temporary.

Psalm 62:1—Truly my life silently waits for God; from Him comes my salvation. Now, this is a beautiful thing if we would just stop and think about it. We, out of all the people that exist today, know the plan of salvation. We know God’s plan. It’s for us. So God’s plan of this creation, the physical earth, the animals and everything, and us, is all about us. We’ve been called at this time for a great, incredible purpose that people in the future will look back and realize, “Wow, God did this with this small amount of people, with only 57 Truths +1. He did all that! But these people had to choose and have chosen a way of life because they can choose another way if they wanted to, but these people did because God was with them. He was their God. They knew that salvation comes from Him and only Him, nobody else. There is no other way.” There is no other way. Salvation has to come through Joshua the Messiah, has to come through being part of the Body of Christ, the Church of God.

He only is my rock, “He’s my protection,” and my salvation; He is my defense. “He is my strong tower.” I shall not be greatly moved. “I won’t be shaken.” Now, this is all about our faith and what we believe. We’re not going to be shaken.

Things are coming that we have no real understanding of. We might think we know but the reality is until we’ve lived it, until we’ve lived through it we have no idea of what’s ahead of us. We’ve got vague outline, but when it starts to happen and you see humans reacting because of distress and could react towards us because of distress that we know that God is with us. No matter what happens God is with us. He will never leave us.

We understand God’s plan of salvation. We know that there is distress coming on this world before the return of Joshua the Messiah as our High Priest and soon coming King – he’s going to return. We know he’s our High Priest now intervening for us, for us – we know that no matter what happens in this short period of time between now and the return of Joshua the Christ, the Messiah, it’s only temporary.

So all the suffering that we’re going to enter into, it’s temporary. It’s going to pass. Then we’re going to see a new earth in the sense of change is going to take place. Things are going to be gotten rid of and things are going to have to change through education. It’s going to take time. It’s not a magic wand as in Harry Potter and things like that. No, it’s about humans. It’s about the transformation of the mind, and it’s about choices under a new government, a spirit government, the government of God on this earth.

Verse 3—How long will you attack a man? Which is a question. You shall be slain, all of you, which is talking about other humans. Like a leaning wall or a tottering fence, it will fall down. Now, this world’s system and what it is attacks God’s Church. God’s Church has been under attack in lots of ways. You and I individually are under attack all the time because of our nature that we have, and Satan broadcasts to attack us, to destroy us, to be a falling wall, to fall, to give up, but all attacks by Satan are temporary because he is going to be removed and his end is coming.

So Satan’s life is temporary. The evil angels have life, but it’s temporary. It’s been going for a long period of time but they were created and they’re coming to an end. And only good, righteousness, will exist and those that obey God as far as the spirit realm.

So it’s an incredible thing. So we’re in this temporary period of time. The system is going to fall, but it’s temporary in the sense of once it’s collapsed, it’s got rid of, it isn’t coming back. So this physical life as you see it, as we see it, what’s around us now as we see it, the governments that are there and all the stupid decisions that man is making, the selfishness, it is temporary. Selfishness is temporary. It’s going to be gotten rid of.

Verse 4—They only consult to cast him down from his high position, which is about authority. They delight in lies. They bless with their mouth, which is talking about mankind, but they curse inwardly. So man’s carnal mind as outlined in Romans 8, the natural mind, we should stop and think about it. The natural mind as we know it is temporary. We all have one, but it is temporary because either it’s never going to exist again and it’ll be gone forever or it’ll be gone and we will have a new mind, a new way of thinking because of the power of God’s holy spirit.

Verse 5—My life, my inner man, waits silently for God alone, for my expectation, which is my hope, or that, really, that “expectation,” the word is like attached cord is from Him, is from God. So we can have this attachment because God has called us and given the power to have an attachment with God.

So we should come to the conclusion life is temporary. Where we are in time right now, each individually, every one of us, it’s all temporary. Where we are on that speck, whether it’s at the beginning of this period or near the end of this period it is temporary and we haven’t got much longer to go, and while we have time now turn to God and do it. Have this relationship with God. Repent. Change now while we got the time to do it.

