It Is God Who Calls Us, Pt. 4

Ronald Weinland

August 22, 2020

This is Part 4 of the current series It Is God Who Calls Us.

Now, we’ve been covering how it is that God himself is the one who calls us, and there is so much to build upon in all this, to learn from, because it’s something that the Church lost sight of well before the Apostasy. After the Apostasy, as a whole, the Church didn’t recapture it except for what God gave to us as a group, helped us to hold on to.

Anyway, we talked, again, in this series about how it’s God who calls us and then He draws us to His Son, and talking about that one word that is used, “to draw,” “to call,” a word that’s used as the word “drag,” like dragging someone along. Because our human nature resists God. As we make the right choices, that this is what we want, this is what we choose as far as the truth, then God begins to bless us and it’s not like being drug along the ground anymore, it’s a matter of a choice, and things begin working in a different way for us and we begin to experience what it’s like to obey God and begin to receive some of the blessings of God and that’s a growing process.

Again, it’s an awesome thing to understand that the moment He begins to reveal truth to the mind we enter into a process, again, of making these choices that we are responsible for. No one else can make them for us. There are a lot of people who don’t even make it to that point. They come up to a point where God opens the mind and the history of the Church has been, at least since I have been in the Church since 1969, and in the ministry, there were so many that had their minds opened up but didn’t take that extra step.

We had a lot of co-workers, tens of thousands of co-workers, and they didn’t take that extra step though God gave them opportunity to begin a process. But they could only go so far or only chose to go so far. If that’s the only thing that they did then that’s all that they were blessed to that point in time. They were limited then as to what they could receive from God because of that, because of those choices.

The more we grasp the depth and the importance of what God has done in calling us, the more we begin to experience that process in our lives. We can’t make it unless we make those particular choices. But it’s a matter of understanding, again, how blessed we are to have a calling. People really don’t grasp that as a whole in the Church, or haven’t in times past, but it’s an incredible process here.

Oftentimes in the Church we don’t appreciate as much what God has given to us, and so we have to think about those kinds of things, what it is that God has given to us, the blessings we have. The more we grasp that, the more we grasp how blessed we are then God can give us more and we can grow more and more in a spirit of humility and oneness and unity within the Church as we go through this process.

But last Sabbath we were going through some scriptures in 1 Corinthians 1, and I’m going to be going back to some of those in a moment. There’s much in the scriptures there about a calling and what it means to be drawn to God, what it means to have our minds opened up, and to begin to see things that we really couldn’t see them any other way except that God puts them in our mind. He communicates to the mind through the power of His holy spirit. That’s an awesome thing to experience.

Anyway, this past week something came to my attention that has a very strong connection with what we’re covering right now. It actually was covered this past week, this incident that took place within the Church, and yet it’s something that was addressed well before this incident came to light again. It’s happened a couple of times now and been brought to my attention a couple of times. I’ll bring this all together here in a moment as we go through this.

But it concerns a matter that I had mentioned about some who were murmuring concerning some of the things that had been decided concerning the Feast of Tabernacles this year and keeping it in different locations. Now, there’s a lot to be learned from things like this, that we can look at an incident, things that happen in the Church sometimes, and God brings those things to the surface so that we can learn from them.

I was thinking about this today concerning this particular sermon, and even in the beginning here trying to determine which direction to go with some of this.

But government is a difficult thing to grasp. God’s government. So often we think we understand it. But it’s not something that you really grasp and understand to its fullest depth. It’s something you grow in and continue to grow in if you desire to, if you grab a hold of what God gives. And the reality is, the reason I’m mentioning some of this, is because of the Church of God, well before the Apostasy, people thought they understood what government was.

They, if you were to ask anyone in the Church about the first truth that was recognized as far as that which God gave to Mr. Armstrong, credited to him, that God had worked through him to give this to the Church—there were three truths from Sardis—this was the first truth that was associated with Philadelphia given through Mr. Armstrong to God’s Church. Government.

Because it’s there toward the beginning and was discussed much in God’s Church, people felt that they really understood it. The reality is that a lot of times we don’t understand it until we come up to a point where it’s tested, until we’re tried in it. Then we can begin to see some things in our mind and in our thinking that we didn’t really grasp and comprehend. The reality is it became so bad in the Church, as far as government was concerned, it really became something that was lost. Even government within God’s Church was lost! That’s quite pathetic, really, when you think about it, because it’s an important thing to God.

Government has everything to do how God governs life. God’s commandments have to do with government. It governs our relationship with one another. It governs our relationship with God Almighty. We have to make choices along the way and then that is broadened mightily.

I think of the 57 truths, those things that are expanded like they are that God has given to us is a matter of government. It’s a matter of order. It’s a matter of how God does things. It’s a matter of how God works with us. It’s something we grow in understanding of and come to appreciate more and more. Because God’s order, God’s way, ever how you want to describe it, is the only true way of life that gives fullness, happiness, joy, the right ability to have family, if you will, in a right way. Because everyone has their own ideas in the world about family. Even in different organizations people have different ideas about what family is.

But the reality is, it goes back to order that comes from God. God tells us how to have proper order in life, which is a matter of law, which is a matter of government, what governs our life. We have to make those choices. God shows us what will better govern our life and then we choose whether or not we’re going to live that, whether or not we’re going to practice it.

So, look at anything that’s been revealed to you through time that we understand as truth, and our choice to live by that is a matter of what’s governing our life. The more we come into unity and harmony with what God reveals to us the more blessed we are.

These things come out in discussing some of this having to do with a calling, that God has called us, He reveals truth to us, there are things He wants to give to us, He wants us to be a part of His family. That’s what it’s about. He’s chosen us now because His desire is or has been through time, in time, to offer that family to all. But because of choices people have made through time there will be some who can never be offered that because they have so polluted, so destroyed, so damaged their minds that they would never choose to repent.

Sometimes that’s hard for people to understand, that if everyone were resurrected (if you look at the Great White Throne), during that period of time, that no matter who they were in time, that surely, when they saw what God had done with mankind and the world after 1,000 years of truth being throughout the world, one truth, with God’s government then governing mankind for that period of time and how people are blessed through that thousand years, surely they would want this.

The truth is, the reality is, not the case. There are people, just as there was with a spirit being and an angelic realm, a third of them, when they made the choices that they did. When they made their choices, their minds changed immediately because they were of spirit. Once spirit like that chooses something different it’s permanent and there is never a desire to go back. Something happens within the mind, of things we don’t fully grasp and comprehend.

As human beings God made us such that we can make choices and we can repent and we can change, and the mind can be transformed if we haven’t so damaged it, the spirit that’s within us. What an incredible thing to be able to be called. God’s whole desire is a family, a spirit family, a God Family. Incredible to grasp.

Sometimes we don’t grasp the depth of our calling because in many ways we’re just limited, we really are. We’re limited in grasping what God has given to us. That’s why He gives us sermons every Sabbath. That’s why He gives us Holy Days – so that we can be reminded of His plan and purpose and have things added to that that we can latch hold of in our thinking and embrace and say, “This is what I want. This I what I desire. This is what I have chosen, and I want what God has given to me and offered to me.” And so, as long as we make those choices and continue to repent in our lives God blesses us. What an incredible thing!

So, government, unity, oneness of spirit is what that family is all about. I love the way Mr. Armstrong used to explain some of those things in the sense of a plan and a purpose, that the only one who can be fully trusted is God. Because God’s way is set. Almighty God, His choices, what He has established, what He has created, what an incredible thing the kind of God we have, the kind of God we serve.

I often think about that and am thankful for that, that He’s the way He is. That kind of power, that kind of mind, that kind of being I can’t comprehend, but so thankful it’s of the mind that it is that is outgoing care and concern for others, a desire for others. Not one that’s selfish.

God made us selfish so that we could learn how ugly it is. As we grow in spirit more and more, we’re able to see that selfishness and we grow to where we really loathe it in here first and foremost, and in the world. And we understand then why the world is like it is, why people are like they are, because we’re like that too. It’s just that we’ve been given God’s spirit and we can start making some changes. We see the truth, He’s given it to us, but they can’t. We look forward to the time they can.

That’s why, stepping aside here a little bit, we understand, in an awesome way, why this world has to go through what it does right now. Because it’s the only way that God’s Kingdom can become established because of the resistance, because of that mind of man. It’s a type of dragging. When you talk about dragging billions of people this is what they have to go through. To do it in mass like this around the world mankind is going to have to go through a kind of a dragging for a little while to deal with the carnal human nature that we have so that something in mass can happen in such a powerful way around the world, to where we can become humbled. Because humility is what it’s about. It’s about being able to be humbled, to want to get rid of pride, and to begin by going through that process.

So again here, what an incredible thing to understand government, to understand unity, to understand oneness.

1 Corinthians 1 that I talked about and some of the thinking that, murmuring, if you will, murmuring that’s the opposite of how we should act when it comes to God’s law and God’s way of life, it’s not in agreement then with something that’s been given to us as a part of our life. God desires, mightily so, that within the Church we have unity of spirit, that we are of one. It’s something we’ve struggled with. I’ve seen within the Church ever since I’ve been called, this struggle that’s gone on.

We’re brought to a point of conversion and we have to make choices. But you have to work to have unity in a family. You have to work to have oneness in a family. The only true oneness you can have and unity you have is because it comes from the laws and the government of God, the way of God. As we choose those things and learn to implement them in our lives then we’re able to be blessed because of that.

Ephesians 4. Let’s turn over there. Ephesians 4:1, and then we’re going to continue on from there, but we finished 1 Corinthians 1 last week if my memory serves me correctly here. I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called.

The invitation. It’s an invitation, but it is a calling. The word has to do with being invited, an invitation, if you will, but it’s better recognized by the Church, by us, in the sense of a calling because it’s God who gives it, who gives that to us. And so, we’re to walk in a worthy manner. We can never be worthy of it. But to be thankful for it, to grasp what God has offered us, to have our minds opened up, and especially in the beginning when you recognize that and you want others to see what you see, you want to be able to share it with someone else—you have this excitement for what you see—and yet you can’t. You may try, but they can’t see what you see until you’re brought into a fellowship with others who see the same thing. Then it becomes incredibly exciting!

Now you can share something with others, share with them the same thing, the excitement of the truth that you have. Because they’re the only ones that understand what you’re going through in your life. They’re the only ones who can comprehend what it is you deal with on your job or whatever it might be, or with schools or during the Feast of Tabernacles, as an example. On and on it goes of things that are unique, that we experience, and this gives us a bonding where we’re bound together in a stronger way. Awesome, this fellowship that God blesses us with.

So again here, Paul saying, I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you are called. To grasp that. To understand that we have choices to make. So, it’s better explained here “in a worthy manner.” In other words, to respond to what God gives, to what God reveals, to strive to live by that, to strive to be of a worthiness, if you will, and to be positive, to be uplifted by, to be a blessing to the Church, not a detriment to it.

…with all humility. What a great place to begin. In our calling it can’t begin without humility. We have to humble ourselves because pride, if we make choices that are against God, that are different from what God has revealed to us, and we don’t have that spirit of humility, a desire to change, a desire to learn, a desire to become something different.

So, humility is a precious thing, it truly is. Haughtiness, pride, which is what the world has because of selfishness, that’s why you go through Isaiah and read the things in Isaiah, so much of the first of Isaiah, the first few chapters of Isaiah is about what’s going to happen, how God has to deal with so strongly with the world to humble it. Because it can’t enter into a new age, that new age can’t be filled with the kind of haughtiness and pride that exists today, that people take to themselves. Or like in politics, that parties take to themselves, that governments take to themselves, that organizations and groups of people take to themselves. “We’re better than someone else.” “We did this! Look at what we accomplished.” “Look at how great I am!” On and on it goes. Pride is hideously ugly, it really is.

Humility, God can work with that. Candidly, that’s the only thing God can work with. Because that’s a choice. Pride is a choice. Whether we yield to selfishness, whether we yield to our own desire, or whether we want to yield to the will of God – choice. There’s the difference.

…with all humility and gentleness. Why gentleness? Well, because something has to change in here, in our heart and our minds, in our thinking and how we work with and deal with other people. Because if we deal selfishly toward them generally there is no gentleness involved. If we want our way gentleness isn’t going to be the result.

There can be aggressive people, there can be passive-aggressive – and we’ve gone through things like this in the past. All those things are different ways to try to get one’s own way. It’s not humility. So again, gentleness is needed.

…and patience. Patience. Things don’t happen right away. I marvel at that process of patience in our lives and to yield ourselves to God’s time, to the way God deals with us and works with us. We want things and we want them right now. We want change and we’d like it right now. We want this and we want that, and we want it quickly.

I think with technology today that’s becoming worse in human beings, impatience, fast movement of things, vehicles, whatever it might be, communication. Our desire is just that it get, I don’t know, faster and faster. Sometimes it’s good just to stop and smell the roses.

Patience. This word means, has to do with longsuffering as well here, so we need to understand that too, but patience is good. But longsuffering brings in another element of this. That means in our thinking toward others. It means in our thinking toward self as well. To recognize that we have to be in this for a long time. We have to be inside of this for a long time, so we have to be willing to be patient and we have to be willing to be patient toward one another as well.