Verse 8—Trust in Him at all times, you people, which is talking about the Church today. Trust in God. He will do it. Pour out your heart before Him, which is in prayer. Do it now. God is a refuge for us. Surely men of low degree, physical, are a vapor, they’re temporary and passing. So no matter what people say, no matter what people do, it’ll pass. It’s just going to move on. Time is going to move on. Joshua the Messiah is coming back to this earth. It’s just a matter of time. It’s just going to move on and we’re going to be there.

Men of high degree, which is men of high degree in their own eye, their own value, how they see it, are a lie. It’s deceitful. It’s a lie. To think that someone’s important or someone is above someone on a physical level or better, it’s just a lie. It’s not true! The difference is whether or not a person has God’s holy spirit and how much they’re yielding to God. God is building the temple. He places each and every one of us into positions according to His will and purpose. It’s all by design; it’s an incredible thing. Well, we have a short period of time to respond to God.

If they are weighed on the scales, they are altogether lighter than vapor. So anybody who thinks they’re important, whether it’s movie stars or politicians, they’re just in deception because they don’t know God. They haven’t been called to know God. “And they are altogether lighter than a vapor.” Well, how light is vapor? Nothing. It’s just “whoosh,” gone. You can’t measure it. It’s just too light. It’s disappeared.

Well, that’s the importance of man and his so called intellect and what he’s worth. So we should never build ourselves up thinking we are of any importance to anybody. The only value we have is towards God, that God can use us to develop a family. Because, in a way, God is giving us a great blessing to have the potential to be part of His family. So whether or not we want that is a choice.

Verse 10—Do not trust in oppression, which is “gain by extortion,” or vainly hope in robbery, which is a way of get. If riches increase, do not set your heart on them. So the physical things are not important compared to the spiritual. God has spoken once, twice I have heard this,

that the power belongs to God. So God can build up and God can pull down. That’s exactly what’s going to happen. God is going to pull down shortly, pull down mankind who thinks he has immortal life or has eternal life inherent in him. That’s what he thinks. He thinks he’s a mortal being, but when he dies he goes to heaven. That’s all going to change. He’s going to have to learn, no, physical life is temporary, and if we make wrong choices it is temporary...it is temporary.

Verse 12—Also to You, O Eternal, belongs mercy. God is merciful. God has been so merciful in allowing us to know what we know – the truth. God is merciful in the fact He called us, that He awakened us. How merciful is God when you look at the scheme of time and the scheme of mankind, 7,100 years, how merciful has God been to me and to you? Just incredible!

For You render to each according to his work, to his choices. All suffering, all tests and trials will pass. They are temporary. They are all temporary.

So we’ll move to conclude. If you’d like to turn to Hebrews 11:35. We understand this is in relation to faith and what people have done and what is required of us. Understanding that if we have a right perspective in life, where we are in our life, whether we’ve been in the Church 6 months, 1 month, 1 year, 10 years, 20 years, 50 years, it’s about a perspective about what God is doing with us and valuing that the most because it’s understanding that there is a journey of time and it is temporary and that we are required to do the right thing, to be able to inherit eternal life, everlasting life. There is a choice to be made so let’s not waste our time.

Because most of us have probably wasted time to this point in time; somewhere along the line we’ve wasted time in our relationship with God. Well, today is the day to stop and to now understand it’s temporary and that the relationship we have with God now can be built on so that we can have a relationship with Him forever...forever and ever, ever, never to stop. But there is a point where we have to acknowledge, yep, I’ve wasted some time somewhere along the line up until this point in time. Well, now the day is come where I’m going to commit and I’m not going to waste any more time because I am temporary. My relationship, my time on this earth is temporary and I need to do what is required. Just do it, get on and do it.

Hebrews 11:35—Women received their dead raised to life again. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance from the torture, recanting and all those different types of things that they were told they had to do otherwise they would die. There was a lot of people that have died that never had a relationship with God but had a belief system that was false, but they still would die rather than recant.