…bearing with, a word meaning “forbearing; exercising the right kind of tolerance,” if you will. …bearing with one another in love, agape, God’s love, endeavouring… I love some of these words here in the Greek language. “Endeavoring,” it’s a word that means “giving diligence; to give diligence.” …endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit. It’s a beautiful thing in God’s Church. There really is no such thing in the world, unity. There is division. Those kinds of things, again, are based on selfishness. People don’t have agreement. Everybody has a different idea how things should be done.

That’s why I loathe the news today, because it isn’t news. You can turn on the TV and you’re not going to hear something as far as news is concerned for a long time, as a whole, anything that’s of value and importance. You hear opinions, people’s opinions about things, how they think about something and it will really drive you nuts. Who cares about people’s opinions! What is right? Well, that’s why there is so many opinions. Because there’s no unity. Where does unity come from? It can only come from God because that’s the only one way. There is only one way of life to be lived and the whole world is doing something different.

Every country… Look at this country here with COVID. You go from one state to another and you have different things. You go between one city, one county, people have different rules. Schools opening, what do you do? Well, people are getting together in these little meetings and they’re deciding when they should or should not allow children to come back. How are you going to do it? Oh, wouldn’t you love to be in a big meeting like that with 15-20 people with so many different ideas of what they should do and shouldn’t do. I’ll tell you what, in those meetings you’re going to hear some really stupid things because people have these ideas. “This is my pet here.” “This is what I want everybody to do.”

You see that in congress. You see that in the senate. Where people want their little pet, whatever it is. “I want this done.” “I want money for this.” It’s the way the world is and we’re to be sickened of it, because God’s bringing a world where there is unity of spirit, where we do everything because we’re in agreement. Why? Because it’s come from God. And who knows what is absolutely right and absolutely true but God Almighty and His Son? So, we want to be in unity with that. Isn’t that an awesome, marvelous thing to have? In a new world government, everything is going to be absolutely right when it comes to how things are judged, justice, everything.

…endeavoring, giving diligence to keep, a word that means “to watch; to be on guard.” That’s what this word means; it means this doesn’t just happen. This kind of diligence, this kind of effort to keep, like God said, to dress and keep, to keep something in this respect, to watch over, to be on guard. You want to keep it. You want to keep what is right. So, you have to work at it. These things don’t just happen.

Unity doesn’t just happen. Something has to change. Self. “The way I see it.” No, it’s the way God sees it, and if you’re in unity with that, with God’s will, like we’ve talked about recently in prayer and so forth, if you’re in unity and harmony with God’s will then you’ll be right. But if it comes out of you, if it’s because of the way you see it and the way you think it should be, it’s not right. It’s got to be in unity with God. That may sound simple, but it really isn’t. It really isn’t. You have to pray about those things. You have to seek, to seek God’s will means you have to pray about those things, to see things the way God desires them to be done, how to judge matters, how to deal with matters in life. God should be at the forefront of that decision-making process because you want to be at one with Him. What is that? Government, the order of things, the way things work.

It stresses this, endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. That which comes from God, peace. Whenever I see this word I think of Jerusalem, what it means to have peace, what God is working for, New Jerusalem, how hard it is to accomplish peace, to bring peace, and yet that’s why God has sacrificed all that He has through time, made angels free moral agents knowing full well what was going to happen. Because it was by design, knowing that there would be those who would choose something different in time, who would work against Him, who would work against His purpose of creation. Why? Because there is only one who can be fully trusted. That’s God. God is creating the God Family because that’s the only thing that can be trusted into time.

When those minds become set (made of spirit), through choice, a mind that’s able to become transformed (which is difficult for us to comprehend that process), God can work with that and then give them a spirit creation that is changed, that will never be in disagreement, would never choose anything because it’s in unity and harmony and agreement with Him by choice over time to where it comes to a point where it can become set by God with that help, because of the choices you’ve consistently made in your life within the Church. What an incredible thing to understand!

So again here, a unity of the spirit in the bond… Which means “to bind together; that which binds us together,” to be at one with God.

I think of Atonement, when we observe Atonement we use the word there, breaking it apart, at-one with God, at-one-ment with God. It’s beautiful! Because that’s what His calling is all about, the process we go through to become at one with Him.

We have things in our life that pop up from time to time that try us, that test us to see where we are. Those things help us to examine or to see things that we otherwise couldn’t see. Because with God’s spirit He helps us to see them and that’s a beautiful thing.

The ugliness that’s in our carnal human nature is not beautiful. But when God lets us see it for what it is then we’re able to make the choices and to realize and be convicted of it. See, knowledge is one thing, but understanding because of conviction is something else. That’s why we have to have so many different experiences in life. We have to experience these things. When we come to that we come to a deeper conviction, “God is right. I am wrong.” What a beautiful thing that we can see those kinds of things in our life.

I think it would be good to look at a part of this expression here again. If I can find it in my notes right quick like. Give me a moment. In 1 Corinthians 1; let’s go back there before we go on in Ephesians because again, this matter of a unity of spirit and a bond of peace that we’re all to have in the Body of Christ, again, is something that doesn’t happen easily.

Going back here to 1 Corinthians 1:10 that we looked at last Sabbath, it says, Now I implore you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Joshua the Christ, that you all speak the same thing. What an awesome thing. Unity, again. So, we’re looking back at last Sabbath and what was covered there.

That doesn’t mean you’re saying the same thing all the time. It means that when you speak, you’re speaking in unity of spirit. Our conversation, there will be no divisiveness, no schism. Instead, there will be that which is a binding factor of unity and oneness. That’s what’s being discussed here, as it says …that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions, which is a word for schisms, that there be no schisms (divisions) among you.

That was discussed last Sabbath because that’s all I’ve known in God’s Church. That’s all I’ve ever known in God’s Church. Why is that? Is that a bad thing for God’s Church? No, but it’s something we have to experience because we don’t change automatically when God calls us, when we’re baptized. We don’t just naturally change. Instead, we have times of disagreement with one another. Sometimes we have disagreement with things that come to us from the Church. So, we have things of government that can happen as far as God’s government’s concerned that help us to see things in ourselves that we otherwise couldn’t see. That’s a blessing.

We have things at times where there is division in a certain area, where there is some schism, some sandpaper against sandpaper. That’s just a part of life. We have to experience these things so we can become convicted of what is right, what is better, what is true.

So again here, it says, I implore you, in the name of our Lord Joshua the Christ, that you all speak the same thing, that you be, in other words, in unity of spirit, that there be no divisions (no schisms) among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind. Now, that’s a beautiful verse, “joined together in the same mind,” in agreement spiritually.

…and of the same judgment. That’s even better! Because that means if we’re joined together in a right judgment it’s going to be because it’s something that has come from God as far as how to judge according to His will.

I want to mention this thing about to murmur, again, what it means. Because, again, as I’ve said, I’ve seen this a lot in time through time in God’s Church and when you have hundreds of people and thousands of people within an organization, those kinds of things are going to happen more often. The fewer there are oftentimes the easier it is to not have, especially because of how far we’ve come with what truth that God has given to us. So, we lived in very blessed times and I hope you understand that.

But going back and looking just at this definition of “murmur,” what it means to murmur: “a subdued,” (sometimes it’s subdued) but this is how it’s expressed, “or private expression of discontent or dissatisfaction.” That means disagreement. That means there’s something going on up here where there is a reason why a person has discontentment. Why? Because they want something different. It’s because they want to do something different. “I’m not content.” Why aren’t you content? Why aren’t you content?

Why does any of this ever happen in God’s Church through time? I saw so much of this during Mr. Armstrong’s time, but I learned from it and we can have opportunity to learn those things, how bad it is to come to a point where a person becomes dissatisfied, not content with what they have. Because that means they’re wanting something else. And if that goes too far, if it’s not nipped in the bud it can begin to destroy a person. Not only can it begin to destroy that person but through what is spoken—murmur, murmur, murmur—because something is expressed to someone else.

Generally, it’s not just expressed openly to people. Sometimes it is depending on how far it’s gone, but sometimes it’s spoken between people that people think that for whatever reason they feel that they will listen to them. Why? Because there’s something else that’s happened at some point where they have experienced they have discontentment. They’re not content. Dangerous thing. This has happened a lot, a lot in the history of God’s Church.

That’s why the more clearly we can see it, the uglier it becomes to us, the more we will want to run from it with all of our being because it’s destroyed a lot of people. I could tell you story after story after story of personal experiences, of things within the Church of what people have done and what they’ve said when they come to this point in their life. It just eats away and destroys and many have gone by the wayside because of it.

The opposite of unity. The opposite of oneness. It’s this desire to have something different. That’s a matter of carnal human nature. That’s the way we are.

I want to mention it again. If someone is so bold in God’s Church today to murmur, to say something to someone else that is not in unity and harmony with what has come down as a matter of government within the Church, I, as God’s servant, as God’s minister, will be just as bold to tell the entire Church, not who you are, but that may have to come in time too, if you don’t change, because you will become disfellowshipped if you continue in that course, if it continues to grow.

My experience in God’s Church is that if people get into a frame of mind of murmuring and discontentment about certain things, that can grow like a cancer very quickly. I’m telling you, you need to nip it in the bud, ask God for mercy, repent as quickly as you can, apologize to the people that you did this to, said these things to, because otherwise you won’t be around long. Not something I will do, just something that will happen because of God’s cutting you off from His holy spirit. That’s just the way it works.

I have seen this hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of times. I’ve also seen when people repent—and it’s a beautiful thing—and work to make things right. Because then God can continue to work and teach and help people to learn from that. When we see things in ourselves that we’ve done wrong and we repent of them, what an incredible thing that we can continue to go forward. We learn from that experience and we never want to do that again. That can be so reinforced or enforced within our thinking in our minds that it’s a real blessing, it really is. Because it’s a matter of conviction then, convicted that this is never going to happen again. “See if anything comes out of my mouth stupid like that again!”

So, boo hoo! Boo hoo if you can’t do the same thing as some other Church area or what you think some other Church area is doing. Be thankful you have the truth. Be thankful if you’re able to listen to the sermons during the Feast of Tabernacles. There was a time in God’s Church that if you had to stay at home you couldn’t hear any sermons!

It happened one year when my wife was pregnant. Went to the Feast of Tabernacles because I felt I couldn’t stay back with her. We learned from that experience. No, she’s about to have a child during the Feast of Tabernacles and she shouldn’t be alone, and me as her husband should be with her! So, I learned from that experience. And sure enough, during the Feast of Tabernacles our daughter was born.

Now, I’ve learned a lot about that that’s helped me in things through time and within the ministry, because, again, the thinking at that particular time was “God commands us to be at the Feast of Tabernacles!” We’re still dealing with that today with some people, “We’re supposed to be at the Feast of Tabernacles! I don’t care what the minister says…”

There was a period of time here within the Church where we had a four-day period that people could be at the Feast. That was a trial and a test for God’s people. But they didn’t understand government, those who murmured back at that time. Because the reality is God works in a certain way, and if it happens to be the true Church of God and God’s spirit is working in it then it’s expedient upon us – of course, those who are scattered think that’s the way it is – but it’s expedient upon us to live by what is given to us as a matter of instruction because we learn from that. That’s exceedingly important to God.

There could be all kinds of administrative decisions that are made, as there were in Philadelphia, and sometimes the trial and test is upon us as to do we support it? Are we guarding that, holding on to that, being thankful we can be a part of that regardless of what that might be, regardless as to whether or not we would do it that way? Because that really doesn’t matter! If that’s the way Mr. Armstrong, Herbert Armstrong said it was to be done in a particular matter, so we did it, because we knew it was God’s Church, we knew that was God’s apostle.

And you know what? God judges us accordingly. He did back then. Because I have known of so many people, ministers, a lot of ministers who didn’t have that agreement and because of that they went by the wayside. They didn’t last very long. Why? God isn’t going to accept that. He’s not going to accept that for sure as a part of the first resurrection. So many of them in time have died, gone by the wayside, many of those whom we have known who made those kinds of decisions at different times. Others kept plodding away and kept desiring this.

Because, you know what? If this is in our heart and our being, we’re there, we’re behind it. We want to go forward. We want to do it the way that’s given to us because why? We want unity of spirit; we want oneness of spirit.

If I hear something like, “Well, we don’t get to do what Cincinnati does…” “Cincinnati gets to…” “Don’t they get to have a Feast site?” Yeah, and a lot of other scattered groups out here in the Church do as well. But Cincinnati doesn’t have to travel very far. They’re in Cincinnati. You don’t all have that in every area wherever you might be. You might be more scattered. You might have just a few people in a particular area. It just so happens to be that right now Cincinnati is the main one that can meet together because of the way things are going with the COVID. It’s just we’ve been blessed.

We ought to understand some reasons why in that too. It’s the main area where we are able to go and give sermons every Sabbath with an audience, which makes a big difference in sermons. Because when there is an audience it helps the speaker, oftentimes, and it’s inspiring in that regard.

Again, does anyone have what Cincinnati has? No, there’s not a Church out here that has what Cincinnati has. So, if you’re wanting that you’re going to have to move there! The point being is look at where you are, what do you have wherever you’re scattered, wherever you’re located? So, it’s like, “I want what they have.” Well, you can’t.

So, don’t they get to go anywhere they want to? No, they’re not. Just for everybody’s information, Cincinnati, as a whole, is staying in Cincinnati because we have our same hall, we can get it for extra days, the whole period now. So, it’s turned out a blessing for them, but where are you located? So, different ones have had to get whether it be a room, some even a hotel, whatever it might be, or a large enough place where they can maybe rotate on occasion, whatever it might be, between Airbnb’s. But anyway, they get these different locations where they can meet, be able to stay in a place.