...that they may obtain a better resurrection. So this is talking about God’s people that have been mistreated through the history of mankind. Where God has been working with someone, well, mankind has treated them terribly, but they have always seen that they wanted to be part of a first resurrection, a better resurrection, as it is called, as it’s first. But there are many today that exist that’ll be in a second resurrection.

Verse 36—Still others had trial of mocking and scourging, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tested, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented. Now, with that it’s all temporary. A lot of that has passed. Maybe some more to come, but this is talking about something that has passed. It’s gone.

Verse 38—of whom the world was not worthy. Because why? Why weren’t they worthy? The world out there, why? Because they were begotten sons of God and the world out there didn’t know that they were begotten sons of God, and therefore, the world never knew what God was doing. Well, they weren’t worthy, the world, because these were people God was working with. God was building something in them.

They wandered in deserts and in mountains, in dens and caves of the earth. And all these, having obtained a good testimony (report) through faith, because it’s what we believe. So now is the time to recommit to our faith and do our faith, which is live it. Live it! Have a relationship with God. Build our relationship with God. Time is short. No matter what age we are or how long we’ve been in the Church time is short.

...they did not receive the promise. They weren’t changed to spirit the moment they died. They didn’t have an eternal life. That has to be given. They’re going to be resurrected at the return of Joshua the Messiah.

Verse 40—God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect (or complete or finished) apart from us, which is referring to those that are part of the 144,000, that all of those in the past that have died they haven’t received the promise yet. They’re still waiting a resurrection which is coming.

With the understanding of the purpose of life, that time on this earth is short, it’s temporary, what is required of us? It’s about a dedication right now, today. We should get on and do it today, dedicate ourselves and rededicate ourselves to the truth, to God.

Ephesians 4. We’ll close with Ephesians 4:1-6—I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called. Now, that’s pointed individually. It’s talking about “me,” to “me.” “Wayne, we should walk worthy of the calling which God has given me.” God in His mercy decided in 1982 to call me and granted me the gift of repentance, and I was baptized in 1983. Well, I’ve wasted a lot of that time. Well, I haven’t always walked worthy of the calling. But this is now God saying to us, “I’m a prisoner of the Lord,” in the sense, “I’m captive and I want to be captive. I want to be held close to God. I want to be held by the truth. I want to be held by God’s holy spirit. I do not want God’s holy spirit to leave me.” Just like you are the same. We don’t want God to leave us. God says, “I will be with you. I will never leave you.” The problem is me. The problem will be you.

Now, here it is Paul is saying, “I beseech you to walk worthy.” What does that say? Well, it means we’ve got to live a particular way of life. Today is the day to make a choice to live a particular way of life worthy of the calling which came from God. We’ve been called for a purpose. We’ve been called to have God and Christ live and dwell in us so that we live love to all, not selective, not with bias or prejudice. That’s the calling. Therefore, we’ve got to walk a particular way. We have to walk a particular way before God, the calling we’ve been given, the purpose of life, so that we can move forward on that rope, that way forever. That’s the purpose of why we were called.

Verse 2—So how do we demonstrate this walking worthy? ...with all lowliness, which is about humility. We’re to walk in humility. We know who we are. We don’t have pride, we don’t lift ourselves up to think we’re better than anybody else because of education or anything else that we might have, money or lack of it, whatever. Pride comes in different forms. You can be proud-filled and be poor. It can be proud-filled and have a lot, be proud-filled and only have just a bit. That’s not our life. Our life is to walk in humility. How do we know that? Well, to know our true value. Our true value is about what we’ve talked about today, to understand that life is temporary, that no matter what happens we’re called, there is a period of time where we have to build a relationship with God and with others in the Church, and to walk worthy of this calling towards others.

So we demonstrate our calling, calling from God, by walking towards others in all lowliness, which is this humility toward others, and gentleness. So we’re gentle towards others. We don’t set wrong expectations on others. No, we’re gentle and kind and merciful.  ...with longsuffering. So we’re patient. We’re going to be short-tempered and yell at people and raise our voice and be demanding, the way we want it, the way we see it? No, we’re more relaxed, we’re comfortable because of God, God in us. We’re more relaxed.

...bearing with one another in love. The way we look at people, the way we treat others is because of God’s holy spirit. We’ve changed. We’ve been transformed to what we were. We’re now changing because of what? Because of God’s holy spirit in us. We’re endeavoring, which is striving, to keep the unity of the spirit, God’s holy spirit, in the bond of peace. So we’re trying to live peace.

We’re Sabbath keepers. We rest. That’s peace. We live peace. Keeping the Sabbath is living peace. We’re peaceable. Well, we don’t force it on others. We don’t go out and try to convert others or make people do things differently. Because it’s God that has to do it, it’s not us. It’s not our duty. Our duty is to respond to the calling, which is to do these things, walk in all lowliness, gentleness, longsuffering, bearing with one other in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. So we’re trying to keep peace, to be peaceable, to live peaceable, not to force our views and opinions on others on many things.

Verse 4—There is one body, the Church of God. There is one Body. What makes up that body? ...and one spirit, the holy spirit. So we are part of that. We are part of the body, the Body of Christ. We’re connected. When you look at what scripture talks about, a body, that we shouldn’t desire just all to be the eye or all to be the hand, or whatever. No, there’s all different parts. We are all different, but we are striving to keep the unity of the peace, unity. We keep unity through peace. Peace comes because of the way we think, God’s holy spirit. God is peace, therefore, only way a person can live peace is to have God living and dwelling in them, which is to have God’s mind reflected out to others, and therefore, we’d be living peace to others because we think differently.

We don’t have to argue with people about their opinion or their view. You know, the talk fest that you see on TV, everyone’s got a view or an opinion, and should do this and we should do that. No, should do what God says. We’re relaxed about it. We don’t try to force people. Can’t. Can’t. God has to call a person.

There is one body and one spirit, talking about God’s holy spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling. So what is that one hope? The hope of life everlasting. We desire salvation. That’s the hope. We hope for something. We hope for the return of Joshua the Messiah. We know it’s going to happen. Well, we hope for it soon. That’s what we hope. We hope to be changed at some point in time to be in Elohim forever. That’s our hope. That’s what we want. That’s our hope. That’s what God wants to give us. That’s why He called us, to give us that, spirit life forever.

...one Lord, Joshua the Messiah, one faith. There’s one belief system, one group of truths, 57 +1, there’s one. It all belongs in one Church and it’s only understood by one spirit, God’s holy spirit. So there is one belief system. Now, anybody outside of that belief system does not have a relationship with God as commanded by God. You know, get on and build the temple; get on and do it. Do it! Do it exactly as God has said. Do it now! Pray now. Repent now. All of these things. Well, they can’t because they’re not called to it.

So there is one Lord, one Messiah, one Passover, one faith, one belief system, one baptism. So there’s a calling then there’s a baptism, which is about repentance. So there’s repentance that needs to take place. And what is repentance, really? It’s about change. Don’t walk that way of life, walk this way of life. Change.

...one God and Father of all. Pretty straight forward. One God and Father, same being, one being, of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. Well, that’s what we want forever. At this moment God is above all and always will be, and through all, because He’s through everything that is created. It all comes from the mind of God. He knows when a sparrow falls to the ground. So God is through all. He knows everything about what is going on. Nothing can be hidden from God.

When a person decides not to tithe correctly or save second tithe and many other things, not to keep the Sabbath correctly, live a different way of life, it’s foolishness to think that it can be hidden from God. No, God knows all and God desires that we repent and change to come into unity with Him, to believe what God gives to the Church to believe.

...and in you all. Yes, God is with us. God is with His Church. God’s Church exists in love. God’s Church is love if God’s holy spirit is there. God’s holy spirit is here. We’re not perfect. We have our human nature that we’ve got to battle, but that’s the purpose of life, to battle self once it’s revealed to us by God.

Brethren, it’s important for us to do it right now, which is to repent and build a relationship with God right now. Because life is temporary; it’s all temporary. Things are temporary. We’re on that rope. That way in front of us we don’t fully understand. But we’re right here now at this point in time, right here. It’s going to go that way forever with or without us. In the end the choice is ours.

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