Everybody is doing something different and unique in that. Now, some places I’ve given different guidelines because you need to be careful because different states or different provinces or different places around the country, around the world have to adjust according to changes because this thing is fluid.

Just like Australia! I feel for them, I truly do. They were going to have a Feast up close to the Brisbane area, Gold Coast area, and well, it was actually in Brisbane this year. It was going to be. Anyway, that fell through because of this, and so they had to make different things. One was in Victoria, one was in Queensland, one was in New South Wales, and so they have these different states there that they were going to break up into three different groups then.

Well, that’s kind of fallen through now because of this COVID thing, and they’ve had to pull back even more so they may not be even able to meet together in a small group of people of three or four or five or whatever it might be. So, anyway.

So, no, we can’t all do the same thing. The fact that we’re able to have a Feast of Tabernacles, the fact that we’re able to watch something on a TV, on YouTube, is an awesome blessing wherever we are, small or large.

So, if you’re not able to get together, cooperate and get together, if you want to travel clear across the country…? Most people have followed government in that. They’ve asked, which I mentioned at one time. So, this has tried different people as to how they are in unity and harmony with guidelines. People read some of that sometimes differently. Why? Because we all want different things. Because we hear with what affects us, what we think affects us and how we think something should be implemented. We have all kinds of ideas some times. But if we’ll keep working toward unity, that’s a blessing.

Where there isn’t? That causes hardship on the Church. First of all, it’s not a very pleasurable thing for the ministry to hear murmuring, because it hurts. It hurts. It hurts when the Body isn’t in unity. It hurts when people are grumbling and complaining about what they can’t do, and “I want to do what someone else is doing,” when most often I find that people don’t even know what somebody else is doing. What does it matter? What do you get to do that’s a matter of unity and harmony? You get to have the ability to listen to and hear a message that not too many years back people didn’t have the ability to have.

I remember a time when we used to do videos and had all these columns in our basement of videos that we would go down there, push a button, and do four at a time in different stacks. Then we’d get these videos. That was a great blessing above and beyond just having a recording and hearing. We had a camera early on and we would send these videos out to different areas. Took time for people to have them. They might be a couple of weeks behind. But they get to watch it then on TV. That was a great thing back then because we didn’t have that before.

There was a time in Philadelphia where we had libraries and we could go in and check tapes out if you weren’t able to be there at a certain time. But they were audio, and audio is a tough thing, if that’s all you have, and sometimes for a long time that’s all we had.

So, what should our response be? I’m thankful for what I do have. I’m going to make the most of what I do have. You know, I think sometimes how often we leave God out of the picture. “What’s best for me?” You know what? You never know when this world is going to enter into the worst times the world has ever seen. And where are you going to be when that happens? Can’t plan for that one, fully.

So, what do you pray about? Is it that you desire to leave your life in God’s hands and strive to use whatever knowledge and information He gives you the best way you can? Or sometimes do we kind of go a little bit beyond that and kind of leave God out of the picture and just go on loosely in our own thinking doing whatever we want to do? Or is it a matter that we see something that’s coming and we want to be the best prepared we can? So, the greatest desire is to be close to God and that your life be in God’s hands.

There’s an example in the Bible of some, because of where they were, they were blessed. Examples of people who were where they shouldn’t have been who weren’t so blessed. The Bible has those things. I’ve seen things in the Church happen within the Church.

And so, where are we going to be when things happen? You don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know where I’m going to be. But you know what? My life is in God’s hands first and foremost. And so, any kind of guideline that might be given, my desire is that God be there, and that God’s protection be there, God’s favor be there. I want to make extra certain that I’m doing things in a way that have been shown and given.

I shouldn’t have to go into that example anymore. Sometimes, and there may be some at some point in time in their life, will be somewhere that they really, probably shouldn’t have been when things take place. What does that mean? Well? You have to pray about that. Have to be close to God. Ask God for guidance and direction.

I hope we understand things about murmuring. We think maybe it’s a private expression to someone else. We’re spouting off to someone else. But you know what? Within God’s Church, if you say it to a minister, they have a responsibility to say it to me. If they don’t do that then they’re not doing their job and God will take care of them for not doing their job. So, as a whole, we have a ministry that shares things because they have to.

So, if something is done divisively or something is done with questions in it, and unless somebody knows a specific answer they will ask, or they will pass it along. That’s why we have monthly reports that come in from different areas of the country from the ministry, because I desire to know as God’s servant, and am responsible, in that respect, for things going on within the Church, what is taking place. If something happens that needs a little more attention or some guidelines then we can more readily do it.

So, please out there, understand that if you said something to someone else and you feel like they tattled or went and told on you, shame on you. You have more to repent of then. So, the point being is that you have some apologies to make if you want to make things right in your relationship with others, for showing dissatisfaction, for saying something that was against some guidelines.

And this is small. We can look at it, this is a small thing. Yes, it is, and no, it’s not. We can sin over very small things in life that can get blown out of shape so disproportionately because God doesn’t take things lightly when there’s a matter of divisiveness against guidelines and direction that’s given in His Church. I hope that makes sense to everyone.

The greatest desire, in that respect, is that we have peace, that we have unity, that we have harmony within the Church.

Ephesians 4:4. Again, this is referring back to what was said previously in the previous verses about this “keeping unity of the spirit and the bond of peace.” In, as it goes on to say, In one body, and one spirit. This is beautifully written because it shows government and it shows unity. One body. We recognize we’re in the Body of Christ. So, what kind of a body is that? It’s a body that lives in harmony. It’s a body that lives in unity. It’s a body that lives in oneness of spirit. No schisms. No divisions. Nothing like that. Those things are exceedingly dangerous. They really are. Small though they might seem and appear, they really aren’t when it comes to the spirit.

There are a lot of small, simple things that people have done through time. I think of one who put his hand up to stop the ark from tipping over and God took his life. You know the account? So, by all rights the ark is being transported, and you think of all things, to keep the ark from falling over and hitting the ground, that putting your hand up to stop it, surely that’s justified, surely that’s a good thing to have done.

No, it wasn’t. They weren’t transporting it the way God commanded it to be transported. There’s a certain way to carry the ark that God instructed in scripture and they weren’t doing that. You know how it was to be carried? On the shoulders with staves. They had rings that ran through the ark on both sides and the pole that went through on both sides so that people, Levites in this case, could transport it on their shoulders safely, properly, the way God said to do it. Is there another way of transporting it? Sure, there could be other ways of doing something like that.

Are their different ways of administering and governing and different things when it comes to things, decisions that are made? I think of the time make-up, no make-up, make-up, no-makeup! It went back and forth. It’s like, “Which one is right?” Well, you know what the one that was right? When Mr. Armstrong said it. That’s what made it right. Because scripturally there really wasn’t any place. So, it was a matter of having unity and oneness in the Church.

That’s what we were to learn from that. It wasn’t a matter that it was wrong scripturally, but we had to learn that through time, that sometimes scriptures can be misconstrued. “Well, harlots wore heavy make-up!” So, they wore clothes too. Does that mean you shouldn’t do that?

So, those kinds of things we had to learn in time and that’s a matter of maturity.

Again here, this affected the Church in a powerful way because you want to talk about schisms and divisiveness? There are thousands of people who left the Church of God because of make-up. Thousands! Because they didn’t agree. They made choices at their time that they’re going to do it differently. Because they did it differently God cut them off from His holy spirit. They may not have left immediately on that moment on that day, which some did, but something was at work in their life that in time because they didn’t repent of what they had done they left. Because they were cut off from God’s spirit because they couldn’t see it anymore and they thought something else was right, whatever that was.

Isn’t that an amazing thing? It doesn’t seem to be that big of a thing, does it? Make-up or no make-up. But people left the Church because of it. You think, “Well, that’s pretty…” But unless you lived through that you don’t understand what we went through, what people went through at that time, what society was like at that time, and for the Church to have gone back and forth on that a couple of times or so.

But the lesson to carry away from it was God’s apostle said you could, so you can. Then God’s apostle said, no, you can’t, so you can’t. Do you think that would try people? Oh, it tried people. It tried people.

We could go on and on. That’s, in a sense of an administrative matter, it would seem like a small thing. But it just goes to show small things can cause people to respond in very bad ways. So, what might seem small to you, a little bit of divisiveness here, a little bit of murmuring here might seem small, but spiritually to God it isn’t. Because it tries us as to what we’re going to do in the small things of our life.

Do you realize that’s how we’re tried? It’s all the little things of life that we do, and are we striving to refine them and bring them into harmony and oneness and unity with God and doing things God’s way. That’s what this is all about. Awesome, to understand such things.

We’ve had an incredible history and learning process in God’s Church through time, since the time of Sardis, to mature and grow, to come to a point where we are now. We are exceedingly blessed because of all that God has given us to this point in time in our lives. We need to grasp that, to understand that, to be thankful for that.

…of keeping the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. One body, one spirit. There’s one Church, one Body of Christ. You know, the scattered Church doesn’t have that today. Some of them believe that God is working with several of us together (them speaking this), that He’s going to bring us through this. And you think, no, there’s one Church. There’s one true Church. Incredible.

Anyway, one body and one spirit, just as you are called in one hope of your calling. Do we have a hope? Because of the calling we have, do we grasp what God has given to us? Do we latch hold of this calling and understand that it’s only because God has opened our minds that we can treasure what is here and to be thankful for that? The more we grasp it, the more the gratitude and thankfulness for this calling.

All you have to do is look out here in Minneapolis area. This is Bloomingdale. Anyway, it’s close to Minneapolis. It’s just north of us here a little way. And you’re the only ones that know the truth. You look at the whole state, you look at Wisconsin, different areas, one over there. That’s incredible that we see what we see; that we know what we know. How incredibly blessed are we?

You tell this to somebody in the world and they think, “Yeah, you’re special. We see that you’re special. Look, how many are over there? You mean, you have states where there aren’t even any…? Yet you’re special?” Because they look at numbers. They don’t grasp what God is doing. They don’t know the Church. But we do. We understand the history. We understand what we’ve come through. To be here at this time? A calling that God has given to us and not because of anything else.

Because there are tons of people who have gone before you who thought they were special. Pride and haughtiness, murmuring, disagreeing, different doctrines here and there, disagreeing, and because of this disagreeing, little things turn into big things. Because if we do it in the smaller things of life, we’ll do it in the big things. That’s the spirit of it. That’s what God knows about us in a very powerful way that we have to come to see about ourselves.

If we disobey God in what some might consider the small things of life (make-up or no make-up), you’re going to do it in the bigger things. So, you’re tried in small areas of your life as to what choices you make. Then when the big ones come along, if you’ve been making those right choices, you’re going to have more of the strength and the mind and the thinking of unity and oneness to move forward without a problem.

That happened in a massive way with Pentecost when that was changed. I don’t mean the one we addressed, but the one going back to 1974 in God’s Church when Mr. Armstrong came to see over time, a period of a year there, 1974, that Pentecost really wasn’t on a Monday but on a Sunday. God could have revealed that in the very beginning when he started keeping the Holy Days. But He didn’t. He kept it to a point in time for the very purpose of what it did. It tested, tried the Church, and helped to clean up the Church. Because God has ways of cleansing the Church, continually through time has over and over again. So, we have to make choices along the way.

…called in one hope of your calling. Again, the context continues with the thought of doing this in (this calling) one Lord, one faith. That, to me, I mean, those two words right there “one faith” and what that means. It means we have one belief. Because then you make a choice to live by it and that’s what your faith is. If God reveals truth to you and you make the choice to live by it and you start doing that, that’s what faith is all about – living by the truth that’s been revealed to you. That’s your choice, to live by faith.

There’s one faith because there is only one truth and this is a beautiful thing. One faith in God’s Church. That’s why we can’t have 2, 200, 600 scattered places out here that all claim to be God’s Church that came out of God’s Church. It doesn’t work like that because there is only one truth, one thing to believe that is true.

Like, was there an Apostasy or not? Were we all prophetically, symbolically the stones of the temple and all came to a point of not being on top of each other? Were we spewed out of God’s mouth, as it says in Laodicea, all of us separated from God because of sin? Were we all guilty for being Laodicean? Absolutely! One truth. Amazing.

…one baptism. Again, because there is only one truth about baptism, being immersed. One Christ. You have to be drawn to the truth to have a true baptism. You have to know what you’re repenting of in order to be baptized properly by God’s ministry, hands laid upon by God’s ministry. And if it isn’t, it’s not there. It has to be one thing that comes from God.

…one God! That settles it. One way. All this is one, in unity and oneness with God. …and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. What an awesome, beautiful thing that God can be in us, living in and through us through the power of His holy spirit if we’re in unity and oneness with Him. Because when you step out of line with that you’re cut off from the flow of God’s spirit. That’s the way it works. God will not have that. Though it might seem small to some, it’s not small.

Murmuring is one of the most dangerous things that a person can ever do spiritually in their life spiritually, because it is in disagreement with God.

Make-up/no make-up. Disagreement with God. You say, “Well, it’s not in the scripture whether you should wear it or not wear it.” We came to see that in time. But at the time some thought it was, but it wasn’t. “Jezebel had lipstick!” Whoa! Wow!

So, we learn. We can laugh at those kinds of things now but back then we couldn’t because that’s where we were, the present truth. What an incredible thing to be freed of those kinds of things and to have unity in the Body, in the Church. So, it might seem small, but it wasn’t. It’s exceedingly important.

Going on here, And to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. So, this matter of this measure, the gift that’s given to us. God’s holy spirit. Incredible.

Verse 8—Therefore he says, When he ascended, had gone up, in other words, on high, he led captivity captive. In other words, sin holds us in captivity, and this is, it’s revealing what he did for us. He died as our Passover. He became our High Priest. He had to die as a part of that process. That’s why it goes on to say, talks about giving gifts to men, spiritually that can be given to us and the process whereby we can be drawn through a calling to God through Christ. So, baptism, those things we must go through.

Then that he ascended, what is it except that he first descended. It’s just saying in an awkward way of being translated in English here, it’s just a matter that, obviously here, what took place, that if he was able to ascend, he had to descend first. What was it then? He obviously descended first into the lower parts of the earth, in other words, to the tomb. He who descended is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fulfill all things. In other words, a completion of God’s plan and the power that God gave to him to be at His right side, and all government was given to him from that point on, to bring all things into unity and oneness until this is all over at the end of the Great White Throne.

Verse 11—And he gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, some as pastors and teachers, unto the equipping of the saints. God has given us structure within the Church for a purpose, to be a blessing to the Church, to help the Church, to serve the Church. We’re not out here on our own. God teaches us in a specific way. He gives us order and unity through this process. There has to be that which administers, and not that things can’t be done administratively in different ways, because they can be. When you talk about administration of something, there are many forms of administration, and depending on the situation there could be several that would be fine to follow.

But that isn’t the issue. The issue is government. Make-up, no make-up. It was only a matter of government. That’s all it was, strictly government, doing it the way God’s apostle said, so it’s “Yes,” “Yes, sir.” “No, sir.” “Yes, sir. Which way do I turn?” Because he’s God’s apostle. It was just an administrative thing within the Church.

…unto the equipping of the saints. Those set apart for holy use and purpose. That’s what the word means, “saints”; it’s about that which is holy. God makes something holy. He sanctifies something, set apart for His purpose. This is our time to grow and change until we’re able to be born into, literally, God’s family.

…for the work of ministry, for the edifying, word means “for the building up.” That’s what “edifying” is in this case, the building up of the Body of Christ. It’s God’s means and way of working within a Church, to teach a Church. Especially, we’re able to see clearly things of sermons and Holy Days and things that we receive in that nature. But there’s much more that goes to it as well depending on our size, depending on structure and why we need certain things at certain times.

Matter of fact, I’m going to stop there and introduce something else in the midst of this flow. Because within the ministry we have changes of things that have taken place through time, structure and so forth and much of that is done administratively for the sake of organization, much of that having to do with, obviously, it’s all about the Church, but sometimes because of different things that might happen.

We’ve had a lot of things that have happened in God’s Church through time, and I’ve explained some of this before of how things were structured and made some changes through the time of Philadelphia, how different positions, responsibilities, if you will, within that government were added or changed and given different names.

Some in the ministry had, carried different names. We had what we called local elders at one time because churches were so large. I think of Cincinnati, 1,500 people there at a point where it had five different churches. I remember Houston. We had almost 600 people in the one congregation we were in until they divided that one, after we left. But generally, that was the time of dividing, when they got to 600. That way they could break it down to three and three type of thing. Just for organization, better able to serve.

Often times within that then there would be people who had been around for some time who were made what we called local elders to serve more on a spiritual plane, not just a physical plane within the Church and we did things differently. We had different needs at that time because the Church was so large. We don’t have that now. Because of the scattering of the Apostasy things changed mightily. Even through the time of Laodicea things were altered at different times, which was fine as far as administration is concerned, because of the needs of the Church.

We’ve done things in different times because of things we were going through. I’ll take you back to 2006 – book came out. 2007 – more questions started coming along. So, just before 2008, and in through that period of time, we were being so bombarded with emails and questions that I couldn’t begin to come close to handling what was coming. We had different ones within the Church that we trained to answer questions. Does that sound fair, sound right? Yeah. So, we needed help, and so we had to make some changes as time went along.

Finally, we had a period of time –and I believe a lot of this was around 2008 when we had a smear of ministers ordained for over a period of time there and we brought them in together. I remember one meeting we had down in, was it Tennessee? Yeah. Tennessee at one point. We’ve had some different meetings at different times where we tried to bring everybody together, but we had a large group of people.

A lot of those left. Since that period of time we’ve had several as ministers who left. But that was a part of a structure at that time so that they would go through training and go back out to the different areas and able to help people who were coming along. We hadn’t experienced this up to that point in time.

Because, if you know the history of the Church, if you go back then to the Apostasy in ’94, the end of ’94, the Church was scattered all over the place. Different organizations. Different sizes. Some of them 15,000 then 8,000, 6,000, 4,000, and then on down to maybe a few hundred (which was our category). People were judging between the different groups and different things that people decided what they wanted to do, where they wanted to go, and on and on it went. But anyway, we went through that history.

So, when we came to this point in time, because of what had happened, the only people who were able to become a part with us were people of our past. God wasn’t calling new people for a long time. For at least ten years people were not being called, as a whole, out of the world.

Now, I’ve mentioned this at the beginning of this series, and I’ve mentioned some of this at different times, but God does the calling. You can look at what God is doing. You can see what’s happening in the Church and learn from that.

We were able to look at what was taking place, and in the scattered groups, especially there in the beginning, the only people who were coming along were people who would leave one organization and go to another, people who were jumping around, different things that were happening.

Why? Why do you suppose it was like that? That God wasn’t calling people at that time? Mass confusion. We had mass confusion in the Church. Where is God? What is God doing? We did that about two years after I was in the one organization. It was ’97, I believe, if my memory is right here. We split up in the Toledo/Detroit area and Cincinnati, to go to different areas for the Feast of Tabernacles because, candidly, I didn’t know where God was. Where is He working? Surely one of these groups is God’s? And so, it was a difficult thing. You might think, “Well, that shouldn’t have been so difficult.” But it was exceedingly difficult because you want to do what is right, you want to make the right choices.

We were evaluating some different groups, we were inviting some different ones at times to come and speak. There were times I was appalled (I mentioned this in times past) when they came into the living room and started talking, two men in particular I remember. It was like, “What?” My jaw was dropped. It was like, “What are you saying?” Well, what had helped to clarify real quick like was God isn’t with you. This isn’t the way God works. This isn’t the truth.

You’re able to make choices along the way. Finally came to clearly see God wasn’t where I was. He wasn’t working there. So, we didn’t know at what Feast site we could be fed, so we had different ones just go to different sites, basically of their choosing, to kind of investigate, to see. Some I knew where some were going wasn’t going to work because I already knew God’s not there. Look at what they’re teaching. Doesn’t agree with what the Church is teaching.

That’s what brought us, finally, to a point of realizing the only way to go forward now is to strive to live God’s way of life the best we know of what He’s given to us in times past. It wasn’t because we were special or knew so much, it’s just that that was God’s plan, that He was going to take a little group, a remnant, that He was going to begin revealing things to out of this mess of what had happened. We were blessed, like in a calling, to be there. Otherwise, we would be as blind and as asleep as everybody else is out there scattered today. Thank God He had a purpose for that.

For a long time, even by ourselves, no one came long except those who had been in our past, for a long, long time. Were there any others for a while? If there were, they didn’t last long. She said no, so that’s my recollection. For several years. Why? Because we had to become settled first. We had just gone through the worst times the Church of God had ever experienced in its history, an apostasy, a scattering of the Church of God, His own Church, His own people, for a purpose of what He was accomplishing and fulfilling at the end of an age.

And so, it wasn’t until the first book was written that someone from outside began to really show some interest. So, we had three or four that came along as a result of that that were baptized. God does the calling. The second book came along. It was 2005, wasn’t it? So, it was right around that period of time that we had some interest coming to us from, first of all, in Europe, but most of those were people who were already baptized in the Church, and then Australia, people who were already baptized. No one new.

Then finally, new people started coming along. Then the second book was written. So, it’s not a matter of what was there, it was a matter of what is God doing and what is God giving to the Church? With that second book, that’s where the majority of the new people came from. We were bombarded. We had to organize differently.

The reason I’m going through this is showing that because of what we went through and because of so many people trying to contact us at that time and giving responsibilities to different ones, we had a need—What?—for a ministry now in different areas that began to pop up in different parts of the country. As different areas began to grow, so did a need for a ministry of people who were there to be able to help.

Anyway, that was the process of our beginning to grow within the Church, of having a ministry. Didn’t know what to call certain things. We finally came to a point in time where we had to restructure again because of what was taking place within the Church because we were not growing, and we were going through some difficulties and problems and because of that we had more training and different ministers, again, that were ordained. They were given different kinds of jobs, so we had the need for a structure. We had what we referred to then amongst elders – and this was hard for some in the Church because they’d only been used to local elders and elders, local meaning they were from a particular area. A normal elder would be one who had been hired by the Church back in the Philadelphia era.

So again, things change because of needs. And so, we’ve done that within the Church. Some of it has been a matter of training for the Church and for the individuals, to help people to learn various things that God is molding. God isn’t molding and fashioning the same thing in every one of us, and so we learn in different ways. It’s not a matter of one being better than the other. It’s a matter of God’s molding and fashioning what He is in us. We learn by different things we experience, that God is planning for a future if we continue to yield to it.

Having said that, we’ve gone through periods of time where we had restructure, where we’ve had elders, we’ve had senior elders, we’ve had different ones ordained in some of these different areas. I’m missing one there in the elders. Associate elders. I knew there was one more. Anyway. So, we’ve gone through different changes like that of things we weren’t accustomed to in Worldwide, and sometimes that has caused some people who have been around for a long time to have some battles with some of that. Because this is change and change sometimes we equate with there’s only one way to do something. And no, there are many different ways of doing something. So it is within the ministry.

So, just to let everyone know, I’m getting ready to restructure again. It’s not a matter of someone has done well, someone has done poorly. It has nothing to do with that. It’s about structure, it’s about need, and something about training and what we can learn from experiencing more than one side of an issue.

There are some cases here I’ve mentioned recently that we’re much smaller than we used to be. The beautiful thing is we’re far more unified than we’ve ever been. We have greater unity of truth than we’ve ever had in God’s Church. We now have more unity and oneness. Even though I mention one little thing that’s happened in one little area it’s been very small, but it’s still important and it’s important to learn from.

That’s why I’ve preached about it today, about the importance of not murmuring, and learning the importance of striving to hold on to and guarding unity and oneness of spirt and that we have to work to have that. Sometimes we have to work on, obviously, what comes out of here, across that, and be on guard spiritually.

Again, just so people understand at some point here, whether before the Feast or after the Feast, we’re going to restructure again because we don’t have the need for all the ministry right now. We just don’t need it. We’re structured in such a way that things are running smoothly. But the nice thing about it is if God begins to draw people before whatever happens in the United States starts to happen, if there is a period of time there that God’s going to give more as far as growth, then we have a lot of trained people out there already who have done those things already and can be brought in in a moment’s notice because the ordination was there and it’s just a matter of being reinstated.

But, candidly, I don’t see that happening. I see us being small at this point in time. When things begin to happen, sadly, that’s what it’s going to take for people to begin to repent, and by that time what can you do when you have no internet? What can you do when you can’t tune in anymore? Because that’s going to happen. That’s the time we’re going to come to.

If we have an EMP in this country it’s going to fry things in a massive way across the country. There are going to be a lot of disruptions. There may be times that people can get something and other times that they can’t. But if you think COVID has changed our life, we haven’t seen anything yet. What’s coming behind it is far, far more extreme when it comes to not being able to continue to do the things we’re accustomed to doing Sabbath by Sabbath, Holy Day to Holy Day, whatever time that is that God has before us. Make sense?

I don’t see those things growing, in that respect. They will happen in the world. But that’s between them and God, between those who are awakened out of a spiritual sleep and they begin to see and learn from what has happened as they’re prepared to enter into a new age. Because there are going to be those of our past that were a part of Worldwide who are going to have opportunity to live into a new age. Not in the first resurrection, but into a new age to continue on as a Church that had become scattered, had been asleep, and was awakened when things began to happen.

And sadly, that’s what it’s going to take to shake people to the core of their being where they’ll begin questioning. That’s when God begins to pour out His spirit. You know that’s how God’s works with us. We have to be humbled first and then God can begin to draw us, He can begin to work with us. For many who were asleep, then He can begin to awaken them.

Right now, because of the conditions of the world, there is not a single person out there who has a desire, a willingness to address something different in belief. They’re happy where they are. They are set where they are. If they’re in Living, United (I can’t think of COGWA’s name), but there are so many different names out there today of different organizations. They’re God’s people who are asleep.

When God chooses to awaken them it’s going to be an awesome thing. But it’s going to be because of what happens around them, that tool, that instrument to humble and to shake to the core of their being so that when He lets them see everything will become illuminated for them in a powerful way. So, we look forward to that.

Anyway, I’m going to stop there today because I did want to interject that here when it starts talking about the ministry and all being in unity and oneness of mind and what that means. But again, I hope we grasp and are starting to even more so. It’s something you really have to pray about – your calling – to understand how precious that is, to be ever so grateful that God opened your mind. Because there are so few who have ever experienced this in 6,000 years. Nothing special about us, just special because of God, because of God’s spirit, because of what He has done in our lives and we’re just exceedingly blessed that we’re a part of it. What can you say more